If you Build it, will they come?

When we begin asking the question of how blogs affect the bottom line, we should be aware that blogs themselves don't bring value. This is a tough question I've wrestled with in sales calls, because the answer isn't what an executive wants to hear.

The Question:

What value am I getting from a blog?

The Answer:

You don't get value from a blog. You take value from a blogging community. It may seem the answer is just semantics, but the purpose is to shake off the idea that blogs = more money.

Blogs are information tools - they are good at collecting, managing, and dispersing communication - but they aren't money-makers in any significant way.

The value in blogging is building and participating in a community that you can then use to leverage your products. How do you build and nurture such a community? Why, you learn from the experts.

On-line communities have become not just a major social force, but a significant driver of business activity both online and offline. Facilitating, nurturing and benefiting from those communities, however, is not a simple task. To explore what makes these communities tick, Kevin Wehrbach, a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton, spoke with Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.com, Julie Herendeen, vice president of Network Products at Yahoo and William Flitter, CEO of Pheedo. All three are involved with successful online communities and efforts to leverage and facilitate online communities, but in very different ways.

The challenge lies in not just building a community, but providing enough value to the individual community members to ensure their voluntary participation. Check out the podcast in the link to find out how the most successful communities were built.