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Recommending Typepad for Business Blogs

October 15, 2009 By Des Walsh

Typepad has great features for business blogging and no shortage of success stories

Here’s a paradox:

yesterday I posted on Thinking Home Business about how to set up a WordPress.org blog
I use WordPress as the platform for most of my blogs
but I freely recommend Typepad as a serious option for business blogs.

WordPress is not the only option

I’m willing to risk occasioning some confusion, because while the WordPress technology is amazing, I don’t want to even think about how long it took me to get comfortable with installing and managing WordPress sites. In fact, I’m still having challenges and still learning. So I worry that non-technical people in small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) will too quickly lose patience with WordPress and may give up altogether on the idea of using blogging for their business.

Typepad for a fast start

That’s where Typepad comes into its own. Because a total newbie with a credit card and without any prior technical knowledge can be up and running with a Typepad blog literally in minutes. There is also a 30 free trial period which means that there is no direct financial cost if for any reason a decision is made that the platform does not suit. If you don’t want to proceed you just email Typepad before the month is up and your card is not charged.

As I say in my e-book, 7 Step Business Blog,

The Typepad blogging platform is a product of SixApart, a company owned by very knowledgeable technical people who have been blogging for a long time. Typepad is designed to be very user-friendly and is easy to get started on. There are many excellent business blogs running on Typepad and if you choose to start with it you will be able to get quickly into posting content, rather than having to fiddle with the setup or configuration.

Successful bloggers and their Typepad blogs

I often tell people that, however much they may have heard about WordPress as the ne plus ultra of blogging platforms, there are some very successful bloggers using Typepad who would have a quite different view.

One of the best known bloggers on Typepad would have to be the marketing wizard and author, Seth Godin. The archives on Seth’s Blog go back to 2002 and for as long as I can recall the blog has been on Typepad.

Another dynamic blogger, marketing expert Valeria Maltoni, has her Conversation Agent blog on Typepad.

J.D. Iles, held up by a number of commentators as a model small business blogger, has his Signs Never Sleep blog on Typepad.

Artist + geek John T. Unger‘s virtuoso performance in building his awesome site John T. Unger Studio on Typepad is particularly worth studying by anyone who doubts what might be achievable with Typepad. I had the pleasure of being on a panel with John at last year’s BlogWorld Expo.

And for a dynamic, uplifting and generally smile-inducing example of how Typepad can serve a community hub site, check out the Spirited Woman site.

Different platforms will suit different needs.

Typepad doesn’t have to prove itself. It’s an excellent platform and service and should be better known.

And for those who may find after a while that Typepad lacks some features they would like, there is the more powerful, enterprise level member of the same stable, the legendary Movable Type.

If you would like to share some more examples of outstanding blogs on Typepad, please do so (do I need to say “no spam please”?). SixApart people are more than welcome to share.

Filed Under: Blogging, Business Tagged With: Blogging, blogs, business blogging, Typepad

Blog Action Day 2008 Focuses on Poverty

October 13, 2008 By Des Walsh

Wednesday this week, October 15, is Blog Action Day and the focus this year is on Poverty. I’ve posted elsewhere about this but the subject is worth the risk of a bit of repetition.

Just under an hour ago the word was that some 8,000 blogs have signed up for this event. Actually, I thought it would be more – hopefully the number will grow in the next 48 hours or so.

There are three basic ways proposed for bloggers to participate:

Publish – a blog post, a podcast, a video on the subject of poverty
Donate – microloan or donation
Promote – let others know about the day

Resources, including banners and badges, are provided.

For anyone wanting ideas on what to post about, there is a plethora of information at the Blog Action Day site, both in terms of specific information on the site and other resources to which links are provided. The documentation makes sobering reading. For example:

According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

You can keep up with developments by following Blog Action Day on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogactionday

And if you are participating, don’t forget to register your blog at the Blog Action Day site.

Filed Under: Blogging, Events, Social Media Tagged With: Blog Action Day, bloggers, blogs, children, poverty, UNICEF

BlogWorld Early Bird Registration Ending Soon

June 19, 2008 By Des Walsh

I’m pretty sure the joke’s been used before, but what’s blogged in Vegas definitely doesn’t stay in Vegas. And with 1,600 bloggers in Las Vegas last November for BlogWorld and New Media Expo there was a whole lotta blogging goin’ on.

I met face to face for the first time lots of friends from the blogosphere. I made new friends. And I got new information, new insights. I sat in on outstanding keynotes and expert sessions and had the pleasure of presenting a session myself, with my friend and colleague Rich Brooks.

And there were parties. Excellent parties!

I wrote about my Blogworld Expo experience in a bit more detail back in March, with pics including one of me with Mark Cuban.

BlogWorld Expo is on earlier this year, in September, and in Las Vegas again.

Key points from the website:

The 2008 BlogWorld & New Media Expo will take place September 20-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with the exclusive “Executive & Entrepreneur” conference beginning September 19th.

BlogWorld is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media.

In addition to being the only industry-wide exhibition, BlogWorld features the largest blogging conference in the world including more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from leaders in online technology and internet-savvy business.

On the basis of the inaugural event last year, I can say confidently that anyone who wants to know where blogging, podcasting, video blogging, social media generally are heading and how they can ride the wave will find BlogWorld the place to be in September.

Right now, there are just two days to go to catch the early bird rate – i.e. it closes June 20 (US time). Not just a modest discount, but up to 50% of the full cost.

Did I mention the parties?

Hope to see you there.

(Update: about hotel reservations through the BlogWorld Expo people, I’ve just been told by someone who has done some comparisons that the deals being offered are excellent.)