Blogging Sorcerer’s Apprentice Required

11 July 2006 at 11:07 pm | In Blogging, Small Business | No Comments

The small business blogging magician and master tailor, Tom at English Cut, is looking for an apprentice.

I wonder whether he’s put the word out around Saville Row or whether this will become an example of how blogs can attract and inspire exactly the people a business is looking for?

Technorati Tags: Apprentice, English Cut, Recruitment

Small Pittsburgh Coffee Shop Blog

13 April 2006 at 10:48 pm | In Blog, Blogging, Small Business | No Comments

Never one to ride the wave of a fresh meme (!) I’ve just been catching up on a bit of blogging controversy between Microsoft uber-blogger, Robert Scoble, and the CTO of Amazon, Werner Vogels. Anil Dash at blogging software company Six-Apart gives the low down on the show down.

The nub of that particular debate concerns what hard-nosed business reasons could/should motivate a business to start blogging. In responding, Scoble draws attention to the benefits of blogging to a small coffee shop in Pittsburgh as one example.

Scoble says of the Aldo Coffee Co:

When I visited that shop myself the owner raved about what blogging had done for his business. It turned his little coffee shop into one with an international presence. Thanks to search engines like A9, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Oh, and he said he never got written up in the press before blogging, but now that’s a regular happening.

Interesting. The Aldo Coffee shop website is built entirely around a cheap piece of blogging software, Typepad. No expensive web design required. The blog itself displays all the passion, knowledge, insight and conversational style that characterises most of my favourite blogs.

So you want to create a bit of profile beyond your local town and have it come reverberating back across the internet into the consciousness of your local media? Blogs can make strange things happen, once people start talking.

Blogging And UK Companies

11 April 2006 at 10:51 pm | In Blog, Blogging, Events, Global Microbrand, Marketing, Small Business | No Comments

I recently moderated a panel on podcasting at the Blogging4Business conference which, as the title suggests, primarily focused on blogging.

Matthew and Bernhard, the guys at Custom Communications which organised the event have done a great job of getting coverage for the conference as yesterday’s BBC story testifies. Good to see Hugh MacLeod quoted on the global microbrand and his work with Stormhoek and English Cut.

“… creating global micro-brands is cheaper and easier than ever before.”

What’s particularly interesting about both the small business blogs Hugh has been involved with, is that they’re not the techy businesses you might expect to be leading the way. Tailoring and wine-making must rank a close second and third to the world’s oldest profession.

What both these businesses have done successfully is reveal their passion for the sometimes arcane details of their craft - a level of detail and knowledge that strikes a chord with geeks everywhere. And then they’ve gone and out-geeked the geeks, SEO merchants and marketers by turning the social web to their very tangible advantage.

Small Fish Making Big Waves

9 April 2006 at 1:00 am | In Blog, Blogging, Small Business | No Comments

I’ve just stumbled across a relatively new, but very good blog devoted to small business, simply called the SME Blog.

It’s written by Philip Woodgate, a London-based accountant who lives down the stereotype with some innovative thinking and linking about how small businesses can make the most of web and other technologies. He also presents some very practical, but well written and accessible advice on accounting.

Definitely one to add to your RSS feeds.