A blog is simply a website that will usually 'provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.' according to Wikipedia.

Whilst blogs first came into being as online personal diaries, the ones that we are going to concentrate on in this book are those that are used for business of the type that are in fact now the vast majority.

Blogs have many attractions, the main one being their simplicity. Anyone who has the basic ability to use two fingers on a keyboard can begin to create their own blog, and, if you don't believe me, would the fact that my seven year old daughter has just started her first blog help prove it?

They can also be updated as often as you like, and many people do update their blogs two or three times a day.

This means that there is a constant stream of fresh new content available on blog sites, which is the reason that blogs are fast becoming the favorite sites of the major search engines, especially Google, itself the #1 search engine.

There is no need to know anything whatsoever about website creation or scripting language to create a blog.

No matter which blogging 'platform' (system) you use, it is always a simple question of following a very small handful of simple instructions, and you are good to go.

And, as the Wikipedia definitions suggest, a core function of blog sites is that they invite reader input and feedback in the form of comments.

What a good blog site therefore does is start a 'conversation' between the blog site owner and his/her readership.

It has an inherent ability to begin building a relationship centered around a common area of interest, as expressed in the subject matter of the blog itself.

So, in simple terms, if for example you are an avid mountain climber, and start a blog about your hobby, then the chances are very good that most of the people who visit your pages will be interested in climbing mountains too.

So, all you need to do is create articles that are interesting or controversial enough to prompt your readers to comment and you have generated a discussion or debate about a subject that is close to your heart.

And, the point is that you can start blogging about any topic under the sun, and publish it for the whole world to read literally within minutes of sitting down in front of your PC.

So, let's extend the idea of creating a blog about mountain climbing to creating one about your business.

It really does not matter what your business, the same 'rules' apply ? you create your blog, and begin to make 'postings', which is a very grandiose way of describing the ability that a blog gives you to basically write whatever you want to.

Let's imagine a couple of different scenarios.

Situation one is that you own a 'real world' business that sells widgets. You have a customer list of people who have bought your widgets before, so you can use your blog as a regular newsletter to which you publish all of your latest special offers, discount deals, news and so on.

It is a fantastic way of keeping in touch with your existing customers and, by publishing regular news bulletins through the company blog site, it offers a way to invite potential new customers to have a look inside your organization too, before they decide whether or not they want to work with you.