Alphablogs

Starting July 18, we’ll have a monthly feature here: Canada 9-5.

Canada 9-5 will showcase blogs of Canadian organizations of all stripes:

• corporate blogs
• blogs by professionals
• association blogs
• blogs written by non-profit agencies

We believe that the power of blogs is still underutilized, and hope that this initiative can contribute to bringing blogging more to the forefront as a great marketing tool.

Of course, there are already a number of organizations that use blogging to great advantage; notably, organizations in and around the field of internet technology, as well as some marketing professionals, photographers, lawyers and real estate agents.

However, there is literally an infinite potential out there. Architects and engineers can use blogs to let clients know how their current projects are coming along. Accountants can give updates on tax matters. Public speakers could give tips on overcoming the fear of speaking in front of an audience.

There is also immense potential for organizations. Staying in touch with members is often a challenge for organizations; even a short weekly blog post could make a big difference there.

In Canada 9-5, we will feature those Canadian organizations that have already taken the plunge. Different from our blog reviews which look at individual blogs in detail and aren’t only about Canadian blogs, each edition of Canada 9-5 will show show a whole list of Canadian business and organizational blogs.

If you have a blog that talks about your work, submit an article here, and you’re on!

technorati tags: canadian+blogs, corporations, professional, associations

At our recent workshop at the Alliance for Arts and Culture here in Vancouver, the question came up more than once: can I put a wordpress.com blog into my regular website? The answer is yes, just link out to it. Someone today sent me an announcement from ADWEEK Live from Cannes and I found this recent example: Dragonfly, the hot new video/media/everything content streaming site, currently streaming from Cannes at the Advertising Festival. Go to Dragonfly’s site and click on the blog: yep. It takes you to their blog at Wordpress.com. They could really update it all - looks like their last posting was last year! Still, it’s great to see how they used this blog as a start to their web presence.

technorati tags: blogs, streaming+video, vlogs

Today we gave a blogging workshop at the Alliance for Arts and Culture. It was interesting to see how many people were eager to sign up. Eighteen participants showed up and we actually had to turn a few more away.

Quite a few of the participants were from arts or arts related organizations. This is exciting; as far as we can tell, very few arts organizations in British Columbia are blogging right now. Of course, this is similar to other fields. I am always amazed how few corporations, business and professionals are taking advantage of this great communications tool.

Maybe our workshop will have helped to build a blog or two.

What could an arts organization do with a blog? Here are a few ideas:

1. announce events
2. discuss arts trends
3. connect with other artists and arts organizations in the blogosphere
4. feature individual artists
5. give a voice to individual artists and other stakeholders (through guest blogging)
6. showcase expertise to patrons, members, and funders
7. function as a virtual gallery, museum, concert hall or book store
8. function as a resource clearinghouse to stakeholders
9. be a communications tool for members
10. be the only web site the organization will ever need

These are just a few ideas. Maybe one of the workshop partipants will surprise us with some more …

(This post was included in the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants)

technorati tags: blog+workshop, artists, arts+organizations, canada, virtual+galleries, virtual+museums

To those who are regular bloggers, blogging help may seem unnecessary, but if you are new to it, or don’t feel computer-savvy, blog help is a must if you want to communicate this way.

You might think the old joke about jogging applies here: “I have someone who does that for me.” How can anyone blog for anyone else? This has been a topic of conversation among bloggers, and there is much to be said on the side that adamantly insists that the people who are blogging should express themselves personally, without intermediary. But time restraints, or computer problems, for example, sometimes mean that blog help can be needed.

Over the weekend I met with a client who has some extraordinary art work that she wishes to show online, and what better way to do that than by blogging? The hurdles to be overcome are many, not the least of which is simply navigating the blog software and finding out how to save the text. Some of what she wrote had not been saved actually, so luckily she had a backup of the writing that could reproduce the blog postings that had been lost. Then we had the obstacle of the image size. After going through the learning curve of the scanner and finding out how to use it, she learned how to scan her artworks, and how to save them, then I came in to help make them ready for upload. Each piece is very beautiful and the images are extremely symbolic and meaningful. They work very well on the screen, as the light passing through the textures is very compelling. Because they were saved in quite large formats, we went over the ways to make the images smaller, and more blog-ready. In the process we discovered that there were many areas still to be determined in this blog-to-be, many parts still to be done, and definitions of the relationships between the static pages and the blog postings, as well as header information were still to be worked out.

Just because the blog software like wordpress is so easy to use, and wordpress.com makes it so very easy to do, we mustn’t make the assumption that this means everyone will have the patience and interest in developing their own blogs. Experienced bloggers have all been there, learning how to post images, how to make the most of the blogosphere, and how to best communicate in this medium. It is a continually expanding area of expertise, always shifting. That’s where we come in with blogging help and assistance, at whatever level a client might need it. We can offer that experience to new bloggers, so the trial and error process is reduced somewhat.

At the end of the day, you get a great blog, and you can add to it yourself with confidence, or we can help provide content, research or links to enhance your blog presence.

technorati tags: blogging, time+management, art, art+work, artists

As you know, when you do any type of marketing, there are three important questions to consider.

Who is your audience?

I like to use the word “audience” because it summarizes the many different words that can be used: clients, customers, readers, patrons, members …

It’s also good to remember that your blog may be read by people who know and/or influence your primary target audience.

Having said that, who is your primary target audience? Middle-aged men who are interested in upscale recreational activities? Girls in high school? Well-to-do immigrants?

The more you know about your audience, the better.

What would you like your audience to do?

So your ideal client arrives at your blog. What would you like her to do? Email you? Give you a call? Tell others about you? Keep coming back to your blog?

Of course your reader-client will do whatever she’ll do, and you’ll never know exactly what her motivations are. You can’t (and we hope you don’t want to) force her to do anything. However, it only makes sense for you to present your information in such a way as to make it likely for her to follow through with an action that is positive for your business.

What can you do so that your audience will follow through?

If you want your readers to interact with you, asking them questions is often helpful. If you want them to call you, make sure your telephone number is easily visible. Help your customers.

technorati tags: target+audience, market+research, motivation, navigation, customer+service

If you want to get lots of google hits – and if you want your blog to be cut from “a whole cloth”, it’s best for all three to be related to what you want to communicate to your readers and clients.

Here are some examples:

http://www.boingboing.net/
BoingBoing
A directory of wonderful things

Comment: URL and blog name are the same (an ideal situation). While the name doesn’t communicate much directly, it raises curiosity – which is then answered by the tag line: “A directory of wonderful things.” This is a so-called A-list blog, one of the most successful blogs on the web.

http://miketodd.typepad.com/
“Waving or drowning?”
To explore and communicate radical faith and connect a community of apprentices

Comment: URL is the blogger’s name – not a bad idea: often the blogger’s name is better known than the blog or company name. Again, the blog name brings up an intriguing question and also perhaps a connotation – could this be a blog that deals with philosophical topics? And indeed, that is the case when you look at the tagline. The tagline also immediately announces that this is meant to be an interactive blog.

http://mylifeasareluctanthousewife.blogspot.com/
My Life As A Reluctant Housewife
Gabriella True is the quintessential Mom of twins who wishes she could snap her fingers like the “Practically Perfect in Everyway” Mary Poppins. Join this Reluctant Housewife in her passion for writing recipes, motherhood, shopping, reading, entertaining, and the history of holidays

Comment: Again, URL and blog name are the same. A very long tag line that speaks to a specific audience and tells the reader exactly what to expect.

The Tooth Booth Dental Blog is a great example of how easy it is to have a professional blog. Nothing fancy here, no great writing skills needed – just a quick little note here and there about exactly what clients are looking for: tips for improving your dental health.

The design is a straight Wordpress design but it just so happens (or is it on purpose?) that it’s a great fit for a dentist – cool and clean.

I also like how the writer, Dr. Skariah, identifies himself after each post. This gives his name added credibility (and also causes his name to show up frequently on a Google search – not a bad idea, either). Giving his contact information with every post is useful in his situation, too – there is ample research that shows that making the reader hunt around for a “contact me” link decreases the chances of picking up the telephone and making that all-important call.

You may have noticed that I said, “in his situation” – there are other circumstances where this is not the best way to go. The question is always, what do you want the reader to do? What outcome would you like to have? In Dr. Skariah’s case, I presume that he wants more face-to-face clients, so making it easy for them to do that by providing his telephone number and address with each post is the right way to go.

On the other hand, if, for example, your goal is for your readers to buy your eBook, then including a link to an e-shopping cart in every post would be the best thing to do.