Commercial blogging is not necessarily the same as business blogging. The latter means working for a corporation and blogging its products and services.

Commercial blogging is what this blog is doing. The Money Blog is part of a Web Network Magazine, called Syntagma. It lives, like its print counterparts, by selling advertising around useful content.

There are many types of commercial blogging. If you work alone, you are a “problogger” by one definition. If you work as part of a group, a commercial blogger.

Basically, we are what H.G. Wells called, Originative Intellectual Workers. In one sense, we securitize our talents and put them on a global market to sell to the highest bidder.

Originative Intellectual Workers (OIWs) face many challenges and opportunities in the new world of independent publishing. The opportunities come mainly from relatively cheap, universally-available means of publishing content. A short-list would include, print-on-demand books, ebooks, P2P file distribution, blogs, RSS, content management systems, Wi-Fi, and podcasting.

The challenges arise from the commoditization of information and the inevitability of supply overeaching demand. As Bill French put it: “… information nears the point of zero-price (not zero-cost).” In other words, how does one get paid? Many OIWs simply give away their content and rely on name-brand consultancy and speaking engagements to drive cash flow. Many writers are uncomfortable with that. Showbiz and the pen are not natural bedfellows.

Blogs have come into their own quite quickly. Although business blogging is still in its infancy (less than 1pc are business blogs), all the top OIWs are blogging. But why have blogs taken off in the world of business? Because, says Joyce Wycoff, they are

“Creating an environment where ’serendipitous types of conversations’ occur, a place where people from various disciplines bump into each other and start talking about possibilities.”

So we’re talking innovation here. In an uncertain world situation where educated Indians and Chinese are taking intellectual and software jobs from the West, OIWs are right to be on their guard. They are also right to think innovatively. The East may be good at playing catch-up but, as Tom Peters clearly believes, through innovation we can ensure that they’re always chasing the game.

Blogs play an enormous role in this process. By capturing new ideas and keeping them alive. And by chasing new uses for ideas and testing them in a fluid, receptive environment, they cut the mustard in unpredictable ways.

Blogs can build and drive an innovation factory with the slenderest of tools. Robin Good’s “RSS NewsMaster’s Toolkit” follows up his recognition of NewsMastering as the latest job chrysalis for emerging OIWs.

In Robin Good’s terms, RSS channels — even those originating from simple blogs — are “News Radars” for a new breed of independent publisher and content provider. A News Radar is “a constantly updated thematic channel of highly relevant web references that are gathered in accordance with specific, persistent search criteria.” In simpler terms they are a new means of publishing our work, which may be on “topics, people, opinions, products, news items, events or passions.”

Whichever role you wish to play online, you have to do it very well, because competition is fierce and growing and is not restricted now to the English-speaking world. The whole world is now the English-speaking world.

The problem with sending email newsletters to your customers has always been that different states have different requirements.

In the US, Federal laws defining allowed practices for email marketers, which includes email newsletters, are detailed and precise. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates what is know as the CAN-SPAM law. At present though, state laws are causing more concern, particularly in Michigan and Utah. I’ll begin with these :

New laws in Michigan and Utah for child protection carry custodial sentences for even inadvertent non-compliance.

In essence, the problem is : The states of Michigan and Utah have passed child protection laws with “Do Not Email” registries for individuals to enter minors’ email addresses. Marketers potentially face stiff fines as well as time in prison if they send email to a registered minor’s address and the email contains material, or links to material, which children may not legally see or respond to. If you send commercial email, of any type, and you don’t check the address against the registry before you send it you are potentially liable.

The laws are not clear on what products or services a minor is prohibited from purchasing, viewing, possessing, participating in, or otherwise receiving. However, the State of Utah’s Department of Commerce is attempting to add further definition to what types of advertisements are covered. There’s a pdf here.

The only way to avoid liability is to check every address in your email list against the Michigan and Utah registries before you send them an email.

The fees to start are expected to be 0.007 cents for Michigan and 0.005 cents for Utah per address on your list. The costs for a 100,000 name list will be $1200 per pass. So you’ll need to check each new subscriber as they come, plus the whole list every 30 days. For a 10,000 list which acquires say 100 new subscribers a month. The cost will be $121.20 monthly. A 50,000 list with 500 new subscribers would be $606 monthly. Not cheap.

Any business anywhere in the world with a presence in the US needs to follow these laws. This law does not just apply to businesses in Michigan and Utah, it effects all businesses with a presence in any of the 50 US states.

These are the main provisions of the Federal law :

It bans false or misleading header information. Your email’s “From,” “To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a “menu” of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor’s email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it’s illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

Fines can be up to $11,000 for each violation, but may also impact other laws, so can be progressively higher, or even custodial.