The purpose behind a blog is to increase your search engine rankings. Content is by far the best method for attracting search engines, and populating search pages with URLS that lead directly to you.

Google likes Content, and when you consistently publish articles on particular subjects and keywords, you look like an expert in that field, and your site is ranked accordingly. Google also recognizes that your site is frequently updated, and therefore, more valuable to search engine users.

There are many ways to utilize content on your site. How you set up your blog, and the types of content you use should reflect your company goals. Here are some important questions to ask yourself:

• What is your end goal for your blog?
• Do you want to increase Traffic to your site?
• Do you want to showcase special products or services?
• Do you want your URL to show up in more results on web searches?
• Do you want to set yourself up as an expert /celebrity in your industry?

Of course, you want all of these things, but to get the result you need, you will first need to prioritize your goals. Decide which is most important to you, and then use that as a framework for building your blog.

for example, if you own a company that sells swimwear, and your goal is to become known as the top knowledge base for swimmers, then you will need to approach your blog as a place to showcase ideas, information, and helpful advice. You won’t want to make a hard sell – you’ll rely on links anchored with your keywords to lead people to your products. If you have good content, you’ll get a dedicated following of readers, and they will be directed to your site through means like hyperlinks and your blogroll.

If, on the other hand, you want to be known as the top resource for buying swimwear, then your approach may be quite different. Instead of focusing on the sport of swimming, you may focus on how certain products can give swimmers a competitive advantage. You may showcase great deals on your blog, or lead customers who are searching for a particular product from your blog, right to the purchase point on your site.

Both of these approaches can be extremely effective, but you should know your goals beforehand, or else you risk a blog without purpose that jumps from one style to another, and doesn’t really meet anyone’s needs. It’s possible to use your blog both as an arena for showcasing your expertise, and as a direct sales tool, but in order to properly balance the two, you will need to plan this from the beginning.

There are some things you can do while you’re deciding on a strategy for your blog. Here’s a list of some things that you will want to set up first:

Keywords – your keywords are the main factor on which your blog’s success will be determined. Don’t start out with more than you can handle. Use a narrow focus to choose about 5 main keywords that you will use to direct people to your site through SEO. These should be long-term keywords that won’t change.

Anchor text – For the purposes of search engines, it’s a good idea to use your five keywords as the anchor text of your hyperlinks. This will tell search engines that the words that are linked are the most important words on your site. When people search for these words, the goal is for them to find you. When choosing keywords, try to choose a few that are unique to your particular product or service. “Goggles” will not serve you quite as well as “swim goggles” will.

Links – All links on your blog should reflect your purpose. If you’re using the blog as either a direct, or indirect sales tool, you’ll want your blogroll links to go to your site, or categories on your site. If you are using your blog to cement your authority as an industry leader, you may use some of your links to point to pages of articles on your website, or other valuable information for readers.

Tags - Tags still carry weight. Be sure you’re tagging all your articles, site pages, links, and images appropriately. Your tags should be consistent with your keyword selection.