As of December 2007 over 112 million blogs with readers could be found online with new ones being created each and everyday.  No longer is the world of blogging dominated by opinionated individuals with web knowledge, now many publications, entertainment companies, and miscellaneous businesses operate their own blogs.

Current major corporations that publish blogs on their business websites include, but aren’t limited to:

Amazon

Ford

Marriott

McDonalds

Nike

Southwest Airlines

Time Warner

Wells Fargo

Wal-Mart

Blogging has helped these companies to establish more client/corporate interaction since many customers, and random surfers, will happily utilize a blogs comment features to share feedback on their experiences or ask questions.   Blogs have often helped some major corporations with damage control.  Blogs can let companies quickly, and publicly, make statements that will be read by millions.

These days almost every company with a web presence has some sort of blog available for surfers to read and comment on.  A few companies that were late in jumping on the blog bandwagon have publicly acknowledged their regret at hesitating.

A variety of blogging platforms exist to help individuals and businesses establish, and run, their own blogs.  Some of these blogging platforms are on sites totally dedicated to blogging and others are part of social networking and content management programs. The most well known blogging platforms are:

B2evolution:  http://www. b2evolution.net

Blogger:  https://www.blogger.com

Blogharbor:  http://www.blogharbor.com

Boast Machine:  http://www.boastology.com

Blog Drive:  http://www.blogdrive.com

DasBlog:  http://www.dasblog.info

Drupal:  http:///www.drupal.org

Expression Engine:  http://expressionengine.com

Geeklog:  http://www.geeklog.net

Joomla:  http://www.joomla.org

Livejournal:  http://www.livejournal.com

Mambo:  http://www.mamboserver.com

Movable Type:  http://www.movabletype.com

Pmachine:  http://www.pmachine.com

Serendipity:  http://s9y.org

Type Pad:  http://www.typepad.com

Wordpress:  http://wordpress.org

The first blogging platform I ever tried was Blogger (http://www.blogger.com).  I chose Blogger because it was easy to set up and many people I knew had active, highly trafficked, bloggers accounts.  A few businesses I knew of had even set up Blogger accounts, registered domain names, and then redirected their domain traffic to their Blogger accounts.

The pros of using Blogger for me were that it was extremely easy to set up, affiliated with Google, and had an extremely user friendly dashboard..  There were literally hundreds of free Blogger templates available that didn’t require that much html knowledge to use.  Also (though I didn’t appreciate it at the time) Blogger allows users to earn revenue through Google Adsense. 

The cons for me were that other than Google Adsense Blogger doesn’t offer many revenue generating opportunities.  Also it was a little bit too common.  It seemed as though everyone with an interest in blogging had a Blogger account and chances were they were using the same, or similar, template as I was. 

The bad points of the Blogger platform apply to almost all of the blogging platforms that allow users to sign up for free and then provide a free sub domain on their site.  A lot of the available templates are so heavily used that is nearly impossible for you to distinguish your message, business, or product from other bloggers on the same platform.  Also there are only so many revenue sharing options.

Many free blog hosts will not allow users to import JavaScript at all.  This means that you will not be able to use Google Adsense or any of the other popular ad revenue programs.  Others, mainly Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.com) will not allow users to participate in paid review programs.  Already two potential revenue sources have been cut out for you and your business.

There is also a matter of competition.  Most free blog hosts and platforms encourage visitors to browse blogs that contain similar content as your own.  The host will also include links to their own affiliates and sponsors on your blog.  This means that you could easily loose most of the traffic that you have generated for your own business or site to a competitor.

With that said, if you are truly interested in earning a profit with your blog you are going to have to invest some money.  Having your own domain name (this is assuming that you don’t already have one) will increase your credibility and make your blog eligible for more revenue earning opportunities that are not offered to those hosting their blogs on free sites.  Also you will have more control over your blogs design, content, and availability.  No more fear of losing traffic or business because the free blog host has gone down or is under going maintenance for several hours.

If you are a new blog owner and apprehensive about investing in a domain name and hosting set your mind at ease.  Once your blog is up, running, and established you will be able to easily earn back the money spent on a domain name on hosting.  Most domain registrations range from $1.99 to $10.99 and hosting is often between $4.95 and $10.95 monthly for a basic hosting account.

There are many web hosting companies that offer new sign up’s one free domain name registration when they establish an account.  Two companies that do this are Dreamhost (http://www.dreamhost.com) and Blue Host (http://www.bluehost.com).  These companies give new sign ups a free domain registration when their account is set up and also offer easy, one click, solutions to help get your blog up and running quickly.

Both of these services offer one click installs for the Wordpress blog platform which is the only one that I will use for my professional and personal sites.  These one click installs are exactly what they are described as.  You are able to install the software on your site with one click of your mouse after answering a few questions about what directory you want the blog to be in and what user names/passwords you want for your databases.

When blogging first began becoming popular among businesses  I was slow to notice the change.  It seemed to me as though more and more of my competitors were shutting down their traditional websites and replacing them with well designed blogs.  Other competitors kept their existing websites up, but added links to their websites that sent surfers to there companies newly created blogs.  I decided to start learning more about blogging, but I didn’t want to change my entire website format until I was sure blogging was right for me and my business.

I played around with a few different blogging platforms on a personal level trying to find out what all the fuss was about.  I set up a small personal blog on Blogger and later a weight loss blog on Typepad.  After trying out all of the major blogging platforms I realized that using a blog platform to power my site rather than the current html design could do wonders for my business.  In addition to being able to make my blogs look, and feel, professional with little design knowledge, I was also able to easily add photo and text content to these personal blogs with no assistance.   This was  something I would never have been able to manage on my traditional site.

While any of these discovers would have inspired me to turn my existing site into a blog, the deciding factor for me was a confrontation with my website designer.  I needed my site updated to promote an upcoming concert my business was affiliated with but the designer would not be available to complete the update until after the concert was over.  I immediately began researching how to create my own blog on my own domain so that I would no longer be dependent on a web designer.

Being able to take charge of how, and when, information was posted  on my new blog site immediately increased my sales, site traffic, and general interest in my domain.  Clients no longer felt that the site would always contain the same, stale information.  They knew that in order to catch my latest promotions they would have to subscribe to my blog or bookmark my site to return to it often in order to avoid missing anything important.

I invested a great deal of time in setting up my initial blog posts and interacting with my clients.  In many cases my posts for the entire week were prepared by Monday and published on the blog at  set intervals throughout the week.  Each and every time someone commented on a blog post I did my best to respond to, or acknowledge these comments.  Even if it was just to say ‘thank you for commenting’.

Allowing users to comment on your blog posts can increase your companies business and reputation tremendously.  Many prospective clients make their decision to buy a product or use a service based solely on testimonials and reviews left by other customers.  Since comments often offer feedback on your products and services, they can sometimes be more affective than the most expensive, well thought out, advertising campaigns.

These comments can also serve as an unofficial Frequently Asked Questions section.  Often surfers  are more likely to read the comments on posts that relate to a question or problem they may be experiencing than they are to visit your sites FAQ.  By making it possible for clients to post comments publicly, and answering comments publicly, you might keep someone else from asking the same question.  This will cut down on the amount of emails you have to answer and phone calls you might otherwise receive.

Also, answering these comments and communicating with the comment makers (saying thank you) shows readers and clients how you and your company treat customers.

I can not tell you how many times a client, or potential client, has posted a comment to one of my blogs telling me that they found an answer to a question they were planning to ask by reading comments left by other users.  On a few occasions, clients of competitors have left comments saying that they were searching on the internet for a resolution to their own issue with another site, and found the answer thanks to my blog.  This is extremely gratifying and tells me that my blog is providing more information than those of my competitors.

Please keep in mind that if you are allowing readers to comment on blog posts you need to take steps to monitor the content of these posts.  While there is software available to help prevent comment spam there are always times when some spam will slip through the cracks.  Manually monitoring comments will avoid embarrassing situations of inappropriate comments being published on your blogs.

If you are someone that has an existing site, establishing and maintaining a blog is going to drastically increase your traffic to that site.  Many blog readers are attracted to a blog site by one, or more, posts on a specific subject.  Once the reader is at that blog post they will more than likely explore other products and services they might not have otherwise shown an interest in.   If there is a link to your previously established traditional site in your blog, chances are readers will visit that site as well which increases its traffic.

This also creates an opportunity for free publicity and advertising.  Many blog readers are often trying to find news and content for their own blog site.  Your existing traditional site might be just what they were looking for.  There have been many times when I have been checking my backlinks and found out that the blog of one of my readers, or past clients, has a link to my blog promoting a certain interesting post or product.

Even if you do not have a specific product to sell, or message to spread, it doesn’t mean that you can’t earn revenue from blogging.  Many profitable blog owners are those who started their blogs to use as a personal diary and began doing little things to earn income.  First adding ads to the blog and then doing other things to capitalize on traffic and make a profit.

Begin with the name of your blog. When you set up a business blog for the first time, the blogging platform will require a title for your blog. Carefully consider what this should be. Should it be the name of your business (i.e. Sam’s Hardware Store Blog)? It depends on the type of business you own because you definitely don’t want your blog name to be too cheesy. Neither do you want it to be so long that no one can remember the exact wording, so choose your blog name carefully. If you sell a specific product, say jewelry, you could use something catchy, like Tools from Tony, or whatever your name is.

A great way to come up with an appropriate name for your blog that your target market will easily find when they do a search, is to do a search yourself. Do a keyword search to see how many hits certain words that pertain to your business receive. Then incorporate those words into the title of your blog.

Another way to focus your business blog to your target market is to stick with topics that pertain to your business. When readers come to your blog, they are expecting to find information about what services you offer and product info. Don’t sell them short by posting about stuff that has nothing to do with your business. They will leave and never come back.

In addition, be sure ads placed on your business blog are relevant to your business. You won’t make any money if you have buttons advertising jewelry when you sell tools. Besides your readers will get the sense you are just trying to make money instead of truly helping them which really is the main goal of your business blog.

Before creating your blog, if you haven’t done so already, think about what colors and font styles you are going to use. You want your business blog to flow with your business website, so using colors and styles from there would be your best option. If you don’t have a website for your business, then use colors and styles in your logo or from something that customers will recognize as your business. Also, if you have a logo for your business, be sure to use it on your business blog.

If you already have a business blog up and running, but feel it is “noisy” or there are too many colors and font choices, choose 2 to 3 colors to use throughout and then choose only one or two font styles at the most. Having too many colors and fonts can appear cluttered and your readers will soon lose interest because they will feel overwhelmed by all the busy-ness.

Consistency is not only in the appearance of your blog, but in the content as well. When you are creating posts for your business blog, they need to be geared toward your products, services and your business. Your writing style should always be consistent. Its okay to put some personal flair in your posts, but the main content should be professional.

If you use a ghostwriter to write your blog content, be sure to use only one or two, otherwise you may end up with too many writing styles and your readers may pick up on the fact you use ghostwriters. There is nothing wrong with using a ghostwriter, just be sure they are consistent and produce the kind of content you would if you were actually doing the writing.

When you are consistent on your business blog, your customers will come to trust you because consistency shows reliability and when your readers know they can rely on you, they will buy from you.