Lindsay works in online community building, managing the corporate blog for Spreadshirt and the website. Read Lindsay’s full speaker bio.
Business blogging, whilst not always free is remarkably cheap. Big shout out to Wordpress being the best blogging platform know to man, woman or child.
Here we go with what blogs are and why you should have one. Blog is a type of Web site. It’s chronologically backwards content – the newest is generally first. If we’re taling categories in a blog on this particular blog you’re reading the categories are down the left hand side. You place posts within those categories.
Comments vs no comments. You can have either. It’s a great feedback channel but can also be a spam headache.
RSS feeds – your blog can be read in a feed reader such as Google Reader . (Here’s a list of other RSS readers.) You can read many blogs at one time. \Good for skimming. To subscribe to the Online Marketing: Innovations that Work blog’s feed just click on this RSS button 
in the left sidebar. Aggregate your chosen content and let it update and you see the updated sites when you login to your reader.
Q. IS there a time you wouldn’t want to use an RSS feed as you’d rather drive people directly to your site.
Vanity searching for Lindsay Patross. Copy the RSS link to your RSS reader and it will update if you’ve been mentioned. Ties into what Justin Seibert was saying about reputation management earlier. Follow the conversation whether it’s good or bad. You need to know what is being said about you online.
Blogs are a great method of interactive engagement. Word of mouth recommendations.
Why should business blog?
Share info with customers; get feedback from customers; industry information; interesting and fun facts; learn to use your own products differently; establish a brand for yourself or your company. Start a global microbrand!
Passive content. Good for SEO. Tell a story. Humanize! Check the Spreadshirt blog.
LIST OF DIFFERENT BUSINESS BLOG EXAMPLES.
Discretion can be the better part of valor in relation to what you put on your blog. Negative commenting. Be honest and respond to criticism.
SET UP A BLOG:
Here’s a blog software list.
Don’t forget google’s blogger which is free and easy to start with.
Don’t regurgitate. Add to the conversation, don’t repeat it.
Q. How do you get people to link to your blog?
A.Write good content.
Q. CEO of Whole Foods making remarks to drive competition’s price down.
A.Laws of business etiquette should apply to the Web. Better to be honest and transparent
Q.Should a blog be part of a site or separate?
A.It can be closely branded to your site or talk about completely different stuff.
Q.How long would it take for marketing staff to maintain a corporate blog?
A.It depends on the type of content you’re putting up If you just want to be informational put simple stuff up as and when.
You mention talking about “other” things. How does one identify what is taboo for company representatives to talk about when it is casual blogging rather than topics specific to the business.
Matt
By casual blogging do you mean writing a personal blog that is unrelated to work or topics unrelated to the business on the corporate blog?
For the record, can you point out where talking about “other” things is mentioned?
For the record, a company decides what is taboo for that company.
Matt
It’s a good question. Not speaking for Lindsay, but my thoughts are that it’s about communication and using some sense. I think you’re talking about blog posts as opposed to comments on other sites’ blogs, so that’s the context I’m using.
There needs to be some clear guidelines for anyone who posts for your company’s blog(s). Whether it’s basic (no porn, profanity) or more detailed (nothing about competitors, don’t mention this person, etc.), make sure everyone’s on the same page and understands what their boundaries are.
The poster should also check with others, preferably superiors when s/he’s not sure. And one or more people should always read the blog as well in case something comes out that they didn’t want and they can hopefully pull it down before too much damage or potential damage is done.
Finally, the one thing I can pull directly from Lindsay’s speech about this subject is that you should have a theme and always stay on point. Her examples – iheartpgh.com always features positive things about Pittsburgh; Spreadshirt’s blog always has to do with the company in some way.
Does that help? Do you have other suggestions?