The beauty of business blogging is that there are two important end-goals, each one satisfying a different (and important) objective. I've noticed that when I talk to friends, prospects and even current customers, there seems to be two distinct types of people: the people that see corporate blogging as a means to SEO and as a customer acquisition tool, and those that see blogs as a feel-good way to empower employees, give them a voice, and demonstrate that you value their input.
But guess what? No matter which side of the fence you fall, the two have a cause and effect relationship. I had a call with a friend yesterday who has a deep understanding of organic search optimization and it's importance. His "ah-ha" moment wasn't when he say how Compendium's software helped clients win the organic search battle (that was clear to him in minutes), but rather the PR side of the coin.
Paraphrasing his words, it was something to the effect of:
"Wow - this would give a company such a great PR campaign, showing that they care enough about their people to give them an outlet to express their thoughts and expertise. If I were a Verizon or a large company like that, why wouldn't I do this?"
I obviously love to hear that, but he's right. Why wouldn't a company implement a blogging strategy with the ability to manage and approve content? And it's not just for the large enterprises that he used as an example. The majority of our clients are SMB's (small to medium-sized businesses) who leverage even 5-6 employees to consistently create content about their industry, product and/or service. (see Chris Baggott's post about Carmen Real Estate)
Whether you have 3,000+ employees, or an office with 10 people; you want to blog for SEO and conversion, or to strengthen employee relations, there's a solution for you through organizational blogging.
