Business Blogging
A Primer
By Matthew W. Certo, President & CEO, WebSolvers, Inc.

Blogging Dismissed
Over the past few years, blogs (Web + logs = blogs) have evolved from being a mere collection of online journals to a global network of empowered consumers and professionals alike. And although blogs have been growing in stature and popularity for some time, the business world seems to be somewhat dismissive of their importance. A 2005 cover story in BusinessWeek characterizes the mindset in this way:

Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite.

Looking back to the mid 1990s, many executives shunned the Internet in the same way. Some called it a fad. Others ignored it altogether. Along the way, industries like entertainment, travel, and photography were turned upside down. And while the impact of blogs is not entirely certain, the fact that impact does exist is no longer debatable. If you’ve been hesitant to think about blogs and their relevance to your organization, the time to begin may very well be now.

What is a Blog?
A blog is a type of Web site that allows individual users (from teenage girls to marketing executives) to post a running commentary on current events. While a teenager might be talking about her latest crush, a marketing executive might be discussing the launch of Apple’s iPod du jour.

What does an iPod have to do with a teenage crush?
It’s been widely held over the past few decades that consumer product spending is driven in large part by word-of-mouth advertising. Some call it buzz, some call it viral marketing, others call it conversational marketing. Whatever the term, blogs are becoming the centerpiece of it all. In the same breath that Suzy talks about her crush, she’s raving about her iPod. Her friends can read her blog, make comments, and will likely be influenced by what she has to say.

It’s commonly held that this rapidly growing collection of blogs (often called the blogosphere), and the way in which interblog communication happens, is fast becoming marketing’s ‘global conversation.’ Experts estimate that 80,000 blogs are created daily—that’s close to one new blog per second! Businesses that want to position themselves well for the future are creating their own blogs, reacting to those of their customers, and becoming part of that conversation.

How do people find blogs?
Most have heard of Yahoo and Google. How about Technorati and IceRocket? These two names (among others) are leaders among a growing collection of blog-specific search engines that track blogs and deliver search results in real-time. If you’re interested in what someone has written in the last day or two about a topic, go to Google. If, on the other hand, you are interested in what someone has written in the past ten minutes about a particular topic, go to Technorati. The ‘conversation’ is always happening.

How does the conversation happen?
Participants in the ‘conversation’ are using an emerging aspect of Web browsing called ‘RSS feeds.’ RSS, if you’re curious, is an acronym for ‘Really Simple Syndication.’ Each blog has a feed that others can subscribe to in their Web browsers similar to how you’ve always subscribed to traditional newspapers. Simply find a blog you’re interested in and subscribe to its RSS feed. When you open your newsreader, news is delivered to you automatically, saving you the time of going to your favorite blogs on a regular basis to check for new content.

There are a couple of important signals in the marketplace that indicate that RSS—the engine of blogging--is here to stay. First of all, Microsoft had decided to integrate a RSS reader into Internet Explorer—the world’s most popular Web browser. Second, most major news outlets like The New York Times have begun to integrate RSS capability into their online newspapers. Users can now receive important news headlines along with selected blog feeds. This, along with Microsoft’s inclusion, is an indicator too significant to ignore.

What does a business blog look like and consist of?
We can all envision the personal blog of a teenager, but it’s a bit more challenging to think about that of an organization. Depending upon the organization and its goals, a blog can take a variety of forms. For the real estate developer, a blog might occupy the shape of an online community forum where various partners, future residents, and neighbors can interact with one another. For the lawn pest control company, a blog might focus on lawn mowing tips for homeowners with participation by in-house experts. The local non-profit might launch a blog to foster dialogue about a community challenge. The business consulting firm might simply use a blog as an outlet for strategic thought, global collaboration, and personnel development. Fortunately, there are several examples of companies using blogs that can serve as learning tools:

• QuickBooks product blog by Intuit (allows developers and support personnel to interact with customers)
• Woot.com (the blog that is an online store at the same time)
• FastLane Blog by General Motors (announcements and product news from GM)

How should businesses get started?
Like any worthwhile business endeavor, a successful blogging strategy should begin with a wealth of research and planning. Similar to other business tactics, your approach to blogging should be aligned with your organization’s goals and objectives. In terms of tangible steps toward realizing how this notion fits in with your organization’s evolution, consider the following suggested activities to help you get your arms around the impact:

• Conduct some informal online research to see how others in your industry are applying blogs to their businesses.
• Sign-up with a RSS Newsreader and start subscribing to blogs that interest you.
• Make the subject a topic at an upcoming management meeting, board meeting, or corporate retreat.
• Do some searches on a blog search engine to determine whether or not your organization is already part of ‘the conversation.’
• Choose not to ignore the movement but to embrace it as a business reality.

Blogging Embraced
The impact of blogs is here. The individual opportunities that may exist are yours to find. In reality, every organization should be thinking about blogging from the perspective of its current goals and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Like any technology advance, consider the opportunity carefully. Most importantly, don’t ignore it: capitalize on it!

Matthew W. Certo is President/CEO of WebSolvers, Inc., a Web design and development firm located in Winter Park, Florida. Certo is the co-author of Digital Dimensioning: Finding the ebusiness in Your Business (McGraw-Hill) and has served as a White House advisor in the President’s Economic Forum in Waco, TX. He is a frequent guest speaker to corporations, classrooms, and associations on the topic of technology, management, and Internet strategy. Certo is an active community member serving on several non-profit boards of directors.

WebSolvers, Inc., located in Winter Park, Florida, is a proven leader in creative Web site development, Internet hosting, marketing and e-commerce. The company is dedicated to serving customers in a new age of Internet services and challenges its clients to integrate the Internet into their daily business activities. The firm's home on the Web is www.websolvers.com.