As a big mobile phone fan I read a ton of mobile related blogs every day. I was amused however to see Dial-a-Phone and Mobileshop having a bit of a scrap this week. Check it out for yourselves, was there any copying going on?
BTW I love retailers that have blogs, I think it creates more of a human face to a business and not to mention that they're a great vehicle to promote special offers, trends, whats coming soon etc. I just wish more online retailers would write blogs.
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5 Responses to Battle of the Mobile Phone blogs
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Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other stuff. I have no idea why I'm blue on this photo though but I like it!
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I completely agree about retailers having blogs. It acts as a window into who is behind the site and I think that really helps to build trust AND a loyal customer base. However, on the flip side it can also drive customers away. I think dial-a-phone’s post came across as a bit “bitchy” and it doesn’t exactly put me in a buying mood.
I agree with your post and the first comment by Chromate. The fact that dialaphone mentioned the mobileshop blog is surely going to drive readers and potential sales away. The mobileshop is not a copy of dialaphones although similar. It’s been designed with a content area on the left and a sidebar on the right hardly cutting edge design. I think the rss section at the top resembles the most but then again, it’s the perfect place for it, why should mobileshop not put a rss box there in the most prominent position, because there competition will bitch?
Least they got a mention on a competitors blog, it’s always nice to know your competitors are aware of you.
Copyright is an important law. It’s total clear that Mobileshop have copied Dialaphone’s design, if you can’t see that you must be blind, bias, or in denial.
The dialaphone blog design isn’t exactly a revolutionary design but the similarities are too many for Mobileshop not have been inspired by dialaphone. Dialaphone shouldn’t have blogged about it, but Mobileshop shouldn’t have denied by they were influenced by their competitor’s blog, as its clear they have been.
I want to agree that retailers having a blog is a good idea and in lots of ways it is. However, at some point a company )hopefully) becomes a big company and its at that point the corporate machine takes over. Even the mighty Virgin brand seems to be less entrepreneurial these days and more corporate.
Is the answer to not to become a big company then? No of course not but it is a challenge to ensure the blog remains personal. That’s achieveable when just one person writes it and is capable of getting across their enthusiasm for the business but they have to be very skilled at it. But what happens when that person inevitably leaves the business?
In some cases, the best blogger is the founder/owner but as we’ve read in the Credit Expert article, even they sometimes ‘leave’ the brand. I think I’ve more questions that answers on this at the moment!
Kieron – I think this is a good topic for a much bigger debate, do you fancy writing a piece and engaging us more?
I think the template used for a blog is pretty irrelevant in the early stages. Until you have lots of readers these sites need to keep pushing quality content and not worrying about design. It’s clear that DAP has the more popular blog in this case.