Caspian sets its sights on blogging business

Business publisher Caspian entered the blogging realm this week with the launch of a collaborative blog from its business editors.

The Business Editors is produced by 22 editors from Caspian's specialist publications including Real Deals, Real Finance and Financial Management magazines.

Working with the strapline '194 years of experience', the publishers say they want the site to become one of the world's best business blogs.

"Blogs are a very honest medium," said Al Tepper, Caspian's online development manager.

"Blogging live is like a trapeze without a net. But we have a team of very talented editors and sub-editors, and for the first time editors are writing and publishing at the same time."

Some larger publishers have hesitated to introduce blogs because they are seen as an editorial risk, mostly because to publish quickly and fluidly writers need to edit and proof their own work as they go.

Inviting comments from readers is also an essential element of blogging. Moderating comments, particularly in any volume, presents another problem for publishers.

The Business Editors blog will be pre-moderated, which means that the authors will approve every comment before it is published. It is a more labour-intensive form of moderation but the most secure, protecting the publisher against any libellous or defamatory comments.

"From a business perspective it's the only way to do it, even though the chances of being sued are minimal," Mr Tepper told dotJournalism.

"It gives us 100 per cent protection. Blogs are still very experimental and there are things to be learnt, but this is still a bold new step. It's a different world for business publishers."

It is easier for smaller, more flexible companies to experiment with blogs, said Mr Tepper. But there has been a mixed response among the editors themselves.

"Some will leap all over it, and others will be more cautious. It's a big learning curve for some of them," he said.

"The interesting thing will be that there are so many different voices, personalities and characters; some serious and some light-hearted."

The blog will evolve over the next six months, and if successful it could influence Caspian's contract publishing. The blog is ad-free at the moment, but if traffic builds significantly Mr Tepper said there is no reason not to introduce a scheme like Google Ad Sense.

"The key thing is to get the brand and the content working together," said Mr Tepper.

"Once we've done that the blog should be easy to monetise."

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