Whatever your political persuasion — right, left, or center — the blogosphere is a great place for bloggers to share their political views and make plenty of friends and enemies. We try to follow the conservative, liberal, and everything in between of politics and political blogs/blogging — but only when it intersects with business blogging.
Have a read below of our latest entries on politics and political blogging…
This is a great one for the perennial question of how to make money off of blogs. Rather, actually, it’s an example of how a site with a solid revenue model already — e-commerce — can use blogs to make even more money. (NOTE: this case study from MarketingSherpa will be availabe for free for only a couple of weeks.)
The case study tells of how T-shirtKing.com increased its sales dramatically using a blog. The site was in the habit of writing long essays about the subjects of its t-shirts — for example, biographies on Miles Davis and Albert Einstein — for its email newsletter, which were quite popular with subscribers, but anti-spam filters were taking a toll on the effectiveness of its email program. So, using Movable Type, the site redesigned its site to publish via a blog, and added a blog to its content mix, publishing the essays in that format. The essays and the blog publishing platform worked well to drive more organic search traffic, and played into the site’s affiliate program as well. The results, according to MarketingSherpa, were dramatic:
Site sales tripled during 2003, and have continued strong in 2004. Altogether, blog content helps to bring in about 35% of total site sales — 10% from the email newsletter, 20% from affiliates who often reuse the content, and 5% from Blog traffic itself.
Blog readers are among the traffic most likely to convert to buyers. “Six to eight percent of Blog readers buy something. Once someone finds a Blog entry and reads the whole thing, they are about as qualified as you can get.”
MarketingSherpa: How to Build Your eRetail Business with a Blog (6-8% of Readers Convert to Buyers)
Yet another example (apparently) of a fake blog for a consumer product. Attention marketers: passing fake blogs off as real io LAAAAAME!!! You will get outed and look like asses.
I’ve said before I don’t mind fake blogs in some cases. I think the distinction is when they are obviously fake, or better yet admit to being fake or in some limited cases part of a publicity stunt (though, that model is growing old fast), they can sometimes be cool. But I can’t think of an exception when you are playing to your core audience pretending to be something you’re not (in this case, a 15-year-old girl) is not just piss-poor marketing likely to bite you in the ass. You’re playing your customers for fools. That is not cool.
Cool Ringtones Blog which I’ve mentioned in Ringtonia before, is not like a initially thought, the blog of a teenager age who loves ringtones, but the business blog of Ringingphone.com, a provider of ringtones, wallpapers, online games…
Though the blog introduces Cindy Schmelky, 15, from Wayne, Penn with a picture and a quote “I love ringtones more than life”, she’s really just a figurehead for those articles as various members of the company’s team write them, according to Ringingphone co-owner Bob Bentz.
…
That a ringtone company has a blog is a great idea. But there is no need to mislead readers into thinking the blog is written by a 15 year-old, when it’s not.
All that said, naming the fake blogger “Cindy Schmelky” was a nice touch, as it doesn’t sound like the kind of name you’d come up with for a fake person. Her tagline ” I love ringtones more than life” is especially creepy.
UPDATE:
Check out the comments; a representative from Ringtones apologizes for the deceptive nature of the blog, saying they’ve learned their lesson and stopped faking the bloggers identity. Indeed, they still use the young woman’s photo, but they don’t pretend she’s a real person anymore. They simply refer to the blogger’s identity now as “The Staff at Cool Ringtones Blog.” Real names of those blogging would be a better improvement, but this is certainly something.
Real Networks just started this blog to influence spin in the debate over its recent enabling of its downloadable music files to be played on Apple’s proprietary MP3 player iPod. Real is undercutting Apple’s 99 cent MP3s by selling its music library for only 49 cents each.
UPDATE:
As usual, it seems that I’ve missed the actual story here (the difference being this time I figured it out, sort of, on my own before a bunch of you left comments here calling me dense). It seems that Real started this site as a petition calling on Apple users to support its effort open up its file format to play on the iPod. But it underestimated the fanaticism of Apple users, some 1,000 of whom signed the petition with vile abuse aimed at Real. Details at Micro Persuasion.
I noted the other day that I thought blogs and movies were a great match. Here’s another example: the arty looking film from Fox Search Lights, Garden State, has a blog written by the movie’s star, writer and director, Zach Braff (best known for his role on NBC’s hospital comedy Scrubs). Nice to see that the official movie site links to the blog. I haven’t seen the film yet (though I plan to, set as it is set in my native homeland of suburban New Jersey), but it appears to be popular with both critics and movie goers.
Not to be outdone by Google’s blog, Yahoo just launched its own blog. The first post, a bit of self-congratulations about how great Yahoo’s search is, was written by Jeff Weiner, SVP of Yahoo! Search & Marketplace. From the sound of it, however, others will also join in the blogging:
Be sure to check back here for news about new product introductions, updates and exclusive betas.
In addition, this blog is designed to provide a window into what our team is thinking and doing, in their own words (and maybe some guest bloggers as well).
Above all else we hope this blog enables you to share our excitement for the search industry and what the future holds.
Powered by Movable Type. Funny that they wouldn’t use Blogger, as it’s free
😉
Comments are turned on and filling up fast.
ClickZ offers additional perspective.
WeatherBug Meteorologist Ryan Towell, whose bio informs us “is a former TV meteorologist who earned the American Meteorological Society (AMS) TV Seal of Approval in 2000,” started blogging aptly in the midst of covering Hurrican Charley. He’s been cranking it out in the last few days.
Interesting blog focused on the “natural personal care products industry.” As much of the content appears to be straight-up press releases, I wrote the site’s editor for clarification about it. She replied:
Hi Rick,
In answer to your questions…
Most entries on SoapWire are a mixture of both press releases and news articles.
Those opting to submit press releases can do so free (which has a 2 day delay) or opt
to enhance their distribution level (same day/next day) through voluntary financial support.
SoapWire also offers expanded press release distribution options via its Natural News Media division.
There are several forms and levels of advertising on SoapWire- from top Sponsorships to graphical and contextual advertising.
Our target audience encompasses R&D, science, packaging design, marketing, manufacturing, distributors, buyers, company directors and journalists.
I hope this gives you a clearer picture.
Best,
Kathy L. Tarbox, Owner/President
Interesting piece Reuters apparently wrote for Billboard about the impact that blogs are having on the music industry. On the one hand, hip new indie bands such as the Killers, Scissor Sisters, Fiery Furnaces and Franz Ferdinand have all benefited from blog-fueled buzz. On the other hand, record companies predictably don’t know what to make of the copyright implications of MP3 blogs such as Fluxblog, Scenestars and TofuHut, the likes of which have scooped the record companies recently with previously unreleased material from new works by Fiona Apple, Interpol and Bjork.
My favorite quote is Chiore Sicha, editorial director of Gawker Media, calling 18-35 year old “this shocking demographic.” Egad!
Anil Dash notes that Raging Cow has an Amazon Wish List.
Another example of a commerce blog. 19-year-old student Keiko Groves is selling her original clothing line through her LiveJournal weblog where she mixes updates of her funky modified thrift-shop clothing with pictures of her boyfriend and puppy. According to this Orlando Sentinel piece, She makes just about enough to pay for her college tuition and cell-phone bills and the blog has brought her to the attention of more established designers. Steve Rubel calls her the future of marketing, which may be a slight overstatement, but if she’s what the future of marketing looks like, it is a welcome sight (the fact that she serves as her own model for her clothing probably doesn’t hurt, in her case).
Don’t Panic: the greatest book ever now has a movie under production: The Hitchhiker’s Guid to the Galaxy is currently in production and is due out in theaters next summer. I am literally all atwitter with anticipation. Meanwhile, there is a blog to tide us over, including production photos, QuickTime clips, cast/crew interviews and references to towels.
Why every movie in and after production doesn’t have a blog is a mystery to me.
Another great example of a business blog from software maker Intuit for its accounting software QuickBooks. The archive categories for posts say it all about this blog’s business value: Client Stories, Development News, Events, For Accounting Professionals, Product Features, Resources for Small Businesses, Stories from Our Clients, Tips & Tricks, Training and more.
New from Weblogs Inc:
(So branding isn’t their strong suit.)
Meanwhile, Weblogs Inc CEO Jason Calacanis has a recent rant titled “What makes a website a blog? (the blog test).” I’m not sure who died and made him king of the bloggers, and, no, I don’t agree with all of his criteria (particularly not about comments — so, I take it Instapundit isn’t a blogger? Or about the lack of an editor — at MarketingVox, editor Tig Tillinghast makes contributors post to draft, but it’s still a blog in my book; and as for frequently linking to other sites, so Salam Pax’s site wasn’t a blog when he was just writing about life in Baghdad before and during the invasion?). Whatever. I think trying to define a blog is a waste of time. You know it when you see it, that’s about it.
What I would recommend to Jason, however, for his new blogs to make them more blog-like and credible would be some personal identity. What really makes a blog a blog, if you ask me, is some kind of relationship readers have with the writer. Looking at these new Weblogs Inc blogs, however, I see no indication of who the authors are. They’re not pseudononymous, they’re just anonymous.
We don’t need a set of rules, just self-policing (like this post, or Jason’s other excellent post calling Drew Curtis to account for payola) and commonly accepted best practices.
Good luck with the new, blogs, though. They look otherwise interesting.
UPDATE:
Here is a definition of what makes a (good) blog that I prefer.
Just to be clear on this recent theme of faux blogs, I’m not against the idea in principal. As I said the other day, I actually think the Beta-7 Sega blog was pretty clever. It’s just the lame ones I object to.
Jane Blog is another example of a faux blog done really well. It’s well written, funny, cheeky, naughty, in short full of the right snarky tone of many good personal blogs. Importantly, compared to something really lame like Barbie’s blog which links to nothing, Jane actually reads and links heavily to lots of very hip blogs — Gawker, Defamer, Tony Pierce, Fark, Eurotrash (!), Anil Dash, Suicide Girls (naughty!) and lots more — both in her posts and her blogroll. And if that weren’t enough evidence that this is written by someone who gets blogs, she uses TypePad, not some hokey pseudo blog publishing platform. (E.g., she has permalinks!)
But, just in case you weren’t clear, in her About Me page, she concludes:
(by the way, I‚Äôm not actually real, I‚Äôm a fictitious character on the TV series “Good GIrls Don’t.” But that won‚Äôt stop me from writing to you every day. I mean, every weekday. Cause on weekends I‚Äôm in party mode.)
You go, girlfriend!
One of the best business blogs I’ve seen. Period.
I could go on, but you should just check it out if you’re interested.
LATEST UPDATE (August 4):
ATTENTION XBOX WEENIES: When I first created this post, I didn’t really understand what this blog was about. Whatever. Now I get it. I’ve since acknowledged that. Please stop posting comments on this thread to that same effect. Point taken. Get a frickin’ life already.
ORIGINAL POST:
It’s sad that consumer marketers think the best thing they can do with a blog is create fake ones. It was one thing when Sega did its Beta-7 blog, as that was actually really good and lots of people fell for it. But the stupid Be Tag-Free thing and now I Love Bees (from Xbox) are just lame. Michael O’Connor Clarke has the full story in his aptly named post Buzz Marketing.
FIRST UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:
A few commenters in my comments section on this post suggest that I’m not giving this its proper credit, that the blog is just one link in a chain of some kind of online mystery teaser campaign, and that lots of gamers who are following it think it is in fact a pretty cool campaign. I haven’t had the time (or inclination) to follow up on it further and judge for myself, so do take my cynicism with a grain of salt. May be I’m the one who doesn’t get it in this case, not the marketers.
What I think this does hightlight, however, is that it’s possible to come into a marketing event like this without the proper context, so marketers need to consider that. Like in the movies, you should be able to see a sequel without having seen the original and still enjoy it. If this works in its full context but looks bad if you find your way into it partway through, that is a problem. A link to this page from Instapundit would blow away the people are finding it from the start, and then more people could have a negative impression than a positive one. Like my annoyance at Big Blog Company the other day; so their “fuck you” comment wasn’t intended for outside eyes. Their mistake, however, was assuming it wouldn’t be seen out of context. Taken out of context, it wasn’t pretty.
Another Fake Blog: I Love Bees
The latest blog from Microsoft, this one by the Internet Explorer team.
First, watch this video. It’s funny, basically showing the discomfort women suffer from their bra tags.
The site (linked in the above headline) purports to be an amateurly designed petition from a few concerned women calling on bra makers to design bras without itchy tags at the back, as Hanes has done with men’s undershirts. The site also links to a few blogs on the topic.
I am sure (just based on what I see) that this is really a stealthy preview campaign for some bra maker that already has such a product they are about to unleash on the world, and this is a viral advance teaser. If I’m wrong about that, it’s certainly an market and marketing opportunity some such company should capitalize on. But, I’m not wrong; trust me. This is too slick and well-orchestrated to be genuinely a populist thing. This has slick cyber agency written all over it. Stay tuned…
UPDATE:
Oh yeah, it’s definitely a campaign. Here’s an ad for the “grassroots” site on hip fashion site DailyCandy.com. Expect TV ads to follow soon.
ANOTHER UPDATE:
In case you’re too lazy to click on the comments on this post, reader John Fratus observes, “The domain registration on betagfree.com is to Sara Lee (i.e. Hanes, Bali, Playtex, Wonderbra, etc.).” Now, why didn’t I think of that?
Wow.
Okay, for starters there’s the product: a personal beverage vending machine for your living room by large appliance maker Maytag. The product is called SkyBox. I am guessing this product is not targeted at women. In fact, I’m guessing this product is not targeted at men with women in their lives. (I could get a pool table or pinball machine in my livingroom sooooo much easier than a vending machine with my wife, and I couldn’t get either a pool table or a pinball machine in my livingroom with my wife in reality.) Is this like the livingroom bar for the new millennium? Somehow, tacky as the livingroom bar seems, it seems a lot classier than a vending machine….
Anyway, what this product obviously needs is a blog. This is Maytag, mind you. More power to them!
And, again, thanks to Olivier for the link.
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Business Blog Consulting is a site devoted to demonstrating how effective weblogs can be for communicating with customers and marketing to new customer prospects. You will find here lots of examples of business and corporate blogs, as well as resources to help you learn more about the topic.
Looking for a company that offers consulting on corporate and business blogging, including design, development and strategy? Consider Netconcepts.
Other stuff? Email us.
Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing
Andy Bourland of Bourland.com
Rich Brooks of Flyte
Paul Chaney of Blogging Systems Group
Sally Falkow of Expansion Plus
Josh Hallett of Hyku
Tris Hussey of Larix Consulting
Lee Odden of TopRank
Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts
Dave Taylor of Intuitive Life for Business
Jim Turner of One by One Media
Dana VanDen Heuvel of BlogSavant
Des Walsh of Thinking Home Business
Debbie Weil of WordBiz and BlogWrite
Jeremy Wright of Ensight
Rick E. Bruner is co-author and principal analyst on this report
Our own contributor Jeremy Wright is the author of this book
"The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right" with a foreword by GM's Bob Lutz..and the rest by Debbie Weil.
Produced by contributor to this site Debbie Weil. Rick E. Bruner is one of the featured experts in this report
This report is written by contributor to this site BL Ochman
I guess this was inevitable
