Web Business Marketing Blog

That’s the question of this blog. Do not answer it yet. You may be intrigued by blogs, but they may not be very suitable for your organization. Or you may consider them vanity publishing, yet they offer a promising new channel to be exploited.

So what are blogs? A blog is a series of short articles, displayed in reverse chronological order, that is frequently updated, and to which readers can react. The community of bloggers and their blogs form the ‘blogosphere’, a culture that is increasingly influencing the information flow and organization on the internet.

As part of this group, you may already be considering to start a blog for your organization. Here are some of the possible rationales:

1. Interact with users, talking to them rather than at them. This allows you to collect valuable feedback
2. Build up a regular readership. Integrating a blog into your organisation’s website promotes recurring visits
3. Position your organization as an opinion leader in its field
4. Change public opinion. Especially in times of negative attention, blogs can be used as a public relations tool
5. Reference source for information and expertise
6. The possibility of ‘really simple syndication’, making any portion of your content stream available to others, through e-mail subscription or for viewing in a newsreader

Therefore, we invite you in this group to think about the versatility of blogs as an extension of e-mail, an alternative/complement to corporate magazines/newsletters, a message board/forum, a news service or a knowledge management system. Blogs offer an informal and forgiving way of communication, but beware of some pitfalls (more about this later).

In this group, you can expect information about b2blogging, its do’s and don’ts, integration with other marketing communications, case studies, technical solutions, promotion tools and other subjects as we move along on this venture. Looking forward to your participation!

Best Regards,

Hans De Keulenaer