Many of you are probably wondering.... What is a blog? Why did Link2Exchange launch one? And "What's in it for me?" Knowing that the term blog is new to people I figured this would be an appropriate topic to cover on my first post.

Rather than bore you with the history of blogs and that the term was derived from "weblog" and all that mumbo jumbo let's digest the simple 50,000 foot view.

One author Dave Winer put it in these eloquent terms, "A weblog (Blog) is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from and each develops an audience."

So let me introduce myself - I am Matthew Palis your tour guide on the Link2Exchange Blog.

The Link2Exchange Blog is a continual tour of ideas and concepts to make your experience using our service and the technologies around our services more useful to you and your business.

Why did we decide to launch a blog?

Well the answer to that is quite simple. In talking with our clients and prospective clients we realized there was a need. This need was for information on how to best use these technologies like mobile phones, Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.  Not only was there a need to get this information out to people but a true need to share feedback on these ideas with others.

What's in it for you?

Let's say we are talking to a number of real estate clients and one of them tells me about some software that works well on a system like ours. Well I may just call up the software company - get a trial version of it and test it out to see how it works and post a blog article about it. (BTW - I am actually in the process of doing this right now so this is a real example and you will see the post once I am done with my evaluation)

Once I submit the article you will get an email so you can go read it. If you are not in the real estate industry and could care less..then delete the email.. there will be topics in the future that interest you I promise! (Those of you who know me can attest to that and if you want to attest to that then please go to the bottom of this page and enter a comment) Wow! Wouldn't you know it thats a perfect segue into....

What are Comments?

AAAH comments.. this is the best part. After I publish an article you can post a comment on it and that comment is shared with anyone that reads it.. so if I missed an important point or you have a question then post it as a comment to the blog article. Now everyone that reads the article can see the dialog and shared ideas around the topic.

So now you are as much of a blog expert as you need to be to participate. You can also search for other blogs about hobbies or interests you have.. like maybe underwater basket weaving or the famous Star-Nose Mole.. this is the Internet after all - there is a tour guide for just about everything!