A blog by any other name …

… would smell as sweet – with all due apologies to the Bard himself!

In my opinion, a Blog by any other name would in fact sound much much better! If there is one thing that annoys me, it is when companies have gone to the effort of installing a blog system, planning what to do with it and identifying the blog’s target audience, they then take the ground breaking decision to call that section of their website . . . BLOG!

Why do it?

To me, it shows a total lack of imagination, a lack of planning or probably both. It’s like an author writing a thriller, perfecting the characters, carefully developing the plot, creating an unexpected cliffhanger of an ending . . . and then calling it “book”. It doesn’t add value and it should do! So use a name which lets visitors know what they’re going to find in that section and don’t make them have to guess what you are hiding there.

So when you implement a blog for a specific purpose, then don’t be shy about letting people know what you are providing them with. If you are using it to share details of Case Studies, White Papers or latest industry news then call it something appropriate such as “Information Centre”. If you have created an interactive Q & A section giving answers to your prospects’ questions then “Your Questions Answered” might be be suitable. But don’t go to the trouble of developing an area where you encourage input into new product developments from your current users in an effort to create new product evangelists . . . and then call it “Blog”!

If it frustrates you like it does me (hey, or even if it doesn’t!), then leave a comment and let me know about examples of companies doing this that you’ve found.

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