A week or so ago, ServerBeach's Robert Miggins mentioned that a SB blog is in the works. I'd heard of that before, from at least 5 other dedicated server providers. But unlike its slacker competitors, ServerBeach got its blog up and running a day and a half later.

After reading its first few posts, I've already become much more of a ServerBeach fan. (I'm not alone in preferring vendors who blog. SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill says Jonathan Schwartz' blog is a key selling point in his choice of Sun hardware.) ServerBeach's blog posts talk about how two employees turned 145 defunct motherboards into a cool 25 foot sign, a new peering relationship with GameRail, the sad demise of web developer Ramon Vawda's computer... By sharing bits and pieces of ServerBeach life, the blog portrays the company as a happening place - which readers are invited to be a part of.

In contrast, consider the inconsistent image that The Planet's website projects: while the press releases section touts its "top 10" designation by HostReview and Netcraft, its customer forum tell a different story. "Support used to rock". "Unhappy about level of service". "The most disgraceful support I've ever dealt with in my life". If I were CEO Doug Erwin, I would start a blog *today* to openly address this contradiction. I would tell customers how I personally feel about the company's progress and share my roadmap for next steps. I truly believe no PR campaign can produce better marketing ROI than being transparent.

SoftLayer, too, should totally blog. I know that CEO Lance Crosby's writing will win instant fans. Besides, the company has so many exciting initiatives going on: low voltage servers at its new high density data center, a private Meet Me Room where customers can interconnect, 10 GigE upgrades with InterNAP and Verio... It's such a waste for all this news to be trapped in press release form, with no RSS feed that customers can subscribe to, and no place for readers to leave comments.

And last for now but not least, I think a blog would complete the websites of fellow Texans Rackspace and LayeredTech, considering both are home to long lists of prominent Web 2.0 companies. LayeredTech, in particular, hosts WordPress. That alone is reason enough for Team LT to take a sec and sign up here. ServerBeach did...

PS - FastServers isn't in Texas, but they do have a blog. I also like their staff profiles.

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