More and more companies are contemplating whether they should start a business blog, it seems appropriate to shed more light on marketing considerations for blogs. While business blog marketing effectiveness can be improved in many ways, here are three fundamental considerations: content, frequency and distribution.

Content – Know your audience. Your blog posts must be
interesting and useful to your readers. Develop your unique voice and
don’t be afraid to post things others will not agree to.

Frequency of posts are important as there
is a direct correlation to blog popularity and frequency of posts. Post
3-5 times per week at a minimum. Consumers of information are beginning
to realize  only a fraction of sites are updated in search engines
every day, but that blog and RSS search engines like Google Blog Search, Technorati, Bloglines and Feedster are update hourly.

Distribution of your blog is important. A common issue from
people new to blogs and RSS feeds is where to find them. Marketing a
blog brings additional advantages over a traditional web site. A blog
and associated RSS/Atom feed can be promoted within the blogoshpere as
well as through traditional directories, search engines and web site
linking. The opportunity for blog exposure is much greater than a
regular web site alone. Make it easy for news feed subscribers to find
your blog through both web site search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) and
RSS search engines (Google Blog Search, Bloglines, Feedster,
Technorati).

Here’s a list of search engines and directories lists and a list of Blog/Blog and RSS directories for submissions. Also, be sure to ping regularly with services like Pingomatic, Pings or Pingoat.

A list of additional blog optimization and marketing tips can be found at this recent post from Online Marketing Blog.