Bloggers Speed To Help Katrina Victims

Business Blogging has proved its worth over the long Labor Day holiday as 1,821 bloggers raised $1,227,612 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. What began as Blog for Relief Day on September 1st grew into Blog for Relief Weekend (September 1st – 5th)...

Honolulu (PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- Business Blogging, has proved its worth over the long Labor Day holiday as 1,821 bloggers raised $1,227,612 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

What began as Blog for Relief Day on September 1st – an idea initially floated on August 30 by Hugh Hewitt on his blog, http://www.hughhewitt.com, then picked up by Glenn Reynolds from http://www.instapundit.com, who suggested September 1st as the start date; and then put into action by N.Z. Bear as a special area of his site http://www.truthlaidbear.com for bloggers to post donations – grew into Blog for Relief Weekend (September 1st – 5th).

Hawaii residents and owners of RPM Success Group Inc., Deborah and John-Paul Micek were planning on making some donations on their own, but when they saw what Hewitt, Reynolds and Bear were doing, they put their money where their mouths are.

Mr. Micek says, As strong proponents of marketing with business blogs, Deborah and I decided to test the word-of-mouth power of business blogs. Our intention was to act as a catalyst to inspire some action from our business-coaching clients and business owners who read our blogs. We issued a $1,000 matching challenge on http://www.biz-ownersblog.com in the afternoon of August 31st. We had hoped to get at least $1,000 in donations that we could match. But, what happened in less than 24 hours blew us away! Including our matching funds, we received proof of more than $12,500 in donations by September 1st at 11:59 p.m. To me, that's proof that marketing with business blogs works."

At the same time that the Miceks were putting their Marketing With Business Blogs multi-media course to good use (http://www.marketingwithbusinessblogs.com,) the total tracked over at truthlaidbear.com was approaching $350,000. The momentum was building and Blog for Relief Day turned into Blog for Relief Weekend yielding nearly $1.3 million for the victims of Hurricane Katrina by September 5.

Fast, fluid and viral, bloggers acted as a cohesive whole to quickly transform digital communication into tangible support for people in need. With no direction, no government assistance, and no political leadership, bloggers donated more than $1.2 million for 298 charitable organizations in just five short days. And, the contributions are still pouring in.

Deborah Micek adds, For those of you who may have missed the Blog for Relief Weekend, don't let that stop you from continuing to give. The cost and human suffering from Hurricane Katrina is growing by the minute. You can check out the full details from our two separate $1,000 matching challenges over at biz-ownersblog.com.

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blogging business blogging hurricane katrina katrina donations business owners business coaches

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