Do you blog? If your answer is "No", start blogging today, because if you're a freelance writer and your name doesn't show up in Google, your credibility is zero. Here's how to get the most from your blog.

There's more to blogging than you think. Forget considering your blog an online journal: your blog is a professional tool.

I could spend hours talking about the benefits of blogs for writers (and often do), but here are four tips to make blogging work for you.

1. Establish Your Portfolio Blog: Your "Name" Blog

The first blog (yes, you should have more than one) you need to establish is your "name" blog. So if your name is Milly Emmeline Smythe (which I hope is a fictitious name; I'm not referring to a real person), your blog would be titled Milly Emmeline Smythe.

As soon as anyone types your name into Google, your name blog should appear.

Big tip: please forget creative, cute names. Google and the other search engines are software programs; they have no concept of cleverness. Your sole aim is for your name to show up as the first result in a search engine when a writing buyer types your name. If it does: instant credibility.

2. Use Social Media to Share Your Blog Posts

With millions of Web sites online, your blog needs links pointing to it so that people can find you.

The easiest way to get links is to use a couple of the many social media tools. Pick your favorites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn... These tools can help you to get known via links, fast.

Another way to get known is to frequent forums.

3. Get Known on Forums Where You Can Get Hired

Stay away from writer's forums. Your fellow writers, charming as they may be, can't hire you. They may even harm your nascent career if you take their advice too much to heart. You'll rarely find professional writers on writers' forums: they're too busy writing. However, you will find pro writers on forums for business owners, Webmasters and Internet marketers.

Adding a link to your "name" blog in your forum signature is an easy way of getting a link, and getting hired too. Capable freelance writers are in high demand on the Web.

4. Write About Your Favorite Topics (the Ones You Want to Get Hired to Write About)

New blogging writers tend to write about writing: it's top of mind, and it's what you know. However, it's rarely the way to get hired to write.

Write about the topics you want to be hired to write about: parenting, business, technology...

Remember the search engines. Over time, your name should appear somewhere on the first page of the search results whenever someone enters search query terms like "writer", "freelance" and "your topic."

For example, if your pet topic is parenting skills, your name should appear whenever anyone types "writer parenting" into a search engine query field.

Use these tips to make blogging work for you to build your freelance writing career. There's never been a better time to be a writer: you can make a great income, thanks to your blogs.