The Business of Business Blogging

I’ve been reading quite a few business and marketing blogs lately, and I really only have one thing to say about them.

I’m impressed.

OK, it would be a really short blog post if all I did was leave it there, and not explain why I’m excited over these weblogs.

I think that I can show you rather than tell you by linking to some of the most recent articles, and leaving it to you to visit and explore.

Keep in mind, as you visit these sites, that there are more great sites in the blog rolls of these authors.

On to the blogs.

You’d expect a business magazine like Business 2.0 to have a pretty good blog. They do. I thoroughly enjoyed a recent post on finding ways to listen to employees ideas.

But, it isn’t just business magazines that are blogging. There are many successful marketers and entrepreneurs who have been bitten by the blogging bug.

I found some great suggestions and reviews on books about commerce in Brand Autopsy’s Worthy Reads and Worthless Reads II. I find myself especially pleased that they’ve given Seth Godin’s most recent book a glowing review since I just purchased it as an audio book (with his book Purple Cow) and am slowing getting to listen to it.

Wayne Hurlbert always has some great ideas and suggestions on his Blog Business World, and his latest recommends taking a closer look at some Canadian blogs. There are some great posts on the far side of his link to the Carnival of the Canucks.

Angie McKaig reminds us that there are women in business, and has some suggestions for some great blogs from female business celebrities in business rock stars - the other gender. I wonder what a blog from HP’s Carly Fiorina would be like.

Businesspundit looks at the value of owning up to your mistakes.

Decent Marketing had me laughing in reaction to The Uniform Code of Characters, and the risk of using costumes in your marketing efforts.

I was thrilled to learn that Frank Patrick and his Focused Performance Weblog both come from the town where I went to High School. I haven’t looked around his personal blog yet to see if he writes about the area much, but I do like a lot of his business posts, like this one On Leverage.

Tracking trends is something that the Small Business Tends blog does well, and they take a look today at how Donald Trump tracks trends.

Ageless Marketing brushes off an Urban legend in a post titled Don’t Try to Make Every Customer Happy. I’m not sure that I agree with the conclusion. You may find yourself in that position after reading some posts on business blogs. I want to support staff, and not lose customers at the same time, unlike the CEO who is the focus of this particular post.

And in WonderBranding, Michele Miller takes a look at marketing to Women. I enjoyed her post on experiences at fitness clubs: A Race Against Time.

I’ve got all these sites book marked, and I’m following their bookmarks to find even more. If you like business books, make sure that you visit some of these business and marketing blogs.

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Comments

Comments on this post

I think it’s safe to say that business blogging is in a bit of a bull market. The number of high quality business blogs just keeps growing and growing. The demand for information, from companies adding a blogging element to their public relations, marketing, and customer service efforts will leap as well. Go blogs!

Comment by Wayne Hurlbert — June 4, 2004 @ 2:29 am
Agreed. I think it will be a lot of fun as more businesses adopt blogs to communicate with their customers.

I’m going through some blog rolls and making lots of bookmarks, reading some great stories and posts, and gathering some excellent ideas.

It’s at least as fun as leafing through the business books at the nearest big box book store, and even more comfortable.

Plus there’s the opportunity to leave comments at many of the sites, and ask questions, offer suggestions, and share ideas.

And posts like the most recent from Ageless Marketing on [URL=http://agelessmarketing.typepad.com/ageless_marketing/2004/06/tell_me_a_story.html]Telling a Story[/url] are more than worth the effort.

Comment by Bill — June 4, 2004 @ 6:40 am
You ended your post the suggestion of checking out biz blogs for ideas for good business books. Check out 800-CEO-READ blog. That is all we talk about. [URL=http://www.800ceoread.com/blog]http://www.800ceoread.com/blog[/url]

P.S. I might also suggest my blog: [URL=http://www.apennyfor.com]http://www.apennyfor.com[/url] It is one year old today!

Comment by Todd — June 8, 2004 @ 5:07 pm
Hi Todd,

Congratulations on your anniversary.

Thanks for the suggestion on 800ceoread.com. I now have a couple more blogs to check out on a regular basis.

It looks like I’ve go some reading to catch up on.

Comment by Bill — June 8, 2004 @ 8:48 pm
Great post. You listed some blogs I have not seen before.

I’ve tried something with my company’s blog at [URL=http://perceptionanalyzer.typepad.com]http://perceptionanalyzer.typepad.com[/url] - mixing product/service specific posts about what my company offers in with industry relevant posts on marketing, advertising, market research, etc. While I had hoped those occasional product/service posts would catch visitor’s interest, Todd at [URL=http://www.apennyfor.com]http://www.apennyfor.com[/url] helped me see that two separate blogs may be better so I can keep the more micro targeted posts elsewhere and not clutter or confuse the primary industry blog.

I tell this story because as business blogging continues to grow, this is a great time for businesses to be experimenting with different formats and approaches to learn about what works well and what can be done better.

Comment by David Paull — June 10, 2004 @ 10:58 am
Hi David!

I’ve been thinking a lot along the same lines that you have. While I like the idea of a company-related business blog, I’m beginning to believe that it should primarily be a conversation between the business and people who either are its customers, or who will become its customers.

I have a separate business blog that I initially started as a test site to see if I liked blogging about business, and to see if it might be a good addition to the company pages.

I’m finding that I can post about most business issues at the test site, but I only want to post on topics related to the business on the company page.

I also want to add thatI’m really happy with the way this post turned out. Thank you for your kind words about it.

I think I might make a survey of business and marketing sites a regular feature here - probably attempting to do it weekly.

Comment by Bill — June 11, 2004 @ 11:09 am
Bill,

Those are also very good points. What I like about my blog is the conversation (as you put it, and I agree) that I get to have with my customers and potential customers about business topics that are relevant to them (and me). They are also looking for deeper info regarding the products and services of mine that they may or may not yet use, but that may be better served with a separate blog as a dynamic extension of my web site where all my other product and service related info resides. I still need to implement that change and will be curious to see how it impacts who visits, how often and what they think about what I’m offering.

Comment by David Paull — June 11, 2004 @ 12:34 pm
Bill. I think there are so many great business related blogs on the internet, that you could make The Business of Business Blogging a regular feature. You are providing a wonderful service to the business blogging community.

Comment by Wayne Hurlbert — June 13, 2004 @ 4:39 am
David,

While I like the idea of two blogs, it’s a tough call. The only suggestion I think I can offer is to make sure that you have enough time to do both blogs justice if you decide to make that split.

Wayne,

We try to cover a fairly wide set of topics at the forum. And that flows over here, too. The nice thing for me about a survey type business post is that I end up with a place to put links to some of the business blog posts that I really enjoyed.

If it brings some traffic to some business blogs that might not have received it otherwise, then it’s a postive result for all involved.

I do like the idea of it as a regular feature. And maybe if I continue, we can get some of the business bloggers to post an occasional post over at the forums, too. I like that type of cross-pollination of ideas and influences.

Comment by Bill — June 13, 2004 @ 10:28 am
The use of a blog for business promotion is very exciting to me, the freely exchanged ideas and techniques are what make this great. I wish I had more than 24 hours a day lol

Comment by Tim Gilberg — June 21, 2004 @ 1:31 am
I wish I did too, Tim.

There are days and weeks where I sometimes feel like I’ve spread myself a little too thin. But, I love to read and write about topics like these. And sharing ideas with others is what makes this worth doing.

Comment by Bill Slawski — June 21, 2004 @ 5:07 pm