Read My Blog

This article appeared in daily the Nation May 23, 2010 issue

Blogs need no introduction now. Among Internet fraternity, it seems everyone has one or two, Pakistani users base included. Word blog -- in case anyone still does not know - came by combining Web and log and it was "most used world on the Internet for some years." According to Forrester Research, a tech-consulting company, "Blogging's share of Web traffic is exponentially growing and the blog traffic trend is likely to further increase in time to come. Most Internet users like blogs, they like blogging, and the ability of instantly self-publishing text and pictures has tremendous potential for creative people. The phenomenon is being perceived as next generation web sites.

Building a 'great' blog, conceiving and writing quality contents regularly, counting hits and expecting comments is very daunting task. It is lonely. What if no one reads what you write so painstakingly? For that blog has to be promoted. How to promote a blog and be read in this part of the world is the issue.

Ask this to bloggers and they will sure point to comprehensively written article titled 'Promoting Your Blog' by Biz Stone – Former Blogger Senior Specialist at Google Inc and former Creative Director of Xanga Inc. Apart from being a Blog Specialist, Biz Stone is a prolific writer too. The article suggests almost everything that can be done to promote a blog. It is Blogger.com specific but users of other services can also benefit from the common tips and techniques discussed by the author. For those who are interested, another article "How to Promote and Develop your Blog" referring to some promotion resources and more is one the web and interested users can search and find. In Pakistan blogosphere, one needs to do much more to make a blog visible and noted.

Writing regularly, paying attention to grammar and capitalization while writing attention grabbing headlines and blurbs, making intelligent use of search engine friendly keywords and publicizing blog by word of mouth all may go waste if visitors take the impression that the blog is an obvious self promotion. "People do not like self praise," says Kamran Khan, a sociologist. So while writing, one has to keep in mind the interest of the target segment. The visitors will come back if they hope to find something of their own interest.

Internet users, particularly bloggers, look for blog URLs. Putting your blogs' URLs in search directories, in own email signature files, letterheads (people are still using letter heads, your truly included), sending the posts to your own circle that may be expecting (warning: it they are not expecting your posts, you may fall in the category of spammers that most Internet users have rightly come to dislike) or putting URLs on visiting cards may help. I know a teacher who writes URL of his blog on blackboard in the class every day and tells his students what he has written there for them (no wonders he gets quite a lot of traffic). A fellow blogger has put his blog URL along with his nick in MSN messenger on his business card.

Liberally linking to other like minded bloggers, installing blog roll and enabling track backs may also generate more traffic. For business and organizational blogs keyword advertising is another preferred solution for blog promotion.

There are all sorts of add-ons (clock, guest book, tag board, hit counter, search box, quiz and survey box, links to others resources, list of referrals and more) available on the web that can help make any blog more meaningful and useful.

As the blogging services are becoming popular and more and more people are gathering around blogs, marketers have started paying attention to these sites. Some text and image advertising programs have sprung up who pay to bloggers per click. Be careful while adding advertisements on a blog. Though the Internet readers have learnt to ignore every type of ads that cross their desktops in so many ways yet some readers do not like them. I realized this when I joined Google AdSense program. Remember, I n the beginning, Google used to place ads on every blog using Blogger.com but now they have started sharing this pie with the bloggers all over the world. Blogger can generate extra money by monetizing their blogs using AdSesne and earn some extra dollars. What I got instead is this: "Nobody has extra time to click on the ads you have placed there," was the remark of my friend who otherwise subscribes to my views. "Remove these ads from your site," wrote many others.

Blogs show better search results. Unlike mainstream (and static) websites, blogs have fresh content, rich interlinking, are ad-ons. Google searches have a definite dip in blogs because of the search company's stake in blogging in the form of Blogger.com. Google even have a separate search engine for blog search?

Blogs are usually referred to as random venting of thoughts without any specific topic. If one wants a following, the blog has to be focused and topical. Only then it will get out of personal circle of the blogger and be read by others.

Best that I personally have experienced, while trying to promoting my own blogs, is leaving comments on others' blogs. But you have to leave informed and quality comments and not just any thing, like "great idea" or a "nice picture," to mark the presence. Comments should be written after reading the posts. When one agrees (or disagrees) with the issue under discussion and tells the writer on the basis of wise argument, a debate is likely to be generated. Bloggers are good at reciprocating (remember every one is interested in creating a loyal following of their own). Comments also add new perceptions and rich content to blogs. Most blogging services provide comment systems that make it possible to get back to the commentator even if they are not bloggers. Even visitors of a particular blog may talk to each other. Sociologists have always been saying about people's enormous desire to communicate, share and be heard. This is easily possible through blogs.

The bottom line is this: write a great blog. Keep it updated. Promote your blog aggressively and your readers can take your blog to the next level.

Blogs in Plain English

Blogging in Rage

This article appeared in the daily Nation, March 14, 2010 issue.

What is a blog? Well, it depends on whom the question is asked. For millions of ordinary people with access to a computer and an Internet connection, it is easy way to self publish their thoughts, concerns, and feelings or it is a means of talking to each other and sharing every thing the want to. To some blog still is a repository of useful links and sources from the Web and an approach to filtering information. Some others say it is a voice that is being heard in this din. Yet others say it as a memory aid. Blogs are an outlet on so many levels for so many people. Blogs are catharsis or merely vanity sites and a short cut to fame. Blogs are ego gratification for "wannabe writers." For e-marketers blogs are quick tools for building their businesses and brands.

Blogging is a rapidly evolving Web phenomenon. True that the Web has always been perceived as a medium where users are able to read, publish and exchange documents. But in the early days, self publishing online was costly and a bit technical. Things started changing after the arrival of community sites like Geocities and Angelfire, providing free online space for users to publish Web pages and in return increasing providers' customers' base and revenues. But blogs did not proliferate as the blogging process still needed some degree of technical knowledge and HTML skills. Blogs mushroomed only after the emergences of many free blog hoisting services and affordable software with easy interface. Result: anyone can blog. It is as simple as that.

Trend trajectory reached near its vertex in a short time when many providers offered free blogging service. Google acquired blogger.com, and AOL introduced similar facility to its subscribers. This was followed by Microsoft’s MSN spaces. 'Blog' was most used word on the Internet in the last decade. Year 2009 has been called ‘year of blogs’. With more people building and maintaining blogs, their importance is increasing. This is one reason that the phenomenon keeps getting more and more attention in social as well commercial circles.

Blogs (short for Web logs) that has become new destination on the Internet - a whole new cyber subculture - originally were typical link driven and personally owned sites at best interspersed with some observations or random personal thoughts. Many bloggers are following the same prototype. They dig up the interesting articles from obscure nooks and corners of the Web, highlight and present them in their blogs, some time adding more facts, alternative views, and meaningful insights, providing more depth.

Like Web, blogs are changing all the time in format, contents and intent. The blog hoisting services provide easy to use templates enabling the users to choose from. Geek types and those who know HTML may fiddle with the format and keep customizing the design where as lesser tech savvy keep up with what was provided by the service. Third party templates are also available that any inquisitive can download them for free.

Bloggers now disseminate information, interpret them for us as per their own perceptions, initiate debates, and participate in debates and more. Surf some and one can finds blogs of any kind and type: subject oriented, complimenting or criticizing perspectives, incisive observations, or deeply personal lascivious thoughts and very intimate details of personal life (some give these details staying behind the walls of anonymity while some do it overtly, even solicit comments, and call it freedom of choice). Early adopters of the blogging practice, who are in the middle of, and enjoying, an evolution of information technologies think that form of blogs will keep changing over period as tools improve and technology matures.

It is not that only blogs that are changing. The trend is also turning many passive Internet users into active surfers and writers. Blogging necessarily makes people to read, analyse and write. Bloggers surf and search more in order to locate unusual thing on the Web to post on their blogs. I read this at the mast head of one blog, "I'm still alive and relatively well. I have commentary, photos, and a dive log to prove it."

Though blogging like the Internet itself is a global in nature and cannot be segregated or reviewed on the basis of geography yet while writing this I looked beneath the content of Pakistan blogspshere. Local blogs are a whole new world out there. As anywhere else, Pakistan blogs offer a view of what is thought in public and discussed in private. Bloggers here vent, flirt, and tell jokes. They also waffle, whine, or weasel. Some folk showcase their work with by lines of their own choosing or propagate a cause. Some users are producing surprisingly good qualities while some others are sloppy and direction less.

Pakistani bloggers seem to be very innovative and their blogs are oozing out with individualism and diversity. During my hunt, I have seen translation of a complete book by one writer posted on a blog; single entry. Blogging in not still economic hobbyhorse here but one can see some sponsored ads on some of the blogs already. Many use blogs as a safe storage place to keep their hard disks free. Photo blogs are being used as online family photo albums. Zahid Nawaz, a Pakistani IT professional who has migrated to Australia, had his CV pasted on his sole blog when he was looking for job. "Whatever I have in my personal computer is also on some of my private blogs (not assessable by others) and I can access them where ever I happen to be," says an avid blogger Ghulam Shabbir. Though English is a predominant language at the Internet but look for it and you may find blogs in all languages including Urdu as well.

There are still some impediments, the most obvious being access to technologies, lack of purpose to reach out to the world and matters of ego and social background. What all one is willing to open to others? Email conversations with local bloggers revealed some more reservations: People are afraid to speak up. Mastery of language, technical, or compositional skills are another set of barriers for those who do not have them. Ghulam Shabir thinks, "Though these days blogging is as easy as signing in for email account and operating it yet those who are gifted with writing skills are often Web novice and those who are skilful Internet users have nothing much to say."

There are almost as many critics as there are enthusiasts of blogging trend. But evidence is that Weblogs have already become more than just a passing whim. Critics, however, say that this 'inconsequential chatter' has given rise to plagiarism of a different king and the whole thing is nothing but recycling. There is hardly any thing original in blogs.

Some users just mark their presence; create a blog, post initial entry, submit it to one or two blog directories and forget about it. Frequent switchers leave one service and join another to build their blog afresh; more blogs are coming up every day. A few bloggers decide to dump their labour of love in cyber graveyard for good after some time due to variety of reason: blogging as an activity cease to have an importance in their lives, or they do not have enough to say in their blogs. Amir Niaz, a journalist and a ‘farmer’ blogger says, "I started blogging because I have an opinion and I wanted to have a place where I could voice my views about things around. Moreover, every one else was having one in my circle. Writing is very daunting job sometimes. The stress of daily updates became a distraction in my work and I left it after doing it for a year."

Bloggers are a natural fit with each other and the fraternity is exponentially growing. Simple philosophy is this: "You mention me in your blog and I mention you in mine," and it goes on and on. Bloggers are keen to see what others are doing at their blogs so they keep up with as many as they can, especially those who are like minded. Confession: Well, I am fond of seeing what others publish in their blogs that I do not know and who all have mentioned mine in the list of their favorites. I also try to see people who are behind blogs.

In general, bogs are interesting, thought provoking, and sometime utterly entertaining and fun. In fact, the ability for users to constantly update blogs makes them perfect forum for individuals to express themselves in so many creative ways. Blogging is an enriching experience on the World Wide Web for those who publish them as well as for those who lurk around and just read. My recommendation: Join the party; it is on round the clock.

Top Blogs

Top 25 Blogs About Blogging

Top 100 Technorati blogs

Top 100 Female Bloggers

Top 100 Education Blogs

Would You Hide Your Gender to Blog?

World is familiar with males using females pseudonyms and female using males. The reasons they have varied. Today while blog walking, I was pleasantly surprised to read about Blogger James Chartrand who came out as a woman — and her experiences reveal that the blogosphere, and the job market in general, aren't as equal opportunity as some people believe.

Read the story below and may be answers some questions; If you had the chance to be someone else, would you do it? Would you take on a role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality? More importantly… who would you be?

~~ ~~

James — she's still going by the pseudonym, hasn't revealed her real name, and that's not her in the picture — says she started blogging to help support her kids during a tough financial time. She began using a male pen name one day simply to distance a project from her still-struggling business, and, she writes, "jobs became easier to get." She continues, “taking a man's name opened up a new world. It helped me earn double and triple the income of my true name, with the same work and service. No hassles. Higher acceptance. And gratifying respect for my talents and round-the-clock work ethic. Business opportunities fell into my lap. People asked for my advice, and they thanked me for it, too.

Did I quit promoting my own name? Hell yeah.” Under her male name, James made enough money to buy a small house and give her kids a comfortable life. She's only coming out now because "someone I trusted got mad and decided to out me" (a motivation with echoes of Belle de Jour). Interestingly, the copywriting and web design blog she owns (whose About Us section reads, "Owner James Chartrand is the pen name of a female thirty-something copywriter, problogger and online entrepreneur from Quebec, Canada) has a very stereotypically male aesthetic, with a bullet ripping through its title, Men with Pens. The About Us section even describes another female blogger as "the team's rogue woman who wowed us until our desire for her talents exceeded our desire for a good ol' boys club." Chartrand's disguise was, it seems, rather thick.

The success of BlogHer and the mommy blogger movement have led some to hail the blogosphere as a place of gender equality. While some mommy bloggers snag Wal-Mart endorsements, the world of business blogging — Men with Pensadvertises its "business sense, branding expertise, and savvy sales and marketing smarts" may still be more of a Mad Men type of place. It's impossible to tell whether the bullets-and-bricks aesthetic of Men with Pens was a calculated decision, but it's possible that a male name and a stereotypically male persona are favored in the web marketing industry. Are mom-bloggers seen as fundamentally amateur, even if they shill for big companies, while men get the real professional gigs (even if those "men" are actually moms themselves)?

At this point, James seems to have built a brand, and it's unlikely that she'll suffer too much from her outing. But a post she wrote last year now seems eerily apt. In "Would You Become Someone Else To Achieve Your Dreams?," James writes, "Think about how you would react if someone told you that who you are is holding you back – and you knew they were right. This person tells you that if you were someone else, you could live your dream." She adds, If you had the chance to be someone else, would you do it? Would you take on a role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality? More importantly… who would you be?

For James, it appears the answer was yes — and it's easy to understand why. Still, it's pretty sad that the "role that makes opportunity possible, makes life easier, and makes your dreams become reality" still has to be that of a man.

Blog, Tweet, Update Facebook at Work

Blog, tweet, update Facebook -- that's the message the Australian government is sending its bureaucrats as part of a push to break down barriers between public servants and ordinary people. Instead of seeing the social networking tools as time-wasting diversions, a government-commissioned draft report on new media wants them used to discuss ideas and gather feedback.

The report says public agencies should engage "more energetically" with Web 2.0 applications, examples of which include Facebook, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and video-sharing site YouTube.

The report said interactive media provided "unprecedented opportunities to open up government decision-making to the community". But it acknowledged the greatest impediment to its broader use was the culture of government, which can tend towards secrecy and which was protective of the copyright on policy.

"Access to work tools like web-based email, collaborative work spaces and instant messaging create powerful new possibilities for collaboration particularly where collaborators are physically apart," it said.

"Likewise Twitter, Facebook and blogs provide access to professional information and conversation. Yet not enough public servants have work access to these building blocks of Government 2.0."

Indeed, none of the public servants on the taskforce preparing the 'Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0' report had access to instant messaging despite the fact that it was an important tool for other task force members, it said.

The report also noted that one public servant responded to a call for colleagues to engage in robust work discussion online with: "Ha -- we can't get to FaceBook, YouTube, Flickr, or most common discussion forums where I work."

Today's Web Users

In this attention age, the web users are feeling so overwhelmed and ‘digitally-social'

Comments Curtisies

There is every indication that blogsphere - vibrant and unique community with its own criteria – is gaining greater influence as the number of blogs is exponentially growing and awareness of the form is becoming widespread.

One feature that distinguishes weblogs from static websites, making them more interactive, is that they allow instant comments by others. This is a matter of choice for bloggers, though. They can disallow other visitors to comment on weblogs or single entries or can authorize comments for all internet users, for members, or make their blogs as read-only. Generally speaking, comments are what most keep most bloggers (including me) going.

Which is why, the reconnaissance of blogsphere reveals that most blogs have the comments option turned on, which permits users to interact with the bloggers and each other at their own pace. Some go a long way to engage others and solicit comments. I have seen permanent banners on many blogs that read, "would it kill ya to comment" or "de-lurk" (meaning comment and just not visit the blog). In fact, a few famous bloggers celebrated De-lurking Day sometime back.

Some bloggers play games like asking leading questions and urging others to respond or offer different incentives like creating blog buttons or even promising gadgets like iPods to the winning respondents. Once I won a book on being first to comment on a blog entry. One blogger said she would give one dollar for each comment on a particular post on a particular day to charity. To date, she has received 171 comments and the number continues to grow.

On the other hand, some bloggers do not want or encourage comment on their blog entries. For one thing, policing and sifting them can be time consuming extra burden on the bloggers. If you do not want certain types of material or observations present on a site, then one has to constantly monitor comments. This can become tedious in case of blogs that attract a lot of attention and response. Open Comment options also cause spam where people (or machines) leave irresponsible comments or just mark their presence by leaving their own URLs in an effort to increase the page ranking of their sites.

Some new bloggers may not know how to turn the comment option on (and off) in the first place, or are afraid that they will not be able to remove offensive comments.

Thoughtful and witty comments, follow-up questions and extra information all add a lot to any blog and make it more meaningful. Comments by informed readers can add so many interesting and important components to any discussion. And given the blogosphere's potential to raise the level of intellectual discussions, the ideas are valued not only by who says them, but by their merits. The author of the blog more or less creates a topic and every one else who visits there gives input.

Comment on issues of real importance may also turn into a global conversation and readers can draw inferences from it. The main value of blogs, as compared to other forms of media, is that readers can immediately see contrasting views. Moreover, for bloggers, counting flow of comments is an ego booster too.

In order to determine different views on blog comments, I discussed this issue on my own blog, in addition to blogsphere scouting and email discussions.

Why you comment; I posted this question on my blog, where I got a modest queue of comments, counter comments and some emails.

Hamid Mahmood, who has been an internet user since 1999 and is an avid Pakistani blogger, blogging is a better way of using his online time. On the value of comments, he says, "I now have the unique ability to surf the net from the bloggers' perspective. One might label it as an invasion of privacy but then again the onus lies on the blogger who chooses to blog." Blogging is indeed the future of social interaction, so standards have to be established. He and another blogger Mark added, "blog commenting needs to be refined further and this phenomenon surely we will come to some conclusion soon."

Riaz Ahmed, another techie and a Pakistani (ex) blogger says, "I do it (blogging) because of the freedom to do that and then seeing people join (via comments) in this fun is much more attractive." How should visitors comment? Anyone who wants to comment should read the post first and then offer clued-up opinion or join in any ongoing discussion instead of just saying, "nice blog," "well done," "I was here," "you visit me there."

Sarah, however, who is another blogger, lives by her own rule for commenting. She says, "I visit the blog of the person who left a comment on my blog (interesting or not) and leave a comment on his/her site too. You never know what you might find there. You might even meet a new friend there."

When I started blogging, the comments option had not been invented yet for the software I was using then. I had a visible "mail to" link at my blog - if anyone wanted to comment, they could email me. That was somewhat tedious and only a few people reached out. Now, I have enabled comments on my blog and more people hit the comment button. The inputs from far and beyond sometimes clear my thoughts and help me see things from a different perspective. So the next time you browse through someone's blog, remember to comment, because for bloggers who post religiously, your comments might be the high point of their day.

Blogging Trends

My opinion on history of blogging as well as some perspective on the newer trends related to blogging were documented as a part of research project back in 2006. Here are some of the questions and my answers that still hold good:

1) When and how did blogging start in Pakistan?

It started when some Pakistani techies found free blogging platforms. From techies, blogging spread to some non techies, mostly those who worked on computers and the Internet and then students.

2) When and why did you start your own blog?

I started in 2003. Primarily I wanted to publish my book on blog. It posted the entire book and in the process I learnt the fun. Then on, I am maintaining multiple blogs, some professional and some personal.

3) You have written a lot about blogging. When did you start writing about blogs, and what was your major inspiration to do so?

My inspiration: To popularize blogging in Pakistan. I wrote my first column on blogging Promotion in Spider back in 2003. I also wrote some columns in Dawn.com.

4) Do you think blogging has been around in Pakistan for quite a long period of time and only became more popular in the last 4/5 years when it became 'newsworthy?'

Who says blogging is popular in Pakistan. It is not. And I don’t see it getting popular anytime soon.

5) How do you foresee the future of blogs here in Pakistan? Do you think this is just a fad which will die out when someone new and novel comes about, or do you feel that blogs are a class of their own and are here to stay?

Blogs are here to stay, but I see them only in a select circle.

6) How do you compare Pakistani blogs to foreign ones? I can guess from the links and comments on your blog that you have access to quite a few foreign blogs as well?

Any foreign blogger can be as purpose less. But I know many good blogs with a lot of substance. In Pakistan, blog potential is not being still used.

7) You have written an article or two on why people blog. Having done an extensive survey both times, what conclusions have you come up to as to why Pakistani people are blogging?

In my surveys, I targeted foreign Pakistani bloggers but found answers from foreign bloggers instead. Most of them came up with some valuable reason to blog -- earning money, selling, reaching out friends and relatives and also throwing some flames.

8) In the past few years there has been a spurt of educational, political and metro blogs. What do you think are the pros and cons of these new types of blogging?

Any type is useful, you have to have purpose.

9) I noticed in one of your posts you had written that you wouldn't want someone you know in real life to visit your blog and know it is YOU who are writing it. May I ask why you are so concerned about privacy?

I don’t write anything that I don’t want others to know about. I fantasize elsewhere.

10) To what extent do you think the government has the right to censor blogs, with reference to the recent ban on blogspot domain?

Recent ban is not implemented properly in the first place. If the government wanted to ban some particular blogs for a reason (in this case government had a reason, and I support that), they should have banned that site. Banning all sites hoisted Blogspot is no good, and that too is not implemented well. I can still write, edit and read my blogs on blogspot. Every one can.

11) To what extent has the Pakistani blogosphere taken up political and educational blogging? Do you feel we're more inclined towards personal blogging?

I only see a few political and even fewer educational blogs.

Blogs For Business

A strong online presence is important for businesses in today's high-speed and competitive world. Blogs have already become a new are a new buzz marketing. Marketers are blogging for organizations, products, ideas and or for other organizational goals and achieving.

That has not started happening in Pakistan yet. An overwhelming majority of local consumers who do not (or cant) use the Internet and even marketing professionals still ask what is Blog?

To understand blogging as a corporate communications tool, we must understand the nature of blogs. Here is a short definition, "Blogs - an abbreviation of 'weblogs' - are published on the web, typically as microsites standing by themselves but today also as parts of traditional web sites. They reflect the interests, thoughts and opinions of the person, sometimes persons, publishing the blog. Blogs are characterized by frequent updates, an informal tone and many links to other blogs and web sites."

A business blog is a blog published by or with the support of an organization to reach that organization's goals. In external communications the potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization as industry experts. Internally blogs are generally referred to as tools for collaboration and knowledge management.

Blogs can drive visitors to existing web site and help find new customers and engage the ones organizations already have. Blogs are prevailing and cost-effective marketing tools. As far as businesses is concerned, there are clients and potential clients. A blog will create a dialogue between the business, present client base, and potential buyers. Communication has never been easier and user friendly.

Once an organization has a blog, it offers immediate and high impact interaction with its target audience. As more people have online access, they'll want more than the standard online newsletter or typical PR response (we are so averse to existing PR stereotypes). Long gone are the days when companies simply fed information to their customers. Now everyone asks for a dialogue - a meaningful exchange of information. People also want to know that organizations are listening to them and paying heeds to what is being suggested, and blogs allow just that -- responding quickly and openly.

From a business point of view there are several potential reasons to blog particularly in less connected country like Pakistan. But, as always, it depends on what businesses want. Blogs are no different from channels like video, print, audio, presentations and even word of mouth marketing. They all deliver results - but of varying kind. The kind you can expect from blogs is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups.

Who should blog for the businesses? Ideally, front line people who know the business in and out should blog about it. Marketing professionals can also use this powerful tool. Organization can hire professional writers to blog for them under company's name or blog under their own. Depending upon the feedback and information provided by audience, an inside blogger can develop the ability to write in his or her own voice and create content for business blog. Outsider bloggers can view business with an objective eye and offer fresh marketing ideas and strategies.

Outsider blogger can study company's marketing materials, reports, other collateral information, and meet key people in organization to learn about what organization does and how best to market the product through blogging.

In developed world, blogging is being taught in most business school as a part of business studies and or part of mass communication courses.

Bloggers can post material written in editorial style and voice, updating at least once a day, three-to-five days a week. The content may also include company news, events, and information about new products and services relevant to your business.



Earlier, online marketing and web sites never picked up in Pakistan because of obvious "digital divide that exists due to individual disparities in levels of income, education standards, psychological reasons, age, gender, rural urban divide, and quality of life or collective deprivations like lack of physical infrastructure."

Pakistan corporate world should look at blogging as an opportunity to reach out but sadly, this has still not started to happen.

Links for 2009-6-26

The random musings of psychotherapist Wayne C. Allen – a simple Zen guy – on living and relating elegantly

How to Remove Navbar in Blogger Blogs

With this navigation bar on top of every blog hosted at Blogger, users can search blogs, visit the next blog, sign in or create a new account and or can flag a blog for posting objectionable content. There is mno option to remove the navigation bar in Blogger Draft features. But you can remove the navigation manual tweak. Here is how to remove navbar in Blogger Blogs {not in Classic Templates}:

1. Open your Blogger dashboard.
2. Go to your blog’s Layout settings > Edit HTML
3. Search for:
/* Variable definitions
====================
4. And above that add:
#navbar-iframe { display: none !important; }
5. Save your settings and open your blog now. The navigation bar will be gone.

My Blog Proposal

A strong online presence is important for businesses in today's high-speed and competitive world. Blogs have already become a new are a new buzz marketing. Marketers are blogging for organizations, products, ideas and or for other organizational goals and achieving.

That has not started happening in Pakistan yet. An overwhelming majority of local consumers who do not (or cannot) use the Internet and even marketing professionals still ask what is Blog?

To understand blogging as a corporate communications tool, we must understand the nature of blogs. Here is a short definition, "Blogs - an abbreviation of 'weblogs' - are published on the web, typically as microsites standing by themselves but today also as parts of traditional web sites. They reflect the interests, thoughts and opinions of the person, sometimes persons, publishing the blog. Blogs are characterized by frequent updates, an informal tone and many links to other blogs and web sites."

A business blog is a blog published by or with the support of an organization to reach that organization's goals. In external communications the potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization as industry experts. Internally blogs are generally referred to as tools for collaboration and knowledgemanagement.

Blogs can drive visitors to existing web site and help find new customers and engage the ones organizations already have. Blogs are prevailing and cost-effective marketing tools. As far as businesses is concerned, there are clients and potential clients. A blog will create a dialogue between the business, present client base, and potential buyers. Communication has never been easier and user friendly.

Once an organization has a blog, it offers immediate and high impact interaction with its target audience. As more people have online access, they'll want more than the standard online newsletter or typical PR response (we are so averse to existing PR stereotypes). Long gone are the days when companies simply fed information to their customers. Now everyone asks for a dialogue - a meaningful exchange of information. People also want to know that organizations are listening to them and paying heeds to what is being suggested, and blogs allow just that -- responding quickly and openly.

From a business point of view there are several potential reasons to blog particularly in less connected country like Pakistan. But, as always, it depends on what businesses want. Blogs are no different from channels like video, print, audio, presentations and even word of mouth marketing. They all deliver results - but of varying kind. The kind you can expect from blogs is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups.

Who should blog for the businesses? Ideally, front line people who know the business in and out should blog about it. Marketing professionals can also use this powerful tool. Organization can hire professional writers to blog for them under company's name or blog under their own. Depending upon the feedback and information provided by audience, an inside blogger can develop the ability to write in his or her own voice and create content for business blog. Outsider bloggers can view business with an objective eye and offer fresh marketing ideas and strategies.

Outsider blogger can study company's marketing materials, reports, other collateral information, and meet key people in organization to learn about what organization does and how best to market the product through blogging.

In developed world, blogging is being taught in most business school as a part of business studies and or part of mass communication courses.

Bloggers can post material written in editorial style and voice, updating at least once a day, three-to-five days a week. The content may also include company news, events, and information about new products and services relevant to your business.

Earlier, online marketing and web sites never picked up in Pakistan because of obvious "digital divide that exists due to individual disparities in levels of income, education standards, psychological reasons, age, gender, rural urban divide, and quality of life or collective deprivations like lack of physical infrastructure."

Pakistan corporate world should look at blogging as an opportunity to reach out but sadly, this has still not started to happen.