I think you forgot to mention what programs like adsense have brought to the google game as well, and the breed of “new webmasters” that this game has created. I think the majority of these webmasters dream about earning a living online without really earning it…and who can blame them?

Encouraging collaboration is an interesting point, but rarely covered by most of my clients who are into “themselves” and their needs rather than the needs of the blog.

I did do a series here in Learning the Art of Guest Blogging, which covers many of these issues.

Does a blog improve with multiple bloggers? Sometimes. Sometimes not. Can’t make a blanket generalization as it depends upon the blog. Diluting your content and “expertise” doesn’t make you an expert blogger, though it can jazz things up once in a while.

As to the purpose of a blog, that’s also wide open and subject to a lot of debate. If you ever get a sound answer, please let me know. :D

For a business, the purpose of a blog is to provide communication and customer support, and improve the company’s reputation. They often don’t think in terms of “community” though they should.

Playing the Google Games means understanding how Google’s PageRank algorithm works, which is much like predicting the stock market in relationship to the weather. Sometimes the weather cooperates, as does the stock market, but other times, both are unpredictable and based upon factors that twist and turn in the wind.

…and not caring. :)