I now have the pleasure of maintaining three blogs. Three very, very different blogs with three very, very different needs. So different, in fact, it's almost hard to call them just blogs, especially when trying to describe them to various people during various times of the day.

The verb/noun of 'blogging' has transcended being simply a one-word descriptor. It's just not enough anymore. I get asked about my experiences blogging from time to time, and more often, how to get started. The answer, lately, is not so easy. In my mind, it has become impossible to give advice without first knowing why the user wants to blog and what they hope to get out of it. Much like I won't plan a speaking or writing engagement without first knowing my target audience, I now won't plan blog content until I realize what the blog is for and who that target audience is.

I can't help it; I'm a consultant. By nature I need to understand the why before I can recommend a course of action, otherwise I may be leading a would-be-blogger into a course of action that could take away from their enjoyment of the experience or not fulfill their needs/expectations.

No matter how I try to stay away from generalizing, it always seems to come down to three types of blogs, each with their own types of content, needs, and audience. Therefore, I usually explain it this way when people ask me questions. It's always easier to relate to a concept that everyone already knows about and can relate to. Even though the majority of blogs usually falls into some sort of gray area in between all of these, I always revolve these three blog types in relative terms around a product. I've found it's just easier for people to grasp the concept that way.

A Personal Blog
The content reflects the product. In this case, the product is the individual - You! Time spent wisely here is to be focused on living your life, so you always have exciting, fresh things to blog about from your own unique perspective.

Your audience is found through a number of ways... Google, family, friends, friends met through social sites, StumbleUpon, etc. Loyal visitors return because your life, writing or content gives them something to enjoy, something of value that's meaningful to them, or they just want to find out what the heck you've been up to lately.

The author may write for various reasons. It could be therapeutic, fun, a gateway to a niche blog, or a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. The name and URL of a personal blog is of minimal importance. Sidebar links can be focused on social site widgets, blogrolls, Flickr badges, affiliations, etc.

When the personal blog of a friend just stops, my first thought is that they are either busy out living their life, or something has happened. Yes, I worry!

A Corporate Blog
The content certainly helps the product, but the content is not the product itself. The product or service that the corporation sells is still the product! Regular visitors are business partners, customers, product users, community partners and competitors.

A corporate blogger can blog for many reasons - branding, public relations, community and customer relationship building, product or company announcements to name a few.

Corporate blogs are so powerful today that I have either been trained subconsciously or have learned to rely on them as the primary source of information coming from that company. In addition to company or product announcements, corporate blogs that show strong, intelligent industry commentary in time become industry leaders themselves, which can help sales and strengthen community/customer relationships.

While many corporate blogs and their authors exist outside the company domain/firewall, it's outside this brief overview and will not be mentioned here. For corporate blogs located on the company's website, if the information stopped suddenly I wouldn't be able to help it - my first thought would be to question the welfare of the company as a whole before the author. In that regards, open communication would seem to be key before a corporate blog simply ceased to exist.

Sidebar links can be focused on industry news sites, product links, company links, partners, etc. Traffic can be driven through links via business partners, forums, links from the company's home page, etc.

A Pro/Niche Blog
Here, the content IS the product. It must be original and fresh, and due to the importance of search engine rankings, it can never be duplicated. Special attention is paid to a voice/niche to stand out, as well as being able to find the blog easily via search engine in order to reach a wider audience.

Because of the importance of Seach Engine Optimization (SEO) on every page, these blogs have special needs and must be highly technical in regards to tagging, URL-formation, and RSS readability.

Regular visitors are loyal followers and search engine users. The author's time is spent writing good content, building social networks, and driving traffic to the blog.

The name is highly important for two reasons. The first is that short, memorable URLs are easy to remember and brand. The second is that changing a URL on an established pro/niche blog will drastically hurt search engine ranking and inbound URL links (equally as important to SEO) will be dead.

The authors write for many reasons - fun, community support, income, networking, etc. The purpose and success of a niche blog lies with fulfilling a missing need with the readers. Traffic can be driven through search engines, reciprocal links via other niche blogs, heavy RSS feed promotion, linking to articles others write and adding additional commentary, heavy participation in social sites, etc.

How focused is will the niche be? Is it too focused to gain much readership? Does that bother you?

When the blog writing stops, visitors may worry, they may send an email, but in time, they also may just move on to the next blog that provides the same type of content they need.

Like some corporate blogs, some pro/niche blogs place emphasis on the author, some do not, or they may have multiple authors. Some corporate/niche blogs will not work at all without the original author's voice or URL. It's up to you to decide the why's and how's. Do you have existing competition? Do you even see it as competition? What will make your blog special and unique? What are you offering that no one else does? Is your "voice" important to you?

After it is all said and done, however, I always place special emphasis on two things. These things will never change.

1. There are no rules.
2. Blogging has always revolved around community and sharing. It's an old cliche, but it's true - content is king. At the end of the day, throw out everything you just read and focus on writing the best content you can. It's rewarding for you, and it's rewarding for the reader.

This is just my perspective. Let's get some more. What can you add to this? What do you agree or disagree with? Are you a blog writer? Why do you blog?
Are you a blog reader? What attracts you to certain blogs, and what makes you a loyal follower to them?

1. Carla08/29/2008 10:12:25 AM

So what about community blogs. Isn't that what blogs like yours (here), Ed Brills, IdoNotes, and the like really are? How do they fit in?

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2. Jess Stratton08/29/2008 02:19:36 PM

Well, that's why I said that the majority of blogs seem to cover grey area over ALL types... but when you put it in terms of a product, this would be more like a corporate blog, right? The product is still Lotus, and that's what our content reflects. I focus my energies on being the best Lotus professional consultant that I can be, and the end result of that focus is what I (and anyone else) write about here.

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