Fri 23 Jun 2006
I’m looking for your help here, so please give me a moment.
Reading other people’s blogs remains one of the best ways of getting to understand how they work and what they can do, and is one of the first suggestions that I make at the start of my ecourse.
I’m often asked to recommend Blogs which are relevant from a market or functional point of view. However, although most of my clients are in the UK, most of the examples I give are based in the USA. This is natural enough as the US has been leading the way in terms of taking the concept of a blog from the personal focus to its use for businesses and then extending the range of uses that it can be put to.
So what I am going to do is highlight the Business Blogs that exist in the UK, show who is using them and how they are being used and then feature them here. I will be looking to highlight at least two UK based blogs every week so we can focus on how Business Blogs are being used and who is developing them in the UK.
I need your help in letting me know about blogs that you have found in the UK that you would recommend and feel should be highlighted – either leave a comment or send me a message.
I look forward to hearing from you.
June 27th, 2006 at 2:28 am
I love Richard Charkin’s blog (CEO of Macmillan Publishers) -
http://charkinblog.macmillan.com/
I’ll think about some more - are you interested in corporate blogs or anything that covers business issue?
June 27th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Ann,
Thanks for your first suggestion.
I am looking for all business focused blogs whether they are corporate blogs, business focused blogs by SMEs, consultants, specialists or individuals, or CEO-type blogs like the one you have suggested. All have their place and deserve to be highlighted. Just looking to spotlight what is being done in the UK.
Thanks again and I look forward to your other suggestions.
June 27th, 2006 at 9:10 am
I’d recommend Spitoon.biz (at www.spittoon.biz)by Andrew Barrow which looks at Wine mainly but also Food and Drink generally.
Good luck with the project - can’t wait to read the results!
June 27th, 2006 at 10:28 am
The new Practical Entrepreneuring ( www.smallprojects.org.uk/wordpress/ ) shows a bit of promise. It is geared towards initiating developing small businesses in UK
June 28th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Hi Mark,
I’m a professional business blogger trying to develop awareness of b-blogs in the Milton Keynes area. I’ve also struggled to find many more great UK examples other than Tinbasher (www.butlersheetmetal.com/tinbasherblog), Eie Flud (www.eieflud.co.uk/blog)and Englishcut (www.englishcut.com) which I’m sure everybody knows about.
The web development companies in my area know about the benefits but most small businesses are still totally in the dark. I’m due to launch an awareness campaign with a local developer and hand out some leaflets very soon so hopefully watch this space.
When I started reading US sites about b-blogs I was totally sold on the benefitts but didnt realise how sparse their usage was in the UK. I think its going to need a few of us to educate and build awareness before they can really take off.
Regards,
Matt.
June 28th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Matt,
Thanks for the message - there are a number of people and organisations trying to raise the awareness and, more importantly, understanding of Business Blogs in the UK. I see a lot of potential areas of co-operation here and will drop you a line.
I also have a number of UK Business Blogs identified although I am sure that, as yet, these are only scratching the surface. I will hopefully start the series this week if at all possible.
June 30th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Hey,
I don’t know if this will qualify, but I run a business/entrepreneurial blog at www.blogtrepreneur.com. Please take a look and tell me if this is a suitable blog.
Other than that, I actually don’t know of any other UK Business Blogs, most of the ones I read are from Australia (www.entrepreneurs-journey.com) and (www.problogger.net).
June 30th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Adnan,
Thanks for your suggestion - there are no qualification criteria as such, although I am not so interested in purely personal blogs simply because of my area of interest which relates to the use of blogs in a business context. I have made a note of yours and thank you for getting in touch.
Mark
June 30th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
The Brighton Vibes blog at http://blog.brightonvibes.com has a nice focus towards the finer details of business blogging in terms of normal average users being able to create their own online business and profit from it.
Some recent examples include waterutopia and dateburn along with an upcoming new service for text messages.
Probably well worth a read as it is more of a behind the scenes look and an interesting read rather than the usual re-run rubbish that fills the blog ville now.
TTFn
Dave
http://blog.brightonvibes.com
June 30th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Hi, My blog www.littlemummy.com is not about business but I am trying to make it into a successful business. Blogging as a job or pro-blogging doesn’t seem to have taken off as much in Britain yet. And I emphasise the yet part. It is definitely a relatively untapped market as far as I can see.
June 30th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Suw Charman, of the Open Rights Group (disclosure, I work with them) has a similar list running on her blog at Strange Attractor You guys could join forces.
June 30th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Hi, I am a small consultancy which specialises in building great places to work and on line coaching….the blog has been great to get our views over and now we are asking people to contribute to our strategy on line….how do we define a new development strategy which uses the new technology and is much more individualised…any ideas would be great!
June 30th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Not quite sure what you mean by business blogs.
1. Businesses that blog to draw attention to products or service.
Or
2. Blogs that are operated on commercial parameters.
If it’s ok I’m going to blatantly plug
five of my own blogs that are operating under the latter criteria as part of the Orbital Media Network.
www.topstylista.com
www.datexpectations.com
www.claretyconsultng.com
www.lussorian.com
www.iconicgifts.com
We have a number of others in development at the moment which are currently empty shells but will shortly start posting to.
Hope this helps/is of interest.
June 30th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Hi,
I touched on this topic on my own business blog Profits Guru http://www.profitsguru.com/blog. I have small selection of the UKs fantastic business bloggers in this post -
http://www.profitsguru.com/blog/2005/11/10/uk-business-bloggers-wanted/
Ray
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:00 am
Having been involved in the telecoms industry for a while there are some very good UK based blogs, som are very industry specific - but I particlarly like and benefit from James Enck’s http://eurotelcoblog.blogspot.com/
July 10th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Mark White Looking for UK Business Blog Information
Do you know of any business blogs in the UK? If so, Mark White at Better Business Blogging needs your help. He’s putting the spotlight on UK business blogs and is looking for any and all information related to them. …
July 10th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Mark, thanks for tackling this! You’re living proof that we need humans, not computers, to be the ultimate judges of content quality. I hope you’re able to identify a great many excellent UK biz blogs.
December 29th, 2006 at 12:44 am
[…] 9. Spotlight on UK Business Blogs (Now moved to their new home on The Blog Coach) […]
January 7th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
We wish you every success with this idea and will get back to you with some useful comments as we go forward
cheers