Ten 24 Media

Rob Hof from Business Week points out that online jeweler Ice.com now has three blogs driving “an amazing amount of traffic and sales to its main site.” The company’s CEO told Rob they get “thousands” of leads a week from their blogs.

But Rob also reminds us that blogs don’t necessarily need a business model. Remembering what Doc Searls once noted:

“Does your phone have a business model? How about your porch? Or your driveway?” he asked at Dave Winer’s Bloggercon last November at Stanford Law School. “Do you refuse to buy furniture unless you can find a way to make money off of it?” His point: Blogs’ key value may be indirect, providing satisfaction on their own terms or leading to other opportunities.

Speaking of other opportunities. Let us not forget about where internal communications fits into all of this. Any company with more than a handful of staff faces major challenges keeping everyone informed and up-to-date. The blog you want the world to see may not pull in thousands of sales each week, but it might very well tell some important stories at home.