What It Takes For Successful Blogging?

Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, and when some people started it in earnest some 5 years back, perhaps there was no inkling in their mind that their blogs might turn up fabulous amount of money in just 2 to 3 years time. Of all the motivations money is the best lure. So when early bloggers reported substantial earnings from blogs, one could see heavy rush among later blog-entrants like me to own one. The rush has now become a torrent. Technorati CEO, David Sifry in his April 5 article says that about 120,000 weblogs are adding everyday, which is nearly 1.4 blogs every second every day. Number of posts hovers around 1.5 million per day, or 17 posts per second. However, to make money is not the only reason why blogs are so popular. It may be a strong motive, but perhaps the main reason behind blog-explosion is the ease of starting one. To be true, hosted blog – for example in Blogger, TypePad or Wordpress among others – can get going under half an hour. With interest to succeed blogging steadily on the rise, it’s no wonder that Chitika’s initiative to publish 30 articles from 30 famous bloggers over 30 days from April 1 to 30 has evoked a lot of interest. The articles have been compiled in a free ebook, titled ‘Deep Secrets Of Successful Blogging’. If anything, the ebook is an excellent reading. It is a kaleidoscope of what the bloggers feel as the most determining factors for successful blogging. There is good value to be had from the ebook, and it offers a rare insight on what goes to make a blog a success. Since choosing content writing as a profession, I’ve advocated how websites, and indeed blogs, can climb the ladder to higher visibility with lots of fresh contents. Looking at the various posts in the ebook, I believe there is good reason to consider contents as the main source of providing stickiness to a blog. At the same time what needs to be stressed is that the blog posts need be mildly suggestive instead of forcing issues. This means a blog writer has to polish his writing style so that it doesn’t seem too educative or harsh to the readers. I have no hesitation to admit that this is a valuable lesson for me because for long I believed that writings ought to be rather pushy, almost assuming the tone of that of a stern teacher. Since I want my readers to genuinely benefit from my blog so that they feel like coming back often, I cannot afford a writing that puts them off. Because, in reality, however compelling the reason is, no reader wants to be ‘lectured’. Some opinions in the ebook are quite helpful. I’ve pieced together some selected great insights of about 10 bloggers in this article, Learning The Tricks Of Successful Blogging. My selection includes those of Liew Cheon Fong, Chris Pirillo, The Manolo, David Ponce, Joel Comm, Neil Patel, Aaron Wall, Daniel Scocco, Lee Odden, Darren Rowse and Keith Dsouza. All in all, Chitika’s ebook can serve as a good reference point for new bloggers and old hands alike. The disparate views of 30 odd blog veterans merge at one point: How can you too become successful in blogging?