Does your Web site work for the press and analysts who visit? How much time and money does your company spend promoting your Web site, your business, your services, technologies and products to the world? What happens when an editor comes to your Web site and tries to find information? Can they find what they need -- or do they click away?

Banks are backing off harsh overdraft fees and policies. That's the good news. The bad news is they'll probably look to make up that lost profit elsewhere. It's a worrisome prospect for the vast majority of customers who never overdraw their funds and have grown accustomed to perks like free checking accounts.

Bookkeeping on autopilot for millions of busy self-employed business owners. We’re just giddy that we can say that; truly delivering for entrepreneurs a service that automatically records income and expenses, categorizes everything for the IRS, and delivers reports about business performance. Today, with a… minor release we’ve overhauled the experience you have with [...]

The "Stimulus" bill contains money for lots of discrete different things. $4 billion as reported on yesterday included money for broadband expansion. There is also $17 billion or so set aside to stimulate the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by providing money to doctors to adopt the use of this software. EHR software has seen significant investment from various companies such as GE Healthcare, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems and others. In theory by helping provide efficient management of patient records EHR will save money overall by eliminating unnecessary tests or treatment. EHR will also reduce mistakes as they more accurately record doctor's orders and treatments. Obviously this government money is seen as spurring large sales of the systems. Unfortunately...

Bruce Clay's SEO for Dummies is a simple yet detailed treasure trove on SEO. Dr. Wilson says, 'In my opinion, SEO for Dummies is by far the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date SEO reference available in print.' Highly recommended!

Bruce Clay's SEO for Dummies is a simple yet detailed treasure trove on SEO. Dr. Wilson says, 'In my opinion, SEO for Dummies is by far the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date SEO reference available in print.' Highly recommended!

click hereto retweet Outside of the fact that you happen to be reading one right now, I find that there are lots of smart, business savvy folks out there who when placed in the position of having to explain, strategize or build a blog (or decide if one should be built at all) are at a bit of a loss. Blogs are usually easy for most people to recognize but harder for folks to define. When I hosted a free class on the subject (as I do from time to time) it "sold out" (in the way only free classes can!) the room filled to capacity. Even those who can sort of describe a blog, often find it hard to understand when, why and how to create one so that it will actually create benefit for a business, organization, cause etc.. I Can Email You When I Post to this BlogClick here to get notified of new posts to The Internet Strategist by Email Of course everyone who manages a successful blog has found themselves in a similar position at least once and gotten past it, so I thought I could impart a few words of advice. First of all, what is a blog really? A blog is just a Web site. Let me repeat that for the non-believers – A BLOG IS JUST A WEB SITE. But it's a special kind of Web site. Let's start by looking at the different kinds of Web sites that exist. Many of the students of my in-person classes will recognize this. According to my calculations and ruminations, there are essentially 4 kinds of Web sites you can build based on how your business attracts revenue: Web Site Types BrandingExamples: Coca Cola, Dove Advertising RevenueExamples: Inc.com, Google.com eCommerceExamples: Amazon, Zappos Lead GenerationExamples: messagemedium.com, razorfish.com A branding site like Dove is working hard to immerse the viewer in the company's ethos. You can't actually buy any product from their site, they don't seem to sell ads, nor are they pushing hard for you to give up your contact information. Dove's site is all about convincing you of their commitment to improving women's natural beauty and self-esteem in the hope that this will generate an emotional affinity to their brand. Related Articles by Maisha:Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (final/part 3) Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (part 2) Small Business "Success Studies" Using LinkedInLinkedIn the 11 Most Useful Features for Small Business An advertising revenue site like Inc.com has articles and information as its content. It is designed and organized into categories like "Business Advice" "Tech Startup" "The Internet Strategist" to display that content in a way that's easy for you – the reader – to find, read and pass along. An Online Store like Zappos.com has products – shoes - as its content. So it is organized and designed to make it easy for you to find the kind of shoes you're looking for. One of reasons Zappos is so popular is it provides a variety of ways to find what you're looking for. A service Web site like message medium has services as its content. So our site is organized to make it easy for you to find our services and also to find the things that make us a credible company to work with – testimonials, articles, client samples, news clippings etc. As a business owner, more than likely you are not looking to spend millions of dollars on a branding Web site so let's focus on the other three. So How do Blogs fit in? Blogs are an interesting breed of Web site. In structure, they are most like Advertising Revenue sites. Like a newspaper, they usually publish content with some predictable regularity, and the content is typically arranged by date and/or by category so that it can be easily found by readers. But what's interesting about blogs and has made them so ubiquitous, is that they, with all of their content and social elements, can be used very effectively to support an Advertising, eCommerce or Lead Generation Web site. My blog "The Internet Strategist" is designed to fit within Inc.com's business model of generating revenue through advertising and things like events. The blog of Tony Hsu, the CEO of Zappos, is designed to generate brand loyalty and increase sales of the products Zappos sells. This blog also does double-duty, helping you the reader understand my areas of expertise as an Internet Strategist, which my company message medium hopes will help us generate more consulting, Web site design and construction, and Internet marketing clients as well as attendees in our classes. So the first thing you have to identify when considering blogging is – what kind of business do I have and how do we stay afloat? How do we generate revenue? This will help you determine your ultimate blogging purpose. Next time – I'll discuss "The Big Payoff" what can you expect a blog to actually accomplish for you? Post Your CommentHave a question? Got something to share? Something I missed?Your feedback, comments, real world experience and tactical questions are an important part of the discussion. If you have a comment, question or feedback post it below.Share: Click here to share "To Blog or Not to Blog" with your fans on TwitterStay up to date: Follow me on Twitter Add "The Internet Strategist" RSS updates to your reader or your Web siteRead Related Articles by Maisha:Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (final/part 3) Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (part 2) Small Business "Success Studies" Using LinkedInLinkedIn the 11 Most Useful Features for Small Business

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's stance on climate-change legislation continues to alienate its member base. This time it's Exelon, the third utility to desert the U.S. Chamber in a week. It's not quite a exodus. But momentum is building against the powerful lobbying group -- described as the voice of business -- and the voices of opposition are coming from within. Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe made the announcement Monday during a speech to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's national conference about the need for "sensible climate change legislation that puts a price on carbon." Exelon follows the departure last week of two other utilities. Pacific Gas & Electric left over the organization's extreme position on climate change, and New Mexico's PNM said it...

Sony has negotiated new distribution partnerships with ebook publisher Smashwords and self-publishing leader Author Solutions Inc. (ASI) that will bring the work of thousands of self-published authors and independent publishers into The eBook Store from Sony. "We're excited to be able to help power the new Sony Publisher Portal," Smashwords CEO Mark Coker told me. "It is now free and easy for authors and publishers to upload and distribute their ebooks through this major new channel. "In the past it was close to impossible for a small author or publisher to get their work into the Sony Store, but now we have established a rapid on-ramp for them." This is the second big distribution deal announced in the past month...

Outside of the fact that you happen to be reading one right now, I find that there are lots of smart, business savvy folks out there who when placed in the position of having to explain, strategize or build a blog (or decide if one should be built at all) are at a bit of a loss. Blogs are usually easy for most people to recognize but harder for folks to define.

When I hosted a free class on the subject (as I do from time to time) it "sold out" (in the way only free classes can!) the room filled to capacity.

Even those who can sort of describe a blog, often find it hard to understand when, why and how to create one so that it will actually create benefit for a business, organization, cause etc..

I Can Email You When I Post to this Blog Click here to get notified of new posts to The Internet Strategist by Email

Of course everyone who manages a successful blog has found themselves in a similar position at least once and gotten past it, so I thought I could impart a few words of advice.

First of all, what is a blog really?

A blog is just a Web site.

Let me repeat that for the non-believers – A BLOG IS JUST A WEB SITE.

But it's a special kind of Web site.

Let's start by looking at the different kinds of Web sites that exist. Many of the students of my in-person classes will recognize this.

According to my calculations and ruminations, there are essentially 4 kinds of Web sites you can build based on how your business attracts revenue:

Web Site Types

Branding Examples: Coca Cola, Dove

Advertising Revenue Examples: Inc.com, Google.com

eCommerce Examples: Amazon, Zappos

Lead Generation Examples: messagemedium.com, razorfish.com

A branding site like Dove is working hard to immerse the viewer in the company's ethos. You can't actually buy any product from their site, they don't seem to sell ads, nor are they pushing hard for you to give up your contact information. Dove's site is all about convincing you of their commitment to improving women's natural beauty and self-esteem in the hope that this will generate an emotional affinity to their brand.

Related Articles by Maisha: Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (final/part 3) Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (part 2) Small Business "Success Studies" Using LinkedIn LinkedIn the 11 Most Useful Features for Small Business

An advertising revenue site like Inc.com has articles and information as its content. It is designed and organized into categories like "Business Advice" "Tech Startup" "The Internet Strategist" to display that content in a way that's easy for you – the reader – to find, read and pass along.

An Online Store like Zappos.com has products – shoes - as its content. So it is organized and designed to make it easy for you to find the kind of shoes you're looking for. One of reasons Zappos is so popular is it provides a variety of ways to find what you're looking for.

A service Web site like message medium has services as its content. So our site is organized to make it easy for you to find our services and also to find the things that make us a credible company to work with – testimonials, articles, client samples, news clippings etc.

As a business owner, more than likely you are not looking to spend millions of dollars on a branding Web site so let's focus on the other three.

So How do Blogs fit in?

Blogs are an interesting breed of Web site. In structure, they are most like Advertising Revenue sites. Like a newspaper, they usually publish content with some predictable regularity, and the content is typically arranged by date and/or by category so that it can be easily found by readers.

But what's interesting about blogs and has made them so ubiquitous, is that they, with all of their content and social elements, can be used very effectively to support an Advertising, eCommerce or Lead Generation Web site.

• My blog "The Internet Strategist" is designed to fit within Inc.com's business model of generating revenue through advertising and things like events.
  
  
• The blog of Tony Hsu, the CEO of Zappos, is designed to generate brand loyalty and increase sales of the products Zappos sells.
  
  
• This blog also does double-duty, helping you the reader understand my areas of expertise as an Internet Strategist, which my company message medium hopes will help us generate more consulting, Web site design and construction, and Internet marketing clients as well as attendees in our classes.
  

So the first thing you have to identify when considering blogging is – what kind of business do I have and how do we stay afloat? How do we generate revenue? This will help you determine your ultimate blogging purpose.

Next time – I'll discuss "The Big Payoff" what can you expect a blog to actually accomplish for you?

Post Your Comment Have a question? Got something to share? Something I missed? Your feedback, comments, real world experience and tactical questions are an important part of the discussion. If you have a comment, question or feedback post it below.

Share:

Click here to share "To Blog or Not to Blog" with your fans on Twitter

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Read Related Articles by Maisha:

• Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (final/part 3)
  
• Building Your Tribe - 6 LinkedIn Success Studies (part 2)
  
• Small Business "Success Studies" Using LinkedIn
  
• LinkedIn the 11 Most Useful Features for Small Business