I couldnt find another post about this, and sorry if this is a repost in another forum... Really don't know where to put this at.

Is it a good or bad idea to attach a blog to your host now adays ? If it is, what should it contain? Should it be kept professional (yes!) or personal, or mabye both?

Also sorry for the newbie posts a plenty from me, Don't worry Ill be quiet soon. :p

I'm thinking about starting one. I've found through the years, if people are able to communicate one way or another (even if it is reading about them), they get a sense of comfort and feel like part of the hosting company. With so many hosters running from huge companies with lost in space support, they find happiness in small, personal hosting companies.

CakvalaSC,

It all depends on what type of impression you want to leave with your clients.


Personally I love getting close to clients (obviously still on a professional level nonetheless) and letting them know the ongoing day to day trials that is occuring behind the scenes as well as any development that is occuring, what they can expect in the near future as well as 5 years down the road!


//Really all depends on you and your clients: What do they want? (psst, ask them)

I took a suggestion from vbulletin.org and created myself a personal forum to use as a blog. Yeah it might not look great, but its just as good IMO, and vBulletin has a much better user interface than any blog out there.

So far its been pretty popular.

A blog needs to be somewhat personal so it will lose some of that "professional" aura. If it doesn't do that, it becomes a news section. :)

Because blogs will reveal more of the personality of the person who's writing it, it can be hit or miss. Some of us are not very loveable persons, and that's just the way things are. :)

Well I think im lovable, wonder if the customer will think that too.

Ha!

Hmm... it depends a bit on what type of business you're in maybe. Is it related to web hosting?
I don't think you should discuss your beer can collection (unless it's a beer can collection site), but a blog should; as the always intelligent idcdc said, be a bit more personal than the general site content.
It would be a bit like a diary. The hard part is being a bit personal, and yet have something to say that is of general interest.
I have tried but been too lazy to give it much time. :)

Well I already have a very personal blog site that isnt connected to the hosting / design sites.

Reason I brought this up, one of my older customers asked me why I havent jumped on the blog wagon. So here I am asking about it ha.

I have the effort to do one, just wanted some opinions before I took it on.

I keep a personal blog, but I don't advertise it to customers. I've gotten asked about one, and give out the link then to customers. I think it's a good idea, it gives the people who are interested in your personal life the ability to find out. At the same time, by not "over-advertising" it, you keep your business/corporate customers happy :)

Yeah thats a good idea aswell..

BTW, I like your hosting service incoorperating a forum right on the front page. Great idea!

**Runs off and steals it!** (joking)

Lol, a lot of companies use that style now a days, we just decided we'd rather have our biggest support entity right on the front page. Not original by any means, just something we liked :)

Blogger is a cool site for that. I think its great but you have to update it, which can get tough sometimes.

Originally posted by CakvalaSC
Is it a good or bad idea to attach a blog to your host now adays ? If it is, what should it contain? Should it be kept professional (yes!) or personal, or mabye both?

I've recently added a link to my relatively new blog from my hosting company's site, the content being completely personal. As a personal approach is one of the main perks offered with my service, linking to my personal blog naturally compliments this concept. It helps to close the void between consumer and provider by making the service less impersonal, less faceless and more realistic.

Originally posted by ldcdc
Because blogs will reveal more of the personality of the person who's writing it, it can be hit or miss. Some of us are not very loveable persons, and that's just the way things are. :)

This is indeed a potential road block I suppose, but it really doesn't bother me. I pride my blog's content in it's ability to transcend the common blog's prevalence in expressing vapid sentiments such as "LOL I WENT 2 THA MALL 2DAY AND BOUGHT SUM PANTZ" or "HAY GUYZ I ATE A CHEESEBURGER TODAY AND IT WAS PRETTY GOOD!". The content is clearly more thoughtful and intricate and is therefor more sensitive and prone to being hit or miss--for those with the attention span to read it at least.

Either way, if something on my blog offends someone to the point of discomfort, then they may not want to sign up with my service. Overall, this is a great advantage for the potential customer in that it provides insightful liberation of choice.

By integrating a personal blog into the service, what ends up happening is a clearer niche market definition. Those excluded from this more precisely defined niche can simply look elsewhere for service. If you look at it in this light, it's a good thing in that it's promoting honest customer education--an otherwise vitally missing factor within the status quo of business "ethics" due to endless corporate facades and whatnot.

What better customer education could there be than delving into the psyche and character make up of the person running the company? The amount of nuances and subtleties that can be gauged are practically endless, including personality type, general intelligence level, wave lengths, maturity or lack thereof, harmonious qualities, etc, etc, etc, ad infinitum.

Then again, most business endeavors are highly dependant on their constructed facades and the careful hiding of any sort of revealing information that may potentially lead to a negative consumer outlook. For this reason, business 101 automatons with the inability to think for themselves outside of preordained guidelines and delusions of capitalistic grandeur may want to stay away from this approach ;)

I'll keep my free thinking pride and innovative merit while you go for the gold.

So it would be a good way to .. add a blog in a subtle matter then just going all out I.E OH MY GOD LOOK I HAVE A BLOG BUY MY HOSTING SERVICE.. type thing.

hah.

Moved to Running a Web Hosting Business.

Lois

I've been tempted to start a blog. Heaven knows I have plenty to say. :D

It can give some insight into the people behind the hosting business, but I don't know how significant that would be in a customer's decision making process.

IMO, most blogs attached to a host's site would be slickly spun, and far from being "real", given the host site's commerciality. More like the host arrogantly fluffing themselves up like a peacock.

It could just as easily be a deterant, as your blog might contain articles that a potential client does not agree with. That depends on how "real" you blog. I've occassionally read the blog from the chap that owns GoDaddy. He pulls no punches and gets as real as he probably can, without much thought for a possible backlash from potential clients.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
It could just as easily be a deterant, as your blog might contain articles that a potential client does not agree with. That depends on how "real" you blog. I've occassionally read the blog from the chap that owns GoDaddy. He pulls no punches and gets as real as he probably can, without much thought for a possible backlash from potential clients.

I was reading this thread and kept thinking of Bob Parson's blog (GoDaddy). I didn't intend to post until I read Aussie Bob's comment.
I was a long-time customer of GoDaddy - until I started reading his blog. He doesn't care what people think of his opinions, and thats fair enough, but he did make a post awhile back which resulted in many people I know transferring their domains away from his company.
Their reaction was the same as mine - just didn't want to give this guy their money.
Now, for that particular company, this probably doesn't hurt their business one iota (and could well improve it as there would be many who would agree with his opinions).

One thing anyone should learn from his blog though, is to be very careful who your market is if you intend to make political comments. If you are pro-war, or have views about other "hot" topics, and you are not running a mega-buck business, it would pay to keep those opinions to yourself.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
It can give some insight into the people behind the hosting business, but I don't know how significant that would be in a customer's decision making process.

I think it is extremely significant, the significance ranging from a subconscious and subtle objective view, possibly taken astride, but remaining in the far depths of memory none the less, to outright and blatant aversion as Kamate's subsequent post exemplifies in the Godaddy situation.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
IMO, most blogs attached to a host's site would be slickly spun, and far from being "real", given the host site's commerciality. More like the host arrogantly fluffing themselves up like a peacock.

Yeah the potential commercialization of the blog would indeed be a problem. Doing so would simply add to the strategic and cynical facades created by the business in question, as mentioned in my prior post, which frankly defeats the purpose of adding the blog in the first place. It comes down to nobility. Is your blog there to selfishly promote sales through ignorance? Or is it really you speaking?

Originally posted by Kamate
I was reading this thread and kept thinking of Bob Parson's blog (GoDaddy). I didn't intend to post until I read Aussie Bob's comment.
I was a long-time customer of GoDaddy - until I started reading his blog. He doesn't care what people think of his opinions, and thats fair enough, but he did make a post awhile back which resulted in many people I know transferring their domains away from his company.
Their reaction was the same as mine - just didn't want to give this guy their money.
Now, for that particular company, this probably doesn't hurt their business one iota (and could well improve it as there would be many who would agree with his opinions).

One thing anyone should learn from his blog though, is to be very careful who your market is if you intend to make political comments. If you are pro-war, or have views about other "hot" topics, and you are not running a mega-buck business, it would pay to keep those opinions to yourself.

This post is funny in that it made me realize how truly important strategically placed walls of ignorance are to big business. You're basically saying that you would have remained with Godaddy had you remained ignorant to the owner's perspective. It's amazing how important the concept of ignorance--a word that normally holds negative connotations--is to a person's general level of happiness. This goes for all things of course and not just hosting.

Well placed bouts of ignorance.

Are you happier if you're watching an infomercial on starving children? Or would you have remained relatively happier if you had never turned the TV on in the first place, hence remaining temporarily ignorant to the plight of the starving?

Ephemeral bouts of ignorance equate ephemeral bouts of happiness. It's shame how horribly some large businesses can knowingly exploit this concept. I commend Bob Parsons for speaking his mind and you should too. Happiness can come from awareness as well. Aren't you happy that you have been made aware of Bob's views and as a result, free to choose to leave his service? He is a prevalent example in true customer education as it should be.

It's funny how he can be condescended upon in the name of proper and cynical business practice when in fact what he's doing is righteous and noble.

Matthew. You should be writing professionally.

:D Bailey

Originally posted by mjzz
This post is funny in that it made me realize how truly important strategically placed walls of ignorance are to big business. You're basically saying that you would have remained with Godaddy had you remained ignorant to the owner's perspective. It's amazing how important the concept of ignorance--a word that normally holds negative connotations--is to a person's general level of happiness. This goes for all things of course and not just hosting.


Yes, I probably would have remained with GoDaddy. And that was the point I was making - if anyone in business wants to have a blog and speak their mind on controversial topics, they need to be aware there could be fallout. In this case, the fallout won't harm GoDaddy (and, as I said, could bring in business from like-minded souls) but not every host has that luxury.

Are you happier if you're watching an infomercial on starving children? Or would you have remained relatively happier if you had never turned the TV on in the first place, hence remaining temporarily ignorant to the plight of the starving?
I don't see the relevance of this comment.

I commend Bob Parsons for speaking his mind and you should too. Happiness can come from awareness as well. Aren't you happy that you have been made aware of Bob's views and as a result, free to choose to leave his service? He is a prevalent example in true customer education as it should be.

Bob Parsons right to speak his mind was never questioned - you will note that I said it was, "fair enough". The point I was making was simply that while a blog, and speaking your mind, has a warm fuzzy about it, there is a danger in being too outspoken - especially if you have not considered the impact on customers.

Even Bob Parsons had the smarts to not be deliberately controversial or provocative until his business was a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Originally posted by Kamate
I don't see the relevance of this comment.

The analogy applies to the general sense of well being derived from your ignorance of Bob Parson's views that encompassed your perception of Godaddy prior to Bob Parson's revealing comments in his blog. It is blatantly relevant.

Originally posted by Kamate
Bob Parsons right to speak his mind was never questioned - you will note that I said it was, "fair enough". The point I was making was simply that while a blog, and speaking your mind, has a warm fuzzy about it, there is a danger in being too outspoken - especially if you have not considered the impact on customers.

Correct. In other words: Soulless big business thrives on facades and needs to keep the potential danger you mention hidden and welled up within the area behind said facades to survive. This is a crucial aspect of succeeding in an advanced capitalistic endeavor, it's horrid lack of nobility causing my scruples/aversion towards it and contempt for it.

My blog came before my hosting business and it was my readers who were my first few customers. Some of my customers get assured of the continuity of my hosting company because I've been blogging since 1996. In fact , I have 2 other blogs.

Originally posted by mjzz
Correct. <snippage>
Yep, I agree. Bob is free to post whatever Bob wants in his blog. I don't think he's too worried about what folks think.

It took me some times to read posts of mjzz. Very well-written.

I thought that I am good in English regardless of my being as non-native speaker of English. But I have to flip through Oxford dictionary to get the meanings of words from mjzz.

Whatever, you are good in writing :).

I could not agree more. Blogs are a great idea! In matter of fact, they have cost huge companies lots of money. lol And, it is all up to you and what you posts. We will be implementing one shortly. I just haven't had the time to yet.

I do have my own blog and write about my business success and problems. It's not a famous blog but the visitor numbers are very solid and that keeps me doing it. It also helps me to go back and review things I did later on. Helps a lot to make better business decisions.

Christoph

Originally posted by Dark_Coder
It took me some times to read posts of mjzz. Very well-written.

I thought that I am good in English regardless of my being as non-native speaker of English. But I have to flip through Oxford dictionary to get the meanings of words from mjzz.

Whatever, you are good in writing :).

Thank you :)

I'm nothing special in the grand scheme of the literary world, however, I do enjoy attempting to embellish my writings to the best of my ability. Either way, I'm glad that my posts promote further linguistical learning on your part :)

:D Thanks anyway mjzz :)

I have started one about 6 months ago -
it's helped with rankings in google for some terms :)

I've been blogging on a personal level since June 2003 and although I've let it go stale somewhat over the past few months its still kept a healthy PR6.

So in search engine sense - it's a good idea for sure.

Would I attach a corporate blog to the company website? I'm undecided, I've thought about it a few times but have always put it off for one reason or another.

Originally posted by Valve Ben
Would I attach a corporate blog to the company website? I'm undecided, I've thought about it a few times but have always put it off for one reason or another.

Yes, listen to your intuition :)

Originally posted by Valve Ben
. . . So in search engine sense - it's a good idea for sure.
That would be dependant on the entry keywords there, as to the quality of traffic related to your hosting product. :)

I just started one. Time will tell whether it is a good or bad idea.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
That would be dependant on the entry keywords there, as to the quality of traffic related to your hosting product. :)

I meant more the fact that I have a PR6 site which I can use for juice :)

Having said that though my blog is tech related so I have a good target audience for banners I suppose - 10-15k uniques a month shouldn't be wasted.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
I've been tempted to start a blog. Heaven knows I have plenty to say. :D

Would make my day.

Lately, I have been on the fence about starting a blog. I've found that as I become more active here on a day to day basis, I'd probably actually have semi-important things to say in such a blog, that were related to the company, industry, or such generally broad things that most people could related to them in one way or another.

However, one thing that prevents me from writing a blog is that I have a real hard time with the fact that knowing everything I write will end up being archived in some format or another until the end of time, and will at some point, probrobably come back from the "dead" to haunt me. I am certain that I would make some innocuous comment about something, and in 5 years it would come back to bite me in the ***.

And then of course, I also struggle with the personal / business boundaries of a blog. Will the blog be personal, business, or both? If it exists, will I actively encourage customers to read and comment on the blog, or would I want to keep it more private and personal? Would I be bothered knowing that my customers and competitors would have some sort of insight into what makes me tick? Would it be 'right' to utilize the blog as a medium for getting positive spin / traction on the many behind-the-scenes upgrades that we are continually doing?

Who knows ... I still don't have answers to all of those questions, and don't know if I ever will - or, if it will matter that I have answers. My gut feeling is that having a semi-business blog could provide my customers with a way to feel more connected and "updated" on issues related to the company. My hope is that higher level of connectedness would increase customer loyalty, retention, and also give them an informal place to interact with me on a semi-regular basis.