Suppose that you have plenty of patience and time, and now you need to
know how bloggers can turn that patience and time into money. Believe it or
not, there isn’t a secret recipe for success. Truly, success comes from
Chapter 2: Welcome to the Blogosphere 27
commitment, time, and possibly a bit of luck. You never know when your
blog might get picked up by a major news portal that can attract a lot of attention
to it and possibly give your blog a big boost. Sometimes, success is a
matter of being in the right place at the right time — the nearby sidebar “Perez
Hilton’s lucky break” describes one celebrity blogger’s rise to stardom. However,
for most bloggers, success comes with persistence. Here are some tips:
✓ Pick a topic people are interested in. The potential size of your blog’s
audience is directly related to the number of people who are interested
in the topic you’re writing about. However, you should know
that just because you pick a popular topic doesn’t mean that your blog
will receive a flood of visitors. You also have to pick a blog topic that
isn’t already covered repeatedly online. If you do pick a topic that has
already been overdone, make sure to put a unique spin on your content
so that it stands out in the crowded blogosphere.
Perez Hilton’s lucky break
Mario Lavandeira started his first celebrity
gossip blog in 2004. Within six months, his lucky
break came, when his blog was referred to as
Hollywood’s most hated Web site by the TV
show The Insider. He adopted the pseudonym
Perez Hilton and changed his blog’s domain
name to www.PerezHilton.com. His blog
(shown in the following figure) continues to be
one of the most successful celebrity gossip
blogs online, and he has found fame outside the
blogosphere, through television appearances
and more. It all started with a blog topic that
people were interested in and a blogger who
wasn’t afraid to take risks.
28 Par t I: Introducing Google Blogger
✓ Pick a topic you’re passionate about. Remember that because successful
blogs are updated frequently, you have to write about your blog’s
topic continually and for a long time. Make sure that you have the stamina
to stick with it.
✓ Be social. This is the biggest key to blogging success. From the tone of
your blog posts to your responsiveness to comments posted on your
blog and e-mail sent to you based on your blog’s content, you need to be
friendly and constantly work to build relationships. Those efforts don’t
stop on your own blog. You also need to visit other blogs and leave relevant
comments, visit forums, join user groups, and more to get the word
out about your blog and build relationships with other bloggers.
✓ Keep learning. Successful bloggers never stop learning about new blogging
tools and concepts, their blog topics, and their audiences. The
more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to take your
blog to the next level.
✓ Take risks. Don’t be afraid to be creative. Try new blogging features and
functions, inject some unique content into your blog posts, or change
the layout of your home page. You never know what might work. Just
make sure to track the results so that you know what works (and what
doesn’t work) to bring you closer to meeting your goals.
Every blogger has her own definition of blogging success. Before you start
your blog, define your success metrics. Do you want to get specific results,
such as sales or business contacts? Do you want to attract a certain number
of visitors? Do you want to make a certain dollar amount from your blog?
Do you want to network and build relationships and create an online presence
that leads to other opportunities? Or do you simply want to have fun?
Write down your blogging goals and return to them every few months to see
whether you’re on track to meeting them, whether you need to make some
changes to get there, or whether you want to rewrite them completely. Only
then can you find and achieve your own blogging success.
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