One of the main complaints I hear from small-business owners, physicians and even a few sales professionals is that they are frustrated and confused by much of the business-blogging advice being bandied about - from irrelevant monetization advice, such as using AdSense or other “;ad revenue streams”; to the “;rules”; handed out by long-time bloggers on what business people must and must not do on their business blogs.

The bottom line is that business owners are different, and their approach to new-media marketing (including how they leverage their blog) should be different, too.

As a business owner do you really care what some corporate techno-geek who's been blogging in his or her free time since the turn of the century has to say about what you should and should not do with your business blog?

As an entrepreneur, you're used to thinking outside the box. It's what has gotten you to where you are today: in control of your destiny and beholden only to your customers and clients. Instead of hearing about over-zealous rules and made-up regulations of the blogosphere, you'd rather learn how to use blogs and new media to build relationships and boost sales.

As a business owner, your goal is to actively promote your company with the highest-impact, lowest-cost methods available. And with your interest in business blogging, you're on the right track.

  The new-media marketplace is about stepping outside the confining realm of mass media and interruption marketing. Unfortunately, a great many of the early adopters of blogs are already locking newcomers into a box of “;rules”; that has little to do with blogging for business. They're looking at a blog as a power tool. And, their view is that there is a very limited number of ways to use it.

Instead, view your blog as a vehicle. Like any car or truck, you can customize your blog to look the way you want, and equip it to efficiently cover the terrain you typically drive. And just like you have a driving style behind the wheel that works for you (fast and furious, slow and steady, or anywhere in between), you need to develop your own style of using this powerful new-media marketing channel.

  Marketing with business blogs is not the same as blogging professionally for profit. When you're the owner of a small business or a physician running a practice, your goals are or should be distinctly different from what many “;for profit”; bloggers do.

There are dozens of differences between business blogging and professional blogging. But to keep things simple, there are really three main distinctions:

» Blogging for your business does not mean you personally have to create content.

» Successfully marketing with blogs and new media is about people, persuasion and influence - and bias.

» All of your traffic is to be jealously guarded.

Next week, I'll expand on these distinctions.