If I wrote a new book on business blogging, what would be a good list of topics?
It seems to me that with blogging, as with anything you’ve been doing for a sufficient length of time, it’s easy to fall into the way of thinking that some things are quite obvious, even though they weren’t obvious to you when you started.
The thought has been prompted by a few conversations lately, where I’ve been reminded that, although no one seems to look quizzically any more at the mention of blogs or blogging, for many people the purposes and practicalities of blogging, especially business blogging, are still not evident.
And there seems to be interest being expressed in actually blogging, by quite a few people who have up till now not shown such interest.
So much so that I’ve been thinking about doing a fresh book on the topic.
Like my e-book 7 Step Business Blog, a new book would be written for the (primarily) non-technical business owner who wants to get started and keep going, safely and productively.
A lot has changed since I wrote 7 Step Business Blog in 2005-06 – which is why I don’t sell the book any more, although it has been updated a couple of times and is now available free of charge for anyone interested in downloading it.
I’m thinking one of the key challenges for a new book will be in situating blogging appropriately within the broader framework of social media, which has evolved dramatically since I started writing that earlier book back in 2005.
My sense however is that some of the key challenges will be pretty closely aligned with the key challenges back in 2005.
Consider, for example, this list of topics which formed the agenda for the Blog Business Summit which according to my records was held in Seattle back in 2005:
Keynote Address: The Blog Advantage
Blog Business Models: What Strategies Make Money
Building Traffic: Posting isn’t Enough!
The Entrepreneurial Blog: Monetizing Your Interests
Picking a Platform: Blogging Engines Compared
True Voice: The Art and Science of Blog Writing
Good Blog Design: Speed, Accessibility, Transparency, and Clarity
Corporate Blogging: Strategy and Policy Marketing
Strategies and Tactics: PR and Beyond
Dealing with Bloggers: Partnering and Defense Strategies
Enhancing Internal Communications with Blogs, Wikis, and More
Media Blogging: Podcasting and Beyond
On the last item in the list, Media Blogging: Podcasting and Beyond, I find it a fascinating illustration of the speed of change that video, now so big, wasn’t deemed worthy at that time of even a mention in the list. The topic “Dealing with Bloggers: Partnering and Defense Strategies” would now have to be re-worked to relate to Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.
And with the effective takeover by WordPress of at least the non-enterprise blogosphere, the discussion about blogging platforms would have to be different now.
But still an interesting list.
Assuming I go through with the idea of producing a new book on blogging, I’d love to hear suggestions from readers of this blog as to what to include in the book.
Please share your thoughts here in the Comments, or via the Contact page. I will appreciate that very much.
Comment Spammers Have Turned “Nice Post” into a Spam Alert
One of the things that I dislike most about comment spammers is that they take otherwise useful or pleasing phrases and make them part of their spam comments. For instance, “Nice post.”
It’s not that I don’t like friendly, complimentary comments. It’s just that, more often than not, that phrase at the beginning of a comment is followed by gibberish. Although at a quick glance the gibberish can sometimes look like a rational, relevant comment.
My assumption is that the “comments” are created by a bot, and the reason the “comment” looks on a quick glance to be relevant is that it repeats words or phrases from the post being commented on. Take the following, for instance, a comment on a post I wrote about how rural communities are being short-changed in the broadband department:
My first reaction was that this was from a non-native speaker of English and was probably ok enough to let through. Then I read it properly and realized it was one of those sneaky spam comments that masquerade as a real, relevant comment.
A bit more coherent than the one which followed:
Good for a laugh the first few times, perhaps. But boring and annoying after a while.
Someone once queried my mistrusting the comment “Good post”.
All I can say is, blame the spammers.