How Does Your Blog Relate to Your Business

Chris,

Yes, my blog is a key component of my marketing for my business. As a marketing mentor & consultant, it is one of the ways that I can develop my personal brand and attract those who want to work with me and vice versa. Also, writing for the blog regularly helps me keep learning and refining my knowledge while broadening its reach. Writing briefly and concisely about a topic helps me better understand it. Then I can translate the information more effectively for my clients.

As a student, I don't have a "business" per se - at this point. I plan to launch a company soon in an attempt tie together everything that I do online. That said, I think there are other implications for my blog and my future business.

I believe that it is incredibly important for students to blog, write, and do anything else to get their name out there. If not for enjoyment, though that really helps your content and motivation, then student should blog for the very purpose of having your name come up correctly and show the "right" kind of message when a recruiter Googles you.

My issue in the near term is how to tie my podcast and my blog together into a single entity. Is that possible when trying to get build your personal brand? Or are they too different?

I have a blended blog ... part-business, part personal. And even the business side of it tends to be on the personal end. Of course, I have a few spots to blog to and should probably consider starting up one blog that is focused just on the business aspects of my life.

My current and primary-most blog gives me an opportunity to reflect on business, media, the world and life in general. I tend to report on the more personal and performative projects I work on there, but also touch upon thoughts regarding web design, user experience issues and considerations, general business-like observations, networking and social media, events, etcetera.

Here are some titles of my LiveJournal posts from the last bunch of months, just to give you a sampling of the high-level topics typically covered in my blog:

..:: my first steps into social media + web design in general ::..
little report from 'out there' ::..
twitter twitter tweet tweet ::..
Miami Vice + Pulp Fiction ::..
What is your leadership style? | A LinkedIn Answers response ::..
no love for Network Solutions ::..
crack ::..
The 48 Hour Boston Film Project ::..
email to ticketmaster ::..
Plaxo Survey Answer ::..
back to life ::..
in trouble in paradise :::...
The Good Day Guy :::...
The Failure Support Group :::...
randoM notes :::...
inspiratioN ::: ...
the lessons we learn ::: ...
a Q that didn't make it ::: ...
Common Cappuccino Espresso Internet Cafe
recent thoughts ::: ...

looking at all the ..:: :.. ::: ... stuff it would seem I'm also sending out some sort of larger-scope patternistic morse code cry for eHelp or something ;] ... right? not so, just some vague notion to design titles, headers an' all that ...

tak

Keeps the content fresh on my business site, forces me to keep writing (practice as I'm a writer), and keeps me connected with others -- including potential clients.

Hi Chris,

It does and it doesn't, is the short answer.

As a writer my blog serves primarily as a very public outlet for my writing. In so far as it provides a readily accessible and constantly up-to-date sample of my writing to prospective clients, it does relate to my business. But in terms of content it's very open ended. That lack of focus is both a blessing and a curse -- it demonstrates versatility as a writer, but also makes it more difficult to establish relevance and authority in any given area, both for humans and search engines, I guess.

C'est la vie!

I do plan to launch a more business focussed blog to support our photo wedding invitation business (http://www.imageinvitations.com -- site needs LOTS of work), and that will certainly focus on more "on-topic" content.

At the moment though, I'm in the same boat as you: time is in short supple(isn't it always), so the wedding invite blog is on the back burner, along with about a zillion other projects.

All the best.

Calvin!

As a young academic, I started my weblog as showcase for my writing--as a way to refine class assignments into something that could be shared with a general readership. As such, I have received invitations to publish my work based on the traffic I drew to my blog. I saw it as a value to cultivate my skills as a public intellectual, finding ways to translate my ideas into a more citizenly discourse that speaks across disciplinary boundaries and communicates with a diverse audience.
Ultimately, I see it as my business to blog. It permits me to circulate my and others' research findings more broadly and to respond to contemporary issues in a thoughtful and timely manner.

I use my blog for a couple reasons related to my "day job." My blog talks about generational marketing and communications. I would say I kind of use it as a self-promotion tool. The job I have is a marketing director for an organization that is very focused on this topic. My blog doesn't refer to my organization, because it's not about that, it's about my personal thoughts.

I also blog because I'm a writer and I'm obsessed with this subject (generational marketing) and blogging gives me an opportunity to express these things with 100% control over them.

I started out my career 15 years ago as a journalist. I found at that time that it was very frustrating that you were always dependent on someone else to get published or get on the air. The net has brought back my love of writing and broadcasting, too, because it brought the control back to me.

Chris, My blog helps me think through marketing strategies I use with clients. I tend not to use it for personal stuf a la many of the folks I follow on twitter. - ahg3

I'm in the business of helping entrepreneurs get their online shopping carts (1ShoppingCart/Marketers Choice) and email marketing systems set up.

My main website is http://www.shoppingcartqueen.com and my blog is at http://www.shoppingcartqueen.com/blog

my blog helps people find me, and I help teach them how the shopping cart system works.

So my blog is another way for people to learn more about what I do. I view blogging as a way for people to read online what I'm sending out via email. But sometimes I blog and don't broadcast to email and vice versa.

I love the interaction you get with blogs, as you are doing here !

Cheers,
Christina Hills
'The Shopping Cart Queen'

Chris - this is a subject I've been thinking about a bit. Not just blogging either, but your entire social media identity. For some people, such as yourself, your "professional" social identity IS your "personal" social identity. For others, they're completely separate.

What drives the divergence between the two identities? I write about it here: http://tinyurl.com/6fuy9j

My blog isn't so much marketing as ongoing communication. Most of my collectors find me offline and my blog (and other sites) are a way for them to keep up with me. So it's more of an insight to my working practices and announcements about upcoming news or events. For me galleries are my main outlets so I'm not in the loop much during the selling process, I get little interaction with my actual buyers. So online is a way to remedy that missing link. I hope!

Another result of the blog comes from sharing the practical issues in business with other artists (which so far my collectors have also said they enjoy). This has helped me really branch out and meet different makers and have a bigger networking circle to discuss things with about the business-side of our artwork.

Hi Chris!

It was great meeting you at SOBCon08 this past weekend! Your presentation rocked and the concepts you shared has me re-thinking a number of things. I digress...

My blog allows me the freedom to share,teach and inspire others to see old ideas in a new light. I get to process ideas I've been thinking about for years or hash out new ones. I like the fluidity of it.

Does it relate to my business? Yes and no.

Yes, in that I share ideas about my craft as a filmmaker of almost 25 years.

No, in that it's not about my company. It's about how I help people understand the power of personal video stories within a larger context...organizations.

Helping people is at the center of what I do. Blogging is an indispensable tool in achieving that goal. Hard to imagine life without blogging, right?

I blog very rarely for my work. As a government employee the boundaries are still unclear.
Chief Executives I follow seem to blog occasionally on business and personal together, but most appear to find it hard. Personally I prefer them when they have one blog, as it makes them seem more human.
Blogging appeals to people who think they can help others ; it means that everyone can "write a book" now. We don't need publishers.
I just wish the corporate and government world would give everyone a connection, and a piece of kit so all the world could blog.
John Lennon / Paul McCartney sang " I'd like to teach the world to sing " ; we need Bono / Sting to " teach the world to blog "

I have decided to commit to blogging. I am launching the blog to share and refine my professional brand.

My blog is directly related to what I do as a video producer. It's a reflection. I try to tackle the "big picture" which has a tendency to get lost in the forest of day to day production. Sitting down to write a blog post really makes me focus on the issue at hand. It helps me avoid lazy "group think."

Hey Chris,

My blog is called Off On A Tangent. It was started back in November of 2000 when I was on a consulting contract at the Boston Phoenix.

I started it to share and research the interesting things we talked about at lunch.

Over time it's turned into a blog about things I find interesting about news, pop culture and technology. I also point to things I'm involved in and media I create.

That's a long was of saying that my blog is about me. Anyone I do business with is entering into a relationship with me and my blog is a reflection of who I am.

One more thing. In the past I've used my blog as a link blog. Now those links end up on twitter, and I'm taking the time to write longer posts on the blog.

141 character blog posts. :-)

Off On A Tangent
http://offonatangent.blogspot.com

I think of this blog as being crafted by hand, with choice selections.

I've also go a tumbler blog that combines many of my blogs into one feed.

Tumblr
http://stevegarfield.tumblr.com/

I think FriendFeed is an indication of where this is all headed.

You put your content out there on the best platform and then aggregate it in one or more views you want to share.

Friendfeed
http://friendfeed.com/stevegarfield

--Steve

Hi Chris,

Interesting question, I used to have a blended blog, part business and part personal. Last year when we rebuilt the website at the film institute we 'corporatised' some blogs. Blogging became part of my worklife rather than something we did on top of our official worklife.

It's been challenging, I had more comments on my personal blog, more community. Strangely the Institute's web site seems more official.

It's also harder, trivial posts seem frivilous on an offical work blog, but means we lose some of our personality.

I mainly use the blog for thinking, often a series of posts will become a more official 'article' for the organsiations print magazine or an online article.

@chris - In the PR business, blogging can be used for a number of things. One valuable application, and this harkens back to your "Get to Know Me" blog post, is to build relationships with bloggers. Linking back to posts, leaving comments, etc. are all great was to open up the lines of communication. Other uses include fleshing out undeveloped thoughts, commenting on industry observations and general 'best-practices' entries. Of course, there is always a little self-promotion in there, as well. You can never stop marketing yourself.

My blog (and social networking activities pointing to it) has been my sole source of freelance income -- I get contacted there, I have clients peeking through there to get a sense of my skills, and it's the heart of my personal brand. Which sounds icky, but you know what I mean.

My blog is an extension of my personal brand. I'm not sure what that's doing right now because I am a full time employee, but I'm sure that it will come in handy down the road.

My blog is an offshoot of my business. I am a web designer and a soapmaker. There is a need for biz info in the soapmaking community and I attempt to fill that need via my blog. It's still very new, but doing well so far.

1) It's my front porch, where people can come over and visit.

2) It's where I burn off excess energy -- which helps keep me better focused when I'm writing.

3) Blogging helps me to write for my audience better.

I agree along the lines of what Steve Garfield said.
I started writing a blog around 1999 or 2000, and it was a combination of business and a journal of what I was up to. These days there are many more business-oriented posts, as well as aggregated twitter updates.
The posts feed content for my monthly newsletter, get me writing assignments for magazines, and let me have discussions around issues with clients.
As the principal of my own consulting firm, the blog pushes me and my brand forward.

As a student, i try to use my blog for presenting my research, but often I m not using it, because I am not sure to what extent this could be of interest and during the last month I was writing papers like hell, but all in German and normally i m blogging in English.
Second there are some people in my department warning me to publish "unpublished" information in the internet.
So i m not using my blog as I could for my business/research, which is a pity. But very often it is simply time related.
I m looking forward to the outcomes of this discussion.

Blogging IS my business essentially. As a content developer for a large portfolio of media blogs my primary bUmp blog is a place for me to share my experiences, give advice, and solicit input from what I'd like to consider my co-workers... other full-time writers like myself. It's also a place to organize all of my web projects and put them on display in the form of case studies covering different blogging techniques, optimization efforts and monetization tactics. I treat each media blog like a science project and my bUmp blog is much like my lab journal.

Yes. Keeps my customer base updated and fresh on ideas on organizing, life-balance, stress and time management, where I'm at and what I'm doing. Also connected to monthly ezine.

I have yet to make myself get the affiliate links in though. Just writing the blog is easy, the linking and time it takes has not come easy - not my strength!

Great blog today Chris!!

Twitterer - Kim

Hi Chris, great question! I started a series on my real estate marketing blog a few weeks ago teaching my subscribers how to "pimp" their blogs.

Not only did this generate a ton of feedback & comments but... the teaching format was a great way to showcase my graphic design work which has brought in a ton of new biz.

I'll be applying this concept/method to my new blog as well.

My blog IS my business. If I would have known that my business would improve this much, I would have started years ago. Of course I've had to tweak my writing and posts to my audience and see the analytics to change to what people are searching and looking for in my market place. But I absolutely love this new found aspect of our real estate business. (and when I say "new" it's been 2 years already)

I publish my blog details on my business cards, that allows people who I exchange cards with to know more about me and my style. I believe my blog has played a large part on self marketing.

Actually, my blog has worked quite well for my business. It has served a couple of functions:

1. It brings new clients! Every so often, I get a prospect that say "I was reading your blog...."

2. It provides clients with knowledge of who I am. Prospects can read my blog to find out about the company and myself - by personalizing my business I differentiate myself from other "less personal" companies.

It has worked well enough that I now have a second blog... :-)

I saw that most automotive blogs were either too boring, or just weak attempts at trying to sell cars to people via a poorly organized blog post.

First, I wanted an auto blog that didn't bore people. A touch of humor & honesty hopefully creates the transparency needed...online car shoppers need resources. We ty to provide them with a place to visit, grab some new info quickly and hopefully leave a strong impression.

Second, I didn't want it to be too techy or filled with industry jargon & TLA's. Just basic stuff that makes sense to everyone.

Lastly, the goal was to convert additional traffic to our main site; so far so good...

Chris, to your question I ask "Which one?" I maintain 3 fairly active blogs, including my personal blog. I try to keep business out of my personal blog but the other two are business focused. http://www.hyperconnectivity.com is focused on a global strategic view of unified communications and telepresence. I use this as a vehicle to stay on top of those topics and reference or flesh out various high level ideas from clients/friends/self. http://www.networkworld.com/community/lewis is fairly technical but it also reaches a larger audience. It's a great way to interact with folks in the same industry, share ideas and work through technical problems together. I use both to drive business to my firm and come up with new ideas on how people are using various emerging technologies.

My personal blog, http://blog.spikethis.net is filled with random thoughts throughout the day. Some technical, mostly not and is followed mostly by friends or people I've met "along the way".

My Blog was launched to precede the launch of my online community. It's a business blog that gives an insider's view to how and why I built my company. This way, everyone's in on it. I knew I would do this, photographing lots of milestones along the way.

My blog is a personal reflection of my SavvyAuntie.com brand at Blog.SavvyAuntie.com

Hi Chris

I have a business blog that I use for opinion, lead generation, demonstrate SEO etc.

I have other blogs as well; a personal one for my adventure races plus a running club annual race blog to keep competitors up to date with what is happening.

Peter

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