Welcome to the Escape Blog

Danny started his new blog asking the question, “The End Of Blogging?“. Cited, is a reference to a decision by Jason Calacanis to change the way he communicates with his audience. I even thought about giving up blogging myself, but I just love speaking to myself too much.

I also love Loren Feldman’s take on Blogging and why we’ve moved onto Twitter. It comes of sums up for me where we are with this medium.

Blogs are, without doubt, a great way to communicate with your customers and an audience further afield, but I would ask a couple of questions as to whether they had the value they once had.

Firstly, Blogs are easy and cheap to post to so there is a shed load of noise. I now skim read my subscriptions and I am sure I am not alone.

In fact, a Blog post needs to catch my eye in the first place, especially as it would come to my attention through an iGoogle widget (see image). I maybe end up clicking on about 10% of these, and maybe read 1% - That’s small odds.

I also take note of top Bloggers and their move to a more subscription based approach. That said, we are not here to make money from our Blogs.

So…

A company blog should be based around using the tool (it is after all just a tool) in a different way. A Blog for your business should aimed at your existing customer base and what may interest them.

If you set up a business Blog expecting lots of new visitors to sit up and take notice… think again. Your audience have enough to do without being bothered by yet another Blog with the same old stuff being posted.

But, if you can point your customers and sales prospects to your Blog, you can leverage that you do know what you are talking about.

You may create inbound links and get some recognition, but really, don’t hold your breath.

Finally. This Blogging lark. It’s not like a brochure… it’s like buying a puppy. You have to feed it, nurture it, train it and not forget about it for weeks on end.

So yes, your Blog will be one of millions. No, it probably won’t make you famous but yes - it can add value to your online marketing.