# Do Any of You Read/Write Blogs for Your Company



## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

I am the Director of Marketing for multiple companies in different industries. I write blogs for most of the companies. In one industry, there is already a thriving blogging community and the blog took off like wildfire. 

The blog I write about machine embroidery, however, can't seem to attract subscribers or comments. I think part of the problem is that I can't find a community of similar blogs to comment on and to which I can link. I'm just wondering if maybe this market, t-shirts, embroidery, screenprint, etc. isn't as blog oriented as some. 

Does anyone write a blog which gets a lot of traffic? Do any of you read blogs about the business and leave comments?


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## jjohnson (Feb 11, 2008)

Hey enMartian...I'm more like you I have blogs for different industries and personal stuff that do well but some of them haven't faired as well.. I know search engines love the blogs so I too was thinking of starting something for the tshirt business...I'm thinking of just incorporating a blog into my jbsoriginals site itself... maybe as an industry comentary thing to be more of a search engine attractor than anything else... be interesting to see what people write back on this thread.. I'm definitely interested like you


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

I do know from a search engine standpoint our blogs have been very successful. Our posts always register pretty high for targeted keywords, so I have no complaints there. I just can't seem to get a community built around the embroidery blog, which was the other reason why it was started. I'm just wondering if anyone else is having that problem.


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## jjohnson (Feb 11, 2008)

yeah, soorry...understood that one based on your post. See I would think participating in various related but not specific forums, like this one then linking back (through a sig or in a "legal" thread in the forum) would help promote participant traffic. Something I generally try to do in blogs that I want response to is have a friend or two make "fake" conversational posts with one another... sort of a kick start like putting a couple ones i the tip jar when you open the diner type thing... just an idea


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I have maintained a business blog, "Custom Embroidered Shirts, Hats & Apparel, hosted on Blogger for a year. I don't get any comments. Occasionally I'll search for similar blogs (commercial embroidery & screenprinting) to comment on but I haven't found much of anything. There's a few blogs on hand embroidery but not much else. I'd be interested in knowing about similar blogs so I could comment. It would be great if a list could be generated on this forum.


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

I started our business blog just before christmas. It took me until this month to get back to it and make regular posts. (things were busy) 

Our traffic is slow, but picking up steadily the last little while.

I havent found very many blogs in our fields. One or two, but I didnt enjoy reading them, and didnt find them helpful. 

I'd like to see your blog Kristine.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

This is the blog for EnMart. 

EnMart Embroidery Talk

I don't post as often as I would like. I think I would post more if I knew that people were reading and commenting. Customers do tell me they read and find it helpful, so that's good. 

I'm with Jennifer, it would be nice to see a list of blogs that center around the topic of machine embroidery. I would read and comment if I could find blogs that were relevant.


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

Thanks Kristine, I'll give it a look


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

Robin,

I stopped by your blog as well. I love the idea of the Cabin Fever day and you certainly got a nice mention about the event. Very cool! 

I'm sure I'll be stopping by again. 

Kristine


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

Thanks so much Kristine!! We were so excited about the mention we called everyone who we thought would care! lol Thanks so much for leaving a comment...your our first one!!

Stuff like that has really helped bring traffic to the blog. Mentioning folks we have done work for and adding their websites and contact info also really helps. Those customers love having that info there too. It helps push their businesses up in google searches.

Last week someone googled "big purple banner, hertel" and they got our blog...it was pretty cool. Obviously someone seen our banner, and wanted to know more about it. 

I stopped by yours last night, and it is going to be a wealth of information for me. We have been tossing around the idea of embrodiery for about a year now. Maybe we will go home with one from the next trade show.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

Robin,

No problem. You have a nice blog and it is always interesting to read about what other companies are doing. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the EmbroideryTalk blog and will find it useful. We're working to make it as informational as possible. I'm very lucky in that I have a lot of people with years of embroidery experience around me. Any questions I can't answer, they usually can. 

I hope you'll continue to stop by every once in a while. 

Kristine


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

Where can you find relevant information about starting and maintaining a blog? I am a english communications major business minor and am launching my t shirt biz late next month. 
I would love to have a blog about my business, its evolution, and charity and fund raising events we would be hosting. 
Also I am a big time online shirt buyer, and would like to start a blog about individual shirts I ordered from different companies. Seeing as I am most likely going to be a journalist, I think this would be excellent experience for me and would appreciate any advice or help.


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## Misery_Kitty (Mar 6, 2008)

there are many i am social on blogger.com and blogdrive.com but someone can recommend the big ones?? i haven't dived too much into that yet maybe a search on google for free blog and see the high ranking ones for you're use?? <--- hope this helps  good luck guys... cant help on the main thread though


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I think one of the best ways to find out about blogging is to spend time looking for blogs that you like and that are popular with other readers (number of comments). One I've heard about is: 

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

Although I haven't done this myself (lack of time) its best to host your own blog so you have total control and it should be easy to comment (don't have to use a password). I've hear wordpress.org is a good place to start.

As far as maintaining one most people agree that you should update at least once a week. As for material I often base topics on questions or situations that I've had from customers. As I'm talking with customers I'll get an idea for a topic & jot it down so when I have time to write I have plenty of topics. I'll write at unusal times like when I'm a passenger in a car or when I'm waiting in a long deli line - but that is my busy/crazy life.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Where can you find relevant information about starting and maintaining a blog?


Everything I've found I've done by doing various google searches. First I started with *how to start a blog*, then I read searched for *subject blog* (where _subject_ was the topic I was interested in).

There are lots of great articles out there about starting and maintaining blogs.

Here's a couple:

Seth's Blog: Just one post

Having a Blog Can Be Bad For Business

Having a Blog Can Help Your Business


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Thanks Rodney, those are great links


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