A personal online journal related to your business, a blog is a great, informal way of updating customers. Blogging can make your customers relate better to you on a personal level and is a great way to set yourself apart from the group of small and home based businesses crowding the Internet marketing scene. Tracked by search engines, your blogging information can be accessed not only by your current customers, but also by consumers browsing the web for the services or products they need. Like email newsletters, you can use blogging to keep your customers up to date on special sales, promotions, new products or services, major changes within a business, or general news about the industry your business is a part of.

Business owners who use blogging to update information about their company more than double their visibility on large search engines, such as Yahoo and Google. Each word you type in a blog is tracked by the search engine so the more blogs you post, the more traffic your website will get. To make sure youre getting the most value and customer response from your blog, follow these five blogging tips:

1. Be Informative

Showing your customers how much you know about your business and the niche market youre targeting will put them at ease and make them more likely to purchase your products or services. Make sure your blogs are written in a knowledgeable, expert way and double check all of your facts, spelling and grammar. Include detailed and informative information about your business. Initial posts can include information about what your business offers and who could benefit from your service and, further down the line, you could blog about new products or services available. As long as the information is useful to consumers, you can write about it.

2. Keywords

Use keywords wisely and select words you think consumers would use when searching for a company like yours that offers the same products and services. The more common keywords you select, the higher youll rank on search engine pages and the more traffic your site will generate.

3. Quantity

A simple headline or single sentence will not attract a potential customers attention, so make sure you beef up your blogs with a lot of informative content. The more substance to your post, the more youll attract the attention of search engines and interest consumers who click on your link.

4. Frequency

Its important to update your blog frequently, adding new and important information. This will keep your customers interested and search engines will begin indexing your page at regular intervals.

5. Grammar & Spelling

In only takes one or two spelling errors to turn a customer off to your services, so take the extra time to review your post and correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Try creating your blog in a writing program that offers spell check, such as Microsoft Word, and then copying and pasting it into the blog once youre sure everything is perfect.