The previous comments in this thread explained how blogs can complement a web site, so I won't get into that. I just wanted to address: That really depends on what a person is looking for. My web searching usually causes me to arrive at "real" pages the most, then forum pages, then blog pages. Which do I take most seriously? If it's an answer to a technical question, then whoever answers my question. Doesn't matter what the format. One situation where I won't take a blog seriously is if it's a blog I've never heard of, and it's reporting some news. I always look for a link to a reputable news source to back up their story.
I now have 12 BLOGS, I post and ping to each one daily, takes me about 1 hour. I find my blogs get listed in the engines very fast. I direct traffic to my regular websites from the blogs and vice versa, all my blogs make some money. I love BLOGS and plan on having as many as I can post and ping to daily. I think the key to them is take time to keep em updated......