The Business Brickyard

The personal Blog of Howard Mann. Author, Speaker & Entrepreneur. - January 7th, 2009

We get in trouble when we forget the basics. We get out of trouble when we remember the basics. We stay out of trouble when we become perpetually "insane" about the basics.

Tom Peters from this great blog post

22
Jul
08

Keynote: The Death Of Blogs for Business

Good morning everyone and thank you for coming today,

Today is a big day in the evolution of blogs as a communication tool for every business in the world. Ironically, today I am here to announce the death of Blogs. (pause for audience gasp)

It's the word "Blog" that has become the problem. It has got to go. Basically, as a word, well.....it sucks. (pause for short gasp) It has caused CEO's and business owners to avoid embracing the medium by a clear majority. Too early in the life of the word "Blog" it became synonymous with people writing about the consistency of their morning oatmeal. Later, big media pushed it into the news as a place where people voice their political rants.

What's worse, "I have a blog...Do you blog?" has become the conversational equivalent of "I went to Harvard, where did you go?"

If we want all businesses to truly embrace the power of this important evolution of marketing and market interaction, we need to give it a name that allows businesses to easily embrace it.

From here forward, blogs will now be called (dramatic pause...scan the audience with your eyes to pull their attention in)..

LIVING WEB SITES

Now, I'll bet you are thinking "I didn't know my web site was dead"... Well, it is. I am sorry. Take a day, mourn, and then you must move on. Your web site would want this for you.

It didn't really promote your purpose, it didn't let people in on your passion, it didn't make them want to come back and see what else your company had to say and it didn't allow you to continually tell the ever changing story that is your business. Now, that sounds dead to me. Dead doesn't sell well.

If your business is alive then why would your web site not be the same?

The question every business owner, entrepreneur, CEO, etc.. has to ask themselves is now a simple one. Do I want a web site that is alive or one that is dead? That is much easier to answer.

Now the conversation is simple. "My web site is alive, is yours?"
their answer.. "Hmmm, I am not sure. But alive sounds much better to me than dead. How do I make my web site alive?"

Much better and far more exciting.

So, in summation, I say to all of you (pound podium for emphasis) go back to your place of business with a new mission... LET YOUR WEB SITE LIVE!

Thank you.

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but to me the word "blog" sounds like something you call a plumber to fish out of the toilet because it's started to stink really badly, and the liquid plumber isn't making it go away.

Brilliant Howard, couldn't agree more. The word blog has become too "cute" people roll their eyes at me when I talk about it. Besides, at some point bloging will simply become the new way of doing things i.e. living sites.

My company site, www.missinglink.co.za is completely driven by a blog engine, but I dont cal it a blog, it's simply a living web site...!

PS. And for fuck's sake can we get rid of "blogosphere" while we're at it?