It is a first! We have just launched the first corporate-sponsored blog here at Creative Weblogging.

It is called Small Biz Unplugged. The blog is "dedicated to supporting the Canadian small business owner. Topics include everything a small business owner in Canada would be dealing with. Topics could include taxes, financing, business planning, expansion, startup, blogging, succession planning, marketing, cash flow management and managing human resources to name a few. All with an eye to the Canadian small business perspective."

The blog is sponsored by D & B Canada. D & B Canada sees a significant part of its mission as supporting Canadian small businesses to achieve their goals.

As a sponsored blog, it is different from your standard company blog. How? First off, it is not about D & B Canada.

But as a corporate sponsor, D & B Canada is prominently named as the sponsor in the header graphic. In addition, some of D & B Canada's tips and advice for small business owners (from the D & B Canada corporate website) will be featured from time to time on the blog.

As a third-party blog, the topics are all chosen and written by the featured blogger, Greg Balanko-Dickson, who is independent of the D & B Canada organization. Greg is a small business owner himself from Edmonton, Alberta. He also coaches other small business owners. In addition, Greg brings a depth of experience in business issues, having written books for small business owners, and he is also experienced in the blogging and podcasting worlds.

A sponsored blog is a great way for a company like D & B Canada, which is committed to serving its market better, to reach out to the small business community using today's new media of blogs. By outsourcing the blogging to Creative Weblogging, D & B Canada gets the benefits of blogging, with the convenience of having the technology and marketing details of the blogosphere handled expertly by Creative Weblogging.