Why Blogging Matters. Six Degrees of Perspective.

Six_degreesDebbie Weil over at Blogwriteforceo’s blog turned me on to this post from Eric Kintz over at the HP executive blog area.

Since I was outing a couple of HP Executives who are not blogging much, I was extremely pleased to see that Eric Kintz is not only putting a lot of content online, he’s putting great content online. Mr. Kintz is an example of the best that blogging has to offer.

The above post is the brainstorming outcome of a joint conversation between a variety of people in and outside of HP. Here are some of my favorite quotes from this great post:

· "We are living an age where boundaries are collapsing, definitions are changing and roles are combining. Blogging and PR need each other, belong with each other, even though they can sometimes appear to be working against each other."

· "The blogosphere has disrupted the economics of publishing, dramatically lowering the costs of content creation (most bloggers are not paid), content production (free blogging platforms) and circulation development (free links by other bloggers). This has allowed in turn a micro-segmentation of customer markets that was not economically viable in traditional publishing business models and the rise of new influencers, who are closer to those markets and are in the best position to appeal to their specific needs."

· "The utilization of blogs is critical, particularly in a growing world where social currency is more and more important. They are powerful communication and business tools which can connect with a variety of audiences for your brands/products/services. These audiences range from core customers to prospects to influencers to investors."

· "In terms of functionality, the primary differentiation between a blog and a standard site is the ability for the audience to comment and engage. Measuring that engagement on a classic ROI metric is nearly impossible, but some discussion is emerging on the proper ratio of postings to comments. Some bloggers attract more than 100 comments per post, but a ratio of three comments to every post seems healthy for a relatively new blog. That ratio is an excellent measure of engagement, one of the primary benefits held up by advocates of corporate blogging."

08:42 AM in Blogging resources | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Innovative Technology: Web Dictation

I am pretty into dictation. I have never seen web dictation until recently. Web dictation allows you to dictate directly to a Java application access through your web browser. This means you can dictate from anywhere with an internet connection. Check out this free web dictation software here.

08:39 AM in Blog technology | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Blogging for Business

It has always amazed me that people say you can’t generate business through a blog. Perhaps that was just a couple of years ago and things have changed for others. I would be interested to know whether or not there are people who are seriously blogging out there about their expertise and not generating business as a result. I would guess that 50% of our business is currently off the internet. We have blogs in a variety of niche practice areas from trade secret and noncompetes, to domain name disputes to investigation sites on mass accidents. Our search engines results are phenomenal through our blogs. On many days, I talk to and receive emails from five to ten people who are contacting us through our website. On an average week, we’ll retain five or more new clients on a variety of different matters.

So are the days where people say that blogging is purely a selfish and personal pastime gone? Are other companies besides mine realizing the business benefits of blogging? Please post a comment and weigh in one way or the other. I can’t possibly be the only one whose business model is driven by blogging. (And no, none of my business comes in through this website, which is purely noncommercial).

12:09 PM in Blogging resources | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I Don’t Understand The “I Don’t Have Time To Blog” excuse.

Many professionals and business executives simply say they have no time to blog. I don’t get this. By saying you don’t have time to blog is almost like saying you don’t have time to generate new customers. If you post your expert knowledge and commentary online within a narrow area of specialization, you in all likelihood dominate all the search engines within that category in six to twelve months. How could you not have time to blog?

12:07 PM in No Time To Blog | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Return On Your Blogging Investment

One of the most amazing things to me when I launched my vertical blogs in a variety of niche content areas was that my total cost was $13.00 a month through TypePad for unlimited blogs. I designed my blogs a little different from most anyone else. I don’t have one blog where I talk about a variety of different things. I have blogs that are purely niche. Those blogs only talk about narrow issues within that niche. For instance, I have a domain name theft blog. It is a blog which deals exclusively with domain name theft, uniform domain name dispute resolution policy and domain name International Domain Name Arbitration. I have blogs in lots of other niche areas. But my blogs don’t bleed together. They are all independent and stand on their own. I use advanced templates within TypePad to create a standard "website" look for all of my blogs. When navigating between my niche areas, you have no idea you’re actually skipping between blogs. Because my blogs all link to each other, they increase the search engine results between them.

I do a tremendous amount of business off my blogs for $13.00 per month. Contrast the money I pay with TypePad to the money I pay for my Yellow Pages ad. I might get two or three clients a year off my Yellow Pages ad. I took a look the other day and I pay almost 100 times more for my Yellow Pages advertising and get 1/1000th the business.

When it comes to return on an investment, there is no marketing or advertising program I could have launched which is even in the same galaxy as blogging. The return on my blogging investment has been staggering.

12:07 PM in Blogging resources | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Most Deadly Weapon in My Technology Quiver

I was thinking the other day about all the ways technology has changed my internal business process. I love Copernic Desktop Search because it brings my emails and files to me in milliseconds. There is no doubt that my Basecamp extranet has been a tremendous success for us internally and in terms of client service and satisfaction.

But there really is only one hands down winner in measuring the impact of any particular technology on our business success. There are no rivals in this category. Digital dictation is the engine that drives our business. Digital dictation has been the difference maker and allows for all the other technology tools to contribute.

It also occurred to me that some people would be surprised that digital dictation could be such a difference maker. After all, there are already numerous ways to dictate assignments, tasks, and correspondence. Even with the old cassette tape method, a good businessperson can get an awful lot done using dictation.

The difference for our firm is that we use dictation to type correspondence, pleadings, and motions just like everyone else. That only comprises of about five to ten percent of all of our dictation. I use digital dictation to dictate emails, email responses, virtually all of the extranet content, instructions to all of our internal staff and virtual workers, blog posts, and instructions to clients. Digital dictation is far more superior to email when it comes to managing and instructing workers and clients. Why? Because I do not have to be sitting at my computer in order to make it all happen. Because I can talk ten to 20 times faster than I can type. Because much of the work I do is while I am standing in my kitchen getting my kids ready for school, or driving in my car. Because, you see, digital dictation is also portable. I carry my Philips 9350 portable dictation device everywhere. When a great thought hits me, I quickly dictate it.

I often tell people that I do the work of three to five attorneys. Digital dictation is what allows that to happen. I have lots of internal staff and virtual workers all executing the tasks and goals that flow through my various dictation systems. Most lawyers share one secretary with one other lawyer. The difference? Digital dictation.

What I am telling you is that there is a lot more behind the technology of digital dictation than a new and improved way to prepare work product and speed up workflow. Digital dictation offers a brand new business process that unplugs the businessperson from both their computer and the office, allowing them to get stuff done during otherwise non-business and non-productive times.

You have heard me say it before; our firm is humming when I am dictating. When I am dictating, the staff is receiving tasks and assignments. When I am dictating, goals are being defined and projects being executed. When I am dictating, I am acting as the Coach and Quarterback rather than the Linemen and Wide Receiver.

Have you considered the impact which digital dictation might have on your blogging?

12:06 PM in Blog technology | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki

This is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs. As of October 2006, there are 40 Fortune 500 companies listed as having blogs. This represents about 8% of the Fortune 500. While some may think the percentage isn’t much, I actually think it’s pretty amazing that 40 of the largest companies of the world have embraced blogging. This is especially true considering that executives at these companies have made a decision to invest the time required to put their intellectual property online. The number of large corporations that are embracing blogging continues to grow every day. There are those who will lead, and those who will be left behind.

Of course, the largest corporations in the world don’t really need much more by way of marketing. The true power of the blog is for small and medium size businesses which are looking to increase their market presence and reach. It is the small and medium size company which stands to benefit the most from business blogging.

By the way, if you want to see a really cool mega-corporation marketing blog, check out the Nike blog here.

12:05 PM in People who blog | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Problem With Blog Software

In this age of reality TV and real time media, the reading and watching public expects immediacy to both information and entertainment. The recent YouTube is in many ways the next step past blogging. Instead of simply typing in a "post," you speak it and record it. Instead of seeing what someone has to say, you get to see how they say it, the intonation, and expression that go along with it. Blogging has a sense of reality to it. Video has a sense of reality on steroids.

Of course the problem with youtube.com is that there is a lot of work that goes into putting an online video up. There are production activities, including in many cases, editing, that require time.

The advantage of blogging is that it requires less time than video content.

The fundamental change that has occurred in technology is not technology itself. These last two years or so, end-users are now willing to do a lot more than they were willing to do three or more years ago. It used to be that the masses were willing to receive email. Then they were willing to reply to email. Thereafter, they were willing to sit a little longer. They were willing to attach files to email. Today, the users are willing to do a lot more. They are willing to sit at their computers and interact with technology. The transformation, which is occurring in the world today, is the end-users willingness to interact with Technology.

But the problem is still one of time. When an end-user has to sit at their computer, log onto a website, enter information, edit their typing, and thereafter submit the information, precious time is lost. The fact that more and more people are willing to spend the time is interesting indeed. Anyone who is serious about blogging knows it takes time to generate good, interesting content. Those who say they have "no time to blog" raise a valid point. Many people still chose to spend their valuable time elsewhere.

To me the most powerful thing about dictating your blog posts is the dramatic reduction in time that it takes to generate content. Take this post, I am dictating this while waiting for my computer to start-up using my portable Phillips 9350 digital recorder. I am getting my coffee cup ready for coffee. I am not losing a single moment of time from the other activities I would normally engage in. The GAL website has a tremendous amount of content in it. 90% of that content was generated without any loss of family or business time. Having a staff member transcribe and post my dictation may result in an occasional typographic or grammatical error, but the trade off in time saved is well worth any transcription errors that occur.

All of this has gotten me thinking. There has been an explosion in ASP service providers. We use Basecamp Extranet System. We use Leapfile for sending large files encrypted across the internet. We use web mail to send and receive email remotely. But no one has thought to solve the problem of time; the time it takes for the end-user to interface with these technologies.

I used to say that everyone needs a personal assistant, even personal assistants. I believe this statement could not be more true in today’s technology and information world. The outsourcing of tasks is a critical need, which is only on the cusp of being acknowledged, but alone, solved. We need our technology people to focus a little less on cool technology, and a lot more on end-user issues if we are to reach the next stage in the evolution of the information age. (by the way, it took me about 5 minutes to dictate this entire post. It probably would have taken me 20 -30 minutes or more to type it up and post it.)

12:04 PM in Blog technology | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Corporate Blogging Book

Author and blogger Debbie Weil is getting rave reviews for her new book "The Corporate Blogging Book." There is a free download of the first chapter of the book, which can be viewed by clicking here. In fact, Debbie’s book is being highlighted by my favorite blogging tool TypePad.  I reviewed the table of contents and the first 29 or so pages it is clear that this is a book that every company should read. It not only tells you what blogging is all about, why you should be blogging in business, but how you go about achieving your corporate blogging goals. Debbie makes a great case for corporate blogging and identifies these three opportunities for corporations that enter the blogosphere.

1. Communicate with customers in real time.

2. Get positive and negative feedback from key constituencies.

3. Achieve high search engine rankings without spending a fortune on search engine optimization.

As you know from my blog at the GAL, we continually report about our tremendous results with our corporate blog (not this one but the one we use for our primary legal website). Fifty percent of our business (at least) is now driven through our corporate blog. For $13 per month or so, we are doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in business. You can’t beat that return on investment anywhere.

I look forward to reading Debbie’s book. For more information about Debbie, you can see her "about" page here.

12:04 PM in Blogging resources | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Executives at Technology Companies Don’t Have Time to Blog?

HP (Hewlett Packard) has a very coordinated approach to corporate blogging. They have a comment format for their executive blogs. I was looking at some of these executive blogs the other day and noticed that many of them have relatively sparse postings. In fact, at Dan Socci's Blog he reports that he is taking a break from blogging because of time constraints (Since this post, Dan or HP took his blog down.  I wasn't criticizing Dan or mean to 'call him out' but was using his blog as an example of the dilemma faced by busy executives. Dan states[ed]:

"Time on a keyboard is at a premium and there are always emails to read or send and PowerPoint presentations or spreadsheets to address that compete with blogging time. My commitment to the HP team responsible for our blogging program was to post blogs at a pace I have rarely been able to keep, especially in recent months. After careful consideration I've decided to take a break from blogging for awhile."

I wonder if Dan would have the same problem concerning time constraints if he was able to dictate his blog posts using computer, web-based, or even better, portable dictation device. Continuing down the list of executives at HP, I next came to David Gee’s blog.  I note that the 5 most recent posts date from May 30th to September 19, 2006. It is pretty clear that David Gee, the head of worldwide marketing for HP’s management software business doesn’t appear to have enough time to blog.

Well some bloggers try to make the pitch that blogging doesn’t require much time, the truth is that blogging does take time. Blogging is incredibly important. Blogging can make a difference in many different ways to you personally and your company. It provides you a voice. It provides your company a marketing vehicle when you establish your expertise on the internet. Finding time to blog is a problem that must be solved. Digital dictation offers the best solution. If the blogosphere is going to take it’s next step forward, it must continue to attract the great minds of the world. The barriers to blogging must be reduced. The most significant barrier is that of time.

12:00 PM in People who blog | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

CEO's & Executives Who Blog

Here is a great blogroll put together by Debbie Weil @ BlogWrite For CEOs blog. If these executives are blogging, shouldn't you be blogging as well?

06:42 PM in CEO's Who Blog, People who blog | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)