I don’t know what that is, but I want it.
What would the Buzz Blog be if we didn’t talk about some buzz words. Well I’ve rounded up a few that have been swarming the web lately and I’ll be talking about whether or not they are worth the hype. For certain people some of these things can be very useful business investments that will make you lots and lots of money. For others they are just fancy new toys to keep up with Jones’ company.
Web 2.0- The Sequel
It seems I can’t turn on my computer without hearing something about Web 2.0. Heck I can’t even make pancakes without hearing about Web 2.0. But what is Web 2.0 anyway? Well I’ll tell you what its not. It’s definitely not a new release of the internet (like the name my be suggestively implying). Many experts will say different things about Web 2.0 and you can read about some of these definitions at this Wikipedia page, you can also find a great story about it the may/june issue of Revenue magazine, or better yet you can just stay here and listen to me yammer about it. Web 2.0 is a growing trend on the internet involving the creation of sites that rely heavily on user participation and allow users to not just read content but also interact with it. The whole idea is to amass a large community of devoted followers that become addicted to a web site and use it until their eyes burn out of their sockets. One commonly known site that does this is MySpace.
While MySpace great for teens and sexual predators, there are also several benefits to Web 2.0 for business owners. Imagine having large community following your business that you can use for product feedback, not to mention the company loyalty that it produces. Also when all those users are generating content on your website it means that you don’t have to. Search engines like new content. This means more traffic. More traffic means more leads. More leads means more sales. More sales means more money. More money means we all live happily ever after in puppy dog gumdrop land. Yay! These are just a few of the benefits. There are a lot more that I wont go into so we’ll just move on.
Blog reads and RSS feeds- Oh my
Are you especially good at what you do? Enough so to call yourself an expert on the subject. Or maybe you have a bunch of jokesters in your company and you want to let people in on some of the crazy happenings in your office. If you know anything that you think other people might like to know then you might consider getting a company blog. No, strike that, you definitely should have a company blog.
Blogs, like the one you are reading now, are an easy way to update your site with fresh content. If the content is good enough you can even get a devoted community of readers. These readers can subscribe to your blog by means of an RSS feed. (RSS feeds are best explained by the video, RSS In Plain English). This fan base will inevitably lead to a lot of return visits by users which will give you more chances to market your products or services to them.
Speaking of products and services, use your blog to release news on product updates and special offers. You can also use it to talk about the development process that your company is going through on certain products. I’m sure there is someone out there that finds it interesting. After a long week at work, blog about it. The simple act of letting it all out will lift you to a transcendent sate of zen that will make you want to strip nude and dance in the rain.
I will leave you on that disturbing note for this week. Tune in next time for more buzz words in part two of, “I don’t know what that is but I want it.”
