• Loosetooth uses this blog to drive traffic to a Cafepress store, which handles order fulfillment.
• CEO Blogs List

  Actually, that's a misnomer. This is a list of weblogs authored by people who are in a leadership position in various organizations (corporations, non-profit, etc.)

  Hundreds of CEOs are blogging, and the vast majority of their blogs are just plain dull ... as in "who cares?"

• CEO Bloggers Club:

  An international blog dedicated to helping CEOs be better bloggers.

  Membership rules: you have to agree to update your blog at least three times a week.

• See also: Seth Godin: BEWARE the CEO Blog
• Fake Blogs

  Not all fake blogs are lame, but Mazda's sure was.

• Mazda's Dumb-Assed Fake Blog Mishap

  Mazda blew it big-time with a fake blog HolloweenM3 that included not one but three Mazda commercials disguised as videos found by a blogger on public access TV.

  Bloggers derided them and it was gone in a day

• Journalist Blogs

  Still think you can ignore blogs?

  Journalists read blogs to spot trends, find sources. Read their blogs to find out what stories they're working on.

  J-blogs - thousands of blogs by journalists

• DAN GILLMOR on PR and blogging

• Harold Rheingold

• Maintaining a blog is Sisyphean

  Once you start blogging, you need to make the commitment to keep it up to date with very frequent content changes.

  That takes time and effort.

  Publishing a daily publication is WORK

  But you must publish very frequently to maintain credibility.

• Blog Directories

  Popdex

  Technorati Shows bloggers who is linking to them, has a Top 100 list of most popular blogs, breaking news, hot links

  

  Yahoo blog directory

  Zeal blog directory

  Blogarama

      

Who should blog for the company? What should they say? Who should approve it? What's the ROI? Microsoft obviously believes blogging has customer relationship and PR value because more than 1,000 of its employees are blogging.

 

One of the most famous, and interesting, is Robert Scoble, Microsoft's blog evangelist Here are Scoble's rules for corporate bloggers:

 

"Our rule here (at Microsoft)? Don't be stupid. :-) I call it be smart. But, it comes down to not pissing off your boss... and working to make sure you align your weblog with the image that the company is trying to project.

 

My suggestion for those who want to write a business blog:

1) Read tons of blogs first. I recommend that you read at least 50 blogs for two weeks before you start. Get an RSS Aggregator. That's a must. Learn how to use Feedster, Pubsub, and Technorati.

 

2) Show your passion for your company and your products. If you aren't passionate about your products or your company (in a good way) then it's probably best that you don't write a blog that'll be identifiable with your company.

 

3) Help other people share their passion (interview workers who you notice staying late to do something "extra special").

 

4) Try to answer any concerns bloggers might have. But, be careful. Work with PR teams and marketers in your company so you know what their stance is.

 

5) Take some risks. But know the consequences." - Robert Scoble.

 

Shoploosetooth.com
Uses blog to drive traffic to Cafepress store, which handles order fulfillment

JewelBoxing
Jim Coudal’s Blog about starting a business
The introduction says:

We thought it might be useful to document the process of starting an online business from scratch. Jim Coudal will periodically post here about issues involving our product and business plan. Hopefully things will go well but even if the whole thing goes down in flames, it’ll probably be interesting to watch.

International Association for Learning Alternatives' excellent example of an association blog has been active for more than a year and is frequently updated. Its About Us page explains its mission:

"The mission of the International Association for Learning Alternatives is to lead, promote and support learning alternatives and choice options.

This mission signals our interest in seeing that parents and students have choices of educational programs to meet their needs, interests, learning styles and intelligences. We believe that one-size education program does not fit everyone and that education is best served by having choices for all."

IALC is using blog software for a simple, interactive website that is searchable, automatically archives posts by categories, and allows active conversation.

Jones Soda is an alternative soda that appeals to the youth market, particularly teens who are skateboarders, snowboarders and followers of extreme sports. The Jones Soda Blog allows kids to have their own blog, where they can upload images, video and sound.

Jones Blog also features emerging stars of these sports and follows their careers. Junior bloggers can suggest new limited edition soda flavors (one was Thanksgiving turkey and gravy, which was a big hit last year, yecch!) and can even have their artwork or photos chosen for soda labels.

It's a truly interactive community created with blogging software, which is cheap, easy to use, feature-rich and interactive.

 

 

Are blogs just a fad or a communication revolution? What role can blogs play in business? Who should blog for a company? What should they blog about? What kind of ROI can blogs produce? The best way to answer these questions, in my opinion, is with examples of successful blogs. So that's what I'll concentrate on today.    more »