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Let InternetEdit help. We provide a convenient and affordable on-demand editing service for bloggers and web journalists. We edit your content before or after you've posted it, eliminating errors, refining your writing, and improving your stats. If you're a good writer who can't afford any mistakes, have us proofread your work. If you aren't as sure of your writing skills but want to blog with confidence, we can provide basic editing or copy editing.

Bloggers as journalists

The debate continues within the 'official' journalistic community as to whether blogging is a valid form of journalism. In fact, blogging blurs the line between journalism, public relations, and personal journaling, making it difficult to generalize one way or the other about blogging as a craft.

One fact is indisputable, however: As far as the general public is concerned, blogging has become an effective medium for alternative journalism. And it may not be that alternative. Though traditional journalists might not like it, blogging is slowly entering the mainstream through both its readership and the entities who seek to leverage it. Blogging has become a priority for corporations, political parties, special interest groups, activists, and mainstream organizations of all persuasions. Entities as varied as the British Broadcasting Corporation and the US military have turned to blogging as an alternate way of communicating with the public. And most media organizations now look at blogs as well as other traditional sources when gathering information.

Regardless of where you sit in the debate over blogging and journalism, the editing needs of bloggers are similar to those of traditional journalists. Accessibility is key, and sloppy writing kills.

But personal is not the same as trivial, and if it matters to you enough that you take the time to think about it and write it down, it's important. And it may be important to others. That's the magic of blogging. It's an incredibly powerful experience to write about your own life and perspectives - anonymously or not - and have others respond.

But personal blogging makes you vulnerable, too. You're 'putting yourself out there,' whether you sign a real name or not. Unless you're a one-in-a-million, your blog isn't going to be showing up on CNN. But if you craft your writing, post regularly, and talk about things that are at least a little interesting, you're going to develop a readership. It may be three of your closest friends, or it may be a couple of hundred people you've never met. Either way, you'll want to avoid looking careless, foolish, or illiterate. And you'll want to maintain that readership.

InternetEdit's rates for blog editing are affordable enough to let you call in help when you need it, even for blogs that aren't meant to change the world. If it's important enough for you to write it down, it's important enough to make sure it's written well. Let us help.

Corporate blogging

Blogging has become another tool that companies use to keep in touch with customers and communities. Corporate blogging may have a bit of a bad rap in the blogging community, but it isn't by nature disingenuous or manipulative. Call it guerilla marketing, or even guerilla customer support, but if a corporate blog is defined, planned and written to ensure that it communicates truthfully, provides information of value to the reader, and facilitates positive interactions, it's a very good thing. Companies are uniquely able to serve the public, since they often have access to information and resources not generally available, and can afford to actually pay someone to spend the time needed to write a really good blog. Corporate blogs must serve both the company's needs, and the blog's intended audience.

Corporate blogs can:

• Inform readers about services and products, and demonstrate ways in which those services and products can be used. Since a blog is an 'opt-in' medium (the reader chooses to read the blog, rather than having it forced on them), an audience will develop only if the services and products have value, and if the blog itself provides useful information in an easily accessible or engaging form.
• Give a company a human face. Many companies are challenged by the impression they create that they are inaccessible or 'inhuman.' For many customers, the only contact with the company may be through a highly automated ACD, a website, or a form letter. A corporate blog that 'writes from the inside,' giving readers insight into what it's like on the other side of the corporate wall, can really improve the corporate image and increase customer confidence. For this to be effective, the blog needs to be honest and engaging. (It shouldn't be written by a marketing manager pretending to be a brake mechanic, and it shouldn't be a blurb about how good the office coffee was last week.)
• Warn readers about misconceptions, hazards, scams, or other concerns. By providing the conversational equivalent of an FAQ, a blog can become an effective method of communicating with customers, decreasing customer support costs and hopefully increasing customer satisfaction. For this to be effective, you have to regularly update your content, which may be a problem for some companies.
• Promote an industry, discipline, technology or location. Corporate blogs can avoid the stigma of capitalist self interest by focusing on subjects in which a company has an expertise, rather than simply flogging the company's own products and services. For example, a laser company might host a blog written by an optical engineer about interesting developments in theoretical and applied optics, rather than one that talks only about the cool new B9000 laser they just introduced. A travel company might host a blog written by one its travel researchers during her travels in Europe, while not mentioning the travel company's European products. An elearning company might host a blog written by one of its students, describing the experience of retraining for a new job sector. For this strategy to be effective, you need to find an author who's interesting and interested. Effective blogging requires commitment and passion. Make sure the author is willing to put in the time and effort to develop the blog (even if that means you have to pay for that time). And let them write what they want to write, even if it ignores or sometimes comments negatively on things you want to promote.
• Make it fun. If you want your company to appeal to young people, hipster dufusses, or anyone with a strange sense of humor, just plain weird might work.

Regardless of the strategies you choose, effective corporate blogging requires vision, focus, a commitment to the concept, an interested and interesting author, sensible promotion, and quality control. Which is where InternetEdit comes in. We'll help you optimize quality, accessibility, and consistency. We'll ensure that your investment of time, effort and money pays off in the form of an easy to read, well written blog.

Problems faced by hardcore bloggers

Writers who publish through blogs are more vulnerable to issues regarding credibility. The nature of blogging, a largely unmediated channel between author and audience, is similar to that of vanity press. No automatic value or credibility comes with the act of publishing, and the writer must work hard to earn the trust, even the attention, of readers.

Adding to that challenge, blog writers tend to write quickly with few if any revisions, and with limited access to desktop writing aids (particularly when using the web-based interfaces provided by most blogging systems). And many bloggers do their writing in somewhat 'hostile' environments, like Internet cafes or even their own workplaces.

Make the most of your blog

If you're writing a blog that you consider to be mission critical to your business, cause or reputation, consider engaging an editor to help you maintain the quality of your content. InternetEdit can help. We can 'tune up' your blog, or quickly proof your content prior to posting. We offer a number of streamlined submission options, making editing very accessible and affordable for regular customers.

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