Blogging for business (2): What are the technicalities?

by David Hallam

Starting a blog is technically very easy and can cost nothing. Both Blogger (now part of the google group) and Wordpress offer simple stand alone  solutions, free of charge. Both boast that you can start blogging within minutes, but  that's not quite how you should approach it.

There are other platforms and most IT service providers now have some form of blogging as part of their portfolio. My strong advice is that if your business runs to having an IT department or has an external provider you should speak with them first. It obviously makes sense to integrate your blog with the business's own web or CRM platform, especially if, for example, the blog is purely for internal audiences, membership or identified customers.

Blogger and Wordpress provide easy to follow installation instructions. A new blogger should sign up to both platforms and work out which one is most comfortable. For this blog I've gone with Blogger mainly because it provides the package with which I am most familiar. It is just a feeling but Wordpress blogs tend to look visually more appealing.