The smarty-pant’s answer is why not? The thinking man’s answer is for a number of reasons, but let’s not fool anyone here – it’s mainly for money. Sure, bloggers dress their answer up as trying to drum up traffic, increase awareness of their journalistic credentials or simply to get something off their chest; but at the end of the day it all comes down to money. Today the web has become a free-for-all orgy for any grubby wordsmith who has two cents of an opinion – it is uncensored, unhindered and above all fuelled by the desire to plant commercials in front of the unsuspecting punter’s face. More traffic equals more ads equals more dollars.
Web-savvy companies use blogging as a cheap way to keep in touch with their customers and to therefore strengthen brand loyalty (and therefore make money). You can feel like the chosen one when your favourite clothes shops messages “just you” that they are having a drive on your favorite garment, or that you are the first one in the queue for a newly released product. Blogging has gone from some windbag waffling on about taking their dog for a walk, to major blue-chip companies gaining a cheap and easy foothold in the gorilla marketing stakes.
© William Simons
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