While it may not be immediately obvious, blogging can be one of the best things you can do for your business. Blogging establishes an online face for your clients and injects personality into your site, all while informing your clients. Getting the right balance can, unfortunately, be a difficult formula to crack, but even if you already have a less successful blog, there are a few adjustments you can make to draw readers in.

The Nuts and Bolts

While you may be tempted to try and reach as many people as possible, losing focus could cost you rankings and readership. Instead, look for the ideas you're most interested in, and develop content relating to them. This goes for finding your audience as much as it does content creation. Determine who your readership will be, and create content that connects you to them. While you want to invite their interest, you will still want to focus on a small niche area so that you appear as an expert, ensuring that your readers have a reason to listen to what you have to say.

A Well-Oiled Machine

Once you've determined who your blog is for, you need to be committed to producing content. As with most things, it's easy to get enthused about blogging at the beginning, but you may find your interest waning over time. While you might think you should only be posting when you have something important to announce, you should stick to a regular blogging schedule, even when it may seem like no one is watching. Part of ranking is new content, and you'll be falling further down the ladder if you aren't always top of your game.

That said, don't get lost in the notion that constant content is preferable to quality content. You don't need to blog every single day; instead, blog a couple times a week, and use content that is compelling for your readers. Don't forget that your audience is what matters; write about what interests them, not just things you care about. You don't need to be a wordsmith, but you do want to avoid major grammatical errors and misspellings. Your credibility will sink if your writing is questionable, so don't lose a solid message in the midst of poor style. Finally, don't marry yourself to a word count. Fluff in a blog post will detract from your argument and may even cost you rankings in the long-run.

Running the Race

Don't discount the idea of joining a blogging community or working alongside others in your industry. Not everyone is competition, and even those that are may have valuable insight you can partner with. Through networking, you can increase traffic to your site and get your name out to a wider audience. While you may feel tempted to hoard information, sharing your insight can create a true online community, and in the future, readers will come to your site for advice.