Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business
Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business
Blog Schmog takes a look at the blogging phenomenon and its impact on politics, writing, marketing, public relations, publishing, journalism, and all other forms of communication. Written from a skeptic’s point of view, Robert Bly holds blogging up to close scrutiny, giving practical, easy-to-use tips that can help you master blogging and its application.
This book cuts through the hype surrounding blogging, enabling you to get a true and accurate picture of blogging’s potential as well as its limitations. Inside you’ll discover how the blogosphere operates along with real-world advice from blogging experts on how to write an effective, reader-oriented blog.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Interesting
Also hilarious, but I’ve learned a lot in this book and will consider it one of my references. Thanks.
4 Stars Should I Start a Blog?
Finally a business book that is unpretentious. Blog Schmog is not one of those books that takes one good idea and then tries to stretch it beyond its boundaries just to get a specified page count.
Bob Bly is a direct mail copywriter and by his own admission does not buy into the blogosphere hype. But he decided to delve into the world of blogging and find out what it was all about (probably so he could write a book). The fact that Bly is not a blogging expert is exactly what makes this book valuable to someone thinking of starting a blog.
This book gives you an unbiased view of starting a blog from scratch and leaves out the sales pitch you would get from a blogging guru trying to sell you the latest patented system for starting a blog.
BS is short on technical advice but does give you resources and plenty of website addresses to get you started. What you will get out of this book is why you should start a blog (if you should) and what is the most effective way to write a blog. If you are already a seasoned blogger, this book is probably not for you.
If you are thinking of starting a blog, or just trying to get more comfortable writing one, I recommend this book. You won’t be an expert after you read it, but you will have a better perspective of blogging.
5 Stars Dead-on advice on blogging
I just finished reading Bly’s book and as a direct response writer, I found his observations on the “blog scene” to be dead on.
When blogging first starting coming up on my radar, I looked into it briefly and didn’t understand the fuss people were making over it. It seemed very much like what people used to do on BBSs (I used to be a sysop of a BBS back in the late twentieth century). Anyone could access a BBS and anyone could comment on the author’s writings for all the world to see. So, what do I see on blogs? Much the same thing. People read what you write, choose to comment, link to you or you link to them. Same thing, different year.
I also echo Bly’s observations that many blogs are unreadable and do little to further marketing goals. Many I’ve read have interesting things to say, but they’re written in long, unbroken blocks of text, which cause me to stop reading part way through out of boredom.
But, the main reason I don’t like blogs is because of the toffee-nosed way it’s being promoted. That, and I just hate the word “blog.” It sounds like something a cat coughed up–which, now that I think about it, might just be an apt description for much of what passes for content out there in blogland.
Many blog evangelists talk about blogging like it’s something new and revolutionary. Psh. It’s old technology with a facelift! I’ve heard that “blogging is all about having conversations!” Someone in Bly’s book said this very thing. This same guy spoke of blogging in a weird Jack Kerouac-ish way that made me want to reach for an air sickness bag. I envisioned him wearing a tie-dyed shirt, a grateful dead headband, and little John Lennon glasses–typing furiously with two fingers in some off-campus “Café Nervosa.”
A great read, Bly’s book. I’d recommend it to anyone contemplating blogging so that they can avoid the hype and not be taken in by dewy-eyed blog-angelists.
3 Stars A pitch for his own blog
Mr. Bly is a marketing genius. It is not because he has anything of quality to say. It is because he can get so many people to purchase his marketing pitch. As if paying for a product isn’t enough, this is pretty much a big advertisement for you to go to his website and blog which are “conveniently” listed more than a few times in the text.
This book is not actually anti-blog. He just uses that as a platform to cause controversy (which increases his sales) and to get people to go to his website. Some of the conclusions he draws from statistics show that this book is not intended to be an honest evaluation of whether a company should create a blog. It seems more of a book that he wrote to sell.
An example of misleading a reader is found on pg.5. He writes, “A study conducted in November 2004 found that thirty-five million Americans read blogs.” His conclusion: “That means that more than 80 percent of Americans never read blogs.” Sorry Mr. Bly, I fail to see how that is proof that that many people NEVER read blogs. I would be more likely to believe that these people only read a specific blog when it has the information they are seeking. Similar to reading an article on someone’s website when it comes up on the search engine. Either way 20% of the population is rather large.
This book is not entirely amiss. There are some helpful hints about utilizing a blog. His marketing background assists in some of these hints.
Overall this book can be skipped. Mr. Bly advocates his direct-marketing methods and down-grades “branding”. After reading this book I find Mr. Bly’s brand to lack quality. This book is results oriented - measured in book sales and new traffic to his website and blog. Unfortunately he does this at the expense of quality writing.
Some books are said to be worth their weight in gold. This is not one of them.
5 Stars “Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.” (Voltaire)
Those who are about to read this book need to keep in mind that in it, Robert Bly shares his thoughts about what blogs cannot do (nor be expected to do) as well as what they can do. Over the years, he has earned and deserves his reputation as a master of reasoning, reading, and writing skills…whatever the given genre may be. Among his previously published books, my own favorites are The Copywriter’s Handbook, his Guide to Freelance Writing Success, and most recently, The White Paper Marketing Handbook. In his latest book, Blog Schmog, he focuses on “the strategy of using blogs as a business-building and marketing tool, explaining how your time is best bent on strategy, not fooling around with programming or design.” Bly then goes on to explain, in the Introduction, that his book “is written from the point of view of a blogging skeptic and doubter, not one who has bought into the whole blogging fad without holding it up to close scrutiny… And my conclusions about blogging, unlike those of [blogging consultants, enthusiasts, and evangelists], are not always favorable; my positions on blogging are highly controversial within the blogosphere.” He urges those who read this book to share their comments ideas, techniques, and/or success stories with him at rwbly@bly.com or to visit www.bly.com.
Who will derive the greatest benefit from this book? Probably, those in need of expert advice on how to start their own blog, and, those who have done so and are dissatisfied with the results thus far.
Time Out: There are significant differences between personal blogs and institutional blogs. Therefore, those who are about to launch either a personal blog or an institutional blog should first answer the six questions posed on Pages 55 & 56 in Chapter 2, “How to Start Your Own Blog.” (Bly cites Elisa Camahort’s Worker Bees as their source. Her Web site is workerbeesblog.blogspot.com.) Moreover, I think that those who have already launched a blog and are not satisfied with results thus far should also answer these six questions. For those with a special interest in institutional blogs, Bly provides an insightful analysis of do’s and don’ts in Chapter 7. Then in Appendix E, he identifies “Business Blogs Every Blogging Newbie Should Know” and provides links to them.
To me, some of the most valuable information and counsel are found in Chapter 3, “Blogetiquette: The Rules of Blogging.” He shares his responses to a number of frequently asked questions. For example:
Is “selling” a person, a company, or a product acceptable in the blogosphere?
How to treat copyrighted material in a blog?
Why are corporations afraid of blogging?
What is the “bloatosphere” and what’s wrong with it? (Note: Bly cites Steven Streight, president and CEO of Streight Site Systems, as his source for much of the response provided.)
What is “ghost-blogging’ and why does it occur?”
What about other types of blogs such as “simulated,” “drivel,” “sleazy link,” “fictional persona,” and “link farm?” What does Bly think of each?
Throughout his narrative, Bly inserts a series of “Rules”(also listed in Appendix B) and provides a context for each. (I highlighted each of them to expedite periodic review of them later and suggest that other readers do the same.) He concludes this chapter with Rule 8A: “To be effective marketing vehicles, blogs should be relatively free of marketing. They should contain useful content and the truth, not hype or sales talk. To violate this rule not only costs you sales and credibility, but it also incurs the disdain and wrath of the blogosphere.” He makes essentially the same assertion about white papers in an earlier book, The White Paper Marketing Handbook.
In the final chapter, He shares a number of opinions whether or not blogging has a future and many of these opinions are certain to generate controversy. (Bly urges those who disagree with any of them to contact him at rwbly@bly.com. He plans to share feedback with readers of the next edition of this book.) I strongly recommend, however, that the first nine chapters be read with great care, first. I cannot think of a better way to conclude this review than to share the conclusion to Bly’s book:
“So blog if you want to. If you don’t like blogs, don’t bother. And if you think the advice in this book is great, and you want to let me know, or if you think I don’t know beans about blogging and that my advice is useless, you can certainly say so - on my blog.
“Best of luck to you in the blogosphere - and outside it!”
Filed under: Making Money on the Internet Book Reviews