New Year ... new Blog ... new Business mmmmmmmm?

Now that the New Year has kicked in, if you are in business like me, the 5th of the month means that you have 20 days to make the most of your time to get those invoices out before the month end debit orders, mortgage payments etc.

Hang on! Don't tell me I have lost you already... unless you are one of the lesser privileged, pressurised employees who is reading this on 19 Jan 2009 after your month off from The Corporation, in which case there is not much that you can do about the end of the month financials anyway, except work harder, smarter and impress your boss, whose job you secretly are aiming to take over.

We wouldn't be human if we did not at the very least set some goals and those infamously challenging New Year's resolutions, so here goes...

Besides buying mountain bikes for my wife and I, and kitting the family out with helmets and finally getting the last two training wheels off of my youngest son's new birthday bike, I have decided that 2009 will be the year of blogging our web consulting business and non profit organisation into the limelight.

Although I have dabbled in blogging for the last few years, truthfully I have never really given myself to regular online publishing. This does seem rather amiss, considering that my trusty Google Mail Contacts "suggested" 2628 contacts who should be in My Address Book (...and who said that artificial intelligence was still way off?).

Not blogging seems even further amiss since our main business these days is Joomla! project management & Joomla! training and supporting ordinary folks in the skill of developing and managing their own website, using the new media that are available, like Joomla! content management systems, or for the less complex website; Google's Blogger, or Moodle learning management systems, for the increasing need for educational content to be available online - lots of online stuff, as you can tell from the previous, less than comprehensive list.

They say that if you aim at nothing you will surely hit it. So, in light of the fact that 2009 is here.. and that we DO want to achieve growth in business, develop new and maintain and enhance our existing customer's service experience by empowering them - by all means - to assist them to make the most of the goodies that we sell to you, a blog presents the ideal, user friendly, neutral, non-threatening medium of communication, that you can read on your own terms, at your convenience, in your office. The same, of course, goes for your customers.

A Blog is a "personal web log" or an informal conversation that you have with others. Rather than a formal website, which is expected to answer the 4WH questions (What? /Where? /When? /Who? /How?) a blog gives one the liberty to shoot the breeze, as you would with your mates in the clubhouse.

A common mistake that we often make is that we write for the web instead of writing for our customer who is really the one whom we need to convince to share their hard won money with us. Try this tactic that I often recommend to our trainees - rather than typing your article, speak it out onto a dicta phone, then type it as you listen to the playback. You may be surprised at the difference!

Now, you may be thinking that you need to be an expert before you can start blogging. NOT true! As the saying goes, there is always someone who knows less than you do, and as far as many are concerned you may just be the "expert" in your local area for your service or product offering.

For example, while I may be able to tell you much about the web, I would gladly take the advice of a handyman, like Alan of ADS Renovations, who was at my place today, to put together a quote for some alteration work that we are planning. Left to me, the alterations would not only be hazardous, messy and unattractive, but in Alan's care we expect that the job will be well done. Now if Alan had to blog about how to contract a reliable handyman, or how to do the alteration, or how to check work done before making final payment, then people like me would be quick to listen.

Or Andries from AT Air, who responded to a call out within one hour on one of the hottest days in Zululand and only charged us R150/hour for the service, and helped us to decide to spend another R600 to move a poorly placed airconditioning unit that has given us problems from day one, due to the wrong placement. Having been in the industry for 30 years, he could tell the other "professionals" in town a few things about airconditions... using a blog of course!

Or how about sports, which I last played in school (that's about 15 years ago, as I matriculated in 1992) - people would much rather hear Willem Swanepoel from Zululand Sports telling them how to choose that next mountain bike, than me who last worked on a decent bike back in the 90's, so I have suggested to Willem that he start a sport advice and commentary blog, which we registered today during a web promotion strategy for his new website by the same name.

You see, we all know something that someone else does not, and we generally like to make decisions based on recommendations, suggestions and confirmations, even if they do not always work out, in general the best advertising is word of mouth, and when that happens online, we begin blogging our way to better business, better opportunities and better bottom lines in business, greater visibility in the community and develop a sense of sincerity and integrity, when what we blog about adds real value to those around us.

For an easy entry into blogging, check out www.blogger.com and within 5 minutes you will be publishing your "expert" advice online. Most blogs allow for comments so be warned that if you publish nonsense, you may have to face the firing line, but if you share meaningful, useful information, be prepared for praise and grateful appreciation from your clients.

Happy New Year and Happy New Blogging!

Dr Joomla!
Making the Most of the Web

~ for more information see www.learnjoomla.co.za ~