(businessandblogging.com) Business Blogwire is one of several blogs that I have found to be informative and helpful as I’ve begun to follow the evolution of business blogging. Easton Ellsworth, who writes at Business Blogwire, has an excellent eye for what business bloggers need to know. I learn something every time I read a post.
I recently caught up with Easton and asked him if he would be willing to share a few thoughts with the Business and Blogging readers.
Why do you think that so many businesses don’t blog when it’s relatively inexpensive to set a blog up?
Fear rooted in ignorance. A lot of businesses know very little about blogs beyond what they get from mainstream media, which tend to emphasize the negative characteristics blogs can have - comment spam, erroneous information, lack of editorial control, fickle readership, useless content -or that blogging as an activity can have - aimless posting, over-socializing, overspending, etc.
I think the number one fears for small businesses are that blogging will take time but not make money, and that nobody will care or like what the business has to say via a blog.
What one piece of advice would you give to a business owner that wanted to start a blog for his or her business?
Listen to people. Ask people what they would like you to talk about. Ask people what they think. Find out what customers and others are saying about your business and respond on your blog. If your blog does nothing else, let
it demonstrate to the world that you listen to people.
Tell us a little bit about the Ultimate Blog Review Guide project going on over at Business BlogWire.
It’s gotten bigger. I originally wanted to put together an extremely detailed 200-point guide to evaluating blogs. Now I’m thinking on a larger scale and the result will be announced soon. For now, I’ll keep plugging through the post series. If anyone would like to be a part of the end result, please leave a comment at this post or over at my blog and I’ll be glad to clue them in!
What’s the biggest mistake that a corporate blogger could make?
Lying on the blog. Or maybe not listening. As long as you’re honest and try to listen and respond to what people say and want, you should avoid most catastrophes.
Where do you see business blogging going in the next year? In the next five years?
Evolving, expanding and maturing at an accelerating pace. Over the next 5 years, many more businesses will start blogs and use them alongside Facebook, LinkedIN, YouTube, Twitter and a host of other sharing/networking services to engage with and influence their customers. 2008 will see several major business news stories broken via company blogs. We’ll also see a variety of exciting new tools for business blogs that will launch this year.
Is there anything else about business blogging that you’d like to tell the readers of Business and Blogging?
Surprisingly, not many blogs focus on business/corporate blogging. Far more tackle the topic of personal professional blogging - making money for yourself with blogs. So there is a ton of stuff that needs to studied and evaluated. I urge you to get out there and join the relatively small but growing conversation about company blogs.
I want to thank Easton for taking the time to answer my questions.
Now, I’d like to hear from you. How would you have answered these questions?
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