...not unless you know why you're doing it.

For a professional services firm, there are really only two good reasons to blog: expertise and search engine optimization. Sure, there's tons of hype around the idea of connecting people and building a community around brands, but those are much more compelling motivations for business to consumer companies. Let's be honest- an individual is much more likely to identify themselves with their Mac than the agency that created the Mac banner ad.

So let me explain what I mean by expertise. I am assuming that your firm has a focused and clear positioning, or in other words, that you do a particular thing well, you know it, and you say so. If this is the case, you probably have a lot to say about what you do well. This is what your blog should be about; your expertise. If you're trying to do a little bit of everything at your firm, your blog will reflect that. Think about it: If you were interested in getting some culinary arts expertise, would you rather read a blog by Ferran Adrià, or by the line cook at Applebees?

Your first step should be to write a mission statement for your blog. Again, if you know what you do, and are able to articulate it clearly, this shouldn't be hard. In fact, the first question I always ask when doing a strategic consultation with a client is, "can you articulate your positioning in one sentence?" Creating a cogent strategy, whether for marketing, website content, or a blog, is much easier if supported by a clear positioning. Your mission statement doesn't need to be published anywhere; it exists solely to serve as the purpose to which you hold yourself accountable as you write.

Once you've accumulated a strong body of content on your blog, provided you've taken the additional time to craft strong meta data for each article, you should start to see an increase in traffic to your site. Every word you write will increase your authority on those subjects relevant to your expertise.