A week or so ago, on National Public Radio, I caught a broadcast about the smallest national park in the nation, the Kosciuszko National Memorial Park.  This park is so small, it’s actually inside a house in Philadelphia; you can see the entire place in ten minutes.  For those who need a memory jog, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish-born American Revolutionary War hero, an engineer who traveled from fort to fort.  While petitioning Congress for back pay, he stayed in the very house that is now the Memorial.  The “park” is now complete with its own on-duty National Park Ranger.

Listening to this short but fascinating program, I was struck by the thought that the Kosciuszko National Memorial can serve as an apt metaphor for a blog.  A good business blog is short and sweet, containing one or two fascinating items for visitors to read about.  At the Kosciuszko Memorial, those whose interest is piqued can take home a brochure about the American Revolution in order to learn more about the history of the period. Similarly, those web browsers whose interest is piqued by the items in your blog can move on to you company website to Learn more about your products and services.

As one of the Park Rangers described the Kosciuszko Memorial experience, “Maybe we can look at it as more quality visitation than quantity.”  How apropos for blogging!  Quality, not quantity, is the experience you want to offer visitors to your blog.  (Excuse me, when does your next blog tour start?)

In a “white paper” about the future of business blogging, Compendium Blogware Inc. co-founder Chris Baggott explains that, back in the year 2000, there was still a lot of skepticism on the part of business owners about using email as a business communications tool.  Since then, of course, email has been adopted by just about every business and organization to stay in touch with customers and constituents.  Now, some of that same reluctance is evident when it comes to corporate blogs.

Since I work as a ghost blogger, serving as “the voice” of many small businesses and professional practices, Baggott’s explanation of the difference between email marketing and marketing through blogging is really the crux of the matter for me and my clients. Here’s the essence of what he says in the “white paper”:

“Blogging provides the same benefits as email in an easy-to-use and inexpensive way.  It’s the perfect complement to email as a marketing tool for the beginning of the relationship.”

The bottom line is, you can’t email people without their permission.  And you can’t ask for their permission if you don’t know who they are.  That’s where corporate blogging comes in.  Email can’t help your business or practice acquire customers, but blogging can.  Since so many professionals and business owners lack the time or the inclination to compose blogs, that’s where a ghost blogger comes into, or rather behind, the picture!