WSJ on blogs

So sayeth the Wall Street Journal today in "Blogs Keep Internet Customers Coming Back."

The blog as business tool has arrived

Blogs with character are seen as more effective than some more traditional online-marketing strategies, such as static, brochurelike Web sites and electronic newsletters that may get blocked by spam filters.

Several examples tell the story.  GreenCine Daily is a  blog that sparked a 20-old rise in hits to the Greencine website, an online DVD-rental company.  In The Bovine Bugle, read about the daily life at Homars Farm,  an organic dairy farm that supplies milk to yoghurt maker Stonyfield Farms, just one of five blogs that Stonyfield features.

Owner Jonathan Gates writes about breaking ice in the heifers' drinking-water tanks, cows giving birth and vaccinating calves, and posts pictures to go with his reports.

"He doesn't even talk about Stoneyfield, and I couldn't care less if he does," says CEO Gary Hirshberg, who decided to launch several blogs after getting involved with Howard Dean's presidential campaign last year and seeing how effectively they built relationships and loyalty.

Web 'Handshake'

"Blogging is one of a wide range of ways that we can connect with people [and] strengthen what I call our handshake with the consumer," he says, while supporting longtime Stoneyfield causes like organic and family farming, environmentalism and good nutrition.

Blogging is one trend and technology tool that may benefit small businesses most. 

• search engines love them.
• small business owners can provide advice and establish reputations as authorities in their own fields.
• personality is a plus