MarketUP: Marketing & PR Services

Some of the most interesting, observant and intelligent people I know are Bloggers (if I can use that term rather loosely). What I mean by that is they are individuals with thoughts, opinions and information to share - and they use an online platfom to publish on a fairly regular basis.

I won't go into a history of 'Blog' or blogging - only to add that it's come a long way both technically and stylistically from the early 'web log' format. Whatever publishing platform chosen: Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, Tumblr, or even Joomla or Drupal - we can now create sophisticated blogging websites, using design templates, widgets and plug-ins. There is little or nothing to distinguish blogs from corporate websites.

So anyone with time to write and something to say can publish day or night and compete with some of the 'big cheese' bloggers who've grown brands or businesses from their online writing: Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing fame, Jason Kottke, Perez Hilton, Jason Chen aka Gizmodo, Chris Brogan - to name a few.

And perhaps most famously, Arianna Huffington who turned her Huffington Post blog aggregator into a publishing empire, hired hundreds of other bloggers - famous and not so famous - and then sold it to AOL, all the while becoming a global communications guru in just six years!

These are the examples brought up at conferences, by online consultants, in self-published e-books on how to make money blogging. Blogging as a business. Getting paid to express yourself. Even my teenage daughter writes a respectable blog and dreams of a career as a writer. Nothing wrong with that!

But there is another kind of blog: one that is an extension of a business, that is about something other than blogging or social networks or how to get more from Twitter. Blogs published by folks who were already in business - marketing, PR, advertising, business development or entrepreneurs - who write about their expertise in a particular area: venture capitalist turned writer Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur-author-permission marketing guru Seth Godin, Robert the 'Scobleizer' (via Microsoft), advertising and PR expert Danny Brown, lawyer cum business owner-writer-speaker Jonathan Fields, Amber Naslund, Shelly Kramer... the list goes on.

Where do you spend your energy? Are you trying to figure out 'How to Monetize Your Blog' - or do you use your blog to monetize your business?

--Donna

Blogging for business

Photo credit: Business Week

I'm going to stop apologizing. While I had every intention of being more self-disciplined about my own Blog contributions - life, and clients, just keep jumping in front of my intentions.

Now a couple months have again passed since the last post, and it seems impossible to me that May 26th turned into August 7th - but there's the reality. Family, friends and co-workers can attest to the more-than-usual hectic schedule plus a couple of unforeseen events that contributed to this time lapse. But in the end it is about me and my choices: where do I choose to focus my energy every day? The answer is clearly, "On client deliverables".

I'm lucky that client work is above normal for this time of year and I'm even luckier to be working with the calibre of clients we have! In fact, we are so swamped that I've finally been able to realize a long-hoped for collaboration with @KnealeMann; albeit a tiny one to start, but which I fully anticipate will grow and flourish. Having conversations with Kneale is like getting an injection of Red Bull intravenously. He's FULL of ideas and creative solutions to business challenges! I need to drink a full pot of coffee before picking up the phone to speak with him. (Peace, Kneale - you're great).

In the midst of all this controlled mayhem I did make the choice to escape for a much-needed vacation with my equally-driven husband to a beautiful Caribbean island. Great decision! Best recharging trip ever - I highly reommend this kind of action to everyone.

So here I sit on a Sunday (late) morning...still drinking part of that pot of coffee...and feel the writing bug hit me. Yes, I do in fact have some "client work" that needs to get finished, and I will be doing that a little later. But for the moment it's peaceful, I can think, I can share, and I'm moitivated enough to do so.

Not that I don't secretly wish I was still sitting on a beach terrace on an island...no apologies.

--Donna

I procrastinate. Not on client work - but on our own company projects and updates. We are so busy being busy that time slides by rapidly and we don't employ those best practices which we strongly advise others to follow.

The proverbial 'Cobbler's Children Are Barefoot'. (many variants, since 1546)

Well, the complete make-over launch of our new website earlier this week is the result of a New Year's resolution to 'shod ourselves'.

Well, today is March 11th and I missed days 1-10.