Should my blog sit along side my web shop?

[punksluck]

Hello all,
I am currently putting the finishing touches to my wordpress blog but want to know if I should have my blog on a seperate URL or have it running alongside my web shop. would doing it on a seperate URL have a positive effect my google ranking?

[airforce1]

If you want to offer backlinks to your site via blogging, then hosting it on a different IP would be really helpful.

Have a nice day,

[punksluck]

Thanks for the advice, it falls into into line with what most people recommend so I will take heed to it.