Blog adds to investor’s plan
Guy Kawasaki
51
Managing director, Garage Technology Ventures LLC, Palo Alto, Calif.
Guy Kawasaki is a well-known venture capitalist, a successful professional speaker and the author of eight books.
So why does he need a blog?
Precisely because he’s a venture capitalist, a speaker and an author.
“I believe it’s a way to pass on knowledge,” he said. “And I truly enjoy it. Plus, it is very good for business.”
Kawasaki didn’t always feel that way. There’s a view that blogs are the domain of ranting, raving no-names who egomaniacally, and incorrectly, believe that what they write is critical for the world to read. Kawasaki, who now blogs two to three hours a day, related to that.
“Well, for a long time I didn’t do a blog because I though it was inherently arrogant,” Kawasaki said. “I couldn’t get over that arrogance. And I am not a humble person. I just could not believe that my wind was so important.”
Then, as a sort of New Year’s resolution (“that and losing weight,” he laughed), on Jan. 1 he made his first blog entry.
“I now view it as a way to pass information and advice freely and widely to people to make the world a better place.”
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And it doesn’t hurt that Kawasaki’s blog, which is read by about 15,000 people each day, helps sell books.
His latest book, “The Art of the Start,” is a how-to for business launchers. Asked who the book is written for, Kawasaki replied, “My target market for the book is anybody with 26 bucks.”
After it was published in 2004, the book had hovered between 1,500 and 2,000 in the Amazon.com sales rankings. But then he launched his blog, and the book zoomed up the charts.
“For the last 120 days it has been ranked between 500 and 1,000 on Amazon,” Kawasaki said. “And there is no other explanation other than my blog. I may be well known, but at the end of the day it’s this new medium that has got me all this exposure.”
To explain how his blog has helped his Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, Garage Technology Ventures, Kawasaki turned to a whale analogy.
“As a venture capitalist you have to be like a sperm whale,” he began. “You have to take in thousands of gallons of water to strain it out and get some plankton to eat. That’s what a [venture capitalist] does.
“Now, because of my blog, I’m a bigger whale. Or my mouth is bigger. More companies contact me because of the blog.”
Kawasaki’s blog (blog.guykawasaki.com) deals with the same sales, marketing and entrepreneurship topics as his books.
“I’m not ranting and raving; I’m not angry at anybody. I try to write feature stories.”
As such, he has reconciled the arrogance issue.
He also said the blog gives him an outlet for his competitiveness.
“I’m an extremely competitive person, and when I found out there’s a thing called Technorati, which lists the top 100 most popular blogs in the word, I went on a quest.”
Technorati.com ranks blogs by the number of unique Web sites, mostly other blogs, linking to them. The idea is to link your blog to other, relevant blogs and hope others do the same with yours.
After five months, Kawasaki’s blog ranks 40th in the world.
“I must be in the top 10,” he said, “because I can’t understand why more people would read Arianna Huffington [her blog is ranked sixth] than me.
“If I were a quarterback, I would be measured by percentage of [pass] completions. Bloggers are measured by Technorati. So I’ve decided I’m going to be in the top 10.”
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Starting a blog leads to book deal
Andy Wibbels
31
Author, “Blog Wild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging,” Chicago
Without his blog, Chicagoan Andy Wibbels never would have written a book.
Wibbels, 31, who writes a blog that teaches blogging for small businesses (www.andywibbels.com) was contacted by an editor who had been reading his blog. The editor was from publishing giant Penguin.
“Out of the blue, without an agent, without a book proposal, the editor contacted me and asked if I would like to write a book,” Wibbels recalled.
That book came out in April. It’s called “Blog Wild!” (www.goblogwild.com), and it’s a quick, relatively low-tech guide to blogging for small companies.
As Amazon.com’s best-selling book on blogs, it’s performing well too. Again, that is mostly because of the buzz and following Wibbels built with his blog.
“I know that what happened to me is really rare, but it’s almost all connected to the blog.”
And, he said, you can use a blog for your company in much the same way, with equally impressive results.
Companies need blogs, Wibbels said, “to save time, save money, strengthen their brand and relationships, and for better search engine [position].” He outlined the benefits:
Save time: “You can start a blog in the time it takes to watch a sitcom,” Wibbels said. “This blows people away.”
He recommends using TypePad (www.typepad.com), a popular, easy-to-use blogging tool. Prices range from about $5 to about $15 per month, depending on the package you select.
Wibbels said the time from sign-up to blogging your first post is minutes.
Another popular blog service is Google’s Blogger (www.blogger.com).
Save money: While a blog can complement your existing Web site, it easily can replace it as well.
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“A blog can become your main Web site. And you don’t have to use a designer on retainer.”
Bye-bye IT guy.
The blog format can be used to organize your company’s services, testimonials and other corporate information. And because blogs use predesigned templates, professional design is not necessary.
Strengthen brand and relationships: “You’re able to show your passion for your business,” Wibbels said. “It’s why Microsoft is having its people blog. IT has helped consumers see beyond this monolithic brand, and see the people who make this technology. And they’re excited about it.”
Improved search-engine positioning: Because blogs are updated far more often than most Web sites, which are static, they enjoy higher rankings for relevant keywords on search engines like Google.
If a company distributes an e-mail newsletter, should a blog replace it?
“It’s not `either/or,'” Wibbels said. “It’s `and.’ They work hand in hand. The blog is archivable, and the newsletter drives people to the blog. And it’s really not that much more of a time commitment because it’s the same content. And some people just use their blog to archive their newsletter online.”
When it comes to reading blogs, Wibbels turns to consolidation sites that pool together information from many blogs.
“It’s looking at blogs in aggregate, where I can read through them by topics that I’m interested in.”
The aggregators he uses are Technorati.com, Blogpulse.com and Icerocket.com.
In addition to his business blog, Wibbels also keeps a personal blog at AndyMatic.com.
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Alex L. Goldfayn is host of “The Technology Tailor Show” on WGN-AM 720 on Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.