Start blogging and keep blogging. This is not a short term commitment and there are rewards for the company that stays in it for the long term. Frequent posts with useful information will be rewarded, as each post adds to the value of the blog and increases the chances that new people will find it and bookmark the site. The returns from blogging increase over time.

I’ll tell you what can happen. I worked with one company who started blogging over 2 years ago and they recently got an email from a New York Times reporter who thought they would be a good resource for his story. He searched and found the site. And because of all the time spent building up the blog, writing content at least once a week, and carefully creating a community, this company was seen as an authority who the reporter wanted to contact. This blog had already been mentioned once in the New York Times, too. It has also gotten inquiries from places like the Today Show. Other blogs in the industry read and link to the site. And the coverage brings more readers to the blog, so it reaches even more customers who can be directly influenced through it. A project like this takes time, but it’s worth it.

When you get coverage like that, it becomes obvious that your blog is a success. But there are many different forms of success and you can make an impact without press beating down your door. So what can you look at to measure success? One measurement is participation. If there are people coming back time and time again, leaving comments and engaging in discussion, you’ve hit a chord. Also, if your traffic numbers are going up, even slowly, that shows movement in the right direction. And while it may not be in the newspaper, it doesn’t have to be to reach an audience and lead to increased conversions.

If you aren’t seeing audience participation and a traffic increase, it may be time to reevaluate. Have you found a target audience? Is this audience aware of the blog and, if not, how can they be made aware? With your blog up and rolling, begin reaching out to find the readers your content addresses. If you build it they may come, but if you tell them about it, they will.