Hello and welcome to the new and improved Upstream Connections website. We hope you like the new design and features, such as this blog.

For a long time, we have been extolling the virtues of blogs to our clients. They are great for a number of things, such as:

• Communicating quickly with people who are interested in what you do/offer

• Sparking debate

• Gathering links to your site

• Getting feedback

• Discussing the future direction of the government/society/Rocky franchise etc

While many journalists are quick to stick the knife in to bloggers, there is no doubt that a well maintained blog is a thing of beauty. Naturally, the quality of the text and “editing” may fall down at times and some blogs rather resemble a 21^st century take on Modernist “stream of thought” writing, but ideas are being thrown out into the ether and debated.

As for quality control, the simple truth is that unread blogs are rarely continued, while those that attract a decent amount of visitors are encouraged to grow.

Check out the excellent Guardian blogs for an example of great news and opinion blogging, while their Comment is Free section always stimulates lively debate among the assortment of lefties, ultra-lefties and reformed communists who frequent those parts.

Our clients will probably pay more attention to industry blogs and corporate blogs. The former are fantastic tools for finding out what is happening on the cutting edge. In our industry – SEO – there is a huge blogging community trying to second guess the actions of the major search engines. Some of these blogs make for great reading… well, they do if you are of a nerdish disposition, like ourselves. The latter variety – corporate blogs – make for a great way to express your company as you wish for it to be seen. Maybe you could even stimulate some interesting debate within your industry.

So, here’s to practising what you preach.