After the initial burst of buzz (and balderdash), blogs have become yet another medium businesses now have to consider as part of their marketing mixes. But blogging isnt for everyone. Following is a short list of thoughts that may help you decide if blogging is right for your business or organization.

You SHOULD seriously consider writing a blog if:

* Youre in an industry, such as hedge funds or healthcare, in which expertise and thought leadership plays an important role toward establishing credibility and/or attracting leads.

* Your industry generates an ample flood of news that requires analysis or more widespread distribution.

* You can readily identify an audience (existing or potential) that actually wants more news and insight on the topics youll blog about.

* Your organization genuinely has something to say, an angle, point of view or intellectual approach that makes a meaningful contribution to your profession or industry.

* You have someone in your organization who will assume responsibility for the blog, who is both willing and able to sustain the blog with regular posts.

* The rest of the organization will respect the bloggers efforts by allocating time and money for it.

You SHOULD NOT consider writing a blog if:

* Youre in a relatively static industry, such as floor tiles or custodial services, in which a discussion of strategies, new ideas or cutting-edge resources is irrelevant and/or unnecessary.

* You cannot identify (or even imagine) a readership base that would seek or value your written contributions.

* Your organization doesnt really have anything to say. (If this is the truth, be honest with yourselves. Better to say nothing than to create clutter by blogging for its own sake.)

* No one in your organization is prepared to write regularly (at least once a week}.

* Your organization is opinion-phobic and will not allow a blog to be posted without a time- consuming committee and/or legal review first.

* Your organization is in a sensitive industry, such as securities trading, that makes open discussions dangerous.

In sum:
Good blogs are open, informal and opinionated exchanges of relevant news and ideas an audience is genuinely interested in. If you can meet the key requirements you have ideas, an audience and the license to speak freely then give a blog some thought. But if you dont, dont force it. Focus your efforts on other communications vehicles.