Comment by whyleym | Hacker News Reader

Comment by whyleym | Hacker News Reader

For me there's a big area around corporate blogs vs personal blogs. With our startup we've always erred on the side of corporate, keep it very much about releases and other important pieces of information we feel our users need to know about our product.

Recently we've wondered whether our next startup should have a much more personal feel - much the same way that say Peldi over at Balsamiq has developed his product and blog (http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/) and in a similar way to what Joel has as well. Peldi in particular has been completely transparent with his numbers and you do feel a genuine personal connection with him when you read his blog - I think this has helped him to connect with his audience (as with Joel) and you can relate to them both much more in a personal capacity.

For me I think it's important to have a blog (even just a coporate blog) - but I do wonder whether you can gain more traction by adding a personal touch to it.

Not sure what other YC'ers think ?

I think it's important to remember that Joel did it the other way around-- the blog preceded the business.

Joel built up an audience, and simultaneously built a product that would appeal to this audience. But even that makes it sound too calculated, as Fog Creek's first product wasn't really aimed at Joel's readership at all.

Joel wrote about something he was passionate about, and wrote well. He also made a product that resonated with decent chunk of his readership.

Here's a good test: would people who have no interest whatsoever in your product be interested in your blog? If so, it's a personal blog. Cool. (Just remember that your readers are not necessarily your customers, and vice versa.) If not, it's a marketing tool. Which may also be cool, if that's what you're after.

Yep - good point.

I think in a roundabout way what I want to say is that I wonder if you should give your company blog (to market your product) a more personal feel would this generate more custom ?

I think that it would probably be pretty transparent to the reader that's what you are trying to do.

If you're trying to do marketing, "a more personal feel" can quickly cross over into a faux-folksy style that comes across as really insincere.

What about if what you were providing was great, unique content that wasn't all about making a sale but actually giving something of purpose in a non-corporate, more personal manner ?

That gets back to the question I was asking before: would your readers be interested in the content, even if they were not at all interested in your product? If so, it's a personal blog. If not, it's a marketing blog.

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