Business and Blogging

What Eleanor Roosevelt Could Teach You about Blogging for Business

by Liz Fuller on February 18th, 2008

(www.businessandblogging.com)

Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman who was ahead of her time. Not only was she an activist with progressive opinions on human rights, equality and politics, she was the original blogger.

While it’s true she didn’t have access to the world wide web and she never heard of Google Page Rank or SEO, she did have the basic premise down pat - she wrote every single day and published her thoughts, ideas and activities in Web 0.0 (a syndicated newspaper column).   

Eleanor wrote her column, My Day, from 1935 until 1962, six weeks before her death from tuberculosis at the age of 78.  At its peak, her column appeared in over ninety papers and had a readership of over 4 million.

As you consider writing your own blog, think about these lessons that Eleanor provided by writing her column.

Consistency - Eleanor wrote her column six days a week for 27 years regardless of what was happening in her life. The only exception was when her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died.  She took four days off.

Clarity - Eleanor wrote for a widely dispersed audience with varying levels of education and life experiences. She made sure that her articles could be understood by farmers, businessmen and senators alike. She did this by writing with no pretense and no jargon.  

Conviction - Eleanor had strong views that were not always popular with the masses. She told the truth even if it wasn’t always easy to hear. Although she was open-minded and willing to learn, she never varied from her guiding principles.

Courage - Eleanor was an inspiring leader. She lived and wrote during the Depression, World War II, the Holocaust, the beginnings of the nuclear age, the Space Race and the US Civil Rights movement. She never shied from reality but she always focused on the positive - inspiring her readers to feel hope and to take positive action.

Creativity - Eleanor wrote her column day after day, yet she kept her writing fresh and original. She did this by varying the topics, alternating between daily experiences, current events and political views.  This variety kept her readers from becoming bored.

Connection - When she began her column, she was the First Lady of the United States. But she left the White House less than half way through her journalism career. She was able to continue writing because of the bond she had formed with the American people. She took far away, abstract, political events and made them seem real and significant to the lives of every day citizens.

Communication - Obviously a newspaper column can’t be a true blog because it doesn’t allow for comments and two-way communication. But Eleanor did try to compensate for that by publishing letters, excerpts and summaries of comments in her column. She responded promptly and respectfully and did not shy away from those that criticized her.

Credibility - It’s hard to imagine someone writing almost every day for 27 years and not being authentic.  Eleanor wrote from her heart. She saw things and experienced things that her readers would never know. She brought the world back to them in terms that they could grasp and understand.  She was sometimes right and sometimes wrong but she was always sincere and stood by her beliefs. Through allowing herself to be vulnerable to criticism - she gained and kept her credibility.

How can you as a CEO or Small Business Owner apply some of these lessons to your own blog?

What would your relationship with your customers, employees and shareholders look like if you were courageous enough to share your vision for your company, your challenges, your dreams, your disappointments and your plans?

How might your business be even more successful if you made it a point to really listen to what your customers have to say and took the time to understand their perceptions of your company?

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POSTED IN: Blogging