In his post entitled 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers – Is a Blog Right for You, Darren Rowse of Problogger suggests that blogs don’t suit all situations. Of note, he mentions that some web audiences are best suited to web forums, where people can start their own discussion topic rather than responding to a conversation started by a blogger. In the context of a giftware shop, this is a thought provoking point. Would people respond better to someone discussing the merits of crystals or incense, or would they prefer to start their own threads about something that was mutually interesting for each other?
Another point he raises is the importance of having regularly updated, informative (and entertaining?) information posted to the blog. In the context of a primarily bricks and mortar focussed business, this may prove problematic. Issues may arise about who becomes “blogger-in-chief” and where their information will be sourced. These are fairly typical resourcing issues faced by most businesses when opening up a new avenue to the market and are certainly not insurmountable.
Where does that leave our project? I believe it now rests in a broader context of site content generally, and what sort of content would be most attractive to visitors to the site. Stay tuned as I start to research what this content may be and how we’d go about bringing it online.