Should firms build their own blogs or look elsewhere?

The post below, Blogs. Who knows best?, asked whether web teams or comms teams have responsibility for an organisation's blog?

Amy Gahran followed up the debate with her own post over at Capture the Conversation. In a nutshell she recommends by-passing a home built blog and using what is already available.

She writes:

If your organization is considering building its own blogging tool: Stop! Trust me, you'll be much better off examining existing popular tools and choosing one to integrate into your site."

This got me thinking about the next stage in the 'who owns blogs' debate.

This debate revolves around the unavoidable trade offs between 3rd party blog platforms like TypePad, Wordpress, Movable Type or Blogger for instance and in-house or web agency built blogs.

For instance, UK PR blogger, Stuart Bruce, runs a number of client blogs using TypePad. He also advises never to use a Blogger blog for a client. On the other hand, Guido Fawkes, the UK's extremely high-profile political blogger argues that Blogger is the best tool for the job.

Personally I would never recommend a Blogger blog for a client. It looks too naff and is instantly identifiable as Blogger.

Back to Amy Gahran. She argues that using existing blog platforms is important because:

"...then you can take advantage of updates that the people who really live and breathe blogging every day build into those tools. You won't be forever playing catch-up. Ultimately, you'll be able to converse more easily online without having to worry about tools getting in your way."

That makes total sense. If the client mentioned in my previous post opts for the web firm's home built blog, I am fairly confident I'll be in for a rough ride. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

But on the other hand if you go for a TypePad or Wordpress blog then although you get the latest features/widgets with little hassle, you are still ultimately restricted in terms of design and layout and will this impact on client reputation.

As more and more people get blog/tech savvy will they start thinking: "Hmm. This firm's turnover is £X million per year and they're using a TypePad blog at £4 a month!".?

If your client wants a specific look and feel to reflect their reputation then will a standard blog platform fully offer the goods style-wise?

It's a tricky one and hopefully the issues will resolve themselves as more people - including web designers - get used to blogs, their key communication features and the whole Web 2.0 diaspora.

In case I haven't sufficiently muddied the waters, I personally think that the concept of a 'blog' will soon disappear and we will be left with good ol' websites that have RSS, trackbacks, comment sections, aggregators, UGC etc built in.

That will be when we know Web 2.0 has really come of age!

Comments

[David Tebbutt]

"Hmm. This firm's turnover is £X million per year and they're using a TypePad blog at £4 a month!".?

Are you saying that this is worse than a 'free' WordPress blog?

[Simon Collister]

Same point. I'm not saying it's worse.... just will people think less of a firm for not building its own swanky blog platform?

Could you imagine, say, Barclays' CEO blogging from Typepad/Wordpress/Blogger?

I have no problems with TypePad... but interestingly, the comment from the web designer in the previous post when I mentioned Wordpress was along the lines of: '...you don't want it [client's blog] like a personal Wordpress one?? You can't let people say anything they like...!"

[Ian]

You can download the wordpress source free from wordpress.org and host it anywhere, with any design you like. That gives you a custom URL & look, but with support for whatever widgets come along too.

Same goes for Moveable Type from Typepad - except it's not free - GM use that.

[Ian Green]

We're struggling with one too as we are looking to launch a series of corporate blogs on behalf of clients.
Like Ian - I would opt for a compromise between a a self-hosted, well designed corporate blog that makes reference to coporate brand and values which also adopts all the conventions of "traditional" blogs, with feeds, widgets, tags etc.
At this moment in time Web 2.0 and blogging has entered a darkened tunnel - it's exciting to consider what will eventually emerge.

[Andrew]

The only time I would recommend someone use blogger for non-personal use is to make a statement, i.e. to not look slick.

Take a look at David Cameron's India blog, for example. I don't know if it was done on purpose or not, but using blogger instead of a slick self-hosted, or designed solution works to position the blog as genuine.

[Linda]

"Hmm. This firm's turnover is £X million per year and they're using a TypePad blog at £4 a month!".?

I'd think good on 'em.

[Serge]

Interesting discussion. I think Ian's solutions is the better one: use existing stuff and make it your own. But then again, Simon: I'm guessing it won't be too long before we'll be seeing 'old-style' websites with full web 2.0 functionality too. Personally, I'm looking forward to that!

[Ed Lee]

at this point in time, it's enough that they're blogging at all! i wouldn't get too bogged down in the technology - the content and the conversation is the most important thing...

Ed

[Mark White]

While I agree with Ed that the content and the fact that they are using business blogging are both key, the technical aspects remain important. Even more so because you need to have a platform which not only works well for you now but will grow with you in the future. Changing platforms can be a time consuming and costly process with the associated issues of Search Engines, permalinks and the like - by planning and choosing wisely at the start, you can avoid a whole lot of pain!

Generally, my own preference is to use existing platforms and so benefit from the experience and learning that has gone into creating them rather than trying to recreate the wheel. In that I have a leaning towards Wordpress which is so flexible in allowing a company to have the exact look and feel as well as functionality that they require so that they can concentrate on making their message and content clear and appealing. (Note: I'm afraid that I disagree, Simon, with your comment that "you are ultimately restricted in design and layout" - there is no reason that this need be the case.)

As for your final comment on websites with blog functionality - absolutely! Although only first steps, I already have smaller business clients which are abandoning their static websites and having websites built on a blog platform allowing them to have the static pages and the interactive blog element. A first step in the right (and interactive) direction!

[davidwilcox]

Simon - have you looked at Drupal, Amy's other suggestion? I agree with you:
"In case I haven't sufficiently muddied the waters, I personally think that the concept of a 'blog' will soon disappear and we will be left with good ol' websites that have RSS, trackbacks, comment sections, aggregators, UGC etc built in."
That sounds the way that some of Mark's clients are going. However, as he indicates, it may mean a complete shift of platform.
The first issue for me is how to help clients (and friends, collaborators) explore what interaction is all about - so they can start to work out what they need. I'm using an experimental Drupal server to provide these "sandpit" experiences - and glad to share ideas.

[Amy Gahran]

Hi, Simon

Sorry I'm entering this conversation late, I was away from my computer over the weekend.

As others have mentioned above, Wordpress and Drupal do allow significant flexibility in design and functionality. Plus, Drupal is truly a CMS, not just a blogging tool -- so you can run an entire site off it, complete with forums, file libraries, etc.

But furthermore, it's possible to integrate a blogging tool with any other web publishing platform, so the blogging tool acts as a CMS for just part of the site. Basically, you use the blogging tool to manage the blog content and create feeds. Then you use those feeds to syndicate content from the blog to be automatically published via you preferred web publishing tool. This is a good idea if you're dedicated to a web publishing tool that's strong on design but weak on content management, such Dreamweaver or Adobe Creative Suite.

The more important point is to map your blog to your domain, so that you're less likely to disrupt inbound links and feed subscriptions if you decide to switch blogging tools later on.

- Amy Gahran

[Jennifer Eubanks]

"If your client wants a specific look and feel to reflect their reputation then will a standard blog platform fully offer the goods style-wise? "

As Amy has already mentioned, it is entirely possible to fully integrate your blog into your company website design using tools such as Wordpress, Drupal, or Movable Type. In fact, it is the method I use with all our clients.

We use primarily Movable Type and Wordpress for our clients, and provide a seamless transition between regular site content and blog. Each platform has numerous plugins available to help you customize and take advantage of the power these 3rd-party applications offer.

Most of our clients take advantage of the blogging tool by using it as a syndicating press room--thanks to the tool, they are able to post press releases and have them disseminate instantly via RSS. Best of all, they don't have to edit multiple HTML pages to properly archive the releases.

I feel that these tools are extremely flexible and have yet to come across something they can't do, in terms of client needs. Of course, for us, that means installing MT or WP on the client's web server, and not using hosted solutions such as Wordpress.com or Typepad, in order to maximize the customizability.

As Amy mentions, the most important thing is to have the blog/press room on the same domain as the rest of your site.

[Simon Collister]

There are some great comments here - keep 'em coming. You will appreciate I'm not too au fait with the finer points of Moveable Type or Wordpress so I have learnt a thing or two there.

This is also really handy from a professional perspective. I will be announcing some exciting news(for me at least!) soon and all will become clear!

[mel starrs]

Simon

I'm coming in late here too, but I'd agree that corporate/professional blogs should be looking to WP or MT. Typepad or Blogger are (to me at least) one step away from MySpace - which has it's place, but it's not on a professional website. This may make me sound like a 'blog snob', but maybe it's because I associate Typepad and Blogger with the 'amateur' mommy blogs and diet blogs of a couple of years ago? I've had Typepad blogs in the past and I have not regretted moving to WP as my 'professional' blog (not hosted by WP but Dreamhost). I have complete freedom over the appearance of the site, but am currently sticking to themes that others have written and shared. I of course have the option of commissioning someone to update the look and feel of the site without losing any of the content. Completely bespoke solutions run the risk of reinventing the wheel - I'm a great believer in taking full advantage of what others have done before and WP has an enormous community of users and publically available knowledge.