Ever since the emergence of blogging in the wonderful realm of the Wide World Web – anyone can be a writer.  You don’t need to be a published author, have a degree, connections, or be somebody to be heard.  All you need is your own personal computer; sign up on one of the many blogging platforms and you’re all set.
What is successful blogging?
Successful blogging, just like everything else all depends on how you define the word “success” and the reason why you blog.  There are many bloggers who simply blog because they like doing it.  They don’t particularly care whether someone reads their blog entries.  To them, successful blogging would be being able to write regularly.  Some may think the fact that they get comments and have any readers at all is successful blogging.
The Number Game
For others it is a number game.  Success amounts to the number of hits or traffic they get in a day.  It might be the number of comments they receive for each post, the number of followers or readers they have, and of course how much they earn from their blogs – be it monetary or through sponsorship.
Which blogger are you?  Are you in blogger land for your own personal enjoyment or use, or are you in it for the money or fame?  If you’re in it for the latter, here are a few tips that can help you become a successful blogger:

• Find your niche.  There are thousands of blogs online.  The most common cover travel, food, fashion, celebrity, literature, parenthood and careers.  Just think of any topic and chances are that someone already has a blog about it.  The trick is to find a niche which you know about.  If you’re a traveller and want to start a travel blog, try putting up a travel blog with a twist.  Don’t go where everyone has trod.  Travel blogs are a dime a dozen.  To make it in this niche, you have to offer something different.

• Try to keep coming up with original and unique blog posts.  But remember, don’t fake it.  Readers will know right away if you’re a poser.  This is a sure-way to lose in the number game.

• Keep your blog-design simple.  A blog that’s bombarded with graphics, videos and music that plays automatically as soon as your blog comes up may just give prospective readers a headache.  Instead of coming back for more, they will exit as fast as they can.

• For you to have a successful blog you will have to learn how to market your own brand.  It’s all about networking baby!  Make friends with other bloggers with the same niche (after all, you have to have something in common), leave comments on their blogs in the hope that they will come back to yours.  Put up a twitter or Facebook account and other social networking sites online with the name of your brand or blog and connect with friends as much as you can.  Who says blogging was easy?  It isn’t.

• Interact with your readers.  Always reply to emails and comments, making sure you’re nice and friendly even if they have left some unfavourable comments on your blog.  They are your readers, learn from them.  Remember, people like to feel important.

• Make sure your readers will keep coming back for more.  Be as creative as you can when writing a blog entry.  Leave a cliff hanger so your audience will come back.  Readers always want to know what happens next.

• If your blog has received enough attention from sponsors, share them!  Think of little fun contests/games you can do with your readers and offer them prizes you’ve received from your sponsors.  They will surely come back for more!

And lastly, NEVER use duplicate content or plagiarize someone else’s blog.  The wide world web isn’t a big place and you will be found out.  Save yourself from the embarrassment and even a possible lawsuit.

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