Chris, the reason that I put more emphasis on “subscribers” as opposed to those who visit the site is because they’ve actually made an effort to stay connected. They clicked, or cut&pasted something into an RSS Reader, just because they wanted to hear more from a source. In essence, they’ve made a low-level commitment to your content. And I think that subscribing is a good first step toward a “long term business relationship.” Doesn’t a subscriber have more of a “relationship” with a blogger than a site visitor? What would it take to “convert” a casual reader to a subscriber?

And CorpBlawg, I’m perfectly willing to come up with a better word than “conversational.” Please suggest a better one. To me, this is less a discussion about linguistics than a quest to understand the true meaning of things. As my friend Rick Palmer always used to say, “Sometimes words just don’t work.” When this happens, I’ve alway found that a conversation helps two or more people express what they meant — leading to understanding.

I wonder about your focus on subscribers or regular readers. i.e. “blogs are not about traffic but about influence.”

There is finite room to be ‘influential’ yet the opportunity to generate traffic is available to all.

Leveraging the power of blogging as the first step in a long term business relationship is a goal to be embraced..isn’t it?

The answer to “what’s wrong with Corporate Blogging?” has everything to do with this sense that it can’t be used as a legitimate business tool. Show a corporate customer an ROI based on SEO, Traffic, Engagement and Conversion…..they will beat a path to your door.

The beauty of this is that the visitors actually prefer it too. When one makes a search, they have lots of junk on that SERP…commercial sites, directories…and blogs..written by real human beings that know the answer, care about the customer, like their jobs, etc…

That’s why business blogs have higher conversions.
Best,

Chris Baggott
CEO
Compendium Blogware
http://www.compendiumblogware.com

Jeremiah Owyang
schrieb über die "many challenges of
corporate blogging" während Ron Ploof seinerseits die einzelnen Punkte kommentierte:

Most don’t receive a lot of traffic (aber es kommt auf die wenigen passionierten Leser…

Isn’t idea creation a little like the differences between summer camp and school? One gives you a reason to have fun and explore, while the other just gives you the dry facts so you can prepare for the test?

Wanting to answer a question, or create a great blog post comes from passion. Those people who see blogging as a chore will never be driven by passion, while passion for the content is what drives the outstanding blogger.