Why do those techie types have to give things such silly names? The word "blog" is a shortened form of the words "web log" – a place where you can "log" what is going on in your life, business or chosen subject. Sure, it’s a bit "beam me up Scottie" – but if you have a website and don’t have a blog, you're at a severe disadvantage.

So, if you need a few tips on getting started, here's our Entrepreneurs' Guide to Blogging:

1. Start a blog for your business, but make sure it is attached to your website. Something like www.yourwebsite.com/blog . The industry standard and my favourite is Wordpress from wordpress.org. You may need a little help having it installed. It’s really expandable and easy to use.

2. Write on your blog regularly. At least once every three days in the beginning. This means when a search engine finds it, it will keep on coming back as there will be fresh content for it to read. Enter your site into http://blogsearch.google.com/ping to let Google know it exists.

3. Encourage people to leave comments on your blog. This is where the real discussion starts, and can be the ultimate source of research and development for your business. Ask people what they think of certain ideas or product development. Start building a community around the blog. You may well be amazed at the results!

And now for the real killer strategy:

4. There are two main purposes of a blog; to share content with people and to promote "search engine love". Most of the search engines now own their own blogging platforms. Google has blogger.com. Yahoo has Yahoo 360. MSN has Live Spaces. Whose blogs do you think the search engines index first, theirs or yours? Correct. Theirs.

5. For a killer blog strategy, have your main blog on your website, but also create multiple search engine-owned blogs. Then write excerpts from your main blog on these satellite blogs, linking back to your main blog. The search engines will love it!

6. Don’t make the writing of a blog a chore, use the time to crystallise your thoughts about key issues. Share them and develop a following.

Guy Levine is CEO of Web Marketing Advisor. For more tips, check out his SEO Blog

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