Blog, blog, blog Paul Conley heads a short list of notable blogs covering B2B media

Blogger and consultant Paul Conley

Editor’s Note: The weblog boom is about specialized, niche interests. Because the very substance of B2B publishing is public, written expression, one might think a large number of blogs would be devoted to it. Wrong. Only a handful of people blog about B2B media; this includes ASBPE’s Boston/New England chapter blog at asbpeboston.blogspot.com, with a mission to keep members informed about ASBPE. Several questions occurred to us. Why do bloggers do it? What are the benefits? What drives bloggers to write about B2B publishing? What have they learned? What advice do they have for people who want to start a blog for their magazine? ASBPE’s Web editor, Martha Spizziri, spoke to several B2B bloggers, and to one whose blog not only covers a branch of the B2B industry (trade shows), but is published under the umbrella of the B2B site MeetingsNet. At left is a Q&A with B2B blogger Paul Conley. Stories on other bloggers will appear in later issues

Why do you blog about B2B publishing?

Because I love it. There’s something about B2B media that has pulled me in again and again in my career. Each time I leave the trade press for “bigger and better” things in the mainstream press, I find myself wanting to return.

When I decided to start consulting, everyone told me I couldn’t make a living consulting in B2B. The consensus was that B2B publishers didn’t care enough about editorial to spend money on it.

I was afraid that they were right. My first clients were not in B2B. So I started the blog as a way to get my opinions about B2B journalism in front of the people in the industry. I decided that even if I never made any money in B2B consulting, I was still going to do what I loved.

What, if anything, do you hope it will accomplish for the industry?

A lot of the people I know in B2B journalism are embarrassed by what they do for a living. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say things like “I wish I worked for a real magazine,” or “I wish I could be a real journalist.”

That breaks my heart. I want it to stop. My blog has two primary purposes.

One is to get B2B journalists excited by what they do. This is an incredible time in media. Opportunities to be innovative, to be experimental, and to acquire new skills are limitless. I want trade journalists to recognize that. I want them thinking about new storytelling techniques and engaged in the debates about transparency. I want to see them launching new products for their publishers or striking out on their own. I want them to believe that they can be great journalists, paving new ground, working in multimedia and being creative.

The second thing I use the blog for is to demand professionalism. One reason B2B journalists are embarrassed by their trade is because there are so many shockingly embarrassing things in the industry.

It’s very hard to think of yourself as a “professional” journalist when your publisher is pushing you to write puff pieces for advertisers. That sort of thing happens so rarely in the mainstream press that it is nearly nonexistent. Reporters won’t stand for it. But in B2B, that sort of unethical nonsense is fairly common. And reporters seem to think they have to stand for it.

So I use the blog to complain about unprofessional behavior and to sing the praises of true professionals. In essence, I want to reverse this strange cycle of shame that permeates B2B journalism. I want the bad guys to be ashamed, not the good guys. When a publication like Waterways Journal requires its reporters to sell ads [see paulconley.blogspot.com/2005/02/old-time-trade-journalism.html], I point a finger at them. Heck, I want the entire publishing industry to shun them.

I also complain about bad writing in B2B. I complain about weak reporting. I complain every time I see something that looks lazy and half-assed. That’s because it hurts me to see such things. It cheapens us all when someone cuts an ethical corner, launches a lame product, or publishes insipid prose.

Has the response surprised you?

I’ve been flabbergasted. At best, I hoped to reach a handful of people who wanted to be better at what they did. And I thought that perhaps I could engage them in conversation, connect them to each other, and point them toward some of the better thinkers in journalism.

But what I found was an abundance of people who were longing for support. I found large numbers of B2B journalists who are every bit as creative and ambitious as I thought they were, and that they are constantly banging heads with their bosses over issues of excellence and ethics.

I also ran into a few B2B publishers who yearned for a more motivated and skilled editorial staff. They are looking to help the journalists at their companies.

How many people are reading your blog?

On a good day, I get about 200 unique users. On rare days, when I’ve been linked to by Poynter, Jarvis, Doc Searls, Dan Gillmor, or one of the other top-tier bloggers, that more than doubles the amount. My page views are roughly twice the number of unique users. So, although it’s not a very scientific calculation, it looks to me that people come every few days or so and read the most recent posts.

Monthly figures are more interesting. I get about 2,000 unique users a month. I assume lots of folks dump cookies, etc. So I cut that number by half. From there I guess I have about a thousand “regular” readers who check the blog fairly consistently.

I also have data on readers’ ISPs, and it looks like I have at least a handful of readers at most major B2B publishers.

I also have some data on RSS. Those numbers are very low, which surprises me. I send full posts via RSS. That means that people who use a news reader to access my blog don’t come to the Web site, and they are not recorded in my Web statistics. But I’ve never had more than two dozen RSS users.

Do comments and e-mails tend to be from the same core group of people?

E-mails come from a much broader group. I’ve heard from close to 100 people via e-mail. Most are writing to thank me. Some write to complain in a general sense about their publishers. Some write to complain about me.

Comments are different. I’ve gone back and forth several times — allowing, not allowing, and then allowing comments. I’ve had some problems with comment spam. I had one guy who posted racist rants about Arabs. Other comments tend to come from a core group of people, mostly fellow bloggers. Comments tend to come in spurts. I can post six or seven items in a row that don’t get any comments, and then I’ll post something that generates a half-dozen.

Has the blog helped your consulting business?

It has. When I started consulting, I had two clients. Neither was in B2B. Today, I work with four B2B companies — two of those clients came to me through the blog. The blog has also generated a lot of media attention. I’ve been interviewed by Folio:, the American Journalism Review and others.

What advice do you have for would-be bloggers?

Learn the blog culture. If you want to publish a blog, start by reading other blogs. Blogging is not like traditional publishing. Blogging is about conversation. And it’s about a particular style of conversation. Everyone in media should be reading blogs, contacting the bloggers and posting comments. Even if you have no intention of ever publishing a blog yourself, you have to be aware of theblogosphere.

I tell publishers and journalists that bloggers aren’t your enemy, they are your customers. They want to talk. A blog is a ringing telephone. Thousands of these things are ringing. Some are in the industry you write about, some are in B2B publishing, the industry you work in. Some are published by your competitors, some by your sources, some by your co-workers, and some by remarkable people you have never heard of. Please, before you start blogging, pick up a few of those phones.

Conduct a realistic self-evaluation before you start. Blogging is time-consuming. If you can’t fit it in your schedule, don’t do it. The blogosphere is full of sites with one or two posts. People start them, then abandon them. All that does is tell the entire world that you don’t have any follow-through. Think about what that means for your career before you start.

Know your strengths. Blogging is writing. If you can’t write, please don’t blog. If you have a lovely voice, consider podcasting. If you know your way around a video camera, consider a vlog.

Most importantly, think narrowly, if you want to start a blog. There’s no need for another blog about politics. Nor is there a need for something else on technology.

The most influential blogs are appearing in niche areas. Say, for example, that you work for a magazine that writes about manufacturing with strategic metals. I don’t think you need a blog about manufacturing with strategic metals. Maybe you could start a blog about the trading of strategic metals, or about the transport of strategic metals, or mining, or something else that is slightly different from what you usually write about.