In this installment, we are going to see different applications of blogs; how they are used for different purposes, especially from the business and marketing point of views.

This list is by no means complete, but I plan to add more individual and thorough case study in the future. If this article can give your a bit of idea about how you can use a blog for your business, then it has accomplished what I want it to do well.

It helps if we think of a blog as another server side web site publishing tool. Instead of having to design and create static pages, complete with all HTML tags, we only need to write and submit plain text, perhaps with simple formatting.

With that said, a blog really can be used for almost all content based website application. One thing stands out from a blog, it encourages conversation, much like a forum or discussion board does. The difference is, only one or a group of authors can post to a blog, although all readers can participate in the comment sections of the blog.

After you’ve known how different blog software work and how they are used in different situations, chances are you will think of a way a blog can be used for your business in a unique way.

Here are some of the blog application ideas:

1. Content management system (CMS) — Albeit far from a full blown CMS, a blog is more than enough for small to medium size businesses for managng content. This blog is probably the most obvious example. All content in this site are managed using WordPress, a popular and opensource weblog software.
2. Company news and updates — Blog software sort blog entires chronologically: the most recent entry appears on the top of the page. Anyone who can write e-mail can post to a company blog, skipping the tedious workflow.
3. Customer support — Manage knowledge base articles on a blog, allows customers to retrieve information easily by using a properly categorized system or search function. Let users ask question, receive feedback and others to listen to the conversation.
4. Product development and launch — Keep customers updated about current development of product, build anticipation and buzz, even before product launch.
5. Press release — Let interested parties get most recent news release and let them subscribe to the site feed.
6. Education based marketing — Prospective customers can learn about company’s products or services by reading the blog. Answering customers’ concern on the blog allows other visitors to relate to the problem and immediately put interest in the product.
7. Focused community — Even a solopreneur and small publisher can secure a tiny niche and build community around that niche by regularly posting content related to the topic that interests her.
8. Demonstrate expertise — Service professionals use blogs as a tool to build credibility by demonstrating expertise in almost any imaginable topic. The buzz allows her to gain recognition fast.
9. Internal collaboration tool — At last a medium is available to make all staffs updated about company’s happenings, among other things.
10. Project notes — More powerful than e-mail for exchanging ideas, sharing resources and for other project related tasks. Other benefits include centralized archives and instant documentations.
11. and many more…

A quick tip: Clearly define the purpose of your blog in the planning process can help you focus on the right direction and achieve the goal faster. Many businesses try to accomplish many of the applications above in a single blog, resulting in a confusing and mixed content blog.

There is nothing wrong with that but if you concentrate on just two or three purposes at a time, readers can easily identify what the blog is about on the first visit. It often translates into increased readership and more targeted audience. Of course, not all situations are the same. You know your business better than I do, so spend all the time you need to plan.