In the few minutes it takes you to read this article, hundreds of new blogs will be created and thousands upon thousands of posts will have been made world wide.
The information age we live in, has allowed everyone, from the local teenager to large corporations to jump on to the blogging wagon.
The lure of being able to have a blog installed in under 15 minutes, the incredibly low start-up costs, and the ability to post to that blog from any computer with internet access, has provided many people and corporations with an immediate web presence.
Stories are common place about full time bloggers earning over $100,000 a year while blogging for less than 2 hours a day. And they usually do this while traveling the world!
The most popular blog type for the newbie is one that documents their everyday lives, ramblings and opinions. They use it as a way to express themselves.
Each new blog post generates content which the search engines absolutely love. The conversational and informal nature of blogs usually provides great reading. Readers have the option to easily comment on the posts, providing feedback and their opinions.
Blogs become interactive and service the needs of writers and readers. Video and audio can now easily be inserted on blogs providing a different experience for all its readers.
All blogs can be monetized with advertising, selling affiliate products or selling your own products. A blog with a great readership will attract high paying advertisers often paying for 6 months advertising in advance.
However, similar to any small business, the abandonment rate of blogs is incredibly high. Bloggers often enjoy the initial novelty of blogging, but if they started blogging to make some extra income, the novelty will wear off quickly if the results don’t look promising.
Here are three secrets which virtually guarantee success for any blogger:
The First Secret:
A blog must be tightly themed around a niche, with posts that provide benefits for its readers.
If your blog posts do not provide significant value for your readers, they will not return to read any other posts. Remember blogs make money from its readers, so your content must keep them coming back.
Don’t make the common mistake of blogging about anything and everything. If someone is reading your gardening blog, they have an interest in gardening. If you start blogging about the new car you just bought, you may lose that reader. They want to read about gardening, not cars.
Your readers are reading your posts with a “what’s in it for me” mindset and if its not satisfied they will go somewhere else to find it.
Your blog is similar to an online magazine in many ways, just more informal and updated regularly.
The Second Secret:
Your blog must load fast, look the part and be easy to navigate. When your new readers arrive they should know within 5 seconds which niche you are targeting.
First impressions are everything!
It is very easy to use the default template in any blogging platform, but it will do nothing for your reader’s experience. Look around at the successful blogs and you will find customized themes designed to suit their niche.
Customized themes will cost you less than $100 but this is money very well spent, as it will improve your readers experience ten-fold. And make sure you check your blog in various browsers not just Internet Explorer. A blog that looks fantastic in Internet Explorer could look terrible in other browsers.
The Third Secret:
Continuously generate targeted traffic to your blog. A great looking blog with quality content is not worth anything to anyone without consistent and targeted traffic to it.
You need to continuously promote your blog to attract visitors.
With its incredible speed, power and coverage the internet can distribute a blog post around the world in seconds. A good looking blog fulfilling the needs, wants and desires of its readers can quickly become an authority site in its niche providing the owner with a very healthy income.
