| LED Digest 1949: Blogging for Business |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. March 24, 2005 Issue #1949 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= <Moderator Comment> ~ Special Issue Friday --== Blogging ==-- ~ Ian Dickson "[Blogs] will not work to bring in new [clients]." ~ Mike Banks Valentine "Since I've been blogging...I've seen traffic and business escalate due to those blogs." ~ Marsha Kopan "[Blogging] will go the way of banner ads, pop ups and other idea of the month plans." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Outlook Virus ==-- ~ Reg Charie ~ Michael Linehan -- Giving Credit to Microsoft -- ~ William Ernest Waites ===== CONTINUING ================================= <Moderator Comment> Greetings LEDer, Special issue on Friday - there are lots of posts coming in on the Blogging topic, also a few that I didn't have room to publish on the recent RSS thread. I'll put together Friday's issue incorporating both topics since they're so intertwined. Also wanted to let you know that the new LED website is under development, complete with an RSS feed for the LED. Have a great weekend (and see ya Friday), Adam ---------------------------- From: Ian Dickson Subject: Blogging > Do you think blogging is here to stay? Or is it just > another internet "phenomenon" that will go the way > of the blinking marquee? ... I'm tired of reading the > hype and would enjoy a down to earth discussion > of blogging. - Ronni Rhodes, LED 1946 I've been quiet a while due to having to fold my previous venture due to tech partner ill health. Blogging as a commercial thing or web site substitute. Yes, IF you are in the News and Opinion game and have built (or can build) a readership. But for most businesses, NO. Blogs (more specifically, RSS) however will be a core tool for communicating with your best customers / clients no matter what your business. But they will not work to bring in new ones. Casual ones might subscribe and read from time to time. The thing I'm looking at starting next will have several, and eventually perhaps 100 or so separate RSS feeds micro casting to small but motivated (and per head high value) readers. In my context those who do read the RSS are likely to catalyse the activity of others, (in the same way that if you want a good party you don't invite 200 and hope that you get 40, you invite the 4 people you know lead their groups and they bring along the others). The RSS will be a core part of value proposition to my clients, because they will deliver readers and customers to them, even if there are no actual ads in the RSS. My gut feeling at the moment (derived from READING RSS) is that the key to RSS is a modest number of posts, with high relevance. As soon you let relevance slip, people will bail. I also think that short one liners with a link to full text is the way to go. And finally - unless your content is very structured, write it by hand to ensure it makes sense. If you sell widgets and kerplunks you set up two RSS feeds - one for widgets, one for kerplunks, and only once in a while do you cross link them, (eg annual sale of widgets is also posted in kerplunks). BTW if anyone on the list is Uk based and knows / uses Drupal, I'd love to talk - I get the impression that it's what I need but I'm missing something, and the manual, well its open source so of course no ones written the manual it really needs, and even a book search an Amazon produces zero results. Mail me at ian at iandickson com Ian Dickson ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Mike Banks Valentine Subject: Blogging Ronni Rhodes asked in LED 1946, > Do blogs truly have commercial value for the average > small business? Or are they just a substitute for a web > site? Can they attract a large enough audience to > actually create revenue? The value of a blog can be measured by the character and business acumen of its owner and the value they place on all of the aspects of marketing through that blog. If it is thoroughly researched and used to maximum value, then it will indeed attract an audience and become profitable. I was absolutely opposed to blogs about a year ago because I thought they were simply a "substitute for a web site" as you said. Then I watched with interest as a several online business people that I respect took up the challenge and started blogging. They, as bloggers are wont to do, pointed to other respected individuals that were doing the same. Blogging gets back to the roots of the web by linking and referring in a natural way. We've gotten into linking frenzies with our standard web sites and now link in entirely unnatural ways because the search engines love that. Blogs are loved by the search engines because those links are once again relevant instead of simply inflationary. I've put together a blogging tutorial made up of articles by blog and marketing experts where you can find over 30 articles by those who have made blogs profitable, including a few LED regulars. I hope it helps contribute to this conversation. Take a look at: http://www.website101.com/RSS-Blogs-Blogging/ Since I've been blogging for the last year or so, I've seen traffic and business escalate due to those blogs. It just works. Mike Banks Valentine blogging at http://www.realityseo.com and http://www.privacynotes.com/privacy_blog/ ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Marsha Kopan Subject: Blogging God forbid if an analogy could be made between rap and blogging. The rap that I've heard is unconscionably rude, crude, and degrading. I'm not a prude and have certainly been known to say the "F" word, and tell a dirty joke or two, but IMHO rap is beyond sensibility. As to blogging...if one is building their business, who has the time??? And, who reads that stuff anyways? IMHO it will go the way of banner ads, pop ups and other idea of the month plans. Marsha Kopan, IVAA CVA Executive Secretarial Services www.execsecsrv.com ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Reg Charie Subject: Outlook virus > A message window [in Outlook] opens over and over > again telling me that a program is trying to access the > email addresses in my address book. - Chuck Hiatt, LED 1948 Sounds like you have a problem Chuck. Have you tried: 1) http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and running their AV scan? Their remote scan has worked in cases where a scan using the computer's AV has not. 2) Booting into safe mode and doing a AV scan? In some cases the virus is activated upon windows startup, and safe mode may stop this. 3) If the above do not work, you could try removing the drive, setting the jumper to slave status, putting it in a different computer and scanning it there. Some viruses disguise themselves as part of the operating system and not having the OS running on the drive being scanned can result in a more thorough scan. One of the neatest little programs I've found is called NetLimiter. (http://www.netlimiter.com) It is an internet monitoring tool that will show you what programs are open and their internet activity. It will help in tracing down the offending program. I would however, recommend downloading the 1.3 version as the Version 2 Alpha has been causing a few problems since they added the internal firewall. (According to their forums.) Hope this helps. Reg Charie www.dotcom-productions.com ------- new post - same topic -------- From: Michael Linehan Subject: Outlook virus A headline in the Wall Street Journal last year went something like this, "Sick of the viruses, Trojans, spyware, security updates and crashes - Maybe it's time to consider a Mac." Unlike most people on that discussion, I am very familiar with both. Mr. Macfreak here used to teach the staff where I used to work how to use their PCs more effectively. And no, the viruses are not because Windows is more popular. Apache has three times the market share than Microsoft Server, but the trouble on the Net lies with the latter. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy. ------- new post - new topic -------- From: William Ernest Waites Subject: Giving Microsoft credit > I think Google and Apple are the trend setters of today. > Microsoft, like always, is trying to play catch up to destroy > the opposition... thank God for people who are not of the > Microsoft mould, as otherwise we would still be in the DOS era!! - Jacob Matthan, LED 1948 I'm no great fan of Microsoft. But fairness requires that we recognize its contributions to *popularizing* computer use and the internet / web. For all the inventiveness of Google and Apple, it has been Microsoft that has spread the word and encouraged average people to join the digital revolution. The cow may give the milk, but without the milkman, you would have to live on a farm to drink it. B>) Sincerely, William Ernest Waites ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2005 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Fix the problem, not the blame." - Japanese Proverb |
