What's with the blog?

Why am I structuring this website as a blog?

After all, the site is in support of my mom's work, and she would have not been able to distinguish  a blog from a bulletin board.

The blog is a simple way for me to create a website, a site that readers, prospective readers, agents and publishers (she typed, ever hopeful) can visit to find out more about The Drumming project and my mother's story.

I also happen to believe in the power of blogs for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is my own experience as a marketer in tech companies.  One of the early champions of blogging I ran into was my friend Alec Saunders (who was going on about it in a conversation we had way back in 2000, I think). In fact, I recently invited Alec to present at Zone5ive, a forum for B2B tech marketers, and if anyone  entered the room a skeptic, they did not, I am certain, leave that way. 

Like Alec, and loads of other marketers out there, I understand that blogging has huge SEO benefits (so that your website shows up higher in the list of search results). In fact, your SEO strategy is probably stillborn without a blog.

Thought leadership? Hell no!

My one quibble with Alec and lots of other marketers posting on this subject would be that they maintain that one of the main purposes of a blog should be to carve out a position of thought-leadership.  (Coincidentally, most of the people saying this ARE thought-leaders in one field or another.)

I just don't think that most people starting blogs today will become known as thought leaders at the centre of their particular universe.  Does that mean they shouldn't blog.  Again, hell no!

In any case, thought leadership is not the purpose of this blog.  Friends and colleagues might call me thoughtful (and I hope to be a thoughtful blogger), but I am not likely to get accused of being a "thought-leader," especially in a world I am just beginning to explore, the world of writers and their readers, and all the people and steps in between.

Get to know me (and my product)

A blog is an excellent tool to fulfill another marketing imperative: the imperative to allow customers "try before you buy" experiences, proving the customer (reader, publisher) a taste of what they might be getting into if they slap their money down on the table.

This is something I don't hear a lot of the blog pundits addressing and it holds especially true in service companies, where the people are the product.

For a project like this, where words and memories are the product, the blog format allows me to give brief excerpts of my mom's work and her story, to encourage the downloading of longer samples, and ultimately to buy (whatever that means in today's evolving world of publishing). 

I will also use the blog to keep people posted on the journey of The Drumming, the inevitable obstacles in getting this book out to an audience, and the joys of working on my mother's own mission.

So, welcome to the blog.  Let me know what you think.