What's the Point? And other Existential Musings

Anybody who is anybody is blogging these days. But for what?

Marketing, public relations, raising company profiles and brand-building. The New York Times called blogging as a "Low-Cost, High-Return" marketing tool for small businesses. And, as Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of The Everything Blogging Book, notes, it's a small investment with a possibly huge return. But it does take investment.

She notes that only 5% of small businesses have a blog, and this may be because it does demand some decent writing skills and a time commitment that some small firms just don't have. Indeed,

it can be challenging to find a legitimate reason for blogging unless the sector served has a steep learning curve (like wine), a lifestyle associated with certain products or service (like camping gear or pet products) or a social mission (like improving the environment or donating a portion of revenues to charity).

How does this all tie in? The formula has to be right for a good blog. You have to have the resources, no matter how small they may seem, to devote to maintaining it and generating a consistent amount of posts. You have to have a captive audience, in other words, potential readers that care about your topic. And finally, you have to be in an industry that contains enough material to write about.

So does organic skincare fit into this model? We think it does. Organic goods in general attract a lot of attention from a specific public - those that are educated enough about the topic to care, but still are interested in learning more from qualified sources. And news? Every day some new study comes out, a new product is launched, certification standards are discussed. And it's growing. Two thousand seven was certainly the Year of the Green, but 2008 could very easily be a year in which living green becomes a more --pardon the oxymoron-- sustainable fad.