"Corporate blogs are proliferating faster than you can say 'ping.'"

The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right (Portfolio Hardcover, August 3, 2006) is online marketing consultant and business blogging authority Debbie Weil's take on why marketers and executives should blog - or not, as the case may be - and how to get it right the first time. On the why for corporations, Weil offers a "baker's dozen" of uses, including branding, building community, conferences, PR and thought leadership. On the executive front, key pros and cons include improved reach (one to many versus one to one), engagement and creation of a knowledge base versus learning curve, expectation and exposure issues. Regardless of why and who, good writing skills are a prerequisite.

Of course, no business case would be complete without addressing ROI (return on investment). Weil argues that although blogs exist in a digital realm often associated with metrics, this medium requires a different measure of value: ROB or return on blog. ROB is "all about connections, conversations, discovery, information, word-of-mouse, leverage, amplification and efficiencies." Fear not; for those who require data to justify budgets and measure and monitor performance, there is equal time given to metrics.

Weil's point is simply that the true bottom line may not be search engine rankings, unique visitors and conversions but the fact that blogging solves a central problem: "the human desire - and business need - to connect."

Weil's how-to covers ten top tips for writing an effective business blog. Among them: finding your voice, inviting a conversation, writing for both your readers and search engines and taking risks. Weil's 3C's of blogging: "be conversational, cogent and compelling." Final chapters address the tools and technology options and how to pitch blogs to the boss. Bonus resources include policy, legal, design and usability extracts and references as well as an anatomy of a blog: Weil's BlogWriteforCEOs blog, deconstructed.

WorkBiz.com's Debbie Weil brings digital credibility and a distinct business focus to what author Daniel Pink identifies as the question in business today: to blog or not to blog?

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