Small Business Blogging for Easy SEO Posted by Busby SEO Test contestant March 26, 2009 Just a few years ago, blogging was considered as a tool to express personal emotions, beliefs, and interests But with a dramatic rise in both the number of bloggers and subscribers to blogs, many business owners realized that blogs could be utilized as a tool to advertise and promote their products at a fraction of the cost of conventional advertising platforms. In this day and age, not only major corporations and big players can use business blogging as a potent advertising tool, but small to medium businesses as well. Gaining Search Engine Exposure: The Core of Online Marketing So why is small business blogging so important? Exposure is the number one answer to that. If you do not have the money to advertise on television or newspaper, you can always rely on the Internet to give you that opportunity. So that your efforts in business blogging will not to be wasted, it is important that you abide by SEO web design tips, keyword density rules, and the search engine optimization guidelines set by top search engines. Just having ownership of a blog, regardless of, how much money you spend on your fabulous web site design, does not necessarily mean that you will be noticed by your target market. Since there are millions of blogs on the Internet, small business owners need to know how to gain exposure to their blogs. This is where seo marketing, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimisation, comes into the picture. No matter how small your business is, you can beat your competitors on the Internet for as long as your exposure on cyberspace is more accessible and felt. In order to achieve this, you need SEO techniques, which includes SEO web design tips, to make sure that your blog lands on the first page of search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, when Net users search for the products or services that you offer. So if you are selling jellybeans, for example, you need to make sure that when a person types "jellybeans" on the search bar of Google, Yahoo!, or MSN, your blog or website will be found in the first page or on top of the search results. More often than not, people do not really check other search pages, particularly those that are found in the tenth page and up. Making Your Blog Relevant Creating an online presence by creating contact lists and building an online community is one of the important aspects. Just make sure that that you keep your blog up to date regularly with contents that are relevant to your business. For example, if you are selling jellybeans, blogging about the tattoos of celebrities might not help promote your business. According to Internet experts, when it comes to the World Wide Web, content is king. Having great content overshadows, in terms importance, having great graphics and a great looking site. If your web site-s content is poor, it will go unnoticed by many people, particularly those in your niche market. Thus, you need to make sure that the articles you are uploading on your blog are relevant, accurate, and concise. It is essential that you provide your potential customers a reason to keep on coming back to your site or blog page. {Blogging: The Quick and Efficient way to Kickstarting your Small Business} Business blogging allows you to promote your business in an efficient and cost efficient way. No other type of advertising platform could deliver promising results at very low cost. Therefore, it is imperative for small to medium-scale companies to know how to take advantage of blogs. In fact, even those who do not know about how to make a web site can create web page of their own with the help of web design software for blogs. It is important to remember that web users are like small kids when it comes to attention span. Having users read too much, such as seven page long articles will not really attract most people, particularly if you do not know how to make use of fonts, pictures and graphs. With business blogging, however, you will be able to communicate your promotional pitches better because the idea of business blog posts is that are more focused and direct. Indeed, it is essential for small entrepreneurs to have a website and a blog for leveraging their businesses. Aside from gaining exposure for your services and products and providing businessmen a cost-efficient way to let their niche market know about their businesses, blogs can also help raise important funds. Through affiliate marketing and advertising, even business blogs can allow owners to earn residual income - which can go a long way for any small business. Simon Eder is the owner and Director of Oolybooly Website Design and Marketing, based in Perth Western Australia. Simon teachers website design, search engine optimisation and computer technology at eCentral Tafe College.