You have probably heard about
blogs in the news, you may have even read a few blogs, but you
may not know that blogs are becoming a very useful business
resource. First, we need a definition: a blog (short for weblog)
is just an easily updated web site where entries are typically
displayed in reverse chronological order. There are blogs about
every conceivable topic you can imagine; reportedly there are
more than 70 million blogs in existence, and some of these can
be very useful for your business.
I try and read blogs every day. I
subscribe to about 30 business blogs that I consider a major
part of my ongoing business education. Of course, I don’t read
every word they all publish, and when I am busy I might only get
a few minutes to peruse the headlines. But I try and make it a
habit every morning to spend some time checking out the latest
business news from the blogosphere.
Now, I know
most of you are in small businesses. So this article will
profile five blogs that are most helpful for small business.
These are the blogs that I read first, the blogs I consider the
most beneficial for the small business person. This article will
also mention some industry specific blogs and how to research
them, and finally I will explain the best ways to organize your
blog reading.
1.
Seth Godin’s Blog
Seth Godin is one of the great business thinkers of our time. He
has written 10 books on business and marketing including the
best-sellers, Permission Marketing, Unleashing the IdeaVirus and
Purple Cow. I consider Seth to be the Peter Drucker of the 21st
century – he has the ability to dissect complex business topics,
and not only explain them, but tell you how they should be
applied to your business. If you could only choose one blog to
read, I think this should be the one. Spend a couple of minutes
every day reading Seth’s blog and you will learn more practical
information than you get in most business schools.
2.
Duct Tape
Marketing
John Jantsch is the author of this very popular small business
marketing blog (with around 66,000 subscribers). The focus here
is on practical marketing tips, and Jantsch introduces new
business tools and ideas on a regular basis. We all know the
business world is changing fast, particularly when it comes to
marketing and technology, and Jantsch will help you navigate
this new world by separating the really useful tools from the
gimmicks.
3.
Small Business
Connection
This blog is part of the USA Today newspaper’s collection of
blogs. It is authored by one of their small business reporters,
Jim Hopkins, and he comments on news from a small business
perspective. He is quick to report on any Census Bureau data on
small business and reports on all kinds of surveys and studies.
This is a very useful blog for anyone running a small business
or considering doing so.
4.
Small Business Trends
Anita Campbell
is the author of this popular small business blog with almost
50,000 readers. As you can imagine, this blog is focused on
exploring the trends that are impacting small business. Campbell
often interviews industry experts including such heavy hitters
as the head of the Small Business Administration. But most posts
discuss trends that impact the day-to-day running of a small
business.
5.
The Next Net
This blog is
from Erick Schonfeld, the editor of Business 2.0 magazine and
its tag line is "the latest ideas in business, technology and
creative capitalism." Again the focus here is on how business is
being conducted differently today with an emphasis on new
technology. What I like most about this blog is that it keeps me
up to date with the rapidly changing world of technology. But it
is not just about technology, it is about how it impacts the
running of your business.
Specialty
Business Blogs
Whatever niche
your business occupies, there are probably numerous blogs that
you can read to help keep you up to date. You might find a
vendor or a competitor’s blog, or a blog from an industry
expert. To find blogs within your industry just go to Google and
type in your industry and then blog, such as "candle making
blog". Alternatively you could use the blog search engine,
Technorati (www.technorati.com). I was able to find blogs within
these very different industries with just a few minutes
research:
Candle and Soap
Making
candleandsoap.about.com
candlemaking.craftgossip.com
www.soap-wire.com
Wine Making
www.vinography.com
windrivercellars.blogspot.com
fermentation.typepad.com
Promotional
Products
www.farfromboring.com/promotional-blog
blog.epromos.com
www.ppiblog.com
Blog Readers
Rather than
visit all these blogs individually to check out the latest
content, you can gather all your favorite blogs in the one place
in what is called an RSS Reader. There are several free readers
available, including one that comes with the latest version of
Microsoft Outlook. Also Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2.0 both
have free readers.
I used to use
Bloglines and I still
think that is a good free product. Today, I use
Google’s RSS Reader
mainly because I have a
customized Google homepage (called iGoogle) and the RSS
Reader interfaces nicely there. When I go to my Google homepage
I see a summary of the latest blog entries.
So how do you
subscribe to a blog? It is actually quite simple. The key is to
look for this orange symbol. If you see this symbol it means
that you can subscribe to this page through an RSS Reader. By
clicking on it you can follow the instructions to bring the feed
into your reader. You might also see buttons on a blog that say
"+ Add to Google", "+ My Yahoo", or "+ Bloglines". These allow
you to subscribe in one easy step. But you can always subscribe
to any blog by clicking on the orange symbol.
One last point
I want to make about blogs is that they are not a one way
medium. Most blogs provide the ability to post comments. With a
popular blog, whole conversations can be created from one
posting. It is also a great way to get your name out there,
possibly even generating new business.
Now, there is
one blog I haven’t mentioned, and I hope you will allow this
shameless self-promotion, the
Lightning Labels blog.
It is the longest running blog in the label industry – I have
been updating it once or twice a week since early 2006. It is
aimed at people like you – buyers of custom labels and stickers
– covering a range of topics such as label design, digital
printing and personalization, color and the basics of label
printing.
There is a
small subsection of the blogosphere that is completely focused
on business. I encourage you to read some of the blogs I have
mentioned here or find some blogs more relevant to you that you
enjoy reading. And if you ever have any questions about blogs
please let me know and I will be happy to help you. Enjoy
exploring this new 21st century medium.
