Creating a Blog

[CAFECOSA]

I keep reading that blogging is essential for better ranking. Here is my question. Should I use a blog software to create my blog or can I just create a new page every day. I was thinking that I would have a top-level nav link to "today's blog" and then on that page would be links to say the last ten day's blogs and then a monthly archive of blogs. Each page would be on some very relevant info (ie - keyword) and I would save it as www.domainame.com/keyword.htm. My thought is that the content, file name and links would really help my rankings. The only big issue with doing this myself is that people couldn't leave comments and it wouldn't be searchable (because I have no idea how to implement something like that.)

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I am very new to SEO/SEM.

Thanks!!!

[Koeing and Strey]

Use haloscan (http://www.haloscan.com) for both.

[CAFECOSA]

I am going to check it out -- looks like it could be the missing piece to my puzzle. Thanks.

Still am wondering if my idea will work. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much!

[Cameron Olthuis]

First of all you shouldn't create a blog just for the sake of better rankings, if that's why you're doing it then just forget it. You should create a blog to add value for your site visitors. If your site has value the search engines will follow.

Blogging is not 'essential' for better ranking, but it can help if done right. I'd personally worry more about having a blog that is unique and filled with value then what software to use. Having said that, I'd go with wordpress (http://www.wordpress.org). It will be much easier to maintain than putting up a new web page everytime you want to write something, it also has a lot of cool features that will give value to your blog.

[yngexec]

You could also try Serendipity (http://www.s9y.org). It's a free, open-source blogging platform with a whole community of support in their forums! :)

[CAFECOSA]

Thanks for all the useful information and links.

My goal is to provide useful information to my customers and visitors while simultaneously benefiting from the use of a blog.

Thanks to all for helping me figure out the best way to achieve that goal.