Although there are limitations with blogs, there are numerous areas for growth within the blogosphere and blogs do have defined advantages over print. For one, blogs can be aggregated, which means companies exist solely by pulling together various blogs with similar content so that a user can easily find information on a multitude of topics with varying viewpoints. Nelson has found that “blogs are delivered as quickly as talk radio, can be as ‘nuanced and well-sourced’ as newspapers and magazines and can present information and opinions that mainstream sources cannot” (6). Secondly, it is not uncommon for writers of blogs to be subject matter experts; whereas, mainstream media journalists tend to be generalists (Holtz and Demopoulos 53).
One of the largest benefits that blogs have over traditional sources of news and media outlets is that blogs allow two-way communication between a company and its potential customers. Holtz and Demopoulos explain “through blogging, [a] company can build goodwill, attract new business, improve customer relations, enhance [a] brand, recruit the best employees, weather a crisis, and build support for initiatives (21). Blogs are a great equalizer. They allow readers to decide how and when to interact with a company.
Blogs are about communication and building relationships. If a reader, i.e. potential customer, feels that they have more control over what they’re purchasing, that’s a benefit for the company. According to Jeremy Wright, author of Blog Marketing, blogs are a medium and they were “built on the principles of an authentic voice, honesty, and authority” (4). This mindset pushes companies to be more transparent and empowers customers. It allows customers to feel that they have control in the relationship. Wright comments, “Blogs encourage customers to become participants and participants to become evangelists. And they encourage everyone to come together as a community” (52).
An example of this is evident in book publishing. Book publishers have to find new, innovative ways of getting and maintaining customers. They have to search for “influencers to spread recommendations and news about their books to many smaller communities” (Nelson 6). Blogs are a perfect way to succeed in both of these areas. In order for publishers to reach their desired audience, it is useful to not only understand the behaviors of bloggers and blog readers, but to also know their demographics.
As was mentioned in Blogs: Part II, most people in the United States do not understand or know what a blog is or does. With that in mind, it is no surprise that bloggers tend to be younger adults who mainly live in urban areas with access to high-speed Internet connections. Bloggers tend to have higher levels of education and earn higher incomes. There are also more male than female bloggers. What’s really interesting is that “most successful bloggers do not write only for money or promotional purposes – they actually enjoy the process and the activity” (Nelson 7). This gives publishers an excellent opportunity to connect with readers and to build honest business relationships with them.
In the blogosphere, there are three types, or communities, of bloggers. These communities help publishers reach their desired audience. It is useful to remember the bell curve when thinking of the three communities of bloggers. As defined by Nelson, there are “A-list” blogs, which attract the largest following of blog readers. “A-list” blogs are at the beginning or front end of the curve, “B-list” blogs are at the middle of the curve, and “C-list” blogs are the back end of the curve and are part of the “long tail” (Sifry qtd. in Nelson 7). “A-list” blogs maintain their popularity because once they’ve gained readers “A-list” blogs have more links going to and from them. This makes it easier to maintain readers and popularity. Clive Thompson noted in his article Blogs to Riches “popularity breeds popularity” (qtd. in Nelson 7).
However popular the “A-list” blogs are, publishers should focus their attention on the middle, “B-list” blogs. “B-list” blogs do not follow the status quo, as “A-list” blogs tend to do. “B-list” blogs identify emerging trends and “produce the most significant conversations in the blogosphere” (Nelson 8).
Besides focusing on “B-list” blogs, which include close to 155,000 blogs that have up to 1,000 people linking to them, publishers should pay attention to literary blogs and magazine blogs. An example of one of the more popular literary blogs is LitBlog Co-op. These types of blogs make up the core audience for a book publisher. On the one hand, while literary blogs will not necessarily make a book successful, it is also unlikely to make a book fail. Literary blogs, similar to “B-list” blogs, help to identify books and other literary fiction that has been ignored by “conventional establishments” (Martelle qtd. in Nelson 8). For trade magazine publishers, blogmagazine and mediabistro are excellent sources to find out what consumers are reading and how they’re reacting or responding to various topics.
For individuals working in the publishing industry, the blogosphere provides a current and insightful gateway into readers’ minds. The blogosphere is useful for agents and editors to help them pinpoint topics that people are interested in reading. Perhaps, though, the blogosphere is most beneficial to marketers who are seeking for ways to promote and generate chatter about a new product. By magnifying positive feedback through reaching out to readers and bloggers saying good things, a marketer is able to more effectively target viral marketing campaigns or advertising (Nelson 9). Marketing guru Seth Godin points out six components of an effective blog: “candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness, controversy, and utility” (Nelson 14). Publishers should not only develop their own blogs, they should also track and link to blogs that offer complementary commentary. By tracking the impact of their blogs, publishers “can examine what posts get linked to, what posts readers ignore, what posts draw subscribers for RSS feeds, and what ideas spread” (Nelson 15).
As blogs move away from the investigational phase, people will continue to search “how to utilize blogs to generate income and to enhance businesses” (Nelson 15). Currently, three central blog business models exist. Each model has built an audience around the content of the blog. The first, or “accidental tourist”, model is successful because of an individual blogger’s strong content that drives traffic to the site and the content may possibly be leased “to the Web site of a main stream media source, such as Andrew Sullivan.” The second business model focuses on “publishing many blogs into niche markets previously served exclusively by trade magazines, such as Weblogs, Inc.” The third model also caters to a niche market, but focuses on “publishing a small group of blogs targeted at wealthy, educated, and influential audiences, such as Gawker Media” (Nelson 16). In the future, blogs may become more like mainstream media by being planned and promoted, which will enable blogs to be more accessible to a larger audience. If publishers do not take a larger role with the happenings and conversations taking place in the blogosphere, agent Richard Curtis believes writers could effectively use blogs “to build an audience on their own and sell their works directly to readers without going through the gatekeepers at publishing houses” (qtd. in Nelson 16).
This concludes my posts on blogs, how they’re defined and used, areas of growth, and tactics to market and promote blogs. It’s my hope that after reading these posts, readers are able to gain a better, albeit entry-level, understanding of the blogosphere. The future is now and blogs, bloggers, and the blogosphere will only continue to grow. It’s up to the individual or company to determine how best to extract the most value from this continually evolving Web 2.0 technology.
My next few posts will revolve around the commercialization of e-paper. These posts will be similar to my posts on blogs, in as much as I will provide a background of this technology, its market potential and future growth areas. These posts will be somewhat more technical in nature as far as the content is concerned; however, these posts will provide a comprehensive level of understanding for the uninitiated reader.
“It’s the power of the questions more than anything else – and that’s what I still believe is so important about education.” – Unknown
Works Cited
Holtz, Shel and Ted Demopoulos. Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care: Blogging for Business. Chicago: Dearborn Trade, 2006.
Nelson, Meredith. “The Blog Phenomenon and the Book Publishing Industry.” Publishing Research Quarterly. 22.2 (2006): 3-26.
Wright, Jeremy. Blog Marketing. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2005.
