Are you a regular blogger? Would you like to share your blogs with other EOers? If so, here’s your chance. EO would like to feature member blogs in upcoming issues of Overdrive.
If you’re not quite up to speed on the latest technology, a blog – short for “web log” – is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject, and some even serve as personal online diaries.
Could blogging help your business?
Decidedly so, according to Frank Bell and his recent article in Entrepreneur magazine. “You can differentiate yourself from competitors through a blog by providing your own personality and communications online. It's your personal, interactive journal of business activity, which can be a great advertising tool for you to describe why your products and services are different. What other marketing medium allows you to interact and gain insights from your prospects and customers in a non-threatening forum?”
As veteran blogger Rene Siefert wrote in the February 2007 issue of Overdrive, "I clearly see tangible benefits from blogging. It provides you with the ability to gain trust before you meet new people. I recall numerous business meetings with prospective clients who had Googled my name, landed on my blog and started conversations like, 'I read your article about Infosys. These guys have demonstrated an impressive growth, haven’t they?' And you get straight into an organic conversation. So for me, blogging has become a natural and productive way to communicate with my friends, family and business contacts across the globe. It has also connected me to potential clients I may not have otherwise met."
To get a good idea of how blogs work, visit the Kauffman Foundation’s Kauffman eVenturing site. There you will find hundreds of blogs on topics relevant to entrepreneurs.