Are You Ready To Blog?

Stop the world I want to get off! Do you ever feel like that? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Technology is moving so fast that sometimes we just shut down to the newest, latest idea. When the idea becomes popular and other people like me are using it, then we say “Oh, I’ll learn about it.”

Last week US News and World Report wrote a cover story about how blogs were in the process of changing our lives. I read the article, and I guess it made me feel that is was then my responsibility to learn what all the commotion is about. How can a blog affect my small business and my readers?

I must admit I wasn’t thrilled because I am a bit technologically deficient. But I dutifully did my research and even created my own blog (you’re reading one of my blog articles right now).

The first question I had was what is a blog, really? (And by the way I’m still trying to figure out if blog should be capitalized.) I have read some very involved definitions such as Knowledge Management Tool, or Content Manager or Community Creator, or The Tool for Smart Marketers. In fact, a blog can be all of these. But to simplify it, a blog is a special type of website that can be created in minutes, that costs nothing to create, that can look like a diary but allows other people to contribute.

My next question is how long have they been around? It all started in the beginning of 1999. In 2002 Google bought one of the leading blog pioneers, Blogger.com, and a year later they had over a million subscribers to their free service. Now there are an estimated 20 million people using blogs daily.

During last year’s presidential campaign blogs became very popular; many of us actually went to these blogs just thinking it was a regular website. The term blog stands for a “web log”.

Let me tell you about some of the applications for blogs and why blogs make so much sense for the independent business person. One of the main reasons people do business with us is because we know what we are talking about. Sorry, I just don’t trust the high school kid selling me a digital camera at Wal-Mart. Of course he or she might be good, but for me they’ll never have the credibility of the seasoned camera expert at a good specialty camera store.

A blog allows you to share your knowledge in short little tidbits. You can share news about what’s happening, new trends, opinions, in fact anything you think your customers and clients might be interested in.

You don’t have to pay anything; you can even publish pictures, or a journal or diary about your last buying trip. But where a blog differs from a regular website is that it allows your customers to talk back to you. Often the customers’ comments can be more powerful and motivate readers more than your own comments. Not to mention that the dialog that you and your customers create can lead to some very lively and mutually productive conversation. Even to increased sales and profits.

Every week I get quite a few comments about my weekly tips that people e-mail to me. My thought is that now you post them on my blog so that everyone can read them. That way everyone participates in creating a genuine retail marketing community. As one of my marketing guru friends said, you can think of it as a smart, interactive mailing list. Wouldn’t it be nice to know your customers’ tastes, desires and merchandise opinions before you buy rather than after you’ve spent the money?

I recommend this site — www.blogger.com You can do quite a bit of your own research into blogging here. I’m no expert— heck, I just got started. By the way, eventually I plan to share all of my Weekly Retail Marketing Tips here in this blog.

As the saying goes, The Future Is Now — and you know what, it turns out not be so scary after all. Thank goodness the folks at blogger.com actually know how to make things “User Friendly.” Thanks to them, and our mutual desire to keep our conversation alive and lively, I’ll be blogging you!

Don’t forget to let us know if you create a blog. Tell everyone about it right here … just click on the “comments” tag at the bottom of this post and share your thoughts!