Not only do blogs offer consumers a new way of reviewing products, companies a new way of interacting with said consumers, and every-day mom’s to blog about crafts they’ve created, it gives PR a new outlet, but they’ve created a portal that any company or individual can use to share ideas, opinions, and ask questions.

PR met the blog some time ago, but here are some tips for creating a blog that is your own, but is also productive and successful:

- Give your blog an aesthetically pleasing look.

There are templates and themes available for use (more often than not, for free), that any one with any level of HTML or CSS knowledge can use. Giving your blog a clean, professional, or interesting look can help keep visitors on your site. We are a fast, visual species, who can judge something in a split second. If your site is not appealing, you’re bound to lose some traffic, or have an increasingly large number of bounced visitors. (A bounce is a visitor who comes to your site and, after looking at one page, leaves, hits the back button, or closes the browser. The main idea here is that the visitor “bounces” from your site before visiting any other pages of your blog. These visits are usually very short, but they can vary.) Spruce up your blog, give it a welcoming feel, and ask for feedback from other bloggers or visitors.

- Get your visitors involved.

Bank on that amazing characteristic of the blog: it is a communication tool that can get you in touch with your consumers or readers. You can earn some degree of professionalism, and people may start to see you as a trusted resource for the industry you write in. Make a forum, leave comments open, and respond; leaving these tools up and on the site without any sort of activity on your end (other than making a new post now and then) does not say much about your efforts to communicate. So, get busy replying! If you don’t get comments right away, don’t let it deter you; visitors will come, and you can encourage comments and questions by asking your own to the readers in your posts, or by opening forum questions. Encourage involvement!

- Write for your readers, buyers, subscribers, and the media.

When you make your content interesting, and keep things up-to-date or timelessly relevant, people will continue to read what you’ve got to say. Keep your content flowing, and advertise that you’ve written something people may consider useful through Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. If you’ve got a small following, but would like it to increase (and who doesn’t?), let people know you’ve got content to be read. Look into what people want to read about. How, you ask? Google offers a great tool to see what keywords are searched for most. Instead of buying AdWords, which is what this tool is primarily used for, utilize the results you can find from this tool and optimize your posts. In writing what others are looking for in relations to your market, you can create your own niche blog that will attract visitors. Make your content useful and related, and you’ve got a recipe for success.

- After you’ve written the content, get others to help you share it.

This involves a level of collaboration, a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” sort of thing. You can help other bloggers get traffic from your site as well. (There are many factors that come into play with this, and it can depend on the page rank Google assigns, and how many sites link to your site. It can get a bit confusing, but don’t fret; keep creating connects, sharing links with other blogs or websites that fit in your blog’s market, and feel free to do favors for other blogs. This can include advertising an event the other blogger is holding (especially if that blog belongs to a company), or posting an article they’ve written to help get some more exposure.

Another great way to get others to help share your content is to let them know you exist. This can involve following other bloggers on Twitter. I usually look into who’s following me, and a lot of times, I’ll share what they have to say because I think it’s valuable. Someone may do the same, as they’ve done for Public Relations Blogger, and it can generate some great traffic. Sometimes it happens without any effort, but it usually works better if you do give it some attention.

While there may be millions of blogs clogging up the Internet, there is always room for a great blog that has something to offer.

Here are a few things I do to help my blog:

1.) I try to post daily. Not only does Google reward sites (and blogs) that post regularly, but readers may be more prone to suggest your blog to others when the content is consistently fresh and mildly interesting. This can help your blog’s overall success. Building readership in the beginning is a step all blogs go through, and though it takes time, keep at it.

2.) Participate in other blogs. This could include commenting on posts (after you’ve actually read them, mind you). Rather than simply posting a two word sentence or congratulatory phrase, like “great post”, think about your comment and if it will add any value to the post. If it won’t, don’t worry about posting. Rather, comment about it on your blog if you found it to be interesting. This is a way to contribute to the blog in your own way, on your own blog. Another means of participating is posting guest articles on other blogs. Most bloggers welcome, or should welcome, guest articles, so long as they are relevant and in-line with the rest of the blog. You should also consider adding guest bloggers to your own. A guest article gives readers a new voice to read, and may also provide your blog with some information you may not have considered posting before. Most guest bloggers will also link to the article they wrote for your blogging, bringing more readers your way.

3.) Use Twitter, Facebook, BusinessExchange, etc., to announce your posts. Though it may seem a little “salesy”, it can bring some traffic to your blog. What’s even better is when someone uses the “TweetThis” feature and shares your blog post with the rest of the world. (With applications like TweetDeck, which can update your MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter accounts at the same time, a “TweetThis” option can really increase your reach.) BusinessExchange is brought to us by Business Week; it is a beta site, but it seems to be a great resource already. You can share your articles there with other members of the site.

4.) Optimize you posts. Though search engine optimization (SEO) can be a difficult thing to master, let alone grasp, it is easy to learn how to add more ‘search engine’ power to your posts. I was referred to a quick, concise overview of SEO. You can find it here.