Blogging is latest buzzword in online marketing and PR.

But with so many marketers jumping on blogging bandwagon, few people are giving a thought to whether blogs are really up their alley, or taking time to consider best ways of going about it.

If you are planning to start a business blog, ask yourself these questions before you take final plunge.

1. Do you really need a blog?

Writing and maintaining a blog takes a certain degree of commitment, as well as a passion (or at least a liking) for stringing words into a decent sentence. If you don't enjoy writing that much, you could always create an audio or video blog.

But would your business objectives really be served by starting a blog? Or could other methods of online marketing - like SEO, ezine advertising or newsletter publishing work just as well, if not better?

2. Whom do you want to reach with your blog?

The first step to reaching your audience is understanding where they go to find information about your products.

If your audience largely consists of people who live in your town or use products that they search for in newspapers, offline advertising might be more suited to your purpose.

If however, your target audience belongs to one or more of these segments, a blog might be just thing to boost your business.

- Internet users

Does your target audience really use internet? If not, then starting a blog (or any online activity, for that matter) will just be a huge waste of time and effort.

- Blog readers

Does your target audience read blogs? Or do they prefer to get their information in their inbox? If latter is true, then an email newsletter might be a better option than a blog.

- Search engine users

A blog is an excellent way to boost your search engine rankings and get listed for a lot of your target keywords. If you know that your audience uses search engines to find information, a blog will increase your chances of getting their attention.

3. What do you want to achieve with your blog?

There are a lot of things that a blog can do for your business. Blogs can help you -

- Increase your visibility and search engine rankings

- Brand yourself, your products, your services, your company

- Build a community and network with people who have similar interests

- Expand your reach to those outside your current sphere of influence

- Establish your credibility as an expert or thought-leader in your field

- Put a human face on your business

- Reach out to potential customers and stakeholders

Deciding exactly what you want to achieve with your blog can help you get focused, so that you can spend your time and effort in activities that help, not hinder your business objectives.

4. How much time can you spend on your blog?

Serious business bloggers not only spend time writing their own blogs, but also spend a great deal of time reading up on current events and browsing other blogs in their field for information.

That's how simple an online business can be. Forget all those complex, confusing pieces of advice flying at you from all directions on net. Just get back to basics. If you do not have your numbers correct, you'll go nowhere.

A business venture starts with setting of goals. What do you want to achieve? How much money do you want to generate? What kind of profit do you want? When you answer that question, all rest of your business plans will fall into place.

This applies to affiliate programs and it is easy to see why so many people spend time joining them and getting frustrated, when all they need to do is find a way of making this simple calculation. Most good affiliate programs will show you number of hits you are achieving and how many you are converting into actual sales.