Build A Blog And Attract Followers

blog blogging nicheIf you’re thinking about starting your own blog, you must also realize that driving or attracting significant volumes of traffic is essential to maximize its’ popularity and build yourself a dedicated legion of followers.

 

In order to become a successful blogger, there are a certain number of qualities you should already have or be willing to learn.

 

This article outlines what I consider to be the top six qualities of a successful blogger. I do not claim that this list is definitive or exhaustive in any way, it is just based on my own experience, coupled with my own reading and research.

 

So here are those 6 Top Qualities:

 

Blogger Quality Number 1

Hardwork!

Sorry if that comes as a shock, but if you are serious and want to be a successful blogger you really have to “do-some-work”. You have to write content for your blog on a regular basis and acquire the essential values of “Persistency & Consistency”.

That means having to do some writing and making sure it is done at regular intervals and putting in some effort to ensure that you stick at it. Laziness doesn’t produce regular content and won’t enable you to get to a stage where your content is actively starting to pull huge volumes of traffic to your blog. To do this, you really must be prepared to spend some time writing your own unique content.

Of course, if you have the money, you can always pay someone else to write it for you. But, be aware that an article written by someone else will be structured in a way that will not properly represent you, or your own individual personality.

In the past, I have paid for high quality and unique articles and although they were good, when I read them they were not written the way I would write and “sounded” nothing like me . So I found myself re-writing to portray me and to suit my own personal style.

 

Blogger Quality Number 2

Publish content that is captivating, interesting and useful.

publishing your contentResearch your chosen niche, know and understand which topics are not only important for your regular visitors to keep them coming back to your blog, but also know what will attract new visitors.

Profile the type of person who is typically interested in your niche, get to know their age range, gender and work status – are they employed; are they retired; are they blue collar employees; are they white collar employees; are they self-employed; are they professionals?

Take some time to really think about the niche you focus on and know what the needs, interests and issues are of people in that niche. From the profiling work above, create an avatar – an image and summary of your ideal target visitor – and give your avatar a name.

Look at some other existing blogs already serving the niche and think of ways in which you can inject some uniqueness into your blog without diverting too far away from the niche itself. As you write your content, keep you avatar in mind, or display what you have created about your avatar to remind you.

A blog that is unique and provides what your visitors want to see will become popular and very appealing to new visitors.

 

Blogger Quality Number 3

You don’t want your visitors to just be like “window-shoppers” on your blog and then pass on by.

Those visitors that have a real interest in your niche and spend their time reading all your blog posts, will be more than happy to give you their name or just email address to subscribe to your email list. A simple message, asking them to subscribe and receive email notifications when new content is published, may be all you need.

 

However, it is usual to give something away in exchange for someones’ email address and is typically something that is useful, like an ebook or a report. Again, custom written is always best and will help to promote your blog and uniqueness.

 

 

Blogger Quality Number 4

Providing unique and appealing content is important, but so is ensuring that you don’t overlook or miss any opportunities to make money from the blog.

moneyA successful blogger knows that relevant and interesting content is the first and foremost function of a popular and growing blog. It is, in fact, over and above the monetizing aspect as it is the content that attracts visitors in the first place. And those very same visitors will most likely become your first customers, as they feel that they have already gotten to know, like and trust you.

Also, make use of the subscribers email list you build-up, to remind or inform them of the offers you have – and don’t forget to put some links into your free ebook or report as well.

So, ensure that you don’t miss out on any monetizing opportunities as there are many ways you can make money on your blog. For example, if you do have your own products and services, or become an affiliate and sell products that are relevant to your niche.

A blog that starts to get high traffic volumes could also provide you with another revenue stream by taking advantage of the high amount of traffic to sell advertising space to local companies or other marketers on the blog.

 

Blogger Quality Number 5

Driving more traffic to your blog will elevate the position of it and increase its’ popularity in the search engine rankings.

drive trafficWhen typing a query into Google, most people will not look beyond the first page (or listing) of results and will only really click those that are near to the top of the listing.

To be both a successful and serious blogger, always be on the lookout for ways to drive more traffic to your blog. Get to know other bloggers in your niche and exchange traffic with them. You can do this by introducing and recommending their blog to your visitors, by either inviting them to write a guest post on your blog or by mentioning them in one of your posts.

Another way to do this, is to send an email to your list with a link to their blog. They will gain your visitors and of course, as it is a reciprocal arrangement, you will gain theirs.

 

Blogger Quality Number 6

Never quit!

It’s tough when first starting out, as visitors will not immediately come running to your blog. I know that feeling very well as will everyone else when they first started.

Never QuitYes, even those who are now famous and at the top of their game had to start somewhere.

You write page-upon-page of content, put in a lot of time and effort ……… and no-one sees it.

You feel as if it’s all for nothing, but never give up as everything does take time.

Don’t expect to be an overnight success as that very rarely happens.

As for those who appear to have come from nowhere and become “instant stars” – well, it’s most likely that you just hadn’t come across them before and weren’t aware of all the time, work and effort they have had to put in beforehand.

As in my number 1 point above, to be consistent and persistent is essential.

Keep at it and Never Give Up!

 

If you have some or all of these qualities, then just go and do it. If not, then Learn – and go do it anyhow.

So, what do you think of those six qualities? I’d love to read your comments.

 

Mike Flanagan on BloggerMike Flanagan on EmailMike Flanagan on FacebookMike Flanagan on GoogleMike Flanagan on LinkedinMike Flanagan on PinterestMike Flanagan on TwitterMike Flanagan on VimeoMike Flanagan on WordpressMike Flanagan on Youtube
Mike Flanagan
In 2014, I retired from Senior Technical Executive post with a top level, global IT systems and solutions corporation. Freelanced in the late 1990's in my own IT consultancy business & rejoined the corporate world 2005. Now decided to go into business again, this time online with an Internet Marketing Company I call CS Marketing (the CS stands for Corporate Survivor). I help others interested in online business and use the technical and business skills gained throughout my professional career.