Business Blogging can be a Laughing Matter

Is writing a daily cartoon good training for writing a blog?

If Scott Adams is any indication, I would say “yes”. Scott has been writing Dilbert since  1988.   For most of that time that meant that he was writing a Dilbert cartoon at 5 am every morning before going off to work at his ”day job” at Pacific Bell.  In recent years, since getting married, Scott says that he has made an effort to write two cartoons a day during the week and keep his weekends mostly free – although he still tends to work half a day on weekends as well.

Scott no longer works a corporate job, but he still writes a daily cartoon, authors books, does public speaking and gives interviews, as well as designs licensed Dilbert products. Not to mention that he is the co-owner of two restaurants in the San Francisco area. 

That’s why I find it amazing that a little over a year ago, Scott began blogging.  I’m not sure whether he did it to expand readership of his cartoon or because he needed yet another outlet for his manic imagination and sense of humor.  

Since then he has been blogging more days than not for the past fourteen months. He recently moved his blog from a typepad site to a new site associated with his newly revamped web page. 

Scott’s posts are funny, topical, regular and sincere.  When you read them, you know that he is really the one writing the posts – not some employee he hired to ghost write for him.

His blogs are down-to-earth,  engaging and promote interaction and a sense of community.  A recent post asking for advice on designing a t-shirt slogan for Catbert – got over 200 comments.  Another post in which he modeled how to think like a humor writer got 124.  

 Read Scott’s  new Dilbert blog  or the archives of his original Dilbert blog  and let me know whether you agree that he is a genius at building community.  You will most likely have a laugh – and might even learn something you can apply to your own blog. 

photo credit: Ol.v!er [H2vPk]