Everyone can talk a good game or deliver the goods and actually become a successful blogger and even – hold on – a professional blogger, as in you earn a living taking care of your blog. See the point here? They’re getting rich by earning decent dough writing words & selling ideas.
So, what are the secrets that made bloggers successful? Let’s take a look at the 10 traits of successful bloggers and see how many do you have:
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Passion
Passion about your topic (you’ll be writing about it a lot) and a passion to share what you know, think, believe, saw – you want to share. That’s what blogs are all about.
Create a blog, or build your blog around something about which you care passionately – even if it’s Paleolithic entomology. If that’s what works you up, that’s the subject of your blog. Blogging is supposed to be fun.
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Curiosity
You might not think of this as an important trait of a blogger – a words-by-the-kilo writer, but good writers are curious people. They want to learn and are willing to take on any topic. They’ll figure it out because of that innate curiosity.
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Imagination
Well, what’d you think, ideas were going to start popping into your head as soon as you launched? Recommendation: put together a list of at least 50 titles and have 10 finished pieces in the chute ready to launch.
Expand your editorial point of view. See site topicality from different perspectives, throw in a little fun, stay on point, post. Repeat.
If you’re passionate about your blog topic and curious enough to read about it, you’ve got fodder for a number of blog posts for your own blog, so in this case, point 1 + point 2 really do = point 3.
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Drive, ambition, or at least desire
Okay, it may not burn in your soul like a red hot ember, but if you build a blog, ambition goes a long way.
Set reasonable goals for yourself – 10 readers in 30 days, 100 readers in three months and so on. And don’t be too hard on yourself if you fall short of your goals. The blog band is so filled with static, it’s tough to get out your signal.
Speaking of which…
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The complete lack of false modesty
If you build a blog, it’s your blog. You’re the boss. So, build it in your own image to deliver the message to the world that you want to deliver. Launching a blog is NOT the time to hide your light under a basket.
Shine on. Which relates to…
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Confidence, authority and conviction
It’s your blog. Post with authority, but do your homework, too. You have a responsibility to be truthful and transparent in your posts. You got an agenda, get it out there so readers don’t have to figure you out.
Write your text in the present tense and eliminate all qualifiers.
Example:
This widget can save you $1,000s if you try it. (Awful.)
This leading-edge widget SAVES you $1,000s when you try it. (Much better.)
Confident, present tense. Not it will do something, it does do something now. This minute.
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Interest in others
As you build a following, you’ll build a collection of friends who’ll engage you through the blog, and maybe through e-mail or even telephone. If you’re living in a one-room shack in the mountains, surfing on one of those hand-cranked computers, touching base with others is probably not your top priority.
It’s your blog, but the best bloggers are the ones who write for others – their readers. They give tips, suggestions, practical advice or maybe some fun. Heck, game-based blogs form the under-pinnings of the blog-o-sphere.
You have to keep up with your readers. And that means research, regular web surfing – taking the time to search for good content and delivering it all in one place. That’s a convenient service. Don’t make the blog about you (unless it’s a vanity blog, which is cool, but don’t expect a lot of organic traffic).
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A burning desire to express yourself, even if it’s to a small but dedicated audience
Yep, there are blogs for lepidopterists – people who collect butterflies. So, if you want to know the latest in butterfly catching tactics, or more about academic topics like butterfly taxonomy, pick your blog.
Don’t expect miracles. You ain’t Perez Hilton (talk about being in the right place at the right time!) but over time, you can build a following.
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Engage followers directly
Unless you have millions, in which case, why are you reading this anyway? Drop a personal “Thanks for following” with some contact information. Engage your readers. The best bloggers know their readers because these readers post to threads all the time.
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Passion
Oh, did I mention that already? Well, it’s important enough to mention twice. The successful blogger cares about the topic, whether it’s weather stripping or bias within the Japanese university system – your readers want to hear from you.
Deliver the latest news. Stir a little controversy. Asks questions that encourage threads.
As a blogger, it’s not just your job to post good content. You need to post to threads and engage your followers on a personal, “first name” basis. This builds a blog community – a place to go throughout the day to touch base with other followers of your blog.
And that comes from you. You need passion about your subject, passion about sharing your passion with others and passion to sit yourself down at the computer 2-3 times a week to create new posts.
You also need to have a passion to market your site through social media like Twitter and Facebook. Use social media to push your blog into your topic “space”- no matter how small.
You need to have to want it. The blog world is crammed deep with ghost blogs started by well-intentioned bloggers who thought they had something to say.
Successful bloggers must have more than something to say. They have to have the drive, the ambition, the focus, the passion to spend time to make a blog that people visit daily. Perez Hilton gets more than 1 million hits a day – and he’s a Hollywood gossip.
Imagine how many of the right people would read your blog posts if they are written with passion, conviction, authority and, oh, yeah, consistency.
Feed the hunger of internet users, start working with your blog posts NOW!
