Harlan Editorial

I’m always on the lookout for great business blogs — ones that demonstrate the possibilities of blogging for a business. And I do see tremendous possibilities for small business marketing via blogs. Beyond just getting to know you, and that in itself is a huge blog benefit, customers and clients can begin to count on you for expert information. Or just the inside scoop. So, I trolled the Web a bit, seeking great business blogs.

I’m looking for those written by owners of retail shops, service businesses (plumbers, carpenters), professional firms (attorneys, physicians, consultants), and businesses I have not thought of. Maybe a hair salon, for instance, or an organic farmer. But I’m looking for those written not about the business of blogging but by the businesses themselves. Good ones.

I found this one, Cork Cellars, and it’s a friendly one and I found myself liking the proprietors, though there is a huge gap of non-blogging in there. But if I were near that Cork Cellars wine shop, I’d have a feed on that blog just to know what’s new and available too at my nearby store. Nothing beats a fine “Cab” on a cold winter’s eve. But back to the business at hand: blogging for business.

I’m still trolling, hoping to find terrific examples of small businesses — managers and owners – blogging successfully, preferable somewhat regularly, as well. They’re not as easy to find as I thought they’d be.

yours, Judith

Tags: Small Business, Small business blogging by Judith
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I just signed up for the upcoming global teleseminar, and in my books this is a Do-Not-Miss opportunity, a chance to tune in on leading marketing and career gurus  – all free — and it’s coming up fast: Nov. 8. . 

What am I talking about? If you’re asking then you have not yet heard: there’s an all-day global teleseminar on Nov.8; it’s sponsored by A Brand You World, and features marketing leaders such as David Meerman Scott (New Rules of Marketing & PR; See what he says about the event on his site), also Richard Nelson Bolles (What Color is Your Parachute), John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing), and, as they say at the carnival, So Much More! Come one, come all!

This is one of those free and valuable Web events. I’ll be there. Check it out. I’m betting there’s something there for all small business owners on marketing in this new Web world.

Tags: Free Advice, Marketing Blogs, Small Business, Small business blogging by Judith
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Connecting, engaging, listening.

I think these are my three big reasons to blog. I’m not sure they’re everyone’s, but they seem to resonate with me. Here’s how:

• Connecting with the community makes it easy for clients to find me, makes it easy for me, too, to find others in fields related to mine, to share knowledge and experiences. And by golly, I learn alot from these great blog colleagues!

• Engaging with the community — blogosphere as well as local business clients — pushes me to think further, past the generic to what works for each individual, to see that what’s working for me is not what might work for you, to combine and create. (That’s the sort of thing that keeps a writer’s brain engaged, too! And that’s always a good thing.)

• Listening helps me shape my business to meet your needs. That close listening led me to create a NON-blogging site for my client this month. Life lesson: Blogging’s not for everyone. Business lesson: Build for the client, not for yourself. And above all, listen. But back to blogging and listening: great place to tune in to you who email me and post here, as well as to lots of others blogging in the Web world. And who said, “listen and learn”? Probably mom, a wise wise woman.

Tags: Blogging, Small Business, Small business blogging by Judith
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Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Marketing Blogs, Small Business, Small business blogging by Judith
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Can you use a blog site without ever blogging? Using it as a Website instead? I’ve been asked this question by potential clients who do not want to blog but want to be able to make their own changes to their small business brochure sites. The answer is yes. Absolutely. You can use the software and it is mighty easy to use. That’s one of its greatest assets and what’s made it so ubiquitous in so many professions and fields of business.

Blog software, though, is not the only answer for small businesses. Other content management software might better serve a small business site. And some of it is free, too, just as the popular blog software is. So, if you’re thinking about building a quick blog to replace a static site, we may have a better answer for you. 

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Functionality, Small Business by Judith
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I was at a local meeting of the American Marketing Association (AMA) at lunch and was reminded of all of the links that bloggers create. The speaker, from LeverageSoftware.com, a company that sells online community software, talked about all of her Facebook, MyPlace, and blog connections.

I haven’t personally done a lot of Facebook or MyPlace, but I do have a LinkedIn account, and I was reminded that I had not visited it for some time. Been neglecting it. So I dropped in and I invited a few friends and colleagues to link to me (and me to them). That linking is a valuable part of this whole new Live Web. It plays into the blogging we’re doing. It’s the exciting part where I plug into your thoughts and you plug into mine. It’s that virtual clink, that LinkLinkLink we hear in the blogosphere.

Linking and connecting is the heartbeat of blogging for business.

Ultimately, the idea is to get way way beyond just shooting SEO keywords back and forth to optimize sites; ultimately, Live Web is about connecting and listening to each other’s comments.

Is that listening happening a lot? That’s something I’d like to know, something that will either make blogging a big part of my life and business, or not. IMHO, the jury’s still out on that one, but I’m rooting for success.

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, SEO, Small Business by Judith
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Great discussion going on the last couple of days on The Best and Worst Business Books. The list, posted by BNet, points to the 10 most overrated and 10 most underrated business books. I’ve read about half of the books, and I pretty much agree with the lists. I can’t help wondering why The Tipping Point is on the underrated list, though, since “tipping point” has entered the language mainstream as a result of the book. But I’m right with them on the Who Moved My Cheese book — who needs to read a whole book to get that point?

That aside, here’s an interesting exercise for anyone considering starting a business blog: check out David Meerman Scott’s blog and the comments that logged in under his posting. Then check out the Websites of the commenters. And you’ll catch just a glimmer of how a blog convo moves through the sphere.

Go ahead and jump in on the conversation, too. Here’s where your opinion as a business owner counts the most. Those books are aimed at us entrepreneurs, so go ahead and log in your thoughts.

And, ok, a few more opinions from me on those books: Next on my list is The Long Tail for more on niche marketing and then Nickel and Dimed, been meaning to read it since it came out. But I doubt if I’ll read the finance book for Dummies. Boy, am I ever sick of that series!

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Small Business by Judith
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Back to square one: what is a blog, anyway? 

A friend, who remains anonymous –  but you know who you are! — mentioned that she needed remedial blog training. She was laughing, but seriously so. Jumping into this fast-moving river can scare even the warrior women amongst us away.

So, I googled and surfed a bit and found a solid, fundamental explanation of blogging.

Here ya go: it’s Darrell Zahorsky’s section on Small businesses in about.com. Look to the side of the article, “What a Blog Can Do for Your Small Business,” for a link to the “Anatomy of a blog.” Good info there. Also, scroll down the main page for his samples of well-done business blogs.

And THAT is one of the wonders of the Internet and the blog community: sharing this wealth of knowledge so we can all get a running start before we jump into that river. 

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Small Business by Judith
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Widgets put the fun into the functionality of a blog. 

I’ve been having fun with my small business blog today. Widgets — all those cool things you see in the sidebars of blogs — are seemingly in endless and in endlessly new supply.

I added one, a tag cloud, which you’ll see at your right. It’s much more fun than a prioritized list of categories, I think. (I left the categories in on the left, though, just to help slake the thirst and need of the more buttoned-down client. There’s bandwidth for all on the Web!)

I’ll put the calendar back up tomorrow. That’s a widget that used to live where the tag cloud is today. I moved a few of the other widgets around, lowered the search bar and raised the blogroll. Other widgets I’ve been exploring that might be appealing to you include links, contacts, forms, videos, photos, weather, and so much more! I bet you can find a widget to do almost anything you want for that sidebar of yours.

It’s easy to add one, too. It’s a matter of downloading it, uploading it onto your host, and clicking it to activate. It’s that easy in my software, Wordpress, anyway. And I don’t think it’s a gamble to bet that it’s easy in other blog software products, too. Most of the software is designed with non-techies in mind. That’s one of the aspects that makes blogging so enticing for content producers and small business entrepreneurs; it’s an end-run around the need for a full-time techie to be involved in the day-to-day upload process. Saves the techie budget for the big stuff.

Tags: Blogging, Functionality, Small Business by Judith
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Small business blogs are conversations and relationship builders, part of social media. And that’s different from old millennium Websites. 

You’d think the toughest part of getting a blog up would be the software, the techie side. But that’s the easy part. And fun to puzzle out. (I realize I may be somewhat alone in this enjoyment of the techie world, but stay with me on this.) The hard part is rethinking what the Web is and can be. Blogs are not Websites.

Blogs are ever-changing.

Most small business Websites that I’ve seen are static presentations of the business — online brochures that include the mission statement, the product descriptions, the seminar listings, the contact information, and such things that would also go well in a hardcopy brochure. Mine still is. After all, we’re just trying to tell people what our businesses offer and customers can contact us to learn more.

Blogs are conversations, and blogs build relationships.

They’re two-way communication, and even if no one ever talks back to you, the place you have to come from on your blog is a place of open communication and informal conversation.

That idea of ‘open communication’ brings up a whole discussion of transparency and expectations in the world of social media (which includes blogs). We can get into that at a much later date, but for now, I’m focusing on the relationship aspect of my blog.While my Website is my formal presentation of my business, my blog is my personal contact with you. (Hi there; how’s it going?)

I get to know people and people get to know me on blogs. It would seem that since I’ve been a writer all of my life, this would be easy, but it’s a riskier position even for me. It’s more exposed, less protected by the formality of journalism or of a corporate persona.

And here’s a stop that I’ve already discovered. If you can’t open the window into your world and your business thoughts, then blogging’s not for you. I had to think this one through before I slapped my photo up on the Web and invited everyone in to watch, join me in my struggles, and learn with me as I build my small business blog.

But isn’t that how it is in non-Web relationships? We meet over lunch, chat about our latest business challenges and share insights. Sometimes I help pals wrestling with PR issues; other times pals help me in my battle with corporate accounting. And along the way, we build a web of relationships.

Tags: Blogging, Small Business by Judith
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