This New Year’s trade press is full of the rise and merits of business blogs and advice on blogging. We present a summary.

According to e-consultancy’s interview with Anil Dash, of Six Apart fame (the company behind popular blog platforms Movable Type, Vox and TypePad), blogging has by no means peaked and we haven’t seen any thing yet. Blogging will be a component of most corporate future websites. There is ENOURMOUS growth still in business blogging.

Dash says that blogs are a solution for SMEs as ‘it’s the most cost-effective method of maintaining a relationship with important audiences like customers, potential customers, partners, or employees.’ Complementing other web tools, blogs provide interactivity for web users. A solution to how SMEs can engage with their customers – blogs could be manna from heaven?

For effective blogs, Anil Dash wants SMEs to address the following:

1. Metrics: As the audiences for each blog are different it is difficult to apply a standard metric to measure success. You can’t compare number of hits if you only allow the 10 people in your team to read the internal blog.

2. SEO: To be found by search engines, the content must be compelling, well-presented, intelligently-linked and used by its audience. Avoid splogging by hosting with a good neighbourhood in the blogosphere.

3. Contribution Policy: Provide a communications policy for contributor employees to become the company’s public spokespeople so that they reflect the company positively and take responsibility for what is said.

4. Regularity of Contributions: Technorati defines a blog as "active" if it’s been updated in the last three months. Dash says the standards for activity range from 30 to 90 days but even this isn’t applied across the board. Some blogs have a finite life span; e.g. for the lifetime of an event and are not updated. Avoid having a policy about how often to update a blog as this ‘doesn’t take into account the nuances of human conversation’. Blogs need to be updated as appropriate for conversation. Set appropriate expectations and be guided by your audience.

We’d like to add two elements to Dash’s wisdom:
1. Monitoring. Someone needs to check that the conversation is ongoing and has not been abandoned. We assume that where Dash wants people to take responsibility for what they say, he also wants them to make sure they say things regularly enough!
2. An ‘exit strategy’. Essential so that your audience isn’t left stranded, with a ‘bad taste’ in their mouth as they visit an out-of-date blog with no where to go. This can be as simple as a final post explaining that the blog’s usefulness has ended, the cause was won etc, and if you want more info … follow this link that leads them to the info/next cause/event etc. Blogs, like sites, shouldn’t have dead ends/links.

January’s Management Today’s ten way’s to create a great website saves the best until last:
“10. Get users involved on blogs and forums.”
Blogs (and forums) are the only component/feature they highlight in their list.

In February’s Revolution, John Gaffney focuses on the content of blogging. He’d like corporate blogs to be more focused on content and leave advertising to its own job and avoid spaming blogs with propaganda. He’s calling for the transparency that Web 2.0 promises. Blogs should not be adverts. Whoever briefs and writes the content holds the key to an SME’s blogging success.

Adverts, blog, blogging, Contribution Policy, corporate blog, e consultancy, Exit Strategy, management today, Metrics, Monitoring, Regularity of Contributions, Revolution, SEO, six apart, SME