Do you need sex to sell a blog?
When blogs first came on the scene, they were basically online diaries.
I remember this freaky guy I worked with about nine years ago at a newspaper in Florida was writing this new thing called a blog. His posts were mainly about his sex life, or lack of it. And he also blogged about how he hated journalism and really wanted to be a musician.
What got me thinking about the origins of blogs was
a story in the New York Times Friday about how blogs are now being used to air dirty laundry.
Duh! That’s why blogs were created. But recently, blogs have turned into little more than advertising sites for businesses and places where journalist can write shorter stories that are infused with a bit of opinion, and sometimes humor.
But alas, the best-read blogs are filled with personal musings, sex, and the more dirty laundry the better.
So what’s a small business owner to do if they want a blog that’s well read? Should they start writing about their escapades in the bedroom?
"Unless your sex life is so interesting that you think it will gain you customers, I would strongly discourage getting too personal in your business blogging," says Rich Sloan of
StartupNation.com. "It's important to draw a clear line between the 'who you are' as an entrepreneur and as a person beyond your business."
It’s good advice, but every entrepreneur wants to make sure his or her blog is read. Obviously, if you have something titillating on it you’ll get more hits. No?
Ken Makovsky, president and CEO of public relations company
Makovsky + Company, doesn’t even know how many hits
his blog “My Three Cents” even gets.
And he definitely doesn’t feel the purpose of his blog is to share his personal life with clients or interested readers.
The blog, he says, “is more of a professional undertaking, to really demonstrate our communications skills.”
He does blog about stuff he’s passionate about, but it’s all in the context of communications and public relations.
One thing that got him passionate and blogging recently was an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times about the Olympics:
“’Faster, Higher, Stronger, No Longer,’ an op-ed in this Sunday’s issue of The New York Times urges the end of the Olympics because of certain sordid incidents throughout its history,” he wrote.
“The Olympics must remain a symbol of hope and goodwill, and that alone should sustain its reputation, despite the obstacles it may always face. As globalization accelerates, so will the need for greater world cooperation and integration. An American pull-out would certainly represent a rejection of those values as well as being a further blight on our own reputation.”
OK, so it’s not sex. But it is interesting.
