I came across this article on The Daily Herald today which caught my interest as its title was “Blogging is good business – if you have something to say.” Indeed, I was thinking to myself, this is so true. There are so many blogs out there – business and otherwise – that do not really seem to have something to say. There is no central theme or idea to the whole blog and this somehow takes away from the essence of the blog. This topic is somehow related to the last post – being focused when it comes to the theme of your business blog.

The columnist, Jim Kendall points out that the blogging fervor has somewhat died down these days. I would beg to disagree as it seems that more and more people are getting into blogging. However, it might be more accurate to state that the focus seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way.

Business blogs are more specific in their nature and objectives than personal blogs. That is why it is important that you, as a business blogger, determine what you want to convey to your readers; readers who might be existing customers or potential customers. The obvious point here is that if you run a business, your blog will be about your products or services.

However, there are probably countless other business blogs out there who are dealing with the same topic. So why should readers choose your blog over their blogs? Here is where your innovativeness comes in. You should be able to offer more – in different aspects. Your products and services should be cutting edge. More than this, you have to share your own insights – this is what will truly set you apart from other similar business blogs. In the end, if you have something to say, there will always be people who will want to read it.

What is knowledge management? It is the control and dissemination of information relevant to an entity with regard to the people within the entity. So if you are running a business – no matter how big or small – knowledge management is making sure that the right people have the right information at the right time.

How important is this? Imagine a scenario wherein your customer service representatives have different information from the current SOP of the company. What is going to happen if a customer asks them for help? It is bound to be a disaster.

There are different ways by which a business entity can manage knowledge and information within the ranks. One easy and cost effective way is through blogging. Now I am talking about internal company blogs as opposed to the business blogs that we normally talk about, which are open to the public.

Take for example, a situation wherein a new query from a customer arises. No one has handled such a query before. The representative who takes care of the situation can resolve it and document the process in the blog, making it easily retrievable by other employees who may need the information in the future.

More so, internal blog posts can serve as an interactive tool for employees. They can exchange thoughts and ideas regarding various issues and concerns. It opens up a venue for problem solving wherein limitless ideas can be exchanged.

Of course, you would have to instill some sort of control regarding posts as things might get out of hand. Still, this is easily implemented and the advantages far outweigh the potential risk.

Image from: MITRE

Small businesses can learn a lot from the big players in the business world. If you need more proof of how a business blog can help your own enterprise, read on to find out how Cisco Systems did it – and is doing it – blog-wise.

Let’s go back to when it all started, in 2006, when Cisco was caught in the middle of a PR disaster. They were being accused of messing around with their routers in order to pacify the Chinese government. Instead of using the traditional means of getting out information, they turned to the blogosphere to get their side of the story out. It all started there and now, Cisco’s blog network has expanded to way beyond the original plan.

So what can we learn from Cisco’s experience?

Think long term.
In life, short cuts do not always work. Success in blogging takes time. You cannot expect changes to occur overnight. Neither can you expect the results you are looking for in a short amount of time. You have to be prepared to spend time and effort on building up your blog.

Get your people involved.
Do not severely limit your people from participating in your blog. In Cisco, most anyone can blog. They merely have to apply to write for the blog. There is a blog team which then looks through the applications. Having more than one person blogging provides more input and also prevents a single employee from burning out. Cisco bloggers also need to follow a policy set by the company regarding blogging.

Make the blog part of company communication.
Remember Cisco suing Apple? They discussed the issue strongly and actively in their blogs. By doing so, they were able to get their side of the story out in the mainstream. In fact, using the key phrase “Cisco sues Apple,” their blog came out as the second search result in Google during that time.

Image from: Tech Shout

It is somewhat ironic that after contextual advertising took off giving businesses an alternative to the traditional way of advertising (renting ad space from websites) it was then that businesses, both large and small, came to realize the power of blogs in advertising and thus became more willing to rent ad space. The difference this time though is that advertisers have become more picky in the websites and blogs they choose to “rent ad space” from.

Renting ad space is really profitable. However, not all blogs will be able to really profit from this scheme. To be able to make a profit after all you need to be able to attract advertisers and prove to them that the space you are offering them will be worth the money they fork out. To be able to do this your blog must be/have:

• Really popular. Big companies (meaning big bucks) will only sponsor blogs that have high volume of traffic. This means that if your blog is really new and you’re still building readership then you’d better forget about this for the moment.
• Updated regularly and frequently. Advertisers want a constant stream of traffic for more ad exposure. While you might have tons of readers, if you only post once a week then your regular readers will only be visiting that frequently as well. Advertisers prefer blogs that are updated daily.
• A very good reputation. Some blogs may be popular but if they’re popular for all the wrong reasons then most advertisers will shy away from being linked to that blog. After all, your blog’s reputation will reflect on theirs.
• A solid theme. Businesses with the same target audience as you will be the ones attracted to your site. Without a solid theme your blog will not be as attractive since the ads might not be as effective.

The other day I was talking to an Italian guy who works for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. He works in the I.T. department and pretty soon he was telling me all about his latest pet project. I couldn’t help but notice how proud and excited he was of this endeavor – he just completed setting up a blog for the company. Naturally, that caught my interest and prodded him for more information.

One of the main things that stuck to my mind is the idea that a blog can humanize a corporation. That I.T. guy was saying that for companies as big as theirs, the consumers don’t even have the barest clue of the people behind the scenes. For us customers, all we see are the products themselves and advertisements on TV or magazines perhaps. As such, the corporation is a mere abstract idea in the minds of people – there is rarely any person associated with it.

He continued on to say that with their new blog, they are putting on a new spin to customer relations. The way he set up the company blog was for different people from within the company to contribute to the blog. In this way, there is freedom of expression. Their target is to reach out to customers so that they can see that there are real people working behind the scenes to deliver the products that they use.

I couldn’t help but agree with this guy. His arguments made sense – show the customers real people behind the scenes and they will be able to relate to the company more.

John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing has an interesting post on the real competition that small businesses face - perception:

One of the most critical marketing chores your small business has is to find something that makes you unique, something that a market values, something that no one else offers and make it your defining marketing element.

He has a great point. Making your business stand out from all of the rest is the most important thing you can do. That’s why a business with a wonderful product can fail, while a business with an inferior product and a great marketing angle can do well.

If the thought of forming a corporation is overwhelming, but you are concerned about protecting some of your personal assets, you may want to start a limited liability company, affectionately known as a LLC. (When I first looked into starting a LLC, I called my state government to find out what I needed to do and made the mistake of calling it a limited liability corporation. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Apparently, it really upsets some people. The woman I was talking to literally yelled “No!? into the phone. It took me a minute to figure out that her loud response was to the use of the word corporation.)

A LLC requires very little paperwork and, with a bit of patience, you can file it yourself. However, as with anything that has any legal ramifications, you should take a minute to call your lawyer to be sure this is the right thing for you and your business. Most LLC’s can be formed cheaply, but don’t forget to find out about the cost of maintaining the company. In Maryland, you will need to pay three times the amount of your filing fee each year to keep your LLC active. I’d say it’s a good idea to ask for a breakdown of what you will need to pay to establish the company and what fees are required next year so you don’t end up with any nasty surprises.

If you file your own taxes, you’ll really appreciate one benefit of the LLC each April - you can still file as a sole proprietorship using form 1065. Just don’t forget to make your quarterly tax payments, too.

Insurance Ensures Protection

Before you make a final decision, you should be aware that an LLC does not protect you from personal injury lawsuits. If someone falls on the banana peel you tossed by the trash can, they can sue you personally. To protect your property, you should take out business liability insurance.

With nothing but war and combat on their minds, it is only fitting that the US soldiers should be looked after with care especially on the mental aspect of things. It is not surprising to note that most of the soldiers are being attacked mentally as well, seeing nothing but blood and mass destruction in their war plagued countries to which they were assigned.

Barack Obama has observed such a breach in the efforts to uphold the overall well-being of these soldiers and has vouched for such aid in an effort to help the US troops to enjoy some mental benefits rather than spending them on ammunition and other necessary things in line with the impending war in Iraq and Baghdad.

“We cannot expect our young men and women to serve in our armed forces, if we are not making sure they get the treatment they deserve,” Barack Obama, Obama: Improve mental health care

After all the disputes that included Congress and the Democratic front, all seems to be a circus of delaying the spending bill for the Iraq war. The bill was finally passed and approved and will be signed by Bush after months of ill-advised finger pointing and bickering that were obviously for no good reason or intent.

A lot of jousting and question were raised and with regards for the hope being wooed by the families of the casualties of war, it seems like a hopeless case. The war will go on and further lives will surely be claimed. It is just so sad since after all the debate done, it seems everything was just a means of delaying tactics and the issue being used as a campaign tool for presidential candidates on the upcoming elections. For Bush, he gets his wish. Hopefully it would be the right one and for the best of the United States.

Anywhere we go, the rampant growth of terrorist issues has obviously been a cause for alarm and much has been connected to most of the recent events. The United States, the acclaimed world leader, has been the hardest hit by the standing issue. A lot has to do with the so called belief that the US is invincible, making it in its inhabitants sitting targets by countries craving for power. Of course we all know that among these countries include that of Iran and Iraq.

The war on terror has not been restricted towards armies and democratic fronts. It has gone beyond bounds which have gone as far as victimizing local folks who are plainly living their lives and working for survival. Sadly, they have become the unlikely targets, making the country very much vulnerable towards security overall. But hopefully, the US governing bodies can continue their security measures if only to protect the safety of innocent lives who are being caught in the crossfire.

[tags]war on terror, us troops, terrorism, civilians, iran, iraq[/tags]