Designer Bloggers - the lessons for business
Not surprisingly, web designers are among the most advanced bloggers. There are quite a few lessons which others businesses can learn from the way the webbies have embraced blogging.
###Prominence in their field:
Designers who blog have become well known. Here are the names of just three bloggers who pop up at every web design conference and are frequently invited to join prestigious projects. Douglas Bowman of stopdesign who has become associated with various design techniques, David Shea who put together the wonderful design site the CSS Zengarden and runs his own related blog at mezzoblue, and Molly E. Holzschlag of www.molly.com.
###Promote their world view:
The blogs of these designers are much frequented because they are not afraid to share their wisdom. They give away trade secrets, but in doing so they establish themselves as trend-setters and promote their world view. The designers I’ve mentioned share a similar outlook - clean accessible design over flashy gimmicks. They use blogs to evangelise their approach and gain market acceptance for it.
###Search Engine Ratings:
Because they generate lots of useful pages, other people link to them. This boosts their search engine ratings –coming to the top of Google searches for designers - an enormous boost to any business.
###Networking:
Blogs are interactive. Bloggers link to each other, write notes referring to each other, and leave comments. This means that designer bloggers all get to know each other and others in related fields. A good network is the foundation of any professional career. This approach has been taken further by the 9rules network of designer bloggers that has become an exclusive and prestigious professional club. It’s a blog that links together a group of invited member blogs.
###Putting a human face on the company:
Any business can soon become rather dehumanised – at least in the image it presents to the world. Designer bloggers write informally and let us know a little (not too much) about what they are up to in their lives and careers. They become approachable personalities. Customers may well come back to read their designer’s blogs after the job has been done. It’s better than sending a Christmas card to your clients every year.
It’s not surprising that web designers were among the first to embrace blogging, but it is perhaps more a revelation to see how well many of them write. There’s no doubt that the early birds gained a following for their blogs before others got a look-in. Blogging is only just starting to spread to other fields. Other professionals should pay heed and establish themselves as champion bloggers.
