WE'RE ALL BLOGS
Planning on setting up a blog? Why? What's it about? Where is it being hosted (on what web domain?). How frequently are you planning to post new entries? How do you plan to maintain it? Have you answered these questions?
There are a growing number of blogs, newsletters, and e-books that would have you believe that anyone can blog. Pick a topic, start blogging. It's that easy. Well, the truth is that while it really is this "easy", and while anyone can potentially blog, not everyone can maintain a blog. Not everyone has the discipline to do all the other work that comes with a blog.
If your blog is a true electronic diary and you're simply posting a few musings and some photos, then godspeed to you; you probaby do not need to read the rest of this posting. This type of blog is relatively easy to maintain. (But writing well and making your blog interesting still takes effort.) On the other hand, if you are writing a "business" blog of any sort, it's a different game.
I'm using the term "business" blog to mean any blog that tries to pass on focused knowledge in the hopes of the author being viewed as an expert on their chosen topic, and with the intent that readers will purchase something (either from the blog pages or from a linked, associated web site), make an electronic donation, attend a workshop held by the author, or buy a print book written by the author. The chosen topic does not have to be about "business" per se. As an example, this blog and my RSS blogs are about Internet technology; however, I classify them as business blogs because, ultimately, if you learn something from them, I am hoping that you will perceive me to be an expert on these topics and subsequently either purchase one of my e-books on the topic, mention them to someone you know, or even consider my consulting services. Hence, there is an expectation of commerce at some point (but a realization that only a fraction of readers will open their pocketbooks :).
Notice I said "topic" earlier, not topics. Blogs that focus on a single topic will have more focused writing and thus probably a more dedicated readership. If you have several related topics, start separate blogs and link them together. (You can have another "blog" that acts as an "index" to the separate blogs.)
There are a number of reasons for focusing on a single topic in the postings of your "business" blog. One reason is that it is simply less effort to focus on and write about one topic rather than a whole host of topics, related or not. Writing about one topic means that you are compartmentalizing your knowledge. You can focus your research on the topic. Yes, I said research. A business blog is similar to writing articles. Would you write articles without any research? Okay, maybe you're an expert on your topic and have many years of experience. In the Web culture, you still need to link some of the text of your postings to other blogs, web sites, documents, etc., to back up your claims or provide relevant background info. Otherwise it is easy for casual readers to view your blog as a lengthy opinion piece. So if you do not need to research your topic, fine; at least do some legwork and link unusual terms or lingo to the free encyclopedia site Wikipedia, like I have done for the term "blog" at the top of this post. The reader can choose whether or not to follow supporting links.
Another bit of leg work that you can do for your readers is, if you mention a particular book in your post, is to actually link to that book in Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, or what have you. If you mention a product, e-book, software, or something else, do your readers a service and link to the appropriate web sites. Make it easy for your readers to believe that you really are an expert, even if all you've really done is some of the trench work of linking to your resources. You are saving the reader the effort of finding that information and saying that you have nothing to hide, go see for yourself. Your thoroughness in this regard may make the difference between being a well-read blog or just another collection of lonely electrons.
(c) Copyright 2005, Raj Kumar Dash, http://blogspinner.blogspot.com
There are a growing number of blogs, newsletters, and e-books that would have you believe that anyone can blog. Pick a topic, start blogging. It's that easy. Well, the truth is that while it really is this "easy", and while anyone can potentially blog, not everyone can maintain a blog. Not everyone has the discipline to do all the other work that comes with a blog.
If your blog is a true electronic diary and you're simply posting a few musings and some photos, then godspeed to you; you probaby do not need to read the rest of this posting. This type of blog is relatively easy to maintain. (But writing well and making your blog interesting still takes effort.) On the other hand, if you are writing a "business" blog of any sort, it's a different game.
I'm using the term "business" blog to mean any blog that tries to pass on focused knowledge in the hopes of the author being viewed as an expert on their chosen topic, and with the intent that readers will purchase something (either from the blog pages or from a linked, associated web site), make an electronic donation, attend a workshop held by the author, or buy a print book written by the author. The chosen topic does not have to be about "business" per se. As an example, this blog and my RSS blogs are about Internet technology; however, I classify them as business blogs because, ultimately, if you learn something from them, I am hoping that you will perceive me to be an expert on these topics and subsequently either purchase one of my e-books on the topic, mention them to someone you know, or even consider my consulting services. Hence, there is an expectation of commerce at some point (but a realization that only a fraction of readers will open their pocketbooks :).
Notice I said "topic" earlier, not topics. Blogs that focus on a single topic will have more focused writing and thus probably a more dedicated readership. If you have several related topics, start separate blogs and link them together. (You can have another "blog" that acts as an "index" to the separate blogs.)
There are a number of reasons for focusing on a single topic in the postings of your "business" blog. One reason is that it is simply less effort to focus on and write about one topic rather than a whole host of topics, related or not. Writing about one topic means that you are compartmentalizing your knowledge. You can focus your research on the topic. Yes, I said research. A business blog is similar to writing articles. Would you write articles without any research? Okay, maybe you're an expert on your topic and have many years of experience. In the Web culture, you still need to link some of the text of your postings to other blogs, web sites, documents, etc., to back up your claims or provide relevant background info. Otherwise it is easy for casual readers to view your blog as a lengthy opinion piece. So if you do not need to research your topic, fine; at least do some legwork and link unusual terms or lingo to the free encyclopedia site Wikipedia, like I have done for the term "blog" at the top of this post. The reader can choose whether or not to follow supporting links.
Another bit of leg work that you can do for your readers is, if you mention a particular book in your post, is to actually link to that book in Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, or what have you. If you mention a product, e-book, software, or something else, do your readers a service and link to the appropriate web sites. Make it easy for your readers to believe that you really are an expert, even if all you've really done is some of the trench work of linking to your resources. You are saving the reader the effort of finding that information and saying that you have nothing to hide, go see for yourself. Your thoroughness in this regard may make the difference between being a well-read blog or just another collection of lonely electrons.
(c) Copyright 2005, Raj Kumar Dash, http://blogspinner.blogspot.com
| Permalink | E-mail this post 
