It’s 2008 and by now the majority of people know what a blog is and many people have even adopted “really simple syndication” or “RSS” as a valuable tool whereas just a few years ago, these terms were relatively unknown by most (now, a Google search for “blogging” returns 55.6+ million results).

With the rise in popularity and the spread of blogging, more people and businesses are using blogs to communicate and accomplish Internet objectives than ever before. As a result, the clutter is building and the number of “junk blogs” is growing. More and more people are starting blogs and then abandoning them or starting blogs that simply pale in comparison to quality, useful, and fresh blog content.

Despite the increasing number of blogs in cyberspace, there is still only an estimated 5% of small businesses (less than 100 employees) that are blogging. There is also a growing uprising of blog readers that are looking for valuable content written by experts and passionate fans rather than from people trying to simply make a buck or sell a product. If you own a small business or work for one, you already have the “expert qualifier”! If you have a strong business web presence, build in a blog and let your business lend credibility to your blog, just as the reverse is true.

To help you get started, check out these great resources:

• The Blogging Starter Checklist (an excellent Squidoo Lens)
• How to Leverage the Power of Social Media to Market Your Blog
• ProBlogger.net (an excellent blogging resource)
• 15 Powerful Ways to Differentiate Your Blog from the Crowd
• 4 Tips for Making 2008 Your Blog’s Best Year Yet
• Exposed! 10 Secret Habits of Top Bloggers

Here’s a great video with advice on business blogging.

And here’s a great video on using WordPress (one of the most popular open source blog applications and the blog software that we use for this blog).