Why start a group blog instead of an individual blog? Clearly the first reason is to cover your topic more thoroughly. One person has only so much time to blog and, more importantly, can only know so many sides of a topic. Recruiting multiple bloggers means more perspectives, more options, more ideas (and for the bloggers, it means built-in discussion partners and commenters).
More prosaically, while starting an individual blog definitely requires less coordination than sponsoring a group blog, a group blog can multiply your efforts since others will be helping with writing and promotion. You'll be able to spend more time on making the blog successful, rather than on creating all the content yourself.
There are four stages in starting a group blog. The first is preparation, in which you set your strategy by determining your topic, your audience, and your bloggers. The second is pre-launch, in which you get down to the nitty-gritty of expectations for bloggers, for the sponsoring organization, and for the public. The third is launch, in which you create and publicize the blog. Finally, the fourth is post-launch growth, in which you monitor the continuing effort of writing and promoting the blog.
This post starts a weekly series on what you need to do and the decisions you need to make to start an effective group blog. It's written from our experience (lots of thought about legalities, for instance) so we're hoping others will chime in with more advice! Why should (or shouldn't) someone consider starting a group blog?
Starting a Group Blog series:
Jennifer, this will be an interesting series. A group of us launching BrandingWire some months ago as a group-blogging experiment. It was a very interesting exercise in group collaboration and many lessons came forth from it. I'll pitch in with any input that seems helpful along the way...
Posted by: Steve Woodruff | September 03, 2008 at 04:55 PM