As blog sites gain popularity, many business people are intrigued by the idea of blogging. It seems like a good, inexpensive way to run a website—and it sounds like fun. Who wouldn’t like to blog? After all, it seems easy, and it has the cachet of other cool Internet trends.

However, despite the hype, a blog (short for web log) is not appropriate for most businesses, almost by its very definition.

So what, exactly, is a blog?

There are two aspects to the definition of a blog site. One is technical—a blog is maintained with simple content management software, often run on a software vendor’s server with the vendor’s blog software. The software is very easy to use, allowing nontechnical people to add content to the website whenever they like.

The second part of the definition is more philosophical—a blog has come to mean a website that contains timely, informal content. The content is often of a personal nature, and the vast majority of true blogs are vanity sites that contain one person’s thoughts, ideas, opinions, photos and links. A number of news organizations and content-generating businesses use blogs, but some people would argue that since they are run by professionals (or are professionally edited), they aren’t true blogs.

Blogging boils down to this: people use blog software to create an Internet soapbox upon which they air their opinions at will.

And this is precisely why a blog is not appropriate for most businesses.

1. Blogs are too casual.
Blogging is an invitation to rant, and rants will almost certainly alienate your customers. Also, although the web rewards a slightly informal tone, you need to show your business in a professional light.

2. Blogs lack credibility.
You may be an expert in your field, but without the corporate (or at least businesslike) website “wrapping” around content you write, you lose credibility. If you have the energy and time to write, create an article or white paper that you know is of use to your customers, and attach it to your company’s website.

3. Blogs require commitment and writing skills.
For most business people, it is a chore to write and update content for a website—and blogs require weekly or daily updates. A better idea: hire a good writer to turn your ideas into useful content for your clients and then post it to your marketing website. Do this once a month and you’re way ahead of the game: you’ll save time and demonstrate your added value.

4. Blogs are hard to market.
The real purpose of your company’s marketing website is threefold: First, it should demonstrate what you do, succinctly and in a compelling manner. Second, your site should gather email addresses of visitors who are potential customers. Third, your site must help you send marketing email to the addresses you gather by offering valuable content. Spend your energy deliberately on this last item—creating solid content that is of real value to your customers, then sending an email to let them know it’s on your site—and you’ll show off your knowledge and tell customers you know how to take care of them.

5. Blogs aren’t included in site searches.
Most blogs live outside the corporate website, so if site visitors are looking for specific content, they usually won’t find your blog. And if an interested prospect won’t see your information, that means blogging is pretty much a waste of time.

After all, if you run a blog and nobody reads it, are you really blogging?

For some more opinions, pro and con, here are two interesting articles:

“Co-opting the Future” by John C. Dvorak,
PC Magazine, November 19, 2003
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1382914,00.asp

And the response:

“Gillmor Takes On Dvorak's Anti-Blog Stance” by Steve Gillmor,
eWeek, November 20, 2003
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1393341,00.asp

Eric Weidner has been president and CEO of Workbox, a web design and technology company, since 1997. Workbox has created marketing-savvy designs and websites for some of the most innovative companies in the world.