A recent discussion on the weekly Twitter-based “hashtag chat” thread #blogchat, let by leading blogger and social media specialist Mack Collier, a.k.a. @MackCollier helped reinforce my judgement that a blog is the practical cornerstone of any business social media strategy.

Or as mentioned on the #blogchat thread, the hub of your social media activities.

Another helpful image, courtesy of my friend and colleague, Associate Professor Michael Rees, is of a blog as the mothership of your social media strategy.

That’s good for those businesses which are already blogging. But what about the others?

From discussions with business owners I know there are many who want to know about blogging but don’t know where to start and don’t know what resources of time or money are needed.

So I have decided to do a totally new version of 7 Step Business Blog.

Platforms, tools and services

In the seven years since I started blogging and then more rapidly in the five years since I wrote the first draft of 7 Step Business Blog, there has been a proliferation of platforms, tools and services for blogging. In one way that makes it easy to start blogging. At the same time, the proliferation of possibilities makes the terrain potentially confusing for business owners wanting to get started with blogging and not knowing quite where to start.

A simple update is not appropriate

The world has changed a lot since the original book was written in 2005. LinkedIn was only 2 years old, Twitter did not exist and Facebook was still not available for the world outside college or high school campuses.

The original 7 Step Business Blog e-book was revised at least three times, the last time being in 2009.

As I did not feel a quick revision would do justice to the changed environment, some time ago I made the e-book free.

Complete new edition underway

I’ve started today on a totally new edition of 7 Step Business Blog, with the intention of publishing it offline with an e-book version a possibility.

It will have some links to the original but it will be a totally new book, written for the world of 2010, not the world as it was in 2005. There will be more focus than previously on the action steps at the end of each chapter.

First cut of the chapter headings – still “7 steps” concept – is:

1. Know why you are blogging – Purpose

2. Think strategically (incl social media/social business strategy) – Strategy

3. Set up your blog – Setup

4. Start blogging – Blog (as verb)

5. Build connections – Connect

6. Optimize – SEO

7. Monitor and measure – Measure

There will also be appendices with resources, especially a list of favored plugins. The resources will include links to other books, especially on social media and on blogging specifically.

The chapter heading outline is not set in stone. Comments/suggestions for change are welcome.

Assuming they/we are right,d

The book has now been for a while in its 2nd edition and has been translated into Mandarin Chinese.

While I believe the content is still relevant for the intended reader – the non-techie business owner wanting a jargon-free explanation, step by step – I do not feel motivated to work on yet another complete update of the book. That’s partly because my attention is now on the broader field of social media, and less focused on blogging in its own right.

So I’ve decided to make it free to anyone interested.

To get your own copy of the book, just use the form in the sidebar here.

So much has changed about blogging since the first edition a couple of years ago and “social networking” has taken on amazing new dimensions. It has been a challenge to strike a balance between updating information and comments in the e-book, while not attempting to do a totally new book.

Doing a couple of detailed proof reads in the past 48 hours, what has actually struck me is that, although I say it myself, the basic approach and advice in the book are still quite relevant for the person I wrote for originally, the non-techie business owner or manager interested in blogging but not knowing where to start, what would be involved or what he or she would have to do.

There were a few instances of my being surprised at some opinions I held a couple of years ago and have now changed my viewpoint, for example on link exchanges and blogrolls. I was quite positive about both then, with some caveats, but now I am much more cautious and I believe there are better ways to achieve increased traffic and improved ranking.

Link to a page explaining why this e-book is the bees’ knees, the answer to a business owner’s prayer and the best thing since sliced bread, is here.

If you have come here for information about my 7 Step Business Blog manual, I apologise for any inconvenience. I expect to have things hunky-dory by the end of the weekend.

(Update Oct 11,2007: wishful thinking, that last para – now quite a few weeks later but things are moving. If you buy the book from the links here, I will send you a link to the completely revised, 2nd edition, due out in the next few days.)

When I launched this blog as a companion to my 7 Step Business Blog manual, I had the intention of keeping it current, adding resources and so on.

A lot has happened since then and a quick perusal will show that I have not been posting here very much or building the resources. So now I'm doing some re-considering: should I keep this blog going or pension it off?

After all, it's not as if I don't have enough outlets for my thoughts and opinions!

I'm blogging several times a week with the b5media network, on the subject of business blogging at the Business and Blogging site.

I'm also continuing with my Thinking Home Business site and have commitments – not kept up with lately as much as I would have wished – to post at Business Blog Consulting and Coachamatic.

And then there's my new Business Blogging Show – mainly podcasts.

But I'm looking at doing a new revision of the 7 Step Business Blog manual and even an audio version, as some have requested, so it's probably premature to close this blog off just now.

Last week, I set up my proper “Blog From The Beach” site and explained the basic concept in a post “A Blog of an Idea”:

I often think my ideal way to work would be (will be?) propped under
a bit of shade on the beach with a laptop and wireless connectivity,
blogging away.

The bigger picture is that blogging, like other “Web 2.0? tools,
helps small business owners and solopreneurs have more flexibility than
ever before in modes of operating and in lifestyle choices.

I have posted about this at Thinking Home Business:

It's being held at a surfing and tourist mecca, Byron Bay, which is not far from where I live, about a forty minute drive.

The last time I went to a business breakfast in Byron, I found the gathering were pretty switched on business people – friendly but not the laid back (or even blissed out) stereotype a lot of Australians have of the Byronites – not that you would blame them, living in a place of such natural beauty. But they were business people, there to learn and to do business.

So I know I will have to be on my toes, especially as I'm one of three. And as each of us speakers has only 30 minutes, I'm going to have to be very focused and will probably have to trim my usual Power Point presentation, so as to leave time for at least a couple of questions.

Last time I went to Ballina for a seminar it was as an audience member and I was impressed by the energy of the place and the very hospitable attitude of the people. I'm looking forward to the event tomorrow and hoping to stimulate some serious interest in blogging.

I've posted about the event and Ballina in more detail on my Thinking Home Business blog.

Tags: Ballina, blogging, business, Northern Rivers, NORBAS

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A lead article in the Business IT section of national daily The Australian this week by journalist Andrew Colley, Testing the Web 2.0 water, declares that, although there is an upsuge of interest in Web 2.0 tools among consumers and lobbyists, 'Australia's business community is struggling to find ways to reap value from Web 2.0'.

There are the obligatory quotes from research company experts, with a bit of a contest on whether the real buisness significance of Web 2.0 is in 'social computing' (thus Forrester Group's analyst Charlene Li) or whether it's 'really' about the technology creating a richer functionality in the browser (as per Gartner analyst Dion Wiggins).

Whether one or other of those views is more accurate in the great scheme of things, my interest is squarely on the social computing side of the discussion, or more specifically the 'business social', than the computing aspects.

A couple of weeks from now I'm speaking at a Blogs, Wikis & RSS conference in Sydney, on some of the obstacles businesses (and government) experience or perceive about using these collaborative tools. As companies have decided to pay for people to attend, that is an indication of interest.

On the local business front, I was pleased to be invited, as mentioned in a post here yesterday, to be one of the presenters at a breakfast seminar on business blogging. It will be held in the beautiful seaside town of Byron Bay, on September 27 – more details here when I have them.

Frank Arrigo wrote about business blogging in Australia the other day after taking a call from the Australian Financial Review – Another Press Interview on Corporate Blogging. The post is a good milestone and has attracted comments from two very well-informed guys, Mark Jones and Trevor Cook, including Trev's observation:
“I agree that blogging is gaining traction in corporate Australia, mostly at the 'I better find out what this is all about and stick my little toe in' stage”.

And for those wanting more reference points on blogging in Australia, see Frank Arrigo's own comments on the Web 2.0 article which triggered this post.

I'll discuss the government aspects in a separate post.

Tags: blogging, business blogging, The Australian, Web 2.0, Australia blogs, government

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