If you’re not familiar with Gord’s Out of My Gord blog (great name!) this is a great place to start. He is the savviest observer of the search world and this piece on the merger is the best thing I’ve read on the future of search and its importance to anyone involved in web business development.
SalesIntelligentsia.com is a new blog in our network with a focus on success in sales management using all of the incredible online marketing tools out there. We’ll be talking about lead generation, sales processes, recruitment, CRM, reviewing books and training courses, discussing scripts, motivation, prospecting, compensation and a lot more.
So if you’re involved in sales, sales management, business development or own your own business check it out.
From my climate change blog:
It is rare when my two fascinations, climate issues and Internet marketing, cross paths. However, according to Information Week, broadband usage is going to save the equivalent of 11% of our annual oil imports over the next decade:
” The pervasive use of broadband Internet connections and the tools and practices they enable could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 1 billion tons over the next decade, according to the American Consumer Institute. Widespread adoption of broadband in the United States alone would cut energy use by the equivalent of 11% of annual oil imports, the group says.”
As a telecommuter I can tell you that I’m driving far less than when I had a short seven mile commute to work. Given that average commutes in major metros are over 45 minutes each way or 40 miles a day, I can see how broadband makes a dent. Add in the huge savings as business travelers begin to use the really effective teleconferencing services that are starting to emerge and you’ll see big savings in both oil and emissions.
As gas prices rise, and public transport falls behind in its ability to serve increasing demand, alternative work arrangements will become the norm. I see things like temporary centrally-located office spaces being created for face to face meetings that are closer to home for all attendees. Hotels have served this purpose for years and will move even further into the business services sector. I live across the street from a hotel and it would be great if they provided a rental video conference suite for meetings. They may see it as a threat to their core business but it would be more than made up by selling us $7 a cup coffee and $12 croissants…
Good news for Internet businesses…
We are frequently involved in the creation and promotion of corporate blogs (this is our own version) and we are frequently asked about the value and potential issues associated with starting a business blog. We’re mixed in our answers because though we are ardent readers and writers of multiple blogs including many business blogs, it is our experience that they are not for everyone.
First, a blog must legitimately reflect the culture of the business or it will be considered little more than PR spam. This is a more complex statement than it may appear at first glance. Frankly, many business cultures don’t lend themselves to social marketing. If your company is secretive, in an extremely competitive sector, highly regulated or constrained by the need to ‘run everything through legal’, forget blogging. It is something that simply doesn’t work in a controlled environment. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that there is something wrong with your company if it fits these descriptions- there are many businesses that must safeguard their IP (intellectual property) to survive. That’s why we can love Fake Steve Jobs’ blog but will never have a Real Steve blog. Apple’s market advantage is based on a strategy of surprising the market and their competitors with new technological benchmarks.
A successful business blog requires a charismatic author or authors and they must be empowered to speak freely and frankly. This is a huge stumbling block for most would-be business blogs. Blogging takes a lot of time and effort and most companies won’t get the value equivalent to taking the time of a key employee and directing it towards a blog. The best scenario to beat this obstacle is to have several key employees who enjoy communicating and get them to each post weekly or bi-weekly. This keeps a steady flow of fresh content (more on that in a minute). One employee with writing skills should be assigned as editor and should vet the others’ contributions for errors, inaccuracy, grammar, etc. The rule here is that nothing goes live on the blog without two pairs of eyes checking it out.
Some businesses just don’t have a lot to write about, or so it may seem. A constant stream of good, relevant and fresh content is critical to building an audience for the blog. The easiest way to determine if you’re going to have things of interest to write about is to start by defining a category list like the one in the category cloud in our right column. If you have enough interesting categories then you probably have enough to write about.
One important secret is to not limit the subject matter to strictly business-related subjects. A primary purpose of social marketing, including blogging, is to put a face to the company and to enter a community of like-minded people. For example, we’re planning a blog for the CEO of an electronics parts sourcing company. He travels extensively checking out manufacturers in Asia and visiting customers all over the world. He takes a lot of pictures in the process. We suspect that his readers and customers will be as interested in his travel experiences, pictures and tales of strange businesses in exotic locations as they might be in business info. So we’re reflecting his personal experiences and linking to Flickr galleries of his photos as we plan the blog.
What is the purpose of a business blog? Besides the examples noted above, there is an overriding purpose: When people ask what Supernatural Agency does, we don’t simply direct them to our homepage, we recommend they read the blog to get a feel for the way we think and work. It helps them understand what drives us to be Internet marketers and domain developers.