I have received an invitation from SquareSpace.com CEO Anthony Casalena to start blogging on the official SquareSpace blog. According to Anthony, "What you normally write about on radiant marketing group's blog is exactly the kind of content we're looking for." Hey, I don't need any more incentive than that!

Anthony has asked that I move my blog to his platform. That's only fair I guess. It will give me the opportunity to merge my blog with my main website. (Who am I kidding? My blog is my main website!) Until that site begins to get traffic, I will mirror all posts there and here, and will keep you informed of the transition.

I really consider his invitation an honor and am grateful for the opportunity.

Wednesday of last week I made mention in one of my posts that it was my birthday. Several fellow business/marketing bloggers commented or emailed well-wishes. Something for which I am very grateful.

You want a really good reason to start a small business blog? Let me give you the best one I can think of. Bloggers are some of the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people in the world. I have found it to be a caring, encouraging environment and I'm very proud to be one of its ambassadors.

When it all comes down to it, from a technical standpoint a blog is really just an easy-to-use content management system. There are certainly other options on that front, though most not as robust as a blog in terms of the features it offers, such as archiving by date and category, or reverse chronology posting that is timestamped.

However, there is another aspect to blogging that really makes it the unique marvel it has become. This has to do with style, the way blogs are written. And that's really what I want to talk about in this post.

Blogging from a technical standpoint could be used for any kind of information updates, whether it be press releases, product updates, news, or more personal commentary. I mean, let's face it, the application doesn't care what kind of content is put into its form fields. It's going to do what it does regardless.

In my estimation the thing that differentiates a blog from any other form of content publishing is the style in which a blog post is written. Blogs beg to be written in an informal, punchy, and shall we say "authentic" voice, what Doc Searls calls an email to everyone. Blogs need to reflect the passions, bias, thoughts and judgments of the writer. They need to have heart as well as substance.

But, even that does not fully convey the power of blogs. We have to go back to the technology side to complete the picture. Blogging technology provides an ability to do something no other content management medium does -- stimulate conversation.

Comment and trackback components available on most blogging platforms enable others to respond to the post and link to it from their blogs in such a way that the link is referenced on your site. One can literally track the progression of a thought (a meme) from its source across the web. Add to that the ability to syndicate content through RSS, and you have an all-in-one tool to promote your business.

If you simply need a content management system to keep your website updated, I recommend blog technology. It does a great job! However, if you really want to tap into the "power of the blog" begin to talk about your passions as related to your business. See it's potential as a marketing and PR tool that can engage customers and prospects in a way no other online format can.

There is a reason blogging is taking the online world by storm. Maybe you should investigate its potential to help your small business grow.

Just came across this handy list of links to weblog resources and interesting business blogs.

Thanks to ProBlogger for the reference.

I had a dream the other night that some programming genius came up with a publishing application that created content for a weblog AND an email newsletter all-in-one! In other words, inside one app, content could be easily repurposed so that there was no need for re-entering it. You post to your blog and, within the bowels of the app, that content could easily be morphed into a format suitable for email.

If anyone knows of such a tool, please let me know. I've said that, for the time being, the ideal marketing communications mix is a combination of blogs and email, with RSS thrown in for good measure. Those are the areas I'm emphasizing now, and I'd like to know if such an application exists. If it doesn't, why is someone is not working on creating it? If someone did, I know it would be a hit!

Amy Gahran has done a series of posts on what she sees as seven basic formats for blog postings. Each serves a different purpose for bloggers and their readers. Amy says, "The format of a blog posting, if chosen consciously and carefully, enhances communication."

I guess this post qualifies as the "link-blurb" type. :)

I really like Blogger.com! Not only was it one of the first (or was it THE first?) blogging platforms available, it is so darn easy to use. Three simple steps, and voila, you have your very own blog! And, it's FREE! It comes with several very attractive templates which can not only be customized to the look and feel of your website if so desired, but can even incorporated into your site!!

One of the few components Blogger does not incorporate natively is trackback technology. TrackBack is a system developed by Movable Type that allows a blogger to see who has seen the original post and has written another entry concerning it. The system works by sending a 'ping' between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert.

That has been Blogger's "Achille's Heel" where I'm concerned, that kept me from using it myself. However, that little techno-gaffe can now be circumvented by using a trackback plug-in developed by Haloscan.com. And guess what, it's also free!

The best part about the Haloscan plug-in is that it uses a simple two-step process that detects your Blogger blog and installs the trackback function automatically. All you have to do is have your comments turned on and, voila, you have trackbacks!

If you're a small businessperson who is interested in blogging, I can't think of an simpler, more easy-to-use system than Blogger. (And I use TypePad!) It's a great way to get your feet wet at least.

Have you ever sat there working on your blog - researching, writing, editing - then wondered, "Is anyone even reading this stuff?!"

Most blogging software with which I'm familiar doesn't provide great stats tracking. For example, Typepad, the platform I currently use gives woefully inadequate statistics. I've griped about that to them and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Never fear, that's why God made third-party software apps. Sitemeter is a stats tracking plug-in that I use and recommend.

As a web counter Sitemeter meets all my requirements (It's free, fast, and easy to use!). Not only does it display the number of visitors to your blog, it also keeps statistics on the number of visits each hour and every day. It also provides detailed information about these visitors, provided in real time so they are always up-to-date. With Sitemeter you can even estimate traffic predictions for the day, week, or month!

All that's needed to install Sitemeter is just a couple of lines of HTML code added to your template. I installed mine in the left-hand column, so it picks up all the posts. But, you could install it in the footer just as easily. You can choose from a variety of counters too.

If traffic metrics are an important factor (and if you're running a business they should be), I'd suggest using Sitemeter.

Here's another question I wanted to make sure got answered. Again, I refer you to CorporateBlogging.Info. He has the best answers I've seen to the basic questions about blogs and business blogging.

A few days ago I asked why there was not a "Blogging for Dummies" book in print. I asked that question of the folks at Wiley Publishers, the publisher of the infamous Dummies series, and, lo and behold, there will be! Here's the scoop from the company's Acquisitions Editor:

"[T]his one is in the works. I've been working on trying to find the right angle for a blogging book for some time. It's going to be called Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies, and you'll see it in early Spring next year."