Reason 4 to Ignore Blogs

4. Only teens use blogs and they aren't my customers.

I'd like to introduce you to Bob. Bob fits in the age range of 30-39 years old. He's college educated. Has an Executive role at work. Makes over $60,000 a year. Uses the web regularly on the job. And guess what? He's not only the number one blog demographic but he also see's a blog as his soap-box and your heaven or hell.

If he loves you he will tell the world through his blog or your's if you have one. He will sing your praises. If you've crossed him, he'll let the world know it in spades. He could ride you out of town on a rail. If you have a blog you might just be able to tell your side of the story and try to win public opinion back to your favor. Blog-less? Bob gains a voice regardless of whether he's right or wrong and you as a business are powerless to do anything about it.

The good new is that there are many more "evangelists" out there than vigilantes. So, if you can engage then through relevant, informal blog dialog and show them you care/listening, you could have a customer for life.

Tune in next time for Reason #5 to Ignore Blogs...

Reason 3 to Ignore Blogs

3. You love spending lot's of money to get more business.

Some people really like all the attention and perks that come from spending lot's of money to advertise. Radio and TV stations give away tickets and trips as perks to big advertisers. Me? I'd rather keep the money and pay for my own trip. The money I save, I can re-invest into more intelligent ways (like a blog) to get out and stay out in front of customers and potential customers.

Let's do a comparison shall we?
Blog: spend about $500 tops to have my message broadcast to millions of people 24 hours a day. 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. Change my message as often as I want without additional design or technical costs. Get immediate feedback from customers that I can use to generate sales, solve a problem, or just chuckle at. People can spend as much time as they want on my blog and come back as often as they want.

Radio/TV: spend up to $10,000 (or more) to produce the spot. Spend about $5,000 minimum to have the spot run in one market for the agreed upon target demographic (usually a few days), that may hit a few thousand potential customers. If I want to make changes, I need to make another spot. If I wanted to run in other markets or more than a few days, I might need to take a second mortgage. Oh yes, and if you miss my 15 or 30 or 60 second spot, too bad for me. Maybe you'll be around the next time it runs. If you're not listening to your iPod or Satellite radio.

Check back for Reason #4...

Reason 2 to Ignore Blogs

2. You already have a website.

A website and a blog are actually two completely separate tools. A website kills conversation. It says, “here’s the info, take it or leave it”. A traditional website is rarely updated. Why? Because updates are expensive, costly, and take what seems like an entire department (sometimes two) to get done. Websites involve bureaucracy and are built to "sell". They are about the company, the "collective".

A blog on the other hand allows discussion and networking. It puts a face on a company and enables "real time" marketing since you can update and change a blog anytime, anywhere, even by anyone with a correct user name and password. A blog is about the people behind the company. Since blog software was built for non-technical people, it's small and streamlined. As easy as creating or changing a Word document.

One of our clients had a limited budget. He knew he needed a website but was not quite ready for a WONDER site yet. We were able to set him up with an inexpensive and flexible website for his current needs and a blog which allowed him to upload before and after pictures of his company's work with a few clicks of a button. The blog also enabled him to get feedback from his customers without all the extra programming needed on a regular website.

The results: the website ended up being the perfect place to "sell" new customers on his business. The blog became the place that his regular customers went for new project ideas, ask questions, and handle basic customer service concerns.

To visit our client's website, click here http://jtpaints.blogspot.com

Tune in next time for Reason #3.

Reason 1 to Ignore Blogs

1. Not everyone knows what they are.

That's right, and I bet you are glad you didn't waste money investing in that fledgling little company called Microsoft when they went public years ago. Or, remember back in the 90's when websites were the "new" thing? Everyone said they were just a phase. Not really needed.

Pretty amazing that the web has now taken over as the main place people go for travel information. Putting the Travel Agent Business on the endangered species list. Kind of like what blog's are starting to do to email or direct mail.

Here's just a small list of companies that have already started blogging:Apple, General Motors, Google, GreenPeace, Republican National Party, Democratic National Party, CNN, NASA, Microsoft, and about 86,400 other people each day

According to the latest Pew Internet & American Life Survey:
* 11% of net users have read blogs or 12 million American adults
* 2-7% have created blogs (2.4 – 8.4M blogs) 2005: One new blog created just about every second, every day (86,400 seconds in a day)
* Blog readership was up 58% in 2004 (27% of all Internet users)
* 12% of Internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs

Tune in next time for reason #2.

Who's blogging these days?

How about female teens?

According to Nielsen/NetRatings traffic to image hosting Web sites has skyrocketed due to the massive rise in blogging activity seen since the beginning of this year. As a category, image hosting sites have grown 406 percent to more than 14.7 million unique users since January 2005, accounting for nearly 10 percent of active U.S. Internet users.

In July 2005, 20 percent of active Web users, or 29.3 million people, accessed blogging or blog-related Web sites, growing 31 percent since the beginning of the year.

Female teens between the ages of 12 to 17 years indexed the highest out of the age groups broken down by gender. Females between 12 to 17 years were two and a half times more likely to visit an image hosting site than the average site audience, followed by males in the same age group. Why? Web journals or blogs are a great way to get to know people.

It probably does not hurt that this year major sites like Google launched free picture-sharing. I think teens are the best demo for this technology since they have more time to experiment with it and are more open to new technology options.

What do you think?

5 Reasons to Ignore Blogs

Blog. Even the word sounds unappealing. So, why would any self-respecting business want one?

Well, humbug, over the next few posts I'll take a look at 5 reasons why NOT to invest time and money into a blog, including:
1. Not everyone knows what they are.
2. You already have a website.
3. You love spendng lot's of money to get more business.
4. Only Teens use Blogs
5. Ignoring blogs can't hurt you.

Blogs Go Mainstream

Did you know America Online just decided to purchase Weblogs for $25 million?

It's the latest example of the if-you-can't-beat-em-join-em attitude that traditional media has started to swallow.

It's obvious that the newfound interest in blogs is fueled by the strong online ad market, which has given companies an incentive to keep users on their sites for as long as possible, even if that means making deals with lots of small niche sites.

But, this trend makes me wonder about the delicate balance between mainstream media and user-generated content. Will blogs and other consumer-generated sites still retain their character when they're no longer independent, but instead part of the media machine they once spurned?

Is RSS for you?

If RSS is so great, why doesn't everyone use it?

Well, the average computer user may not realize the few simple basics to RSS.
1. The Reader. Before you can start subscribing to your favorite RSS feed, you need a reader. That means you'll have to download an RSS reader or find a Web-based one.

2. The button. Ever notice those orange "RSS" buttons (sometimes marked "XML")? They identify a RSS feed on that website. If you click on it, then copy and paste the URL into your RSS reader, you will then be able to get the feed and download the articles.

Unfortunately, RSS use is still relatively low. Most people who use the technology don't even realize they're using it. Don't let that stop you though, RSS technology is extremely useful for consumers, publishers, and advertisers alike, all for the same reason--it's constantly updated, so consumers get the content all day, every day, without having to keep going back to a Web site.

What's going down the pike for this technology? Google's making it simple for most people by using a Web-based RSS reader that doesn't mention XML, Atom, nor even RSS--it simply is about subscribing to "feeds." Internet Explorer 7, when it's released will have RSS built in. And more and more sites are integrating RSS and subscription buttons prominently into their site design.

The Power of RSS

It's means power to me.

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is so tied to blog's that I'd like to spend a minute on it. I was talking to a client the other day about the feeds I subscribe to. He was amazed the technology existed. Even more so when I said it was already integrated into his blog.

For me, RSS has taken the place of what used to be several hours' worth of Web surfing in an average week. It condensed my routine of a few dozen marketing and web trade sites (up to two hours), into a process that takes anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour. Even better is that it is so easy to use and free.

The content is delivered to me the minute my favorite site updates their content. I control how and when it comes, even what it looks like. The technology manages everything else.

My list of RSS feeds is constantly evolving. I recently added the Dilbert comic strip so I could find the ones I usually miss during the week. I categorize and re-categorize feeds, refine them and create new ones (usually based on search terms I'd like to keep tabs on). And, of course, I'm always subscribing to new and interesting feeds while deleting the ones that have fallen out of favor or never do updates.

In case you are wondering if this sounds a bit like email. It's not. Email is something you just can't control. After all, once spammers and unscrupulous marketers latched on to an e-mail address, it's pretty much impossible to get rid of them. With RSS, you can unsubscribe immediately and never receive anything from that feed again. Now that's power.