Many of the first organizations to adopt blogs have been in the media industry, because the media business is always looking for faster and more effective ways to share information and entertainment with their audiences. From the largest media organizations in the world to global television networks to hometown newspapers and independent publishers, blogging is an easy way to extend your reach. Even better, readership of blogs has been steadily increasing, so average readers have become familiar with the medium.

Blogs also make it easier for people to find your content once they've visited your blog, since a blog automatically organizes your information, publishes it via XML (RSS) feeds, and makes it easier to discover through search engines. Best of all, blogs are ideal for reaching audiences that are tough to connect with in other channels. People listening to iPods, road warriors on laptops, or TV fans at home watching Tivos -these are all groups that get more and more of their information through blogs.

We've outlined a few of the key benefits of blogging that media companies have seen, based on real-world blogs that are in use today.

Low cost web authoring

Publishing to a blog doesn't require an expensive content management system, meaning you can get started without the involvement of your web team or IT department. And blogging is as easy as email, so your editors and writers can get started without being forced to endure a lengthy training process. The truth is, getting content up on a website quickly while it's still newsworthy can be a pain, and blogs are designed to make that process as simple as possible. Independent research says that blogs can let you reduce the costs of web publishing by 90%.(source: SKK)

The fastest way to publish

Publishing to a blog is fast and the results are immediate. A lot of times, it's important to get a story or news item online a quickly as possible, and posting the item to a blog can be a perfect placeholder until you have time to publish a more in-depth story. If you want to enforce your standard editorial process, you can define as little or as much workflow as you need. Just as importantly, your creative people can get the word out without being stymied by software. You also don't have to choose between posting to a blog and publishing content in your traditional content management system - blogs can integrate with your existing systems and complement the processes you already have in place.

Publish from anywhere

If you need to let your writers post stories to your website from on the road, from their portable computers or from any other mobile device, blogging software offers this capability automatically. You can simply email content directly to your blog, or use one of a number of dedicated applications that are available for mobile devices like Blackberries, Treos, or other PDAs.

Even if you're just working from a laptop computer, blogs can be updated from anywhere you have access to a standard web browser. You don't need to install any software on your computers, and you can even access your blog software from shared or public access Internet terminals.

Increase your reach

Blogs help you increase your reach: Your current audience can get updates more easily, and the people who haven't found your site yet can discover your blog with the standard search engines they're already using. How does it work?:

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Because they are frequently updated, blogs rise fast to the top of search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website. Put simply, search engines prefer content that's fresh. In addition, search engines favor sites that are well-structured, heavily linked, and accessible to any kind of reader. (If you've ever seen a website that says "works best with" a certain browser or software, that's exactly what not to do.)

Good news: Blogs meet these criteria automatically, without you having to change any settings or even think about what the search engines want. Modern tools even notify the search tools when you update, so they can add your latest content to their search index.

XML feeds (RSS)

XML Feeds (sometimes called RSS) are rapidly increasing in popularity; If you've ever seen a site that says "Add this to My Yahoo" or "Subscribe to our feed", you've seen feeds in action. They help distribute your content to your readers by sharing your blog posts in a format that can be subscribed to in a web browser, via email, in a reader's homepage, or in special programs called feed readers.

And you don't have to do anything extra to take advantage of feeds. Just like optimizing for search engines, publishing feeds for your blog takes place automatically whenever you update. Using third-party services, you can even place ads in your feeds, reaching your most dedicated subscribers, and there are also services to let you measure the number of readers for your feeds so you can track their impact.

In short, feeds deliver all the advantages of email newsletters without the hassle of managing a subscriber list, dealing with spam filters, or having ot maintain a system for letting readers unsubscribe.

Lead the conversation

The most important reason to start a blog as a media company is so that you can participate in a conversation with your audience. These days, media is more than just publishing stories and hoping readers like them. It's increasingly about provoking a dialogue and shaping the debate, and the best way to jump in is to lead your audience in a conversation about the topics they care about. The audience has a voice, too, and they're expecting to be heard, not just be spoken to. Blogs give you a chance to start that dialogue in a way that's controlled, so you can have the benefits of an open exchange without having to deal with unwanted or unproductive content being published on your site.

It's worth embracing an open conversation for its positive benefits, not just because you feel it's required. Once you've established your credibility in the blogosphere and earned your audience's loyalty, you'll be rewarded with an engaged, loyal audience that will add value to your site over the long term..

Next: Benefits of Blogging for Small Businesses