The Business of Blogs

Geri Wolf has been posting to her blog, called Eventful Ramblings, at least three times a week for more than two years. In that time, she’s seen the number visitors grow, improved her site’s search engine rankings, and offered readers her ideas and a new perspective. However, Wolf doesn’t write about celebrities, politics, or technology. As owner and senior designer for event-planning company The Style Laboratory, Inc., in Minneapolis, Wolf uses her blog—stylelaboratory.com—as a marketing tool.

“The blog covers observations of life in general, experiences from doing my job, trends in food as well as events. It’s not all about business, but it’s related to business,” Wolf says.

Wolf says her blog has given her company exposure and positioned her as an innovative thinker. “We try to influence some of the trends that are happening,” Wolf says, especially food trends. Her readers know they can go to her for the inside story on the local dining scene. One reader who is a fan of Stuart Woodman, the former executive chef at Levain and Five, had heard the buzz about Woodman’s new restaurant and turned to Wolf for details on when and where it was opening.

She also wants to be a resource for event-planning colleagues. “There’s a pretty high learning curve for this job because you have to know so much about each part of an event: flowers, design, decor, food, wine, safety, security, and entertainment,” she says. In April, Wolf blogged about an open house she organized for event planners where she challenged caterers to create finger food that could be served on a napkin.

“[Blogging] is probably the least expensive form of PR,” she says. “I think it comes across as a little less self promoting [than traditional public relations].” Wolf says it’s increased her credibility with new clients who can get to know her business philosophy and style even before they meet her in person. Current and past clients, potential clients, competitors, and vendors all read the blog regularly, Wolf claims.

Blog Personalities

Blog is a portmanteau word of Web and log, and blogs are a series of posts that take a variety of forms—short essays, reviews, polemics, links, photos, video, all of the above—on any subject. The power of blogs lies in their person-to-person feel; readers are drawn to the blogger’s style and the specific information they can offer.

“A good blog has to have a personality and a unique voice,” says Alex Stenback, a mortgage banker with CTX Mortgage Company in Plymouth. “Corporate blogs or blogs generated by the PR wing of a firm generally fall flat because all they do is regurgitate the same canned content that can be found in a static Web site.”

Stenback started his blog—behindthemortgage.com—in October 2004 with the idea that he could share his views on real estate, mortgage banking, and personal finance with clients and associates. “The blog is more about Alex Stenback, a financial professional and real estate expert, than it is about my firm,” he says.

His blog was originally intended for current and past clients and business associates, but now he also reaches a mix of people interested in the real estate market—bankers, investors, and even local media editors. It’s allowed him to position himself as an expert.