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A casually dressed employee kicks off his sandals, puts his feet up on the couch and proceeds to type away on his laptop. Nope, he's not slacking. The man works as a blogger for Las Vegas entrepreneur John Kaspar, and perhaps best epitomizes the laid-back atmosphere surrounding what many are now calling the biggest marketing innovation in generations.

Kaspar, who is building his charity raffle company Win4Charity from the ground up by using students and stay-at-home mothers as bloggers, is in good company. Taylor Bond, the CEO of one of the fastest-growing national children's clothing chains, Children's Orchard; employees at red-hot shoe retailer Zappos; and a host of managers at other local start-ups are among the growing number of businesspeople taking to the Internet to connect with potential customers.

Until recently, observers had mostly dismissed Web logs as insignificant, with the notable exception of ones on politics. Many executives had regarded them as unread vanity publishing vehicles for Internet hacks. But no more.

Companies are taking note of blogs' importance as marketing tools. At the same time, employers are realizing that although blogs bring opportunity, they also bring a whole new set of potential legal headaches.

The exact number of blogs online varies by report; the Web site Technorati, for example, now states it is tracking more than 112.8 million blogs. But all data agree that the count is increasing daily.

Many people seem to read blogs. A 2004 report released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that at least 27 percent of American adults read blogs. Continuing research by the institute suggests one out of every six people in the United States and one of every 20 in the world read blogs.

While the blogosphere is huge, only a small portion of blogs have readers, Greehaven Press' author and editor Roman Espejo has noted.

Nevertheless, local businesses are catching onto blogging and looking for ways to stand out. Kaspar has been using social networking to promote his for-profit Win4Charity site before it debuts officially Oct. 1. The company's site, W4C.com, acts as an online shopping center for charities that want prizes raffled off to raise money.

Win4Charity bloggers post blogs and write messages in online communities such as YouTube and Facebook to spread the buzz about the company's Web debut. Since one of the items being raffled off on the Win4Charity site is a car, Motor Trend's blog has also talked about the site.

"People check out Facebook and YouTube and say, 'You've got to check out this (Win4Charity) site,'" the entrepreneur said.

Kaspar is no novice. Win4Charity will be the fourth company he has started (he's sold the last three). This is his first venture into blogging, however.

For online buzz, he spends $20,000 a month to pay his bloggers and for other expenses. By contrast, Kaspar recalls checking out prices for ads in Oprah magazine and being quoted $4,500 a month for a quarter-page ad with an 18-month contract.

Kaspar feels the blogging expense is worth it.

"I am paying the blogger an hourly rate, $8 to $10 an hour. They are students and stay-at-home moms. That's why it is cost-effective."

Kaspar's workers are also prime examples of the type of people who read blogs. As Gen Xers and Gen Yers continue to gravitate toward the Web, online yakking will become a must for businesses, local and international consultants said.

"They don't really realize it yet, but it is a brand-new marketing tool and you have to be on top of it," said Yaro Ftarak, the author of "Blog Profits Blueprints," and blog marketing courses. "As a company, you have to go where your market is, or competitors will take your customers."

Ftarak, who is based in Australia, markets his blogging success strategies around the world.

Judi Dohn, a local business development leader, said she has seen local startups take advantage of blogs.

"Blogging lets them get the message out in 'friendly' ways, more approachable and less (apparently) self-serving than traditional press releases," she said in an e-mail. "Especially for Web 2.0 companies, it connects with their audience of young, earlier adopters who are so used to the instant communications of (instant messaging), Twitter, social networking, etc., and it allows that audience to communicate directly and easily with them."

The term "Web 2.0" refers to the use of Internet technology for creative and design purposes and for information sharing. Those concepts are closely associated with social networking sites and Web-based communities. Twitter.com is a free service that lets users keep in touch through the Internet, phone or instant messaging.

Children's Orchard's Bond says blogging was a perfect fit for his Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company. The retailer, which has three Southern Nevada locations, started its blog in May, to satisfy "curiosity about Children's Orchard."

"For some businesses, it makes sense; for some it doesn't," he said of blogging. "It's one of the fastest-growing areas with our target market: moms with (young) kids."

Likewise, Zappos has found success in adding blogs to its existing online retail sites and brick-and-mortar operations because many of its customers are Web-savvy already, said Brett Hutchin, a company blogger who also runs the company's blog operation in Henderson.

Zappos opened its first physical locations in the past few years, and has expanded its shoe inventory to include clothing, electronics, cookware and video games. The retailer delved into blogging earlier this year, and now dedicates 22 employees to writing on multiple platforms, such as the Inside Zappos blog, couture blogs, parents blogs, shopping blogs and health-and-fitness blogs.

"We didn't get into blogs to sell product, but people can end up on the (Zappos) Web site by reading something.

"We want to be more into social networking, more into interacting with customers," he said, pointing to the laid-back work environment. "It helps customers to see how much fun we have around here."

For all the opportunities blogs afford, they also present pitfalls. Bloggers are increasingly being hit with legal judgments, some costing millions. The claims range from defamation, infringement of intellectual property rights to disclosure of trade secrets and online harassment, and employers may be held liable alongside blogging employees.

In the pre-Internet era, companies were generally only held accountable for their employees' conduct in the workplace or at company functions. But the line of responsibility is blurred when a worker goes online, employment lawyer Shawn Haley said. The Las Vegas Fisher & Phillips attorney has studied blogging and written a paper on it.

One of the precedent-setting cases for online harassment and employer liability was 2000's Blakely v. Continental Airlines. A female pilot sued the airline for failing to stop harassment by other employees via remarks posted about her on a work-related chat site. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the pilot's favor, holding that the airlines knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to stop it.

In today's world of blogs, a company does not even have to run the site to risk liability for its workers, Haley added.

"I know somebody who has a blog and talks about their co-worker and (the co-worker's) private phone conversations verbatim," Haley said. "This raises harassment issues to destroy company morale."

The opinions of off-duty blogging employees can also be misconstrued as the opinions of the company, attorney Diane Carr Roth warned. She suggests companies incorporate policies and procedures for handling unacceptable online conduct into their employee handbooks.

Although blogs can expose companies to risk, they can be a valuable reference when hiring new employees, she said.

"Employers should use MySpace to do checks on potential employees," she said. "One reference line should be to go to Facebook or MySpace."

If a job candidate blogs about being a racist, sexist or about addictive behavior, a company should probably consider skipping to the next applicant, Roth said.

Many companies still have not updated their handbooks to include online policies beyond the outdated "Don't use company computers for personal business," Haley said.

Haley is baffled by that. He preaches prevention.

"Given the expense of litigation, does the employer want to spend $100,000 to $150,000? If you put policies in place, you can take appropriate action when it comes to light."

This story first appeared in the Business Press. Contact reporter Valerie Miller at vmiller @lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5286.