using my head

So you think you want a work blog, but you don’t know how to start. Should it be internal or external? Many authors or one? What will we blog about? Will anyone care?

These were the types of questions* that last night’s NetSquared Meetup hoped to answer, so I’m going to recap that conversation while adding my own thoughts, and hopefully you’ll go away feeling more confident about the whole thing.

Because the Meetup group is composed of a wide range of bloggers, blogger-hopefuls, tech peeps and others who are interested in social web for social good, there were lots of great ideas that came out when Amy Sample Ward, the meetup moderator, asked for ideas on blog strategy. She’s outlined the ones that were voted Top 5 in her blog post about the event, but my own views were slightly different, so here’s my own interpretation that includes some of the ideas that came out of the group brainstorm.

What to think about first:

 Why do you want a blog in the first place?

Many people say that they want or should have a blog, but when you probe deeper, they haven’t a clue why. It’s important to start from the communication need rather than the method of delivery. To say you want a blog is like saying “I want to make a phone call.” Who are you going to call? What will you talk about? Why do you want to call them rather than emailing or speaking in person? Think about what it is that you are trying to say, to whom, and why - and then think about whether a blog is the right way of getting your message out there.

Make sure you have a clear goal or purpose for your blog. Something like: “I want to connect with my customers so we can both learn from each other” is a good answer; something like: “I want another channel to broadcast my marketing messages” is not. Blogs are about informal dialogue, not carefully-crafted PR statements. If you aren’t ready to talk with your audience with the barriers down, maybe a blog isn’t right for you.

Does my company/organisation have an internal/corporate culture that supports this type of communication?

On a similar note, there’s no sense in starting a blog at all if your company’s internal culture is so closed, hierarchical, tyrannical, unresponsive, stilted, or fear-infected that no one will become a ‘genuine’ blog author because they are constantly afraid of being fired or disciplined for saying the wrong thing. Chances are the blog will either go dead quiet, or the tone will be so un-authentic and contrived that no one from the outside will engage.

That is not to say that blogging cannot be a part of creating a cultural change at an organisation: in fact, quite the opposite. But a blog alone will not work unless it is supported in other ways. If there’s already consensus or a push to make the culture more transparent, accountable and open, blogging can be a great way to get the initiative moving or build momentum. If not, maybe you should consider blogging small-scale and/or internally first. Test the waters before diving in - especially if they are shark-infested!

What to do next:

Start reading other people’s blogs - and join in the conversations.

Go out there and find where the conversations are happening on the topics you are interested in. Read what others have to say. And once you’ve read some blogs, start commenting. Many of blogging’s real ‘nuggets’ come in the comments, not the posts themselves. Blog authors love comments, so if you have something to say - even if it’s just “thanks for that” - go ahead and say it. Commenting is a great way to start to feel comfortable conversing online,  identifying who your blog peers will be, and finding people to welcome into your own conversations on your blog when you’re ready.

Think about the practical requirements of blogging

Blogging isn’t rocket science, but it can be time-consuming. Not only do you need to think about whether you will have the time or headspace to keep your blog going, but you also need to think about the time required to read and respond to comments, monitor your spam-filter, perform little tweaks and maintenance, and scan the horizon for other blog postings to read and comment on. If you can’t see yourself fitting all this into your already-packed workload, who else might be able to help? Will your IT team be able to support any technical needs? Maybe a team or departmental blog would mean you can share the work and ease the pressure. But bear in mind: not everyone wants to blog, and people who blog out of obligation rather than enjoyment rarely last long. People who are natural informal communicators tend to make great bloggers… but there are also seemingly shy people who find blogging to be a good way of communicating without the awkwardness of face-to-face or verbal communication.

Have realistic expectations

So now that you are reading of blogs, you will probably notice that some of them have lots of comments, and some have none.  You can guarantee the ones with lots of comments didn’t start up yesterday, and they haven’t become these juicy mines of great dialogue without time, effort and promotion. And you can be certain that for every juicy dialogue, there are dozens more posts that seem to fall on deaf ears. Furthermore, for every great comment, there are dozens of spam comments that never made it to the live blog. Be realistic:

• Don’t expect an instant audience
• Don’t expect every post to get comments (or to get any comments at all in the beginning)
• Don’t expect to get the tone or content perfect from day 1
• Don’t expect to instantly ‘gel’ with the act of blogging. It might seem unnatural, you might cringe when re-reading posts at first, but over time, with practice and effort, it will all get better.

 And then… ?

These are some pretty big things to think about and do before you even consider signing up to a blogging platform* or requisitioning blog software* from your IT department. Tomorrow I will post Part 2 of How to start blogging at work, when I will cover the next chunk of things to mull over: the nitty gritty of writing, legal issues, best practice, promoting your blog and more.

* At the NetSquared Meetup we also covered which blog platform is the best tool for you; have a look at my summary here.

Whether you are a business, organisation or individual, this question can often be the first hurdle in starting to blog. There are so many blogging platforms out there, it can be confusing to decide which one is right for you. Last night at the first London NetTuesday Meetup, a group of bloggers, possible future bloggers, techies and non-profit peeps interesting in learning more about blogging met up to help wade through the confusion.

The answer really depends on your circumstances and needs. Each tool has its strengths & weaknesses, and the lovely people at Techsoup have made this handy chart as part of their review of seven popular blogging platforms, to help you match your needs to a blogging tool. Bear in mind this chart/article is from 2006, and there are new kids on the block (such as Tumblr or Habari) as well as other types of online tools that now have a blogging add-on (such as Community Server, ThoughtFarmer and Confluence)* just to make things more confusing!

The good news is that the Big 4 (WordPress, Blogger, MovableType and TypePad) are still going strong, so you can still use this chart as a base, as long as you remember that there may have been upgrades and changes to the services/products since the chart was made.

I’ll also give my own two cents about these in a moment…

But first, a little poll: last night’s moderator, Amy Sample Ward,  asked the group what platform they used, and it was no surprise that a majority of people in the room used WordPress. It’s free, extendable, has a great support community, so it’s no surprise it’s the most popular tool. A substantial proportion of people last night had started on another platform, but had moved to WordPress in the end. It’s pretty common to do this, so I thought I’d stick in a quick word about moving from one tool to another. In most cases, you can move your blog from one environment to another, but it’s not going to be painless, so it’s a good idea to think about what you really need from a blog and choose the right tool from the beginning. There’s a great article on ProBlogger about choosing the right blogging platform for you, so have a read through that if you want a detailed checklist.

As for me, I’m just going to summarise my thoughts in a nutshell, with some analogies to get you thinking:

Blogger

Blogging with training wheels

Great for new bloggers, especially people who already have a Google account (Gmail, iGoogle, Google Cal, etc). Because it integrates with your whole Google ‘world’, it’s free, easy to set up and requires no technical know-how to get blogging. There are limitations, but basic bloggers who need no frills should be fine on Blogger. I recommend Blogger for personal blogs rather than work ones.

Movable Type

The swiss-army knife of blogging

Great for companies who want a flexible platform that you can install and run multiple blogs or entire websites on, and don’t mind paying for it. You can effectively replace your content management system with Movable Type, but you’ll need a capable tech team/person/consultant to get it running the way you want. Amy suggested that it can be hard to change once it’s been set up, so make sure you plan well at the start.

TypePad

Package-holiday blogging

There are different levels (costs) of TypePad packages that offer different levels of customisation, numbers of authors and amounts of storage. It’s a hosted service, so there’s no real tech skill required to get started. TypePad is a good choice for companies/organisations who don’t have the desire or internal tech-nous to host blogs on their own servers, but still want the option of running multiple blogs cheaply, quickly and easily. However, like a package holiday, you may not be able to easily add extras to the basic package.

WordPress.com (Hosted version)

Stickle-brick blogging

The hosted version of WordPress is easy to use, with no technical skill to set it up, and there are hundreds of ready-made designs (themes) for you to choose from. The main thing to remember about WordPress, is that you bolt on bits to give you extra functionality or customisation. Some of these bits are easier to bolt on than others, and there are some overall limitations to the hosted version of WordPress. I recommend WordPress.com for smaller organisations or companies who want a basic, professional-looking blog for free, and may want to have multiple authors on a single blog (not multiple separate blogs).

WordPress.org (Installed version)

Blogging with Lego

The main differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is that the latter is installed instead of hosted, there are thousands of different ready-made designs (that you can tweak if you know how), and there are loads of different add-ons that you can plug into your blog to give you added functionality. Just like Lego, the combinations and creativity is seemingly endless. The downside is that you need some basic technical knowledge in order to get the most out of the installed version of WordPress, but you can find web hosts that offer 1-click installation so you can get up & running without needing to install anything yourself. I recommend WordPress for organisations or people who are already using other web tools or social media, and want easy integration - for example, Google Analytics, Flickr, iCal, etc - or anyone that knows they’ll be blogging for the long-haul. WordPress itself is free, as are most design themes & plugins, but if you don’t already have hosting, you’ll have to pay for that.

WordPress Mu (Installed)

Toybox full of Lego

The only difference between WordPress Mu and WordPress.com is that Mu allows you to run multiple separate blogs off the same WordPress installation - and you can set different levels of permission on each, too. Everyone can play!

* A Final Note

Lots of people ask whether they should set up & use a separate tool for blogging if they are already using other ‘2.0′ web tools, such as wikis or community sites that have blogging add-ons. It really depends on a lot of things, such as:

• Are we willing to compromise flexibility or functionality for the ease of having it all in one place?
• Would we be splitting our audience’s focus too much by having things on different platforms?
• How well-developed is my wiki/forum/intranet/community/CMS platform’s blogging tool? How easy is it to use? How well-supported is it? How does it compare to standalone blog tools?
• Is it really cheaper to stick with one integrated system; what is the real cost (factoring in user frustration, time, etc)?
• If I use separate platforms, can they integrate in some way - through RSS, for example? Is that enough?

Remember that you can hammer a nail with a monkey wrench, but you may not get the best result, it may be a lot harder… and you may look like an idiot doing it!

The main thing to remember overall, is that no blogging tool will make you a good blogger. You have to start blogging for the right reasons, with the right voice, and in the right environment - something I’ll cover in my next post.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s inaugural NetSquared London Meetup: a head-to-head ‘battle’ between the major blog platforms: MovableType, WordPress, Blogger and TypePad. Having evaluated all of these platforms before settling on the final winner for our needs at NESTA (TypePad), and as an avid user and ‘pusher’ of WordPress myself, I am looking forward to hearing what the passionate defenders of each platform have to say. I’m also looking forward to meeting up with people in person, having followed or met various people through Chinwag lists or elsewhere in the virtual world.