So says the analysis of The Wall Street Journal based on a report from Forrester Research-- total cost of the actual report is $379 so I won't be commenting on the complete report.

 Shout out to Toby Bloomberg who wrote about this on Diva Marketing

The conclusion was that " ... most B2B blogs are “dull, drab, and don’t stimulate discussion.” A few stats from the WSJ article:

74% rarely get comments

70%  stuck to business or technical topics
56% simply regurgitated press releases or other already-public news
53% of B2B marketers say that blogging has marginal significance or is irrelevant to their strategies

What do you think of this?  - "..  the number of new
corporate blogs among the companies Forrester tracks has dropped from
36 in 2006 to just three in 2008."

As someone who spends the majority of her blogging life covering business culture, those statistics made me realize that as a blogger covering business I have spent scant little time reading business blogs and I very rarely, if ever, leave a comment on a business blog.

Typically, I catch one when a company is in the news and I want to see what the "company line is." But on a regular basis, I have not spent time using business blogs for inspiration and/or information.

That's probably because I'm less interested in the products of a particular business and more interested in their culture.

Very few business blogs talk about their culture. They are usually all business. However, if they are providing their particular group of customers and target audience with important information that will help them be more productive and successful, then I believe these blogs are worthwhile.

Forrester reviewed blogs from 90 Fortune 500 and high technology companies including Adobe, Microsoft, IBM, and Fair Issac. Since I have not read the report, I have also not seen the reviews.

The chances that I would normally visit any of these blogs would only occur if I did a search on Google and their blog popped up as a good place to find an answer.

The other thing about business blogs is that they are so hard to find. I know in the past year I have been to the MacDonald's blog but when I went to their website I couldn't find it. After several key word searches, I finally found it. It's here-- McDonald's corporate responsibility blog.

However, if I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, I would never have found it.
They don't link to their blog on their homepage...just their podcasts which I was not in the mood to listen to.

Same thing with Adobe.When I went to their home page  if the word blog is on it, it's written in code.

 A quick jaunt over to Microsoft and same thing. Nothing to guide me to their blog.

Maybe that's the reason businesses can't get no satifisfaction from their blogs because they are impossible to find.What's with that?

Bonnie in sales/marketing at Ant Hill writes that Business Blogs are Tough but There is Hope!

A business blog has been much tougher for me to write and maintain than my personal blog. I can not be as spontaneous and take the same risks for fear of alienating customers or being off-message. I was off to a good start when I realized something was missing - READERS! Self doubt started leaking in. What if I am spending time on my business blog that could be better spent on other parts of the business?
[...]
But today I was given hope! I had a new customer place an order for a co-worker condolence. She found me on the internet last night. In addition to perusing my website, she took time to read my blog. She especially enjoyed my story about the request for a basket full of breath fresheners.

Turns out our website was compared with two other competing ones and won out because of our blog. The customer could see that we care about our clients. This is just what I needed to hear! A blog can make a difference!

What was most telling about the Forrester survey is that the businesses themselves say that the results from their blogs are marginal. What are the measures? What did they want to achieve with a blog when they started? Is there a particular audience that is gravitating to the blog?

Finally, how is the blog performing compared to their other communication and outreach strategies? Are the businesses satisfied with those vehicles? Or are those results marginal as well?

Maybe the real problem is with the attitude of the people who create the blogs. Maybe they don't have the passion about their business to pass it forward to their target audiences.

Passion in blogging is a beautiful thing.

Elana writes passionately about business culture at FunnyBusiness