With that in mind, you can use your business blog as a tool to collect email addresses.  But proceed with caution!  You don’t want the process of obtaining opt-in email addresses to damage the user experience on your business blog.  Remember, successful social media marketing stems from the removal of the gateways to content sharing and conversations.  The last thing you want to do is insist that people provide their email addresses and opt into receiving email messages from you in order to view your shareworthy content.  That content should be freely accessible without barriers.

Therefore, your goal in collecting opt-in email addresses through your business blog is to make the process not seem disruptive.  Here are 5 easy ways to do it:

1. Hold a blog contest.

People love contests, and a contest offers a perfect time to request email addresses and invite people to opt into receiving your email newsletter and marketing emails.  If you use WordPress.org as your blogging application, I recommend Gravity Forms to help you create the entry form to meet your specifications.

2. Include a message at the end of your blog posts.

The message can invite people to sign up for your emails for special offers and information.  Link the message to an opt-in form page on your business blog.

3. Include an ad in your blog feed.

Many bloggers monetize their blog feeds with ads.  Why not advertise your special offer emails with a link to your opt-in form page on your business blog?

4. Include an ad and link in your business blog sidebar.

You should already have links in your business blog sidebar for visitors to subscribe to your blog or follow you on Twitter, Facebook, and so on.  Why not include an ad or link to the email opt-in form page on your business blog or create a form that’s available directly in the sidebar rather than on a separate page (just keep it short).

5. Use an email opt-in plug-in.

If you use WordPress.org, there are a number of plugins that allow you to easily add a double opt-in form to your business blog.  Check out WP-Opt-in or WP Email Capture or conduct a search in the WordPress Plugins Directory.  For example, follow the link to check out the results for a search on “email opt-in“.

Image: stock.xchng

This is especially interesting to me because I’ve been a reader of Think Secret for many years, essentially since the site started, and followed the lawsuit from its genesis to now. Nick is actually a few years younger than I am, is still in college, so seeing him go up against a giant company like Apple is interesting for me since I’ve enjoyed his reporting over the years.

As part of the press release that Think Secret posted, it said that a “positive solution” had been reached for both sides. To me, that means the lawsuit has been dropped and perhaps Nick got a payoff to stop writing. I don’t know what type of payoff, perhaps Apple paid his legal fees plus some cash, but maybe it was larger than that. Maybe once the EFF got behind Nick’s case Apple realized they were going to lose, so they decided to turn the tables and stop that from happening. If Nick won then other rumor sites could safely pursue information inside of a protective Apple NDA without worrying about the legal consequences, so by Apple paying off Nick it stopped the forthcoming rumor flood.

Ars Technica mirrors my sentiments in that they also believe he got a nice payday:

“Apple was faced with losing the case and having to pay attorney’s fees,” explained Opsahl, which is likely part of the reason why it decided to settle instead of continuing to pursue it. As for Ciarelli, “We understand that Nick is very satisfied with the outcome of the case,” Opsahl said. “We hope that Apple learns a lesson over this.”

With a wad of cash in his pocket and some real journalistic work experience behind him, Nick can no move forward and has many opportunities to choose from. Of course those opportunities don’t include writing about Apple rumors, but there could be far worse outcomes to this story.

Is a Code of Conduct Needed?

So far, the primary response to the code of conduct has been (not surprisingly) controversy and skepticism.

Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine summed up the opposing viewpoint thusly:

[W]hen I moved into the place that is my town, I didn’t put up a badge on my fence saying that I’d be a good neighbor (and thus anyone without that badge is, de facto, a bad neighbor). I didn’t have to pledge to act civilized. I just do. And if I don’t, you can judge me accordingly. Are there rules and laws? Yes, the same ones that exist in worlds physical or virtual: If I libel or defame you on the streetcorner or in a paper or on a screen, the recourse is the same. But I don’t put up another badge on my fence saying I won’t libel you.

Does It Hurt More Than It Helps?

One unfortunate aspect of O’Reilly’s move is the response from the media. It’s a great publicity move for O’Reilly himself, who’s received coverage from a variety of major media outlets, but at what cost?

The news media has, predictably, jumped on this opportunity to spin the blogosphere as a sordid and lawless colony on the fringe of society—with O’Reilly cast as the upright sheriff trying to save the women and children.

The New York Times take on it? A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs. “Nasty Blogs”? This obviously hasn’t raised the level of discourse a whole lot.

That spin is great for selling newspapers, but the net result is yet another negative tourist campaign for the Web: “Blogging: Where the Bad People Are!”

What Happens Next?

Robert Scoble had this to say:

I do find disquieting the social pressure to get on board with this program. Tim O’Reilly is a guy who really can affect one’s career online (and off, too). I do have to admit that I feel some pressure just to get on board here and that makes me feel very uneasy.

Where we go from here is up to the crowd, but my guess is that this effort will follow the path of so many others—reviewed, evaluated, discussed, and ultimately found wanting.

What’s your take on it?

About a month ago I ran across an article in Inc. magazine for a company called PayPerClip, an “on-demand” public relations firm where you only pay them for the results they get. Instead of having a 4 or 5 figure budget each month for generic PR work and seeing few results, PayPerClip only gets paid if your message gets where you want it. They have a PDF of recent client news placements… here are some big name publications that were “influenced” via PayPerClip’s practices for the benefit of their clients:

• CBS Evening News
• Washington Post
• Teen People
• Chicago Tribune

…and there are a lot more. In the article I read, they actually published what it would cost to make it into what publication, and on their website their prices are listed as well. A full feature in a Top 5 national or international outlet for $4,700? Does that mean for under $5k I can get my company featured in something like the New York Post? That’s amazing and incredibly smart.

Here’s a PR firm that’s telling you that for a certain amount of money they can get your story in (essentially) whatever publication, website, or trade magazine you want. I remember distinctly from the article that it was under $3,000 to get your company a gigantic feature article directly on CNET so maybe that’s the going rate nowadays.

Now with PayPerPost and the disclosure debacle, everyone is ganging up on the company and saying that they’re immoral and should burn in hell. Now even though I think bloggers should disclose obvious paid affiliations, has everyone forgotten that money is the universal lubricant in mainstream media? Are bloggers supposed to be held to higher standards than publications on PayPerClip’s success list, publications like the Chicago Tribune or CNET?

Read all about this new law over at C|Net. I love the internets! (from Mix-Master Stowe)

The situation is not without its sense of humor though. In typical Gawker style, they wrote what they felt like writing and sent a few shots back at Fred and his lawyers as well:

Are we out of order, Fred? Well, this whole crazy world is out of order. You can�t handle the truth. You own Pan-Am. You own Congress. You own the Civil Aeronautics Board. But you do not own the sky, Fred. There was a crime, there was a victim, and there is punishment. You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts! A dingo ate my baby!

Gawker’s non-pornographic doppleganger Weblogs Inc. had a few words to say about the suit, and none of these words offered support:

Gakwer [sic] says they took it down, but knowingly putting up a stolen sex video is� well� ummmm�.. not a very good idea. I think Gawker could get dinged BIG TIME for this one. I mean, everyone knew the video was a stolen, so this the exact opposite of what i just wrote below� this is HOSTING the video from what I�m reading! The message on Gawker to me looks like a plea for leniency� will Nick be going up the river and taking Martha�s spot in the can!??!!? stay tuned� I�m thinking Law & Order will be doing a episode about this in six weeks�perhaps on SVU?
— Jason Calacanis’ Blog

Will this lawsuit bring Gawker Media down? Will Nick Denton be forced to move out of his billion dollar penthouse? Only time will tell.

Umm, apparently Fred Durst apologized to Gawker by sending them flowers. Yes, this is actually true. Strange ending to an even stranger circumstance.

Our Solution

The legal environment is the perfect example of where collaboration and organization can really pay off. You have access to thousands of PDFs, millions of websites, but what do you do once you find the information you need?

We can implement a weblog for your legal office (or just your team) so when you find research on the internet, you can save it to your blog and find it later on when you really need it.

Find it, save it, search for it later on. It’s as simple as that.