Almost three-quarters of corporate blog owners (76 percent) reported increases in web traffic and media attention as a result of their blogs, and expect still more from their blogs in the future, according to a survey was sponsored by analytics company Cymfony and public relations firm Porter Novelli and conducted in conjunction with Russell Research.

“Early experiences with blogs show promising results and emerging implementation practices to efficiently manage the entire blog process,” says Andrew Bernstein, CEO of Cymfony. “These corporate blog pioneers show that there is a movement from experimental practices to a real discipline in the corporation.”

The survey, which polled persons responsible for maintaining or monitoring blogs within their company, found that nearly two-thirds of respondents (63 percent) started their blog because they felt they needed to participate in the medium rather than to satisfy a specific need. Four out of 10 respondents (42 percent) indicated that at least one specific post has affected the company or a brand, and in the vast majority of cases it has had a positive affect.

Despite this general success, the majority of respondents (71 percent) are not happy with the level of interaction on their blogs.

The frequency of positing varies quite dramatically: 37 percent blog at least once or multiple times per day; 39 percent blog several times per week; and 24 percent blog once a week or less. And, troublingly, a majority of respondents (57 percent) reported still not having blogging guidelines in place.

“Looking at the survey data and Porter Novelli’s own experiences in helping clients develop blog strategies, it is clear that companies recognize that there is opportunity in the blogosphere and are seeing benefits from their efforts,” says Barry Reicherter, director of persuasive technology at Porter Novelli. “However, the reported differences in resources, approach and strategy demonstrate that it is still an uncertain environment and there is no ‘one size fits all’ blog solution. Rather companies need to ensure blog efforts are aligned with established business objectives and practices.”