Bloggers are being used by mainstream journalists as a useful source of information. According to the results of a new study, 74% of business journalists already use blogs or will use blogs as a primary or secondary source of information for their stories.

This means anyone who has a blog is “on the radar” for magazine journalists. They turn to blogs on a daily basis for ideas for stories, thus giving your company an opportunity for increased publicity. So, having a blog is an essential component in attracting media coverage.

However, journalists are not interested in “puffery” – they want your blog to contain real news. That means it must be topical and up to date – no good for them if you update your blog once or twice a week; daily blogging is essential to catch a journalist’s eye.

Equally, what you write about in your blog must be out of the ordinary, unusual. Writing about the same old stuff other people write about will not win you any fans in the media.

Furthermore, if you want attract the media to use your blog, it must be written in a quotable style. Your sentences need to be short and conversational, otherwise you won’t get quoted.

Follow these guidelines in your blog and you are much more likely to get the media attention you want.