Whether you own an off-line or on-line business, you can not truly succeed until you have harnessed all the opportunities offered by the Internet. Nothing proves this fact as clearly as the power of business blogs to bring your products to the attention of millions of online users who can skyrocket your sales. A business blog is a cheap, user friendly and flexible marketing tool by means of which you can advertise your wares and gain a distinct advantage over your competitors.

Creating a business blog with an effective review of your products/services enables their almost instant promotion, as millions of bloggers spread the word to their readers about what is on offer. Nowhere else would you be able to get such a degree of free publicity with so little effort and expense. With brand recognition, comes brand loyalty as customers realise that here is a businessman/woman who wishes to communicate with them and to respond honestly to their concerns, queries and suggestions. This type of direct feedback from potential buyers would in turn help to improve the quality of your products/services as well as monitor their buying patterns. Incorporating this information into your marketing strategies will further increase your sales figures.

If you decide that your business will merit from having a blog, the first thing you should do is research the whole concept of blogging as it relates to consumer based enterprises, the do's and don'ts of blogging and a realistic evaluation of the expenditure in time, effort and money as well as the projected increase in sales and the time scale when this should occur. Try out the various blog hosting services available and test drive those that you think would best suit your enterprise. Once you understand exactly how blogs work and how you can optimize them for maximum profit, it is time to set out your official business blog.

But first there are certain steps to be taken if you want to maximize the benefit of your business blog to your enterprise, whether it be online or offline.

1) Blog Design - All free blog hosting services provide templates that can be customized. But if you want your blog to accurately reflect the nature and requirements of your business, you can opt for paid blog service and hire a design artist to create a layout that is compatible with your specifications. Have a few extra designs developed and rotate them so that you can experiment and see which one has the best pulling power in terms of increasing visitors to your blog.

2) Select Topics - While the overall theme of the blog reflects your business strategies, you should have a number of topics on related matters to post to your blog. This way your readers will get to understand you and your overall thinking on general and specific business practices. This will help them to decide how much trust to place on you, your recommendations and finally but most importantly on your products/services. Writing on matters other than your own enterprise prevents your blog from being too much of a marketing ploy, so your readers will not be put off when you do mention your own merchandise.

3) Formulate Blog Policies - Set policies in place that take into account any legal issues that maybe involved. Take legal advice on what to include under disclaimers and limitations of liabilities. Decide who gets to blog and what information is allowed to be made public. Since business blogging is a comparatively new phenomenon, perhaps the staff needs to be educated on how it can positively impact on your enterprise.

4) Follow Up - Once you start your business blog, you must have at least 20 - 25 posts before you launch your marketing campaign. Update the content at regular intervals, always making sure that it is original, relevant and emphasizes your company's core values. If you regularly track feedback from your readers, you will be able to fine tune your marketing and advertising campaigns to attract more dedicated customers. Finally, add your website URL to your business blog before you start submitting it to blog search sites and directories. In order to increase your ranking on search engines and get a regular flow of visitors, use keyword phrases that are most effective and relevant to your blog.

These simple and easy to follow tactics should help you in setting up a business blog that complements your other business practices and make your endeavors even more successful and financially rewarding.