A blog is a power tool for any business. Most businesses are not sure how to use it correctly though. It’s much simpler than you think if you know where to start. First off, search engines love blogs because they are filled with great content. Each blog entry is counted as one web page which is why it’s important to optimize each title and post with SEO keywords that pertains to your post.

Make sure to list your blog with blog directories. Blog Catalog is a popular blog directory where you can get many visitors in one day. It only takes a couple of days for your blog to be approved but is a good place to start listing your blog. Most blog directories ask that you add their small banner or text link to your blog in exchange to be added to their blog directory. It’s a fair price to pay when you can get free traffic your way. There are many niche blog directories as well online. Always list your blog with blog directories that offer your readership market.

Do make sure your blog has an RSS feeder. Feedburner can create one for your blog for free. With your blog RSS feed, you will want to submit these feeds to RSS directories. When submitting your blog and RSS feed to directories, make sure you try to submit to the big directories like Technorati, Yahoo and MSN. You can find many RSS directories by doing a simple Google search.

Ping your blog. Each time you create a post, you can ping your blog at ping sites with an optional choice of adding your RSS feed. It pings your blog to other services that you can select to let them know that you have updated you blog.

Ping-o-matic is one of the easiest ping websites to navigate for beginners.

Get involved with other blogs. Do this by visiting blogs that have the same market readership as your own. Leave comments with links back to your own blog. Make sure you are using an eye-catching profile avatar alongside it. When your readers leave you comments, do interact with your readers by leaving your responses on your blog comment section. Remember, you are forming a blog community within your own blog and readers like to see an interactive blog writer.

Adding links to your blog will create more traffic coming back and forth. This is called a blogroll where it is very important to link with those in the same industry. Don’t forget to add a subscription link and box for your readers to subscribe so they don’t miss anything you have to blog about. Have it easily accessible on a top column space and after each post so they can easily subscribe. Once you gain a reader, you don’t want to lose them.