Business Blog Advice

A recent post from the blog of Greg Verdino reminds us that blogging can (and should) be enjoyable. Greg is the Vice President / Director of Emerging Channels at Digitas.

Coincidentally, I was reading his blog and thinking, “What an interesting business blog … here’s a guy who seems to really enjoy blogging.” And then I stumble across the blog post that answers, “Yes, I do enjoy blogging, and here’s why.”

If you enjoy witnessing the evolution (devolution?) of advertising like I do, you’ll also enjoy Greg’s post on consumer aversion to traditional advertising.

I’ll be the first to admit that CEO Blog Watch is a little bare-boned on the image front. I usually don’t take the time to insert images into my blog posts because I don’t feel it’s necessary for the kind of “second-hand” coverage I provide.

However, certain types of business blogs can greatly benefit from the use of meaningful graphics. What makes a graphic meaningful? When it has something to do with the idea of the blog post.

For a good example of this, check out David Armano’s blog. David is a creative VP at Digitas, and he knows how to use images to enhance his blog’s visual appeal as well as its communication potential.

I’m off for a week’s vacation, so I thought I would leave you with some blog highlights from the last few months.

• A brief history of CEO blog coverage
• Does a CEO need a blog consultant?
• How a blog is born
• New Blogging Guide Available
• Corporate blogging - burden or benefit?
• CEO’s guide to Web 2.0
• Also note that we have plenty of blogging tips and articles on the site.

Be back in a week.

~Brandon

In my last post, I shared a blog post from the CEO Blogger’s Club. In it, Linda Zimmer explained the technical how-to of tagging, as well as the benefits.

So what is tagging, anyway? I’ve offered a simple definition below, as well as links to related resources (including another great blog article by Linda Zimmer):

Tags: According to Wikipedia, a tag is “a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (like picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information it is applied to.”

Tagging: So tagging is simply the act of assigning these keywords to certain pieces of information, such as your blog posts.

More information than you ever wanted to know about tagging:

• Tagging: What is it Good For?
• Tagging Gives Web a Human Meaning
• The Future of Blogs: Tagging
• Tagging Questions Answered
• Secrets of Tagging and Social Bookmarking in 2007
• Categories and Tagging in WordPress
• Why Do People Tag?
• Cognitive Analysis of Tagging (highly technical)

My take on tagging - Aside from creating blog posts like this one, I don’t give tagging much thought. As is always the case with technology in general (and blogging in particular), there’s a smarter way to do things.

I run this blog on WordPress, and I categorize my blog posts using WordPress’s built-in category features. This serves the same purpose as tagging, but it also benefits readers once they reach my blog, allowing them to quickly and easily search information by topic.

Hope you found this helpful.

~Brandon

I was just over at CEO Blogger’s Club and found a great post from December 2005.

It’s a good overview of the challenges CEOs face with blogging, and also offers some good technical instruction on the many aspects of blogging. This latter part worth reading not just for CEOs, but for anyone who wants to understand how the technical advantages of blogging can bring results in your communications program.

Here’s an excerpt where the author, Linda Zimmer, is explaining the benefits of tagging:

Now, by simply being able to scan through your tags, you are giving everyone in your organization a window into not just who you are, but the things that drive you, your decisions and your vision. How much more impactful is this than your once a year or quarterly address; or your blog posts that are, by their nature, excruciatingly narrow?

Read the full post here