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The internet is littered with the rotting remains of business blogs. You have all clicked upon their titles, your mouth watering with anticipation of discovering a new perspective or finding that elusive answer you just know is buried somewhere in those billions of internet pages. Instead you land on a pile of useless information that was written sometime in 2001. As you dig deeper you see there were 10 posts all about a week apart and then nothing for a month. Then there was another post and then nothing for two months. Finally your hopes are completely dashed when you see a final post and then nothing. That's the blog flatline you are staring at.

Many businesses have found they can enhance their relationships by having active blogs. Active is the operative word because a blog that doesn't have regular posts is just wasting your time and energy. What's regular? Once a day is a good target, and every business day (five days a week) is also a strong schedule. A weak schedule would be anything less than once a week. However, you should resist posting for posting's sake. The information always needs to be interesting and informative if not compelling. The idea is to get people to come back because they found something interesting and useful.

It might be hard to imagine how you could find enough to write a post every day about your particular business. But when you think about all the relationships your business has, and the multitude of topics that spring from it, you can begin to see content opportunities.

I think there are four "connections" that can be improved and maintained by using a blog in your business.

Customer Connections: Blogs are not only a natural place where you can post highlights of work in progress, but they also can serve as a medium for explaining the nuances of your operations so customers get a deeper understanding of your business. On top of that they can be a guide that shows customers where to find answers to their questions. A blog can also directly supply those answers.

Team Connections: All of those other players who you work with on a day-to-day basis are interested in your business and in what's going on behind the scenes. In your company blog you can showcase new customer service initiatives, team initiatives and your company philosophies and why you have embraced those philosophies.

Employee Connections: Blogs are great places to post recognition for well-done work and to highlight employee advancement and training. Speaking of training,

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