Monday, October 5. 2009Does A Business Blog Provide Any Value To Anyone?John Linton A combination of two 'events' caused me to think about the value of blogs generally and this one particularly. The events were a comment in an email I received yesterday that I gave away too much information about Exetel in this blog that would benefit 'competitors' to the detriment of Exetel (based on something we had been discussing) and the fact that this is my 800th consecutive daily musing/rant - which is far longer than the original year I had intended to write for to win the bet I made when I was first introduced to the value of a 'CEO' writing a daily blog about the business he is involved in. Over that time I have read a number of articles (in English, US, Canadian and German publications) on the pros and cons of writing a regular business blog and the overwhelming view has been that it is a good idea but that the demands of doing so are beyond the abilities and time available to any senior business executive and that none of the authors of the various articles could find examples of any senior executive of any reasonable sized company who had actually written a blog at all. Their conclusions were that the logistics/time/travel constraints were too great for any senior executive to write a regular blog at a greater frequency than fortnightly and they could find no actual examples of that in the research they did in writing their articles. I always find such articles surprising because the reason I started writing a blog was the analysis and recommendations published in two US academic journals which both, in very different ways, made a very strong argument for the overall value to a business of a 'CEO' sharing his business and other thoughts on a regular basis via a blog. Both articles made the point that the more frequent the blog entries were made the greater overall value to the company and both articles made the point that a daily blog would be the most beneficial and listed their reasons for reaching that conclusion. I never printed those articles and via mishaps to the notebooks and data sticks I have used over the past two years I no longer have the references to them. What I do have is over two years of personal experience of writing a daily blog and those experiences have emphatically proven what those two articles stated without a shadow of a doubt. In pure commercial terms Exetel is better off by over $A1,000,000 EACH YEAR in terms of better pricing we have obtained from or via suppliers who read this blog. We have also added products and services to what we offer that we would never have done without the direct contacts we have received from people who have read something I wrote and then got in touch with us. In pure dollar terms this particular blog has repaid the time it takes to write it at a rate of approximately $A2,500 per hour. And that is just using actual offers that can be discretely and pretty exactly valued. There is no real way of quantifying the value of the, literally thousands, of other suggestions and observations that have been made over the past 2+ years but over 500 individuals have written to me saying they signed up for an Exetel service (either for themselves or their employer) because they read something that impressed them in the blog. Similarly it has been a very useful way of communicating with Exetel customers about general aspects of Exetel's business and the data communications marketplaces generally. Over 10,000 individual customers have sent me comments and/or suggestions over the time the blog has been published. So I think I am in a sensible position to state, based on real 'evidence' that a business blog very definitely benefits a business - I don't believe there is a shadow of a doubt about that statement. The question then only becomes how much effort does it take to write a blog each day - to that question there can be no answer because, of course, it totally depends on the individual that sets out to do it. My own experiences are that it takes an average of 30 - 40 minutes each day to think up a 'topic' and then write 800 - 1,000 words on that topic. I do it, usually, first thing in the morning after reading the data communications media from the US, UK and Australia which almost always generates a 'topic' or at least a rant. I do this at home over a cup of something before leaving for the office and when I'm away I do it in the late afternoons because of time differences and the effect of jet lag in the mornings. While it can be regarded as a discipline it isn't really - it just uses time that would otherwise be 'wasted'. I don't know how much longer I will write a daily blog because I am conscious that there is only a limited amount of things one person has to share in terms of business and its associated vagaries. I have managed to date by making no pretensions about any value or insight my ramblings might provide but just to adhere to the title of the blog - my thoughts at any given time about Exetel and what is involved in keeping a small business 'alive'. Trackbacks
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I just sent in something similar for your previous blog, but neglected to include a name.
Your daily blog is one of the ditinguishing features compared to other ISP's. Along with the ethics of Exetel that I think I understand correctly. Mainly derived from your blog. Exetels support of environmental causes is another reason I stay with Exetel. I can find a similar pricing with an appropriate download quota from a number of other ISP's. But I need something more to separate ISP's. You provide me with that. So I am happy to stay! Paul Comment (1)
I too enjoy reading your blog daily,the ins & outs of the isp business world is fascinating.
I have been with Exetel since 2004 barr 6 months with a useless long gone isp. I like the fact that i receive emails regarding planned downtime,plan upgrades etc. I won't be going anywhere else in a hurry. PLEASE keep the blog going, you do seem to like writing it & i certainly do enjoy reading it. Cheers Comment (1)
Check this out
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1284580&p=19#r375 Comments (2)
A blog is only useful if it is a two-way discussion. Companies that use blogs as a press release machine (Telstra's 'now we are talking') only benefit the PR and marketing department.
However, if you're trying to have a genuine exchange of ideas by engaging people - as this blog does - this will not only have a marketing benefit, but also provide market research and operational intelligence. The strength of this blog is definitely the fact that a CEO is responding to a customer's comments/thoughts. That said, I have mentioned before that your blogs are too long and you could say the same thing with half as many words - less is more. Also I think the blogs would benefit if you stopped blogging for the sake of it (ie every day) and only blogged when you have something really useful to say/discuss - again, less is more. Just some thoughts.. Feel free to email me if you would like to continue this conversation. Comment (1)
I've only recently joined Exetel and I must say I find myself coming to your blog daily now and being disapopinted if it hasn't been updated! It's nice to see in this day and age a CEO willing to take the time and actually talk to rather than "at" their customers/general public. I for one would be more than happy to continue to read your blog's on a daily basis and hope you find the time to continue to post
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John,
you do reveal more of your unbelievable insight than you should to your competitors.. John, you are a visionary - why do you reveal this information to the plebs and drones that really dont have a clue how't run an isp. Im sorry if i have to be the only one to tell you, you are truley forecasting your moves to the lowlife from the the other , no ideas / no talent isps - i truly worry that your words are being used against you. I would not be very unhappy should you ever pull the plug on your blog -- however your detractors are, I feel using this information againt you. cheers bill Comment (1)
Bill,
One of the objectives Exetel has is to improve the overall delivery of data services to Australians. If my personal ideas are taken up by any other company then that would be good but it would surprise me if that is the case. Comments (5)
I expect the number is much larger than 500 customers when you include the people they refer.
I signed up with Exetel originally because of your blog, and I've referred 3 other people to Exetel's services. Keep going! Jack Comment (1)
I read a lot of internet news daily on finance and I.T., and I see plenty of blog postings served up by Google, but I have never signed up to a single one of those blogs because almost invariably only one blog article is of interest.
Since I found your blog when researching Exetel, it has become the one and only blog I read every day. Almost every posting has value that makes it worth reading (OK, I might pass on some political ranting). I don't think you are giving too much away. Exetel is too small to "move the market"; if you were CEO of a player with huge market share then you would probably be more constrained in what you said. But I suspect that if every CEO of every other small ISP/telco read your blog and even tried to implement some of your ideas, it would have little effect on the market and on your business. It is the continuum of your actions and thoughts that drive Exetel and give it some of its market advantage, and probably only a small fraction of those leak out through the blog. People are not going to achieve your success through mimicking you. And any data you share is likely known to industry insiders anyway if they care about it, or if they care to look for it. After many years of many people running many ISPs and telcos in a little market like Australia, there can't be many factual "secrets" whose leakage would provide a competitive advantage on its own. Comment (1)
I agree that no published thoughts of mine could make any real difference to Exetel's competitive scenario - however that view has been offered more than once before being offered by the latest 'advisor'.
Comments (5)
I think your blogs offer a great insight into running a business. There are others that try to write eg RaboPlus Bank, but an article every 2 weeks just isn't enough to keep people coming back to you. Given Exetel doesn't advertise or promote itself outside of its website, the amount of content that you generate via each post, makes a big difference to the success of your website and its traffic/rankings in google etc. In addition, your posts are also forms of marketing and advertising themselves, engaging the reader and then influencing them in their future/current buying decisions (subtly). Although I may not agree with many of your political views, I do appreciate your honesty in opening up what is for many a very confusing industry made up of pricing and offers that can be very difficult to understand. Keep up the good work because this medium is great example of how having a blog can make a big difference to your business success.
Comment (1)
Arthur,
That was the thrust of the two articles that made me attempt to write a daily blog but I have always been aware that no other examples seem to appear in the circles in which I move. You are also right that I attempt to share the issues, problems, solutions and mistakes that I make on a day to day basis as some sort of help to other people who are also involved in the dangers and difficulties of attempting to run a small commercial operation. Comments (5)
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