I have this shiny new blog. It's ready for the big time. I am comfortable editing and managing it. Now I have to figure out how to make this blog work for my website.

The Goal

Before starting any project it is very important that you understand your goals. My goal is to promote my website through search engines by providing – questionably – interesting information. The key here is PROVIDING INFORMATION.

http://www.hostingfrenzy.com/web-hosting/articles/seo/blogging-seo.html

A typical blog-entry or blog-post will consist of title of the post, main content of the post, the URL of the full article called 'permalink' (article appears in a separate page), the date when posted, the blogging category of the post, comments if made and, finally trackback URLs' (which are URLs' of those pages that link to the blog-post).

Search Engines

Search engines are an interesting subject. It seems everyone has their own theory on how to best optimize for search engines. Everyone should agree, however, that if there is one thing that search engines love, it is fresh content. Blogs are a perfect media for this because they are easy, quick and sadly can be fun.

Search engines want to see keywords. I run a website for an engineering firm, so I am going to write about engineering things. From time-to-time, I will stray from that subject but for the most part I am writing a blog about something I know more than the average person about.

Meeting The Goal

I like 5 step procedures. So here is my "Making My Blog Work for Me" five-step. Send me your comments, arguments or questions!

1.  Blog often and regularly

Make a schedule and keep it. My goal is 3 blogs a week. I probably should do more, but nothing is stopping me from making a couple of extra entries.

2.  Concentrate on your keywords

Come up with a keyword list and try to work them into your entries as often as possible.

3.  Embrace user feedback and comments

You are blogging for other people to see it. Encourage commenting and feedback.

4.  Go out on a limb

Write about what interests you. Don't get caught up in writing about what you think other people want to know. That is a slippery slope

5.  Keep it simple

Simplicity is the spice of life. Keep things simple. Complicated entries are hard to read and follow.