Category — blogging

This is the last of my posts on blogging (for now). Scroll down to see the others, and stay here if you want to be an expert on whatever it is you do.

What I mean is that blogs can be a place for you to position yourself as an expert in a certain field, or on a certain subject. It’s what paper-published authors and writers have been doing for decades - write enough good stuff, and people will start to look to you for your knowledge and opinions. Think Peter Gammons on baseball or David Broder on politics. Trusted names.

On paper though, it takes awhile to get there, and not just anybody can do it. Even if I were able, I couldn’t walk into the Washington Post and start writing their political commentary column. That’s why blogs are so cool. They allow qualified and talented people to establish themselves as experts, without having to convince anyone else they can do it. No newspaper editors, no climbing your way up the magazine staff… just content consumers. If you write a good blog, and if you give out good information, people will notice, and people will start to regard you as an expert.

Look at StartupWriting.com as an example. I probably can’t write a piece for The New Yorker, and I probably can’t teach a college writing course, but I can publish here. I try to publish good stuff, and try to publish helpful stuff. Hopefully people are starting to notice, and hopefully I’m on my way to establishing myself as an expert (or at least a knowledgeable person) when it comes to writing startup copy.

Why is this good (for me or for you)? Well, being an online expert will help nearly any business. A successful expertise blog not only brings visitors in, but it brings quality visitors in. The type that already regard you as knowing your stuff, and already regard you as someone producing a good product. It’s like the best referral and the best About Us section rolled up in one, and it’s what makes sales (which is the point, right?).

Now go find something to be an expert on (hopefully your company already has its’ niche), and go write one. Or, of course, you can pay an expert to do it.

As promised (in the last post), here are my brief thoughts on ‘blogging as community.’ What I mean is that a well-done blog shouldn’t only entertain, and shouldn’t only help build your company narrative, it should build a community of its’ own. It should be a place for people to not only go and get a piece of your company culture, but a place for them to participate in it. A place for you to share what you’re thinking and where you’re headed, and a place for them to give you some feedback. A place for them to comment, and a place for you to comment back. Hell, even a place for them to write their own stuff.

And more than building your internal company community even, a good blog can help you network into larger, Internet-wide communities. You can guest post on other blogs, and bring in guest bloggers to yours. You can link to other sites and other blogs, and add your own unique twist to their topics. You can meet people and start conversations, all which (eventually) give you and your product more recognition and a better name.

If you’re spamming, or just writing crap, none of this will happen - no one will like you. But if you do it right; you create a good blog (and put time into building communities around it), you’ll reap the rewards.

A couple days ago, I took inspiration from another blogger to write Blogging as Company Narrative, a post about using your blog to tell (and build) your company story. Well, it looks like I’m not the only one. My new twitter friend, Scott Sweeny, just wrote a piece about blog storytelling (as inspired by another blogger): check it out.

And really, besides adding to my point about blogs and your company narrative, these string of posts between bloggers serves to highlight the point of my next post (coming in the next day or two) - about blogging and community. I’ll leave you up in the air as to exactly how this fantastic transition comes together, but rest assured… it’s gonna be sweet.