The undersigned

Sean Says:

I like the idea of a business blog when it’s a big business. Large companies become faceless corporations that people can’t relate to. A big business blog puts a human face on the corporation.

18/06-2006 | 19:43

garraeth Says:

Great article! I’ve been looking for something like this to get my boss to start our blog. Thanks!

18/06-2006 | 20:18

Keith Says:

Good information about business blog. I believe this may be the turning point for several large corporates. Some large enterprises have already started using Blogs as part of their business plan.

19/06-2006 | 13:35

Earvolution Says:

Google owns blogger.com, so maybe using blogger software isn’t a bad idea if you’re looking to increase Google rank?

19/06-2006 | 13:42

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19/06-2006 | 14:20

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19/06-2006 | 14:33

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19/06-2006 | 14:59

Harish Keshwani Says:

Great article! However, I would be careful about letting Employees blog. It can be an embarassing situation if competition between employees gets “too competitive” or if an employee is not happy about certain things within the company. Once you let people speak out their minds, be ready for fireworks. If you must let employees blog then those blogs must be moderated and certain blogging policies must be in place for avoiding embarassing situations. This is one of the main reasons why many companies shy away from blogs.

19/06-2006 | 15:17

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19/06-2006 | 15:34

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19/06-2006 | 15:45

Eugene F Says:

great idea, I need to figure out a way to get more people to my website, and have been struggling. Free Nature Wallpaper

19/06-2006 | 15:46

Eugene F Says:

sorry I forgot to list the site: http://www.eugenef.com

19/06-2006 | 15:47

Hmm Says:

Though it did not offer the step by step you provided, this information was published last week by a UMass study (found here: http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studies/blogstudy.cfm )

In the end I think it’s good that businesses are being told, from a variety of sources, about the importance of blogging.

19/06-2006 | 16:26

Doug Says:

I think this is a stupid idea. As a business owner having your employess blog puts them in a position of power that is unacceptable. Not only can they damage the business if they are unhappy but the blog is like a big glowing resume online identifying your best employess as targets. If you have a comment section such as this now you have customers able to swap stories with one another about any disappointements they have had or suggestions of other competitors that they prefer.

19/06-2006 | 16:31

DotsMedia Says:

Blogging for businesses can bring great success to your business. However, you must be careful as to who has the authority to blog. Just like any public media release from your business, blogging should be done by individuals who has a sense of your corporate messaging. Like Harish said above, you do not want to be at a situation where the wrong information got to the media before you even know about it.

Earvolution, I would use a software like wordpress to create a blog right at the business’s website. If you want to increase your rank, you need to have ways to drive traffic to your website. Not to Google’s own blogger sub domain. Plus having a blog on your website looks more professional than to have a Google’s blogger site that is linked from your site.

19/06-2006 | 16:34

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19/06-2006 | 16:35

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19/06-2006 | 17:40

zweistein Says:

For people who don’t want to mess with the Wordpress installation (or are just plain lazy, like me :)), there’s a great service run by the folks who created Wordpress, wordpress.com. It’s really easy to set up a blog over there and the admins are doing their best in making it better and better every day. The only downside is that you can’t modify the themes (you can’t create your own design), but there are loads of pre-made themes available that look just great.

19/06-2006 | 17:44

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19/06-2006 | 17:52

www.DCguide.com Says:

I agree that business blogs are very important because it adds a human, personal aspect to your business. Also it allows customers to comment on the products and receive real feedback.

19/06-2006 | 18:47

Michael Martine Says:

I just have to do this regarding Doug’s amazingly reality-ignorant comment above:

I think this is a stupid idea. As a business owner having your employess blog puts them in a position of power that is unacceptable.

As a business, owner, having your employees blog makes everyone a marketer, everyone a salesperson. You really only have one asset, and that’s your people. If your employees don’t have any power, then neither do you or your company. Everything you do is simply an exercise in mediocrity, a slow heat-death.

Not only can they damage the business if they are unhappy but the blog is like a big glowing resume online identifying your best employess as targets.

Exactly. So don’t be an asshat. Pay them well. Treat them with respect. Give them the power to do their jobs and reward risk-taking (not necessarily success). If your best employees want to leave, what does that say about you? You think preventing them from blogging is going to fix that? It’s not even going to hide it very well!

If you have a comment section such as this now you have customers able to swap stories with one another about any disappointements they have had or suggestions of other competitors that they prefer.

First, nothing could hardly be better for your service image than a openly solved problem and a customer whose issue has been resolved out in the open. Every service problem is a golden opportunity to impress. Nobody cares when things go right because it’s expected. What matters is what you do when things don’t go right.

Second, as far as competition is concerned: you couldn’t pay enough money to get that kind of intelligence out of focus group or a survey. You’re saying you want to remain ignorant of your company’s shortcomings? Good luck! By the way, customers have always been able to swap stories with each other via email, forums, telephone, and word-of-mouth. And guess what? Except for forums, you can’t respond to it or even know about it. Exactly what is the benefit of that? At least on your own blog you can take advantage of the opportunity to respond to your customers.

20/06-2006 | 0:20

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20/06-2006 | 0:21

Dean Higginbotham Says:

Here’s a similar article: http://www.mall23.com/Jun_2006_Mailer.html

With some of the same points as this article, and other different ones.

Both are great in my opinion! :)

20/06-2006 | 0:28

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20/06-2006 | 5:11

Michael Bierman Says:

Great article. eBay Blogs are another way for retail businesses to blog.

20/06-2006 | 6:17

The undersigned Says:

Sean> I definately agree that the blogs can “put a human face on the corporation.” - It helps creating a more “personal” relationship between company and client.

Earvolution> Well, no harm in using the blogger technology, but one of the bigger reasons to launch a blog would be to get traffic to your real site. If blogger.com the traffic would be driven to that site instead. And I don’t think google ranks blogger.com blogs higher ;)

Overall I must agree with Michael Martine, have faith in your employees - why run a business with employees you don’t trust - value them, give them more tools to have “fun at work” and let them feel appreciated. A security option could be moderating all posts before they’re published.

So any of you already running a business blog?

20/06-2006 | 7:30

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Why Do Blogs Matter?…

I’ve come across a couple of interesting blog entries - especially considering an email confab I’ve been having back and forth about someone about the value of links from a blog.Thomas Silkjær at The Undersigned shares several reasons why blogs can b…

21/06-2006 | 0:41

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21/06-2006 | 19:56

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22/06-2006 | 1:40

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22/06-2006 | 16:25

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26/06-2006 | 22:11

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27/06-2006 | 14:07

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02/07-2006 | 0:13

Ben Says:

I can’t say I totally agree about this article, having employee’s blogging is not the best of ideas. It could be a marketing disaster.

Why do companies have marketing & PR department to manage what the customer ’sees’ - removing this filter could be very harmful. Take, for example, a simple problem such as poor speeling and grammer *cough* and it would look instantly bad. Simple, but damning.

@Michael Martine - Perhaps your being slightly blinkered by the IT (and the web savvy) industry, remember that you should be thinking about Joe Public, who might not have a clue the ‘etiquette’ of a blog, and just see that as the outpouring from the still-faceless company.

Surely image is everything, no?

05/07-2006 | 15:14

Michael Martine Says:

@Ben: a thoughtful response, but pre-internet in its viewpoint. I’d like to address what you said, since you have mentioned me specifically.

It could be a marketing disaster.

In most cases, it is a total marketing coup, nearly obviating the need for traditional markeing and PR. There are many examples to be found. Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s book Naked Conversations is a great book to read about many examples.

Why do companies have marketing & PR department to manage what the customer ’sees’ - removing this filter could be very harmful. Take, for example, a simple problem such as poor speeling and grammer *cough* and it would look instantly bad. Simple, but damning.

You’re mixing up two very important but separate points. As I mentioned above, blogging is marketing and PR. The new kind. The kind that doesn’t present a one-way false “image” (otherwise known as a lie–a harsh term, I know, but one that strips away any attempt to be euphemistic). Blogging is all about transparency, authenticity, and honesty. And that, along with excellent products/services, wins customers’ hearts (and walletes). In other words, if you suck, don’t blog. So don’t suck. Mediocrity is rampant and nobody wants read about it on a blog. As for spelling and grammar, slips now and then are part of the human message, not the corporate-speak legally-vetted message. Most people don’t mind as long as you can otherwise write reasonably well.

@Michael Martine - Perhaps your being slightly blinkered by the IT (and the web savvy) industry, remember that you should be thinking about Joe Public, who might not have a clue the ‘etiquette’ of a blog, and just see that as the outpouring from the still-faceless company.

Guilty as charged–except my Joe Public is growing in numbers and yours is dying off. Blogging done right is never seen as the “outpouring from the still-faceless company,” because it puts a face on it. Look at what Robert Scoble did for Microsoft.

Surely image is everything, no?

No. Squarely and firmly: No. Not anymore. Reputation is everything. They’re not the same thing–not by a long shot. Ask yourself which one blogging helps.

Thanks for responding to my comment and giving me an opportunity to clarify. :)

05/07-2006 | 17:54

GG Says:

Very good article and nice comments!

I can get an idea of what would a company website look like with a blog; and, of course, I believe that having a blog would definately bring an innovative outlook to a business.

The comments mainly focus on blog system and employees. What about business owners? I would definately start my own blog in my company website. It seems nonsense not to do so while internet’s effect on communication is huge.

06/07-2006 | 18:08

ideas man Says:

and then there’s me, spouting off business ideas all day long and nobody in my physical world pays attention.

i started this business blog to outvent my numerous business ideas, lots are crazy but some have merit and are revolutionary (though I don’t have the expertise maybe someone else does).

we’ll see? http://businessideahaystack.blogspot.com at least it’ll be worth a laugh (like the DQ machine)

24/07-2006 | 6:48

kane Says:

Very good site with a lot of useful information.

28/07-2006 | 16:32

Ragu Sivanmalai Says:

It is a nice article especially for the people like me who has put his baby steps in business blogging….good reasons to blog..happy to know

29/07-2006 | 16:41

Mary Says:

True. Well, business blogging is something that most people (most especially those who are just starting their own businesses) looked forward to. Business blogs are very helpful because mostly they speak about experience. And I think that experience in business counts more compared to any “book advice”.

31/07-2006 | 10:25

Ogbilikan Job Frederick Says:

Kindly want to be part of the system.

03/08-2006 | 18:29

Aaron Kassover Says:

Another reason: Your clients will read it. It’s a great chance to educate them, get them to spend a little more time on your site, or give them a reason to talk about you. These are all good things.

08/08-2006 | 2:11

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13/08-2006 | 15:23

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05/09-2006 | 0:04

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12/09-2006 | 5:59

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Great post… as a regular reader of your blog i must tell you that is almost as good as http://businesshackers.blogspot.com

12/09-2006 | 8:57

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15/09-2006 | 12:37

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14/11-2006 | 21:38

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16/11-2006 | 22:35

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07/12-2006 | 17:04

t1pt2p Says:

I found blogging trend is more or less boosted by monetizing demands. Many people finds their blogs as potential marketing tools and it has many supportive partners such as google adsense or affiliate programs. But I still have doubt whether this trend could stay longer or not.

27/01-2007 | 22:12

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30/01-2007 | 1:13

Liara Covert Says:

I believe blogging is as useful or as detrimental as you wish to believe it will be. If you’re an astute business owner or manager, you will be concerned with the overall approach to company marketing and promotions, yet you should also be results-oriented. If you have accurate insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your staff, then you will be in a position to devise win-win situations and have individuals contribute accordingly. All staff may not make appropriate full-time bloggers, but where a topic relates to an area of staff expertise, it would be in management’s interest to enable these particular staff to write in blogs. Sweeping generalisations of “its not good to use staff at all or its good to use all staff in company blogs” would likely be inappropriate. I encourage you to reflect and act in ways that raise the profile of your own companies.

15/02-2007 | 4:51

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20/02-2007 | 16:42

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30/03-2007 | 22:53

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07/04-2007 | 11:43

Ralf Skirr Says:

Thanks for the post. I’m forwarding this to all my client’s who say “what they heck do we need a blog for?”

09/05-2007 | 18:35

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14/05-2007 | 18:15

Jay Peterson Says:

Very well said. Actually my first thought while I was reading was…oh no. what if the employees rant and not rave about the company?…. but then michael is right. If you treat them well and pay them well..they reciprocate.

And regarding marketing and PR…and filtering what the company “sees”…everyone knows there is no truth in advertising. Besides, if one cannot rant on your page..they will rant somewhere else.

16/05-2007 | 20:00

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17/05-2007 | 19:17

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20/06-2007 | 4:17

resim Says:

i think business blog aren’t important still.
Because people doesn’t matter business blog according to 1 years ago.

25/06-2007 | 8:41

Oyun Says:

Hmmm best document great thanks

19/07-2007 | 21:57

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21/07-2007 | 17:27

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25/07-2007 | 17:55

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30/07-2007 | 17:40

BanginBecky Says:

I believe this may be the turning point for several large corporates

11/08-2007 | 23:38

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26/08-2007 | 6:42

Śmieszne filmy Says:

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08/09-2007 | 12:20

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17/09-2007 | 12:13

video izle Says:

You catch a great point here.I think blogging is the best way to keep the visitors informed.Its not only easy to establish,manage and maintain ; also very simple to follow and find what you look for.

02/10-2007 | 16:16

dizi izle Says:

I totaly agree with that , even the sector giants have the blogs on their websites. Blogging became a very good way of informing people about what goes on.I think new genaration of newsletter or sth.

17/10-2007 | 13:22

David Says:

Hi.Thanks for your post .Your article make great idea to me.Thanks.

17/10-2007 | 17:44

50th wedding anniversary gift Says:

I can still remember the first few days of my boss’ outsourcing firm. It all started with a WP blog. Then I came and spread the news about his blog. Surprisingly, the blog became famous and a lot of people visited it.

The point is, a blog has a lot of potentials. If you only know how to make it popular it will be one effective way to bring you more money.

29/10-2007 | 7:47

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29/11-2007 | 9:37

diziizle Says:

I believe this may be the turning point for several large corporates

31/01-2008 | 16:14

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29/02-2008 | 15:03

badari Says:

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11/04-2008 | 18:47

dizi izlet Says:

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28/04-2008 | 17:24