Dan Bricklin Makes the Case for Small Business Weblogs
Dan Bricklin (of Visicalc and Trellix fame) wrote an outstanding essay for his web site called Small Business Blogging that was published last August. It came to our attention because Doc Searls pointed to it in a list of links associated with corporate blogging.
Bricklin's essay almost lays out a business plan for companies that want to sell blogging to businesses like bed-and-breakfasts, specialty stores, companies that have technical support as part of their business, as well as companies taking part in major projects or that find themselves in crisis.
The article also articulates the purpose of the weblog features of CTDATA.com fairly well:
Consultants are already very common users of blogs.... A blog is a way of showing your expertise and establishing yourself as a trustworthy authority without the travel. The time necessary to maintain the blog comes out of the time that would have been spent at some of the meetings. (A blog is an excellent way to build up your "authority" to move up politically in a trade association, too. Your readers would be others in your field, not customers.)