Product Description

Why do 20 to 40 million Weblogs, or blogs, serve as an outlet for an estimated 32 million readers worldwide? And why do these numbers continue to skyrocket?

In Blogging for Business, authors Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos tell you exactly how and why more companies are incorporating blogs into their business strategies. This smart new guide helps you engage in the global conversation by creating and maintaining blogs to generate heightened awareness and greater customer mindshare.

In Blogging for Business, the authors reveal why businesses should embrace blogging:

• How to tap into the power of blogs

• How blogs are different from e-zines, Web sites, and message boards

• Why businesses need to monitor blogs that discuss their products and services

• How to use an internal corporate blog as an effective knowledge sharing tool

• Future iterations of blogging, such as podcasts and vlogs

• Legal considerations

Worldwide corporations from EDS and IBM to General Motors and Sprint are leveraging the myriad applications of blogs for product marketing, customer affinity programs, public relations, and internal communications. Packed with top-notch recommendations from two pros, Blogging for Business demonstrates that blogs offer a competitive advantage that businesses cannot afford to overlook.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144708 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-01
• Released on: 2006-02-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, whose clients have included Pepsi, Barclays Global Investors, The World Bank, and Intel. A blogger and podcaster, Holtz speaks regularly at the International Association of Business Communicators Conference (IABC) and the Ragan Corporate Communications Conference.

Ted Demopoulos has more than 25 years of experience in high technology, including 15 years as an independent consultant serving blue chip clients such as Cisco Systems, The Department of Defense, IBM, Hong Kong Telecom, and the UK Post Office. An early adopter of blogging, he has closely followed the development of the blogosphere for many years.

Customer Reviews

Great Reference Book
If you are new to blogs or an experienced blogster, I recommend having this book on your reference bookshelf. I suggest that you refer to it often. Its a GREAT How To reference guide.

I read this book before Naked Conversations. I think it should be the other way around. The most valuable part of this book is after you have a strategy and focus. Blogging for Business has a couple of chapters that are pure gold and should be reviewed continually especially the section on search engine optimization.

Read the title carefully: the book may not focus on what you think.
This book is authoritatively written and does not pretend to offer any 'secrets' of blogging. But the emphasis on the book is for blogging for already established companies. Much of the book focuses on the importance of establishing a web presence for corporations, and uses as examples, CEO's and other managers, who use blogging to keep the news of their companies up-to-date and to create a more 'intimate' relationship between the agenda setters and stakeholders. It isn't particularly valuable for one-person business operations, and has little discussion of the fine points of various software programs. There are about 10 pages of basic info. about Google's blogger, but nothing you wouldn't find on the Blogger help page. It also does not instill confidence to see the authors plugging their own businesses by using as examples their own blogs. The overarching metaphor of the book is that a corporate blog serves pretty much the same purpose as a intra-corporate video distributed by the CEO to his/her employees and customers--the difference being the blog can be continually updated. Basically just a 'user friendly' version of what is or was called 'corporate communication'; it's old wine in a new bottle.

Great Book on Blogging
Of all of the blogging books that I have read recently, I felt that this was the most practical, and well organized book. It provides the nuts and bolts about blogging, and provides the reader with the steps needed to enter the blogosphere.