Locals out front in business blog march
By ROBERT TRIGAUX
Published February 25, 2005
What appears to be the first online contest for the best "business blogs" has netted two winners right here in the Tampa Bay area.
Security Awareness, a computer security firm in Seminole run by long-time tech guru Winn Schwartau, won in two categories: "best overall blog" and "best tech company blog" - the latter competing against heavyweight blogs run by employees at Microsoft and Apple.
And John Mudd, a real estate agent who sells luxury and waterfront homes for Exit Realty Suncoast in Largo, won for his "Inside Real Estate Journal" blog. His site also came in first in two categories: best real estate blog and the more whimsical category of the peacock award (for "most self-important" blog, for which Mudd naturally nominated himself).
Not long ago, I never would have imagined committing a business column to some funky blog contest. Blogs were too new and ill-defined, too tech-heavy or just too ranting in content to merit much attention.
That's changing rapidly. Blogs now are credited with uncovering the CBS anchor Dan Rather scandal. New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, speaking in St. Petersburg this week, called the rise of blogs "fascinating" and said their monitoring of the mainstream media means journalists are more likely to get caught if they make "mistakes of consequence."
Now business blogs are blossoming. You will be hearing a lot more about them and reading more of them online on your own.
First things first.
A blog, a shortened name for Web log, is a Web site that features the unedited remarks of an individual or a small group, typically on a specialized subject. A blog is frequently updated with the most recent entry appearing at the top of the Web site, while earlier items are pushed down the page. Hence the idea of a log or journal. Many blogs encourage readers to add comments, which become part of the public site.
But let's be clear. Don't confuse most blogs with traditional news sources. Many are personal opinion or criticism. Many more, particularly business blogs, are self-serving marketing tools.
That's perfectly okay, as long as the reader understands the rules of blogs.
What are the odds two of the business blog award finalists are right here in Pinellas County? The names of the "2005 Business Blogging Awards" winners were posted online this week. Voting took place at www.businessbloggingawards.com sponsored by the blog consultants at www.Insideblogging.com
General blog awards, notably the so-called Bloggies, have been around for years. But a contest just for business blogs is new.
Security Awareness, which provides information security services to governments and businesses, operates an 8-month-old blog aimed at the nonexpert computer user. Hence the blog's inviting name: "The Security Awareness Blog for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless." It can be found at http://securityawareness.blogspot.com/
The blog is interactive. That allows Schwartau - a prolific writer on computer security who I happened to profile seven years ago in this newspaper - and chief blogger and marketing officer Greg Hoffman to frequently update the site with comments and opinions on computer security news and trends.
Readers are encouraged to leave comments on the blog.
It's not just some techie exchange. By constantly updating its blog, Security Awareness encourages online readers to return often to the Web site. That helps the company's business and allows the firm to build loyalty with an online community.
The blog averages between 3,000 and 4,000 online visits or hits a month, Hoffman says.
There's a far more practical side as well. Major Internet search engines - especially Google - recognize and respond to frequent changes on blogs and elevate those Web sites in search rankings. That's critical to getting noticed in the online world.
"It's the best guerrilla marketing tool out there," Hoffman says of blogs.
After John Mudd graduated from college he wandered into public relations work and became involved in early blogs devoted to PR matters.
When he recently switched to selling real estate, he took his blog expertise with him and started a business blog called "Tampa Bay's Inside Real Estate Journal." It can be found at http://insiderealestatejournal.blogspot.com
"The fact that there was even a business blog contest shows that blogs are becoming an effective business tool," Mudd says.
"I have gotten virtually all my customers from my Web (site) presence, which is highly bolstered because I blog."
What's new on Mudd's blog? Aside from his reporting his two first-place awards, Mudd's latest real estate entry discusses the merits and rising popularity of "rondos" - industry slang for rental apartments that are being converted to condos.
The 2005 business blog award contest was the idea of Darren Barefoot and Jeremy Wright, who together run a blog consulting firm called Insideblogging.
The duo announced the contest late in 2004 and found blog-experienced judges to whittle down the nominations in each of 20 categories to half a dozen or fewer blogs.
Then the online voting began. Voting was controlled to prevent more than one vote per computer. About 5,000 votes were registered.
Business blogs are starting to gather steam, Barefoot says. There are two kinds. The first and more traditional blog involves a professional writing about his or her industry. The second involves a company starting a blog to write about itself and its industry.
The business blog phenomenon is well known in the technology world. Microsoft, for example, has about 1,200 bloggers inside the company who comment on Microsoft products.
The company tolerates and even encourages blogs as long as they do not reveal confidential corporate information or become too strident. Blogger and Microsoft evangelist Richard Scoble is one of the big names in tech blogging.
General Motors also runs a few blogs. The most notable - http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/ - features frequent commentary from GM's top executives.
On Thursday, the GM blog featured company vice chairman Bob Lutz responding to a New York Times story about the new Saab SUV.
Get ready for plenty more corporate-sponsored business blogs, Barefoot says.
"Most normal Web sites do not change. If you blog and it changes and it is compelling, people will come back to read it," he says.
"But it has to have a forthright and honest voice. You cannot blog in corporate-speak or in the style of a press release."
Corporate blogs cleverly hyping their own virtues? Business blogs by the barrel? Blogs on blogs? It's quite a blogger buffet.
Just beware of business information indigestion along the way.
Robert Trigaux can be reached at 727 893-8405 or trigaux@sptimes.com