CEO Blogs with Something to Say
It’s a lot of work, but maintaining a company blog can do much more for your search rankings than Facebook and Twitter. That’s not to say that other social media platforms aren’t important in raising brand awareness, increasing traffic, or even just managing your company reputation; but consistently updated CEO blogs can only add to that. It not only puts a human face on your company, but it also bolsters your site’s search rankings because you’re regularly adding new content.
A lot of companies don’t like to do it because it seems like a waste of time and can’t be directly linked to ROI or customer acquisition, but CEO blogs allow companies to take part in industry conversations more readily, as well, rather than only retweeting a link or re-posting something to your company’s Facebook page. Putting a face on your business is more important than ever, and these CEO blogs can show you how it’s done. No pitching, no marketing, just straight talk from industry CEOs.
Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz
This may seem like a no-brainer, but Horowitz knows a lot about running a company. His ideas and methods might be controversial to some, but it comes from years of experience, and so is beneficial to anyone at any level of their career. Not only that, but he’s seen dozen upon dozens of startups and companies succeed and fail, so even if you don’t agree with him, you can more than likely learn a thing or two from what he has to say about the tech world, being a CEO, and just running a company in general.
Jonathan Schwartz of CareZone
Formerly CEO of Sun Microsystems, Schwartz has always been an audible voice in the technology industry. Since leaving the company, Schwartz has been working on an online service for people who care for family members with special health needs. In addition to writing about the health care industry, Schwartz also tells stories about his time at Sun Microsystems, his run-ins and interactions with Steve Jobs, and his general opinions on the software news of the day.
Matt Blumberg of Return Path
A self described “first-time CEO,” Blumberg writes about entrepreneurship, how to be a great CEO, and his opinions on marketing and leadership. Having maintained a blog of some kind for about eight years, Blumberg offers a great deal of thoughtful and engaging content that’s not only a good resource for leaders in the technology world, but also for people who just want to know more about marketing and running a business well.
Penny Herscher of FirstRain
Although she’s still on Blogger, the dated site design doesn’t really take much away from the interesting perspectives that Herscher gives not only as a CEO, but as a woman in the tech world. In a recent post about the proliferation of software in our everyday lives, she says, “Technology’s impact is accelerating. It’s time to encourage every child, every student and every worker to take an interest, to understand the basics of software and computing and to be an active participant in the creation of our new software-driven world.” From her posts, it’s clear that Herscher takes a keen interest in everything that makes up our modern world, not just technology, making this blog a definite must-read.
Justyn Howard of Sprout Social
This is more of a Tumblr page than a blog per se, but Howard still provides plenty of insights into social media marketing and the industry as a whole. His updates are infrequent, but it’s easy to become lost in the archive of his posts as Howard’s ideas are engaging and always interesting, whatever the topic.
George Colony of Forrester
He may not update very frequently either, but when he does, Forrester’s CEO of course delivers something interesting and worth reading. If you don’t believe me, just read this post on why Apple will decline in the coming years without Steve Jobs at the helm. It might seem hard to believe, but there’s no company that can truly survive without strong leadership, a point that Colony makes frequently in his post.
Want to read more insider-perspective posts on trends and other goings-on in the software world? Browse our entire archive of blog posts on news from the industry by visiting the Software News and Trends section of the Business-Software.com blog.
Amanda Andonian
Expert in Mobile, CMS, and Social Media
