Writing a blog is a proven social media method of driving traffic to business sites for the purpose of expanding the customer base and increasing profits. It is a cost effective form of marketing that is constantly growing in popularity, so to truly reap the benefits of a business blog you need to generate a large following and make your blog stand out from the competition. Here are five ways that you can blog better:

Own your domain: There are many advantages to blogging on a major blog server like Blogger or WordPress. These services are available at no cost and you are given a URL that includes the server’s name in it like bloggingforbusiness.blogspot.com. However, you’ll get more traffic to your site if you buy your own domain. Major blog sites offer to host your own URL for a small fee that’s well worth it.

Design does matter: Your design is a big part of your readers’ first impression. You want it to be attractive with pleasing colors, and above all easy to navigate. Your readers should be able to find the blog posts and information they’re looking for in a matter of seconds without having to sort through unnecessary clutter.

Content is key: A blog is all about the information you provide your readers and how you relate it to them. Taking the time to write quality, personable and educated posts will keep your readers coming back again and again. You want them to view you as the expert in your field and trust what you have to say.

Exchange links: Share the love and link to other people’s blog posts that you enjoy. If they have trackbacks turned on, you will receive a link back as well in the comments section of the post of which you linked. Most of the time when you comment on anther blog there is a space to include your website address as well so comment as much as possible to get more attention.

Ask questions: A blog is all about being interactive.  Your readers want to feel included so ask questions in your blog posts that will spark thoughts and ideas in your readers, encouraging them to leave comments.

There’s no doubt that a blog will improve your web presence and increase website traffic, and the better your blog, the better the business.

Facebook is one of the most powerful marketing methods available online right now because it enables you to set up a number of pages that all connect with each other. You can set up a business page that is known as a ‘fan page’ and invite an unlimited number of Facebook users to join your page. On here you can include business information, logo and photos and links to your website, blog and whatever other sites you may have. Updating your page regularly is the key to always be drawing in new fans as each time you update it is featured on the news feeds of all your fans and whenever someone comments on your update it will be featured on their wall for all their friends to see.

Twitter is more recent than Facebook but is equally as powerful. On Twitter you can reach people and businesses that you would never be able to reach otherwise. Your profile setup is short and sweet and all you have to do after that is ‘tweet’ consistently and increase your number of followers. Tweets are short messages of 140 characters or less that you can send from your computer or phone to update all your followers. Most business owners will tease a short story with a link to their website or blog for more information.

These are just two of the best traffic building social networks available online and are a great place to start if you’re new to internet marketing. By taking full advantage of the business features these sites have to offer you will notice a major surge in business and will become an online social butterfly for life.