Business blogging tips and news for professional bloggers

Lee Odden at the Search Engine Journal offers several excellent "blog optimization tips" for any blog.  Superior content, published regularly and often, will always be most important, but blog SEO and other blog optimizing practices are almost as critical to the success of a professional blog.

Here are four simple ways to optimize your business blog (there might be some overlap here, Lee):

1. Claim your blog at major blog directories.  Here is a lengthy list of blog directories to get you started (links to the submission pages included!).

2. Check your code.  This may sound silly, but every blog publishing platform makes errors from time to time (yes, even Movable Type!).  Check your blog source code regularly.

3. Monitor your blog traffic.  This will allow you to decide what kinds of posts to emphasize or discontinue.  Use a free tool like Sitemeter or Performancing Metrics for starters, and consider upgrading to a paid service that offers more bells and whistles.

4. Enable and encourage comments at (and links to) your blog.  In today's online world, links to your site signify that your blog matters and has authority.  The more links, the better - provided they are directly related to your blog topic.

Bonus tip: Use a free conversation tracker like cocomment to keep track of your comments around the blogosphere.

Leave extra bonus blog optimizing tips below.  Maybe we ought to get together and form a more lengthy, complete list!