by May Monten

Created on: December 21, 2009   Last Updated: January 28, 2010

Creating a successful blog is not a mysterious process. The principles involved are simple. Follow these tips, and you will discover for yourself the thrills and deep satisfactions that come from building a successful blog:

* Pick a topic you love *

Your blog topic should be something you love to think and write about. Your love for your subject will show through in your writing and draw people to you. It's the essential foundation for a successful blog.  

You are going to be writing about your topic a lot, over the life of your blog. If you don't love what you are writing about, blogging will eventually become a chore and you will get burned out. Pick a subject you love, though, and the opposite will happen. The more you blog, the more energized you will become.

* Make things easy for your readers *

Use a clean layout. Don't clutter up your page with so many ads that you drive readers away. Pay attention to page-loading time. Think about how your readers might navigate through your blog. Make it easy for them to find related and archived posts.  

You don't have to do this all at once. You can, and probably will, tinker with the layout of your blog throughout the blog's lifetime. Always keep in mind, though, that you want to make reading your blog a comfortable experience for your readers, so that they will want to come back.

* Give credit where credit is due *

Whenever you post something that you originally found elsewhere, especially if it was on another blog in your niche, give credit with a prominent link. It's the polite thing to do and will help you gain a reputation as a responsible and courteous blogger. It may also get you more attention from your peers, because whenever you link to other bloggers, they are likely to see the link in their statistics programs and come take a look at your blog to see what you wrote about them.

* Avoid gimmicks *

There are many programs that promise to increase your traffic, using some sort of program where people get points for visiting your blog. Avoid those. They won't bring in much long-term traffic, and they will make you look like an amateur. It's much better to cultivate readers who come to your blog because they love your content, not because they are gathering points. And if you follow the first tip above - write about a topic you love - then people *will* love your content, because your enthusiasm will be catching.

* Be patient *

It can take a long time to build a substantial audience, in many cases at least a year. Keep on plugging away. Think of it as being in the cocoon stage of your blog. Eventually, you will emerge as a butterfly, but in the meantime, many valuable things are going on. You are becoming an expert on your topic, discovering your authentic blogging voice, fine-tuning your layout, and becoming a part of the community of your niche. Success, when it comes, may come all at once, and not necessarily in the way that you expect. The time that you spent in your quiet cocoon stage helps ensure that when success arrives, you will be ready.

Learn more about this author, May Monten.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.