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Creating a busy, popular blog takes serious commitment, but it can be a lot of fun. The best start you could possibly make is to make a blog you're passionate about, because your enthusiasm will drive the concept. It'll also mean you enjoy the whole process. Try to get a clear vision of what you want it will all alter along the way, but focus is always good.

The best blogs are eye-catching, but this can be achieved in more ways than by installing a complex design. In fact, if your content is going to contain a significant amount of images, the simpler and cleaner the background design the better. In many cases you can simply use a basic template and insert your own logo/header image. Change your design or your logo or whatever from time to time to keep readers interested.

A note to people using animated gifs and anything that blinks, scrolls or flashes on their blog; stop it.

Blogs with designs using more than two columns only really work well on widescreen computer displays. If you're going to use more than one sidebar or content column, bear that in mind and keep it all as uncluttered as possible. Consider putting your sidebar and navigation menu on the right hand side of your blog, because that's where most people's eyes go first.

Don't bother displaying your hit counter or any other statistics until they're impressive numbers. You can sign up for a hit counter and make any number you like the starting point, if you don't value your honesty and integrity.

Have at least one static page attached to your blog to give people general information about yourself, your blog or whatever is relevant. It's also a good idea to have a way for people to contact you. If you're worried about having your email address on display, you can add an email field to your blog so that mails will go directly to your inbox without your address being visible at all. Another good thing to have on static display is your link exchange policy and the more blogs out there linking to you, the higher your blog's authority and ranking at places like Technorati.

Join Technorati and claim your blog immediately. Then look around and join every other blog directory and aggregator you can find. Google for directories specifically related to your country, your field of interest, your religion, anything. Don't underestimate the power of relatively small blog directories like SlogBite etc; if they're specific and well-used enough, they'll provide you with quality hits from people who are really interested.

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