# Does a blog help?



## Salty (Nov 20, 2006)

I have a blog on my site (in englisch and dutch) and on some of the post there I have 7 to 8 comments. I think it helps to personalize my small brand. Visitors can get to know the owner of the site a little bit. 
Do you have any experience on how a blog can help you with your sales or the branding of your company?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I think it can be a great way to get people coming back to your site to see what's new. It can also help to give those visitors who care, a little insight into the "people" behind the company. 

Here's a good article about it:
http://www.grokdotcom.com/topics/businessblogs.htm


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

If it's a good blog I can see it helping, but I think companies need to be weary of thinking of it as a magic bullet. For a while there they were fashionable, and every man and his dog was adding a poorly written _boring_ blog - I think that could definitely harm a business a lot more than help.

If it's basically just a series of press releases and marketing masquerading as a blog I tend to groan _oh no, not another one_, but if it's genuinely about the company and offers some insight they can be interesting.


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## Ross B (Apr 28, 2006)

I was going to embark on a detailed explanation of why blogs are now essential to any web-based business (having a website only is no longer close to adequate - you've GOTTA have that blog), but the article accessible via the link you posted, Rodney, does the job perfectly. 

Having acknowledged the importance of blogs, I agree, as Solmu opines, that not just any old thing will do. It is important that a blog be an individual expression, but if you don't have the writing or presentation skills, get help. A dull or poorly presented blog is not worth the effort, because your average reader is going to move on within seconds if they think they're going to labour with your blog. All this also applies to websites, of course. 

The web is a place where folk demand instant gratification, and if you can't give it to them, you're gonna sink into the great sludge of unread sites and remain there in unhappy obscurity until you get it right. Hard fact.


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

Does anyone have any recommendations where to start a blog at? Advantages/Disadvantages. I have one at myspace but wondered if it going to be found there? Will search engines pick it up?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

JoshEllsworth said:


> Does anyone have any recommendations where to start a blog at?


Personally I'm in favour of running it on your own server. Wordpress is good and what I'm experienced with, but there is other very good blog software out there also (such as Movable Type).

Some of the online sites (e.g. Blogspot, Wordpress, etc.) are pretty good, but I think having it on your own server looks a little more professional and gives you more control. The others aren't _bad_, but I think the whole package just looks that much more polished if it's on your own site.

(Wordpress offers both stand alone software, and hosts blogs on their site, if the above was at all confusing)



JoshEllsworth said:


> I have one at myspace but wondered if it going to be found there? Will search engines pick it up?


I know search engines crawl MySpace because I've seen pages there come up in my search results. More than that I couldn't say.


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

In a nutshell a blog is just fresh ever changing content for a website and the links it attracts. I agree that it can be good for search engines etc like many other aspects of building websites. I dont like the fact that search engines and Google in particular are effectively changing how things are created to cater to an algorythums needs or wants. I like flash when well done and video and creative sites, but a google bot doesnt so we all steer away from interesting site building and play blogging. I think maybe a good rants and raves page is interesting but is it any more interesting than anyone elses bs. Am I gonna talk about the excitement of placing a fullside graphic on a car or the inner workings of a Roland 24" cutter....probably not but hey its content and google says content is king. Look folks...I'm blogging!!!!!


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

MotoskinGraphix said:


> I think maybe a good rants and raves page is interesting but is it any more interesting than anyone elses bs. Am I gonna talk about the excitement of placing a fullside graphic on a car or the inner workings of a Roland 24" cutter....probably not but hey its content and google says content is king. Look folks...I'm blogging!!!!!


Why not blog about that stuff? There might be a lot of people who are interested in the process of applying car graphics.  Anything you are interested in, there's bound to be someone else who is just as enthusiastic about it. Heck, I have absolutely no interest in car graphics, but if it was a really well-written post (with pictures), I would probably read it.



Solmu said:


> Personally I'm in favour of running it on your own server. Wordpress is good and what I'm experienced with, but there is other very good blog software out there also (such as Movable Type).


I agree. Running it on your own server looks much more professional, and gives your customers a chance to stay on your site just a little longer. Just beware of using blogging platforms like clearblogs.com, which SEEMS like a good solution until you realize that it opens on your page in a frame. Ick.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Does anyone have any recommendations where to start a blog at? Advantages/Disadvantages. I have one at myspace but wondered if it going to be found there? Will search engines pick it up?


I don't think search engines will pick up the myspace blog. If you don't want to install one on your server, you could try www.wordpress.COM where they have a free hosted solution.

Some big companies use blogger.com and typepad.com (cafepress uses typepad)

If you were going to install one on your server, I would probably recommend wordpress.ORG.


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## Salty (Nov 20, 2006)

Thank you for the great insights.
I think the best way to run a blog is to put it on your own server and incorporate it in your own site. Looks much more pro. 

A blog is a great way of showing your new designs and ask visitors for feedback. I also use it to talk about what is going on in my life, all related to SaltwaterMonkey of course. 

We developed the blog by ourselves. I recommend you don't do this but use typepad or wordpress instead.

Here is great site on how to run a corporate blog. http://www.businessblogconsulting.com/

A Dutch site tried to put all the Dutch corporate blogs in a list. Now my blog is next to the blog of the CEO of Deloitte, hehe.


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## PGCC (Oct 10, 2006)

I posted something along these lines a couple weeks back, I think its super important even if its just to be able to read what you have done , or your goals that you have met, its great... we have one thats private, I'm going to go post an entry now...


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

JoshEllsworth said:


> Does anyone have any recommendations where to start a blog at? Advantages/Disadvantages. I have one at myspace but wondered if it going to be found there? Will search engines pick it up?


As mentioned, if you want to run one (not nearly as important as Ross says IMO, but could be useful), running it off your own server is probably best.

If you want to run it off of another service instead, I'd suggest trying anything EXCEPT Myspace. Their blog service is really poor (not that I really think anything ELSE they offer is worth using either, but...) compared to Xanga, Blogger, etc.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Twinge said:


> compared to Xanga, Blogger, etc.


As a business you don't really want to associate yourself with a provider like Xanga. It gives you all the image problems of being on Myspace without the cool/convenient factor that Myspace has in its favour.


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## Ross B (Apr 28, 2006)

Absolutely agree with Solmu on that (strewth - what's happening?!). If you're going to run a blog, link it to your website, which I assume has a paid host. 

Twinge, I don't know what you are basing your opinion on re blogs not being very important. Talk to anyone who specialises in SEO and see what they say! It's not my opinion I was expressing - just passing on what I have learnt recently from experts in the field who are making more bucks from their web businesses than I had dreamt of, and know a lot more than I am ever likely to. These are the sorts of folk I think it pays to listen to, and listen good!


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## jonnygNYC (Sep 29, 2006)

Just a thought - if your t-shirts have a certain subject matter (e.g. cars, politics, music, etc) you could always start a blog about one of those topics.. Use it to subtly advertise your t-shirts. I guess this way you would not have to actually talk about making t-shirts or graphics - because non-graphic people may find it boring (as was previously stated). 

For example, my t-shirts seem to be more and more politically driven, and therefore I am building a blog about politics, - hopefully I can get rights to news feeds, etc.. All designed to drive traffic.. News and Politics are also something I am interested in, so its a good mix. (even if at first I am not rolling in the doe)

Now I just have to figure out a way to install wordpress on my server.. Don't think it will be too much of a problem (cross fingers).


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Just a thought - if your t-shirts have a certain subject matter (e.g. cars, politics, music, etc) you could always start a blog about one of those topics.. Use it to subtly advertise your t-shirts. I guess this way you would not have to actually talk about making t-shirts or graphics - because non-graphic people may find it boring (as was previously stated)


Very good idea there


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

jonnygNYC said:


> Now I just have to figure out a way to install wordpress on my server.. Don't think it will be too much of a problem (cross fingers).


If your webhost has cpanel it might be in the one click installs. It's an insanely easy install if so (and I imagine pretty easy anyway).


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Solmu said:


> As a business you don't really want to associate yourself with a provider like Xanga. It gives you all the image problems of being on Myspace without the cool/convenient factor that Myspace has in its favour.


Oh? I actually haven't heard much in the way of negative for Xanga. It's not perfect by any means, but it's reasonable. What's the buzz that I somehow completely missed?

Myspace, on the other hand, is easily on a level of it's own as far as poor design goes. Myspace practically enocurages people to make pages that simultaneously offend a visitor's eyes and ears  Still have no idea why it's so popular, gah.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Twinge said:


> Oh? I actually haven't heard much in the way of negative for Xanga. It's not perfect by any means, but it's reasonable. What's the buzz that I somehow completely missed?


Nothing new, just the same stuff as MySpace: the same demographics use it, and it has the same poor reputation for poorly designed websites by whining kids. Just like LiveJournal and MySpace there are plenty of other people using the site, but just like LJ and MySpace they get painted with the same brush.

Ultimately I think part of the problem is that sites like MySpace, LiveJournal, Xanga, etc. are about community - so when you put your site there you associate yourself with a lot of people you wouldn't normally choose to associate a business with. Things like the kudos/eProps, etc. systems don't help.

A site like Typepad on the other hand allows you to have a blog, take comments, etc. but without really being negatively associated with anyone else.


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## RasterMaster (Dec 3, 2006)

Possibly an interesting "twist" to using a blog to promote your store, is to create a blog about something that you are extremely interested in, do a t-shirt design that is related to a popular post, and cross-link them.

Example: I created a blog about "Extreme Technology" (something that I am extremely interested in), and posted an article about Man-Made Diamonds. The news aggregators picked up on it and I had 30,000 hits in one day.

I then did a design titled "Yes, They're Real!" (Man-Made Diamonds), and linked it to the article.

The advantages of creating a blog about something you love, are that writing the articles will be more fun than work, they will probably be better written and researched, and they will come across as being informational and sincere (as opposed to being promotional).

Hope this helps,
Don


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

Well, after everyones recommendations, I ended up doing mine through wordpress, however I was able to do it through my own domain name. I am gradually getting away from the original one that I had on myspace, which I think is a good thing. The load times on myspace seem to be ridiculously slow. So far, I am extremely happy with wordpress, however I am still learning



Twinge said:


> As mentioned, if you want to run one (not nearly as important as Ross says IMO, but could be useful), running it off your own server is probably best.
> 
> If you want to run it off of another service instead, I'd suggest trying anything EXCEPT Myspace. Their blog service is really poor (not that I really think anything ELSE they offer is worth using either, but...) compared to Xanga, Blogger, etc.


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## Ross B (Apr 28, 2006)

Good on you, Josh! Hope your new blog brings in heaps of traffic and response.

I'm about to start one linked to my perthpunk site, also, but my areas of comment will range far and wide, so not sure how appropriate it will be to link it to my website. Really, just experimenting at the moment. 

I'm also using WordPress, by the way (seems to get a universally good wrap). 

Whatever, best of blogging luck to ya!


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Solmu said:


> Nothing new, just the same stuff as MySpace: the same demographics use it, and it has the same poor reputation for poorly designed websites by whining kids. Just like LiveJournal and MySpace there are plenty of other people using the site, but just like LJ and MySpace they get painted with the same brush.
> 
> Ultimately I think part of the problem is that sites like MySpace, LiveJournal, Xanga, etc. are about community - so when you put your site there you associate yourself with a lot of people you wouldn't normally choose to associate a business with. Things like the kudos/eProps, etc. systems don't help.
> 
> A site like Typepad on the other hand allows you to have a blog, take comments, etc. but without really being negatively associated with anyone else.


Oh indeed, I'm not saying a business site shouldn't be on it's own environment and done up with worpress/whatever. I was just curious as to what, ah, stereotypes I've missed, so to speak. There are certainly horrible Xanga pages too, moreso than LJ I'd say, which had more than Blogger - but I'm of the opinion that Myspace all but encourages you to make a site that... should have never, ever happened  I think part of it is their whole 'everything on one gigantor page' approach.



JoshEllsworth said:


> Well, after everyones recommendations, I ended up doing mine through wordpress, however I was able to do it through my own domain name. I am gradually getting away from the original one that I had on myspace, which I think is a good thing. The load times on myspace seem to be ridiculously slow. So far, I am extremely happy with wordpress, however I am still learning


Success! The enemy is in dissaray!


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Twinge said:


> There are certainly horrible Xanga pages too, moreso than LJ I'd say, which had more than Blogger - but I'm of the opinion that Myspace all but encourages you to make a site that... should have never, ever happened


MySpace is definitely a thing of its own. It's like GeoCities and Tripod returned from the dead and teamed up... and they're ANGRY!

It's a shame, because it could actually be a really useful site if people took it seriously.


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

Solmu said:


> MySpace is definitely a thing of its own. It's like GeoCities and Tripod returned from the dead and teamed up... and they're ANGRY!
> 
> It's a shame, because it could actually be a really useful site if people took it seriously.


It's true. I actually think this will be the ultimate undoing of Myspace. That and too much spam.

There are a lot of social networking sites starting out now, trying to be "like Myspace, except our site looks good and it works".


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## LaMamaHen (Jul 31, 2006)

I love this thread.

I started a blog recently, separate from my web site, and focused it on something other than my company, but somewhat linked. (My niche is Spanish-speakers and my blog is about raising a bilingual kid in a very non-bilingual area of the country.)

My experience is that the keywords that have brought people to the site are amazing -- things I never would have imagined. 

It has not meant a huge jump in sales, but I can really see how writing very targeted entries could mean an increase in visits to the retail site, and possibly sales.

I did put a note about the business on the blog, and I did include a link. Haven't linked the business to the blog.

At the moment, I am just enjoying the freedom a blog gives to write whatever, whenever.

And I pray not to be boring.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Sounds like you're doing it exactly right, Carrie! Sounds like an interesting blog topic as well


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## mylkhead (Dec 6, 2006)

We have seen lots of success and sales as a result of our blog. But the trick is to post valuable content. Which we never really saw success until we started writing our tutorials. People want to read those. 

Most business who run a blog, usually start off by posting decent articles, but then end up rarely posting. And when they do post, it's just an update or a news post about their business. Which is worthless to your readers.

We don't update our blog very often, maybe once a month. But when we do, we post well written and thought out articles that our customers could benefit from. It costs nothing and can build trust and interest in your brand.


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## seibei (Mar 17, 2006)

I've found that having a blog helps - it's helped me build a personal relationship with some of my customers, as well as get feedback on works in progress. Also, it's fun for me to have an outlet. 

I use WordPress, and it's fantastic, though my web developer set it up for me.


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## SantaA (Jan 3, 2007)

Blogs help a lot but can be pretty time consuming. The best thing is do something like Rodney and start a community like this one here. But to get such a community going takes a lot of effort and forums or other kinds of communities exist for nearly everything already.


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