Well, I'll be blogged

Written for Funeralcare Magazine, June 2016

I’m a geek.

Technology fascinates me. It defines me. It entertains me. Some days it feels as if we’re not on the same side, but in general, technology empowers me. And it gives me a voice.

The world wide web has become an indispensable operational and promotional tool in both our working and personal lives. Individuals use it as a way to sell themselves, and earn income; businesses can use it as a way of educating and informing communities.

We’ve come to recognise how difficult it can be to keep our corporate websites fresh and volatile. Time for a new approach? Try blogging. Blogging is a not-so-new way of sharing information and opinion online. The noun is a clever play on the diary-like beginnings of the genre: web-log, we-blog.

A blog is essentially an informational website with regular contributions or “posts” from one person, or a group of people, on a particular subject. It’s a kind of regular online column, diary entry or, heaven forbid, soapbox. See the potential?

The most recent entries, or posts, appear first on the blog site, so that they’re easier to follow. Blogs are often interactive, with readers able to leave comments, and share posts with others via email and on social media.

Still with me? Three steps then, to blogging success: knowing what you want to promote, who is going to do it, and how to get started.

The short answer is we have the opportunity to promote our points of difference, discuss complex issues, and educate our communities. We can link them to our primary websites and social media presence to keep them fresh, and promote web traffic in both directions. Some of us are already doing it – and well – check out Davis Funerals Services blog: thedavisway.org.

If you have dedicated marketing staff, or a company which handles your advertising needs, this additional form of promotion may be a welcome addition. If you don’t, be aware that it takes more time than you think, and often, more time than you have. We often overlook how difficult it is to fit extra work in around an existing role – to find both available time and continuity. But, it doesn’t need to be a novel, and it doesn’t need a consistent word count. It should be reasonably regular, but that could be every three months.

There might also be subtle – or significant – opposition from within our own companies. To an older school of management - and colleague - reading, writing, and web time are often viewed as unproductive wait time, play time, or just plain goofing off. Collegial buy-in is a hiding to nothing, but management buy-in is essential. And sometimes, a shift in mindset is required.

So, how’s your roster? Go on, put your hand up. Who knows, you might even name your salary. I call mine “Bert”.

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What are you going to call your blog? Like your company website, it will need a web address – a domain name. Do you want a local or national identity (.co.nz, .kiwi…), or an international one (.com, .org…)? The best domain names are short, easy to remember, easy to spell, and cleverly communicate your business message. And because they are all lowercase and have no punctuation, do be careful. Yes, that’s you, “therapist.com”, and you, “penisland.net”.

Your domain / website/ blog also needs a place to live, or be hosted. Free services will generally give you a subdomain within their host framework – something like yourblog.blogspot.com. Domain name registration and hosting are often available through the same service, which may include web design or self-design content management systems. They can be NZ-based or offshore.

Free services will also have their own set of rules, and often their own “look and feel”. They earn their income by placing advertisements on your blog. Think of an advertisement as a window into another neighbourhood - it may not be window you would choose to look through with your boss / mother / the-nice-lady-whose-husband’s-funeral-you-did-this-morning.

And just as a soapbox can attract hecklers, a blog can attract the online equivalent, known as haters or trolls. And just as hecklers are managed using security guards, trolls can be either locked out of the building or have their comments moderated – checked for relevance, offensiveness, and so on.

Free services often have their own moderators, and their bar may be set a wee bit lower than yours. Consider both your professional image, and your ability to maintain motivation in the facing of odious criticism. It doesn’t take much to turn a sandpit into a cesspit, and as George Bernard Shaw once said “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

Some free services allow you to upgrade to premium paid services with more control over content and comment. Compare their features and pricing for domain name registration, web hosting, and design. You need all three, and they are often bundled into attractive packages.

At the end of the day, nominate your starting point and give it a go. Good free blog hosting and management sites include blogtown.co.nz, blog.co.nz, and the blog standard wordpress.com. Offering more flexibility with web design or self-design are wix.com, weebly.com and squarespace.com. For the more tech-savvy, try freeparking.co.nz, domainz.net.nz or hostgator.com. (Hostgator also offers a discount for NZers, by using the voucher code “25off4kiwis”.)

Good luck! And let us know how you get on – comments and hecklers welcome.