Blogging Is Like Golf
Blogging is like golf.
If you don't play golf, you can't understand why these crazed people spend five hours chasing a ball around with a stick.
If you don't play golf, the language makes no sense. What's a driver? A chip? A scorecard? Why would you lay up? Who wants to hit the green?
If you don't play golf, you'll never understand the passion behind the game, which would make you a pretty poor salesman of golf clubs, no? Non-golfers definitely don't try to correct your swing.
It's the same with blogs. Non-bloggers may be able to give you some tools, but they don't understand the medium.
If your agnecy doesn't blog, the language makes no sense. What's a trackback? Can I moderate comments? Someone asked for a reciprocal link - Do I have to give it to them? Why isn't anyone reading my blog? How do I track sales with this thing? Sitemeter or StatPro? Should I use GoogleAds? What's a carnival? What's dooced?
The problem is blogging looks easy, so agencies (PR/Marketing/Advertising) on retainer get asked to start a blog, and they figure, "Hey, how hard can it be?"
Questions to ask your Agency when you want a Blog.
1) Do you have a blog? How many unique visitors do you have and how long has it been up?
2) Have you ever designed a blog before?
3) Can you give me a successful example of a blog you built for a customer?
4) How much work do I have to do to make this work? Are you going to write it?
5) What community are you going to connect me to? Can you give me links of people I want to read?
If they can't answer these questions, they can't help you with a blog. You're better off on your own. Of course, you could just call us. If you don't like our prices, we'd be happy to pass you on to other people who might help.
If your advertising/marketing/PR company offers to set you up on a blog, please, please, PLEASE check their website out to see if they are blogging.
If a developer offers to design you a blog, check their site to see if they have one!
Durbin Media
If you don't play golf, you can't understand why these crazed people spend five hours chasing a ball around with a stick.
If you don't play golf, the language makes no sense. What's a driver? A chip? A scorecard? Why would you lay up? Who wants to hit the green?
If you don't play golf, you'll never understand the passion behind the game, which would make you a pretty poor salesman of golf clubs, no? Non-golfers definitely don't try to correct your swing.
It's the same with blogs. Non-bloggers may be able to give you some tools, but they don't understand the medium.
If your agnecy doesn't blog, the language makes no sense. What's a trackback? Can I moderate comments? Someone asked for a reciprocal link - Do I have to give it to them? Why isn't anyone reading my blog? How do I track sales with this thing? Sitemeter or StatPro? Should I use GoogleAds? What's a carnival? What's dooced?
The problem is blogging looks easy, so agencies (PR/Marketing/Advertising) on retainer get asked to start a blog, and they figure, "Hey, how hard can it be?"
Questions to ask your Agency when you want a Blog.
1) Do you have a blog? How many unique visitors do you have and how long has it been up?
2) Have you ever designed a blog before?
3) Can you give me a successful example of a blog you built for a customer?
4) How much work do I have to do to make this work? Are you going to write it?
5) What community are you going to connect me to? Can you give me links of people I want to read?
If they can't answer these questions, they can't help you with a blog. You're better off on your own. Of course, you could just call us. If you don't like our prices, we'd be happy to pass you on to other people who might help.
If your advertising/marketing/PR company offers to set you up on a blog, please, please, PLEASE check their website out to see if they are blogging.
If a developer offers to design you a blog, check their site to see if they have one!
Durbin Media
posted by James Durbin @ 7:01 AM PERMALINK
1 Comments:
Fairly frequently I get the "We need a blog!" directive. I then ask my clients why they think they need a blog ("because every one else has one") and if they understand what having a blog entails. Some want to jump on a trendy keyword bandwagon of saying they have a blog without recognizing that with the blog comes a decent amount of responsibility and work.
Some of my clients have me put blogs on their sites, and despite my directives you really don't see much done with it. Other clients work it hard--and those clients obviously tend to be more successful and get more exposure over time. It makes me a little proud to see a client or company put good effort into their blog and turn it into something beyond what I built for them :)
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