Blogs - To Be Or Not To Be? - April 2008
I have been doing a lot of research on blogs lately. They seem so hot, so now, so vital, but what I have found is that for many people, they are so time wasting, so difficult, so unnecessary. Setting up and maintaining a blog requires a commitment of time and energy. They are wonderful for people who enjoy writing, who are in the technology or marketing industries, or who genuinely want to do one. However, blogs are not for everyone.
Many blogs have few to no readers. The few readers that they do have enjoy the blog, but do not buy the product or service. As a business person, it is important to make sure that you are investing time in something that will produce good results and not just doing for its own sake. If the time and energy spent to produce a good blog and to generate readers and maintain them is part of your overall marketing strategy, or something that you want to do because you enjoy it, then go ahead.
Many blogs are successful because the people who write them are passionate. In addition, these people also have taken the time to plan their blogging strategy. Even if they are in the business arena, they are also hobbyists. They enjoy the process. If you are someone who is passionate about your subject area, or who enjoys writing and spending time on the computer, then blogging just might be for you.
So, now that I have shown some of the limitations of blogging, I will spend some time on basic blog education. I’ve tried to compile some beginning information to help if you are just starting a blog or are ready to grow your audience.
Basic Terminology:
Post - an individual article on a blog
Widget - an item that is added to the sidebar of your blog. There may be ads, amazon books for sale or a list of previous posts. There are hundreds of widgets available. Some are provided from your blog host, others are on independents sites that provide you with the code so you can just copy and paste it into the correct place on your blog.
Other Factors:
Hosting: Most beginners do not host their own blogs on their own domain. That means that instead of a www.MYBLOG.com address, they have a www.myblog.blogservice.com address. Most of the top notch blogs are hosted on their own domain, but many popular blogs are hosted on services too. Search engines “count” all the content on your blog better when it is hosted on your own domain. The top blog service providers are either free or relatively low cost and offer both options. For more info, see: Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org, Typepad.com, Drupal.org
Searching: Regular search engines list blogs, but there are also sites that specialize in blog searches. These are important both for listing your own blog and for searching for others. The leader, the one that is most used is Technorati. You can register your blog there, and they also provide code to put on your blog to help increase your Technorati ranking. For more info see: Technorati.com, Blog Explosion.com
Statistics: The statistical tracking that is available now is quite robust and sophisticated. You can see where your visitors live in the world, how they arrived at your blog, and where they go next. For the best statistics tracking, most people use a service independent of their bloghost. For more info, see: Feedjit, Site Meter, Google Analytics
Other Useful Blog Resources:
Amazon: You can set up a mini-store and if your readers buy the items that you recommend, you receive a cut of the sale.
Digg: A site where blog content is rated and ranked. If content is good, it can be a good way to bring traffic to your blog.
AddThis: You can register here and receive the code to make an “add this” button on the side of your blog that will allow readers to add your blog to their favorites list using any one of the many of favorites managers that are available.
BlogHer: A community of blogs by women
There are so many more that I cannot list them all here. As you read more and more blogs, you will notice the multitude of resources available.
The best resource for business bogging is Ted Demopoulos’ Blogging For Business site.
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You are welcome to use this article on your website, blog, or in your newsletter as long as you include this complete credit line: Copyright 2008 * Cordelia Blake Web Design. Cordelia Blake is the owner of Cordelia Blake Web Design, a web development company in Atlanta, GA. She creates and maintains websites for small businesses. Visit http://www.CordeliaBlake.com to receive Cordelia's Tech Tips delivered to your inbox.
