The Business of Blogging - Part 1: An Intro to Blogs

As blogging continues to hit the mainstream, business owners are left wondering how blogs fit into their businesses. While some businesses still struggle with putting up a traditional Web site, other companies, organizations and individuals are taking advantage of blogging technology and launching and updating sites with ease.

What is a blog? A blog is essentially a Web site with some particular features. First, a blog is a Web site that has some commonly accepted formats and layouts. Second, a blog can be created easily and often for free using Web-based blog publishing tools that facilitate online publishing without requiring any HTML (hypertext markup language) programming skills.

The formats and layouts of most blogs are fairly consistent. A key format feature of a blog is that the content consists of entries or posts that are date and time stamped and are listed down the home page in chronological order. Older content is automatically stored and organized into archives that can appear as links down one side of the blog. Archives can be divided by day, week or month and accessed quickly through links corresponding to a specific timeframe.

Standard layouts of blogs often consist of columns with the most common blog layouts featuring two or three columns. The content of the blog is contained in the wider column with navigation links, links to other sites and advertisements contained in the narrower columns. With two column layouts, the narrow column can be positioned either on the left or right side of the page. With a three column layout, usually the wider content column appears down the center of the page with narrower columns on either side.

Because blogs are just Web sites with some specialized features and standardized layouts, designing a site becomes less of a confusing, time consuming process. The real time and money-saver, however, is blog technology.

Blog hosts are companies that offer - for free or a reasonable fee - not only hosting services for a blog but also easy-to-use Web-based tools and templates to publish a blog. Some blog hosts such as Blogger.com, a company owned by Google, boast on their Web site that you can create a blog through their free service in only a few minutes. 

Other popular blog hosts include LiveJournal.com, Xanga.com, Mindsay.com and AOL.com. While most of the publishing tools and hosting services are offered for free, some may place advertising on a blog as a revenue generator for the host. Other companies may also offer a premium service with additional features for a small monthly or annual fee. The blog host TypePad (www.typepad.com) only offers a 30-day free trial then requires an annual subscription ranging from $50 to $150 per year, however, the publishing tools are more sophisticated and flexible than some of the free services.

Still wondering what a blog is? One national company that has embraced the blogosphere - the term used for the millions of blogs online - is Denali Flavors, Inc., makers of Moose Tracks (r) icecream. Their main blog is Denali Flavors (www.denaliflavors.com) that covers behind-the-scenes information about the company including business issues as well as new product and marketing ideas.

Team Moosetracks (www.teammoosetracks.com) is a blog written by the unofficial captain of the company's bicycle team that is raising money to help orphans in the former Soviet Union; Moosetopia (www.moosetopia.com) is the only blog written by a moose (the company's mascot); and Free Money Finance (www.freemoneyfinance.com) is features free finance tips to help people increase their net worth and in line with the Denali company mission.

Why might a company like Denali build blogs? Blogs can help them raise brand awareness, community their corporate or marketing message, serve their customers or potential customers, and serve their community and the world at large. Blogs can even be used to entertain, attracting an audience and following that can translate into brand loyalty and sale.

The state of Pennsylvania (www.VisitPA.com.) was the first state to use blogs as a direct-to-consumer tourism marketing tactic. Their online campaign enlists real people who are road tripping across Pennsylvania to share their adventures through blogs, digital photography and video on the state's tourism office Web site. The state is tapping into the power of blogs for grassroots marketing by providing authentic voices on their blog instead of carefully crafted marketing messages.

Tune in next month to find out specific ways your business or organization can use blogs for communications, marketing, brand building, and sales.