Great blogs...what are their secrets?

What makes a great blog?

1. Lead your tribe: Being a blogger is not only about the writing, it's about the audience that you are writing for. Even if you are a beginner who only has two readers (that would be yourself and your professor in your case), ALWAYS be conscious of who you are writing for. These people will be what my professor would like to call a "niche audience". Seth Godin made a very good point when he pointed out the quality that today's most successful blogs have in common. They did not try to reach everyone with their content; instead blogs such as The Huffington Post focused their content on a group of readers within a specific demographic/psycho graphic. Once I created a community of people and supplied them with content they were interested in on V-MORE, a conversation amongst my readers ignited and I found it easier to create content for my blog.
2. Rob Curley summarized this point the best with the 5 P's. These elements make up the content that most internet users are searching for, and what will most likely drive pageviews for a blog.
   
   • Passions: people searching for their favorite things
     
   • Practical: general information such as cooking recipes or directions.
     
   • Playful: the things we become addicted to: social media sites, gossip sites, and, of course, Youtube
     
   • Personal Communication: keeping in contact with internet and real life buddies
     
   • Porn: well, at least Curley was being realistic!
   I have to admit, I still haven't mastered the art of including content that people like on my blog in order to increase my hits. However if you've mastered this, the rest of the points shown here will be a breeze.
3. Daily Blog Tips is a great site for cracking the code on what makes a great blog
   (and I wish I had discovered it earlier). One of the great tips they give is "simplicity is key". When readers come to your blog they most likely won't scroll to the end of the page to read what you have to say. Therefore, make posts that are short, concise, and straight to the point (unless elaboration is absolutley necessary!)

Want some examples of great blogs? Check out my next post.