Blogging For A Better Business

By Staff Writer

Booming since 1999, Web logs (or "blogs") are individual Web pages that are updated often (daily or even hourly) and resemble a running online journal. They can be sounding boards for opinions and personal essays, or whatever's on the writer's mind. Links to other sites are often included, and most blogs allow readers to post responses, simulating discussions and encouraging return visitors.

In the beginning, blogs were written by individuals and posted to their personal Web sites. Such pages often seemed self-centered and relatively uninteresting to the general public. As the Internet grew and changed, however, so have blogs, and many believe that blogs are the future of the Web.

Blogs are used on large company's intranet sites to share information among co-workers and on business Web sites to reach customers and clients.

Thousands of new blogs pop up online every day, and these days, they aren't just by personal Web site owners recounting what they ate for lunch. Blogs are used on large company's intranet sites to share information among co-workers and on business Web sites to reach customers and clients.

A Big-Business Blog Success Story
A concrete example of how a business can benefit from blogs and create a buzz about new products can be found with Microsoft's developing operating system, nicknamed "Longhorn." With a projected release in 2006, the product has an estimated 12,000 people working on it. This isn't surprising—Microsoft seems to constantly be cooking up new products. What is surprising is the slight twist: the company has encouraged Longhorn developers to maintain public-access blogs.

The blogs, then, are advance advertising, market research, and a corporate facelift all in one.

The response has been huge. Seen by many as a faceless and untouchable corporation, Microsoft has provided its customers with a glimpse of its individual employees. Not only is this a big PR move, it's also good for the product development. With word out on the Web about Longhorn, future users are writing back to the blog writers with questions and comments, helping Microsoft to shape a better platform. The blogs, then, are advance advertising, market research, and a corporate facelift all in one.

How You Can Benefit From Blogging
As this Microsoft example proves, business blogs (or "b-blogs") can be a wise choice for a business. Blogs are helping them form a better relationship with a key audience and allowing them create a more user-friendly product. Granted, you don't have the resources or sheer breadth of public attention, but you can make a similarly wise move and see positive results.

Here are some easy ways you can blog for success:

• Blog with information complimentary to your business. If you own a ski shop, list snow conditions, post links to travel sites, and include the latest product information.
  
  
• Blog with industry information. If you're a marketing consultant, include links to relevant sites, new research, headlines and trends.
  
  
• Blog without form. Intersperse personal information and interesting tips or facts with your business posts. Link to sites you like and write about topics that are on your mind. These will add personality to your site and can help to establish you as an expert on certain subjects.

A blog provides greater value to the visitor with a variety of fresh content, it allows you to get feedback from your customers, and it gives you another outlet for establishing your identity, advertising your product, and building customer loyalty.

There are many benefits in each case. A blog provides greater value to the visitor with a variety of fresh content, it allows you to get feedback from your customers, and it gives you another outlet for establishing your identity, advertising your product, and building customer loyalty.


Blog Writing Tips

Keep it fresh.
One of the big perks of a blog is how dynamic it makes a site. Not just a static page, users can return to your Web site to see new content and updated information on a regular basis. The downside is blogs can require a lot of attention from the site owner. If you choose to blog, update it whenever you can, at least every couple of days.

Share the load.
If you're unable to dedicate the time yourself, consider making it an office-wide task, assigning different days to employees. Various contributors add variety to a blog and help to keep the content interesting.

Keep it interesting.
Blog writing is different from business writing or Web site page writing. To keep your audience interested, you have to keep your tone informal and your writing lively and straightforward. You also need to choose topics that will be relevant to your visitors

Ask yourself questions.
Before starting a blog, answer a few questions to help you format your writing. Ask yourself who your target reader is, what you expect to gain from blogging, and how and when the blogging will happen.




Getting Started
Blogs are an inexpensive and easy-to-maintain way to promote your business. Once you purchase the software, management is easy, even for beginners. With more and more businesses adding blogs to their Web sites every day and with such great success rates seen from them, it won't be long before they're the norm. By getting started now, you'll get an early start ahead of the competition and an early start on the benefits of blogging.