Oops. I go to the Guinness blog this morning to check how it is doing and take a screenshot for a presentation, and the landing page is there, but clicking on it gives you a 404 error.

Looking at that landing page again I worry about how many users are going to get beyond this page (technical failures aside). It would be friendlier to offer some kind of content upfront perhaps short extracts from the Guinness book of records or other Guinness-owned collateral. Then you could ask site users to accept the Terms and Conditions of the site to go further (including age stipulations) and activate your cookie to make sure they never saw the page again.

Two new UK business blogs launched this week, one for Honda and one for Guinness. The context of course is about building brand, but the two blogs are very different in style and content.

The Honda blog, which launched yesterday, encourages Honda enthusiasts to register and share the blog. It’s hosted by 2TalkAbout, which is “a new, independent blog network that lets consumers talk about their favourite topics, products and brands. Honda is the first brand that has decided to join the 2TalkAbout network from the start.” Those adding comments can also give each post a star rating. It’s a novel approach to developing the use of blogs and it will be interesting to watch its success. For myself, I’m not sure I’ll be wanting to read about Honda owners asking other Honda owners whether anyone knows anything about the engine specs for the Type R.

The Guinness blog looks as sumptuous as the product it represents. Posts are made by a variety of members of the Guinness team and range (so far) from how the last Guinness ad was made to musings on St Patrick’s Day. The blog states its purpose as an attempt by the business to let the Guinness team and Guinness drinkers communicate more closely. There are a couple of minor glitches (the home button takes you back to the registration page and the permalinks look a bit scary), but overall I’m guessing Guinness fans will love it, and it ticks the right boxes for what this kind of blog should be: open, transparent, honest, relevant, oh - and interesting.