Blogs are becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing mix for industrial companies. According to the recent GlobalSpec 2010 Marketing Trends Survey, 26% of marketers use company blogs and 35% plan to implement a blog this year. Blogs can help establish a thought leadership position, increase brand recognition, improve search engine rankings, foster good relationships with customers and prospects, and create opportunities for leads and sales. But many attempts at blogging start out healthy and end up withering. Whether your company is already blogging or planning to start, follow these tips to help ensure success.

Marketers historically have paid close attention to site traffic, time on site and page view metrics. Success on today's Internet, the social Web, is not guaranteed by any of these numbers. The game has shifted, and most savvy marketers are waking up to the fact that new key performance indicators are more relevant: