Blogging Resources You Should Know About

As I go around talking to people about PR and the rise of business blogging, here's what people want to know:

How do I set up a blog?
What should it say?
How do I get it noticed?
How do I justify the time and expense?

I'm always a little surprised at the lack of basic knowledge of the blogging tools and technologies you need to answer these questions. So here's a resource list of some of the more important ones at your disposal (thanks to Bulldog Reporter and its panel of bloggers on today's PR University conference call for many of these tips):

Blogging Platforms:

Blogger.com: Free Google service. Basic but very serviceable. You can set up a blog in 10 minutes.
Wordpress: Open source blogging platform, which means it can be installed and customized to your specifications. Or, you can use the wordpress.com version, which is the standard version
Moveable Type/Typepad: Another set of alternatives: Typepad is the low-end version, Moveable Type is for pros.

Blog Search and Syndication:

Technorati: The Google of blog search, though not as satisfying as Google.
BlogPulse: Neilsen's entry in blog search and tracking.
Bloglines: Blog feed reader. You can find blogs here and subscribe to them.
Google Reader: Google's entry. You can use Reader to subscribe to blogs, search for them and see some basic metrics (# of subscribers)
Feedburner: Feedburner helps distribute your blog on the net by making its "feed" easier to find and subscribe to. All you have to do is submit your feed for indexing.

Measurement:

Alexa: Will provide you with some basic info about your blog's reach.
Compete: Allows you to compare your traffic to your competition.
Google Analytics: An embedded tool that provides you with data about your traffic. Must be embedded on blog pages to work, which is not something an amateur can/should do.
Site Meter: Downloadable traffic meter.

Jon Greer

Jon Greer has been analyzing media and PR for more than 25 years. He's been a journalist and a PR executive, and has been a featured speaker for many years at the Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit, and served as Bulldog's Editorial Director for their PR University series of weekly how-to audio conferences.

Jon provides PR services including media relations and freelance writing to clients including start-ups, law firms, corporations, investment banks and venture capital firms. In addition, Jon provides spokesperson training. Learn more about Jon's training programs at The Media Bridge.

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