Why Startups Need to Blog (and what to talk about)

Very solid article about blogging. It's timely, as I'm thinking about starting a business blog! In the summer of 2011, I blogged for fun about home cooking: www.foodisloving.com.

Two things I would add to the article:

1) The decision to blog or not to blog should be rooted in how you plan to reach your target audience and prioritizing your expected returns. Since you only have so much time in the day though, you may find that it's more effective to market to your target audience using other means. If SEO and referrals links are important to you, then blogging is absolutely a great way to authentically build your status.

Mark's target audience are tech entrepreneurs who hungrily look for advice online about how to build their companies. Hence blogging is an ideal means for him to connect with his audience.

2) In deciding who at your company should blog, make sure that the designated blogger is efficient at writing understandable and eloquent prose. Table stakes are that the blog must be easy and (somewhat) fun to read. Then you layer in Mark's point about saying something of use to your target audience

An example could be taken from Mint.com, which started a blog before having a product and that blog became a reference in personal finance and a traction for the service they launched later on.

I have bookmarked this for further reading, but after skimming it this seems like a great article.