Part One
Debbie Weil -- http://debbieweil.com/blog/ -- Moderated comments using program Disqus, but appear without approval
Denise Wakeman -- http://www.biztipsblog.com/-- Moderated Comments only appear with approval
Seth Godin -- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ -- No comments on blog, but you can share via Facebook, Twitter, and you can "like" it.
Each of these blogs are being used to:
These people are successful simply because they keep doing what they tell others to do, because it works. They practice what they preach so they get the traffic to their blogs that also purchases their services, products and information.
Each blog, even Seth's TypePad blog is branded, has unique relevant content, is pleasing to look at, and gives the reader a lot of value even if the reader chooses not to buy anything. They each have a message to give and they stick to that message instead of going off the deep end into other experts territory.
I like reading these blogs because they speak to my business, which is teaching businesses, both online and offline business how to best market their business online. In my opinion the best way to do this, the least expensive way, is via a blog.
The reason is that blogs attract search engine traffic due to the way search engines work. Search engines extract text from the blog or website, then it compares that to what people are typing into their search engine form. If there is a match, you might come up on the first couple of pages of results.
Today, anyone in your social network will show up first, as will local businesses based on the location of your computer if you're using Google Search. This is one reason it's so important for a small local business to get into blogging. This is designed just for them!
These people are expert marketers both on and offline and I hope to become one of them.
My thoughts about moderated blogs versus un-moderated:
My thoughts about moderated blogs versus un-moderated: I am not a fan of moderated blogs although I am a fan of spam control. By using a plugin like Comment Luv, or other similar type plug ins as well as CAPACHA codes you can prevent most of the spam that happens. My feeling about moderating posts on a blog is not related at all to the idea of free speech. But rather in support of open discourse and intelligent discussion about various topics, which always, in my opinion, leads to new and better ideas.
By moderating, it can make it hard to allow comments that the moderator disagrees with to go through, even if they bring good points to a discussion. To me a blog is more than my platform to give everyone my opinion, but also a way to garner ideas and opinions from the world. Someone might have a point of view or idea that I had not considered in my subjective world. By letting comments be open I hope to have a variety of legitimate and lively discussions that bring new and fresh ideas.
Having said that, even if a blog is not moderated I can still go in and delete unproductive conversations that have lost their value. Additionally, keeping posts un-moderated gives me more time to participate in the discussion.