What used to be a fun, leisurely activity we did in our own time, has now become a way for people to get jobs. Me 2.0 author Dan Schwabel did it.

Blogs are as much of a networking tool as business cards use to be. They also help you appear involved and in touch with current trends in your industry. Today Path101 has a new post about how you can create a professional blog that will get you noticed by industry professionals. A brief outline can be found after the jump.

The first question that you have to ask yourself when starting a blog is what platform do you want to use for your blog. Path101 discusses the pros and cons of five major blog networks: SquareSpace,Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress and Tumblr.

Comments are like the water cooler of blogs. This is where your readers have the ability to speak back to you and where interesting conversations can begin. This section needs to be managed often as spam can build up or conversations can get out of hand. Path101 suggests installing Disqus to maintain your blog comments.

Choosing a domain name is an important part of the branding yourself. Your blog is like a brand representative. It says everything there is to know about you as an industry leader and/or professional. Using sites like GoDaddy and PairNic, you can register a domain name.

Finally writing a blog that you want to help move you forward in the job market is very different from writing a personal blog. Path101 suggest focusing your blog topics, steering away from a lot of personal information and also interacting on a lot of blogs that cover your industry. This way you get your message across that you are an industry expert.

For more about starting a professional blog, check out Path 101's full post here.