It’s easy to start a blog. Just ask authors of the 90 million blogs Technorati is tracking. However, it’s not so easy to be successful. For that, just ask the top 200 bloggers out of those 90+ million blogs. But what is success? Especially for a business blog?

As the primary author of one of those top 200 blogs (Online Marketing Blog) that has also been highly recognized by publications such as Advertising Age (AdAge Power150 #3) and well respected PR industry blogs such as in Edelman’s Social Media Index #13, I’ve found some of the measurable outcomes from business blogging include:

• Use of brand names in text, in links
• Number of comments
• Number of subscribers via RSS and RSS to email
• Media attention
• Speaking requests
• Customer loyalty
• Inbound links to the blog
• Search engine ranking for the corporate site
• Corporate website traffic
• Leads/sales initiated
• Volume of blog traffic
• Technorati and other credible rankings
• Search engine ranking for the blog
• Increased company visibility within the industry
• Increased media coverage
• Improved customer loyalty
• Increased sales leads/revenue/new customers

And there are many more depending on the purpose of the blog, whether it’s to build thought leadership, announce new products, offer SEO friendly content for a troublesome CMS or ecommerce platform, generate leads, support media relations initiatives or simply serve as a sounding board for ideas. The true measure of success for a business blog is entirely predicated on its purpose.

Once goals are defined, a content and outreach plan implemented and measurements are put in place, any business can create a successful blog. It’s simply a matter of time, resources and a willingness to try until “what works” reveals itself. Here’s a long list of specific business blogging considerations that companies should be aware of when starting a blog.