Cat Blogs And Boss Blogs Are Fine, But Viral Blogs Mean Business

Author and marketing guru Seth Godin says there are three types of blogs: cat blogs, boss blogs, and viral blogs.

We’ve all come across cat blogs, which Godin describes as personal and idiosyncratic. From the looks of those blogs, you might say they were written purely out of the need for self expression, or perhaps to gain converts to the writer’s way of thinking on a particular topic. When a couple I know took a cruise to Alaska earlier this year, they created a blog to keep friends and family current on their adventures. That was a cat blog.  Other bloggers comment on everything from the weather to what they had for breakfast that morning.

Boss blogs are written by people who work together, and those blogs are used to share ideas with team members.  There needn’t be a boss involved, says Godin, but I imagine bosses might share their ideas with subordinates through a boss blog. I was involved in a textbook writing and editing group, and the group leader used a blog to coordinate the various steps of that project.

It’s the viral blog category in which my professional ghost writing business, Say It For You, is involved. Godin explains that viral blogs are used to spread ideas, so I imagine that might include political or religious blogs.  But what each of my business clients is interested in is spreading the word about what they know, what they know how to do, and what they sell.  In other words, I’m a blogger for business, and business blogging is viral blogging.

One thing worth mentioning is that effective business blogging has a little bit of “cat” in it. In talking about business blogging, I always come back to the idea that blogs are much more informal and much more personal than brochures, advertisements, commercials, billboards, or websites. In a well-done business blog, even though it’s viral, you can sense the personality of the business owner reaching out to connect with the reader.  There’s often quite a bit of “boss” in a business blog, too, because an effective business blog is sharing valuable information and knowledge.

In How Say It For You Was Born, I described the qualities that make for a great ghost blogger.  A ghost, I said, uses her “third ear”, hearing not only what the business owner wants to say, but picking up on that business owner’s unique style and business culture. Armed now with Seth Godin’s blog monikers, I can add that a professional ghost blogger must inject a little “cat” and a little “boss” while spreading the “virus” and bringing in business!