The ol' hit counter tripped 6K today. In a wave of nostalgia, here are this blog's responses to the talking points provided by an "expert" on blogging. Leaving no blogging stone unturned, we begin.
A Subject People are Interested In — Wrong. This blog contains stuff this blogger is interested in.
Passion for Your Subject — Nah. This blog dates back to mid-June 2003. That's not passion. That's a delusion. Besides, this blog doesn't have a "subject."
Commitment — Almost daily posts since mid-June 2003 with a brief hiatus from June 2006 - September 2007 represents a mania, not a commitment.
Time — How long is it going to take before this blog challenges "Daily Kos" and "Huffington Post" for their thousands of daily hits?
A Desire to Network — I've shamelessly hyped this blog to my geezer high school classmates. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be fossilized.
A Desire to Keep Learning — Whatever I learn, I post to the blog.
A Love of Research and Reading — Wow. This blog wouldn't exist without research and reading, followed by ranting & raving.
Creativity — This blog is not prosaic and it is not hum-drum.
Patience — Five years is a long time to wait for acceptance.
Ah, well. The past five years have been fun. All of the visitors who stayed for 1 second are welcome to come back by again. For another one-second appearance.
If this is (fair & balanced) blogorrhea, so be it.
[x About.com]
Essential Requirements To Starting A Successful Blog: How To Become A Top Blogger
By Susan Gunelius
Want to be a top blogger? Keep these requirements in mind as you develop and market your blog.
A Subject People are Interested In
The most successful blogs are written about topics that have a broad appeal. The more people who are interested in the topic you write about at your blog, the more people will search for information on that topic and want to read about it.
Passion for Your Subject
As a blogger, you have to write about your blog's subject a lot. The writing is nonstop. If you don't love your blog's topic, it will show. Readers can detect when a blogger is just going through the motions rather than speaking from the heart.
Commitment
Successful blogging requires a massive amount of sweat equity and dedication. Building a successful blog requires more than just publishing a new post a few times a week. The most successful blogs are updated frequently (often several times each day), and the bloggers behind those blogs work relentlessly to promote their blogs and drive traffic to them.
Time
Building a successful blog requires a massive time investment. Growing a blog doesn't stop with publishing posts. Top bloggers spend a lot of time everyday promoting their blogs, researching and reading to drive traffic to it.
A Desire to Network
Socializing is a critical component of developing a successful blog. Blogging by nature is a social medium, and successful blogs become so primarily because of the strong sense of community surrounding them. Top bloggers take time to respond to comments and interact with their blogs' readers as well as network on social sites, forums and more all in an effort to further promote their blogs.
A Desire to Keep Learning
The blogosphere is ever-changing, which means top bloggers are always looking for new ways to enhance their blogs by persistently researching anything and everything related to blogging.
A Love of Research and Reading
Successful bloggers read a lot in order to stay updated on their blogs' topics and the blogosphere as a whole.
Creativity
A successful blog is typically updated very frequently. That means successful blogs always provide fresh, unique content to their readers. Writing that new content requires a great deal of creativity to keep readers from feeling bored or from feeling like the blog does not bring them any value.
Patience
Blogging success does not happen overnight. Be prepared to stay dedicated to promoting your blog for the long haul. Eventually, your hard work should pay off with increased traffic and a significant growth in popularity of your blog. The key is to not give up.
[Susan Gunelius, About.com Guide to Web Logs, is a published author, marketing and branding consultant, freelance writer, copywriter and blogging expert. Gunelius holds a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing with an English minor from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.]
Copyright © 2008 About.com
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