Blogs began as public diaries driven by adolescent angst. But they've gone mainstream, with postings on everything from politics to celebrity.
The Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority has posted one to display Tahoe vacation reports. And Twelve Horses, which built that site, has a company blog.
But few companies in northern Nevada have entered the blogosphere.
"Companies need to know what's happening in the blogosphere, just like they need to know who their comptitors are," says Robert Payne, marketing manager at Twelve Horses.
Blogging differs from a Web site in that it's natural, free-form, and real, says Payne; versus the structured, static information presented on a Web site.
Anyone can post their own blog, using software such as Type Pad, Word Press, or Zoundry, says Payne. Google even provides software, Blogger. However, companies can also hire a tech firm to build their blog.
"If they're just getting into blogging, they may not know the unwritten rules," he says.
After reading a blog, a company may get a better idea of what people are saying about their business. And they may not always like it.
But there are other benefits.
"A blog can get you a higher ranking in search engines," says Payne, "because it's fresh content."
Search engines like Google and Yahoo crawl Web sites daily and compare new versions with old; if the content has not been updated, it assigns that site a lower ranking.
"The search engine doesn't like to serve up content that's years old," Payne explains.
With more and more people searching online for goods and services, that search engine ranking becomes more important.
And just how much crawling are those search engines doing? Google is building a data center on the Columbia River that is the size of eight football fields, says Payne.
"Google and Yahoo are crawling your Web site daily."
