Blogging to Drive Business: Create and Maintain Valuable Customer Connections, Second Edition

Plenty of businesses are already blogging, and millions more are considering creating blogs. This no-nonsense, how-to guide shows how to go beyond "one-size-fits-all" business blogging to get the job done right. Readers will learn how to define clear goals, create the right formats and content, and choose the right tools - including state-of-the-art Web 3.0 tools that offer powerful competitive advantage. They will also learn tools and strategies for measuring return on investment, blog design, and blogging guidelines. Eric Butow and Rebecca Bollwitt draw on their own extensive experience, as well as the experience of innovative business bloggers from Adidas, Wal-Mart, Google, HP, BusinessWeek, and many other leading companies. Writing for everyone in the business - not just marketing and PR - they show how to: " Create a comprehensive blogging strategy " Integrate blogging with other offline and online marketing tools " Use blogs to drive customers and prospects to the business " Push information to customers via RSS " Create thriving online communities - and listen to their invaluable feedback " Mobile blogging for both tablets and smartphones " Utilize podcasts, vlogs, microblogging, and other new techniques "Discover how blogs help foster interaction between their business and their customers as well as other businesses " Leverage Web 3.0 widgets, mashups, personal agents, and semantic web technologies, and much more