"God of the Blogosphere, please bless Bob Bly. He didn't really mean to offend you. He just didn't know of which he spoke. He has served penance enough at our hands."

That's my "prayer" for Bob today, based on the article in DM News he wrote yesterday. He has been roundly trounced by bloggers ever since. I know, I was one of the trouncers! (But not in a mean-spirited sort of way!)

I feel a need to give some background to this story. Several weeks ago I emailed Bob to ask why he wasn't blogging. I felt he was a prime candidate to use the medium. He told me he didn't see the point really. In his defense, he did suggest that he needed to learn more about blogging. (And, boy, has he gotten an education in the past two days!)

The quotes from me he used in his article came from an email I sent in response to questions he asked about the validity of blogs as marketing tools. He alluded to the fact that he did not see them as viable in terms of ROI. (By the way, he did ask permission to quote me. I just didn't realize it would be in the context of a negative spin.) Anyway, here is a slighty edited version of my email to him in response to those questions...

My blog site - www.radiantmarketing.biz - is a resource for small businesses (and others) who use blogs as marketing communications tools. I would encourage you to peruse the site to learn more.

To answer your questions, I would say that, with few exceptions, blogs are not yet direct income producing resources in and of themselves. Not in the way an ecommerce website would be. Their value lies in the fact they help to raise one's stature relative to their respective field.

My own situation is a good case-in-point. I'm certainly a "small fry" in the internet marketing milieu, but my blog has given me a level of prominence I could never have imagined. It is now beginning to drive business my way and opening doors for income generating opportunities
that I would not have had otherwise.p>

In your case, needing greater prominence is not an issue, in my opinion. You already have great stature where the internet is concerned. Nevertheless, a blog can only serve to increase that. And might even do so with even greater velocity due to your current level of prominence.

The primary reason this is the case. . .the NUMERO UNO reason. . .is that search engines, especially Google, love blogs. You'd be amazed at how many of your posts will end up in the top ten returns. If SEO is a concern to you, blogs are the best way I know to move up the ladder as
well as increase your page rank.

I share this simply as a way to shed some light on the discussion that is ensuing as a result of Bob's article. And, as I shared in a comment on Debbie Weil's post regarding this, if it causes Bob to rethink his position on business blogs, then all's well that ends well.