Blogs are essentionally online journals that can be used in a variety of different ways.  Businesses can announce new products and services, discounts, discontinued items, or holiday promotions in their blogs. 

Blog Checklist

• Determine your blog purpose and audience – You need a reason for your audience to visit your blog on a regular basis.
  • What would make your blog special to your audience?
  • Why would they want to bookmark your blog?
  • Why would they want to link to it and tell others?
  • What words would your readers use to find your blog?
  • What is the purpose of your blog?
• Page Content:
  • How well does the content support the blog purpose?
  • Is the content readable, interesting, accurate, entertaining, and appropriate for your audience?
  • Define a Sitemap – About Us, Privacy Policy, Contact Us, User Subscription or Registration pages?
• Blog Design:
  • How well does the look of the blog communicate the kind of blog it is?
  • Is site navigation easy and intutive to use?
  • Do items flow naturally and logically from the first to the next?
  • Do your color palette, images and font choices support the content ?
• Categories & Posts:
  • Did you name your Categories things that readers can understand?
  • Organize your Categories to contain your Posts.
  • Do you post information consistently (weekly?) for your readers?
  • Do your posts reflect the unique purpose of your blog?
  • Do they offer variety of interests within your blog’s purpose and theme?
• Moderate Comments:
  • Do you read and respond to comments to form a sense of community?
  • Consider which posts get most comments and which get none.
  • How does that effect the topics that you’re posting on?
• Technical Issues:
  • Have you checked lately to see whether and how fast your blog loads in other browsers?
  • Have you overdone the use of plug-ins and gadgets, making the experience more confusing than fun?
• Writing:
  • Is your writing clear, concise and respectful of your readers?
  • Have you established a writing voice that lets readers know who you really are?
  • Is your blog free of grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation errors?
• Marketing:
  • What are you doing to let readers know that you are here?
  • Are you listed in the right directories?
  • Do you read and comment on other blogs within your readership?
  • Have you included RSS feeds?
  • Social Networking links?