Yesterday I wrote about using a blog as a Springboard for bigger things. In the post I talked about different kinds of bloggers and shared a little of my own story. Today I want to suggest a few ways to build a blog that launches you into bigger things.

So how does one become a ‘Springboard Blogger?’

Much of what I wrote yesterday about my own journey shows how accidental, evolutionary and lucky the process was for me (although I’ve become a little more strategic in recent times). Having said that – there are seven lessons that I’ve learned along the way that might be helpful for some.

1. Set Goals

While I’m not the best goal setter going around I do have some broad dreams and agendas in mind as I blog. I tend not to get bogged down in specific and detailed goals but instead set myself a broad course and then allow the wind to blow me where it will.

For example – with Digital Photography School (DPS) my broad goal was to create a space for beginner to intermediate photographers to learn how to use their cameras. I didn’t set out to create a blog with forums and then to write photography resources – I’ve let my readership, luck and circumstance hone the goal and the opportunities have opened up.

2. Position Yourself for the Next Bounce

As I say – my style with this type of process is to set broad goals and then to let the wind take me where it will. This isn’t completely true – when the wind takes me in a direction and I begin to see a potential next step I then take the rudder and begin to position myself for that next opportunity.

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Are you jumping up and down on the one spot with your Blog or are you using it as a launching pad for something else?

While I was in Washington at the Underground Online Seminar, one of the speakers (I can’t remember which one) spoke in passing about an entrepreneurial principle of always looking at what you’re doing now as a springboard into what you will do next.

As he spoke I naturally started to apply it to blogging and found myself thinking about three types of bloggers:

1. Jumping Up and Down on the Same Spot – this blogger starts a blog, grows it to it’s potential but allows it to become stagnant but doing the same sorts of things that they’ve always done on it in the same ways. Their vision is generally to grow what they’re doing by doing what they’ve always done in the same way that they’ve always done it. While this type of blogger can build successful blogs – they could be missing out on reaching their potential by not leveraging their current success to do new things.

2. Jumping from One Random Thing to Another – this type of blogger is a serial starter of new blogs. They have an entrepreneurial spirit but find it difficult to stick at things and see them through to their potential. They’re easily distracted by the next ‘big thing’ and as a result don’t tend to fulfill their potential in the current things that they do.

3. Springboard Bloggers – this type of blogger probably falls somewhere between the first two types in that they have the ability to build successful blogs and stick with them long enough to see them reach some sort of tipping point – however they’re always thinking about their next venture and are often able to leverage their current and past success to launch their new thing.

This last group of springboard bloggers usually start out with smaller blogs but use even the small influence that they build their to launch themselves into new and bigger ventures. Perhaps one of the best recent examples of this was Wendy’s recent announcement that she’s about to start blogging for Entrepreneur.com’s new Women’s blog.

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Otto asks – “We’re reading almost the same posts on every top blogs – it makes me feel that either there’s nothing really new on making blogs and/or that blogs are past. So, what’s next?

Otto, I presume you’re talking about reading the same posts covered on blogs blogging about blogging? If so, you’re probably right on one level – there is a lot of posting on the same things in the niche of blogging about blogging.

One of the interesting things that I’ve observed lately is that the blogging about blogging space (and the ‘blogging for money’ space) has definitely become more cluttered. It seems that many bloggers go through a stage of being fascinated with the topic. Most watch each other and like in any niche their ideas and posts will bounce off each other also.

On one level I do get a little frustrated by it (it gets a little boring reading it all), but on another level I’m excited by the enthusiasm people have for blogging and I do learn by following what’s being written on the topic (there is some really original and worthwhile content being written).

I’m also always interested to see how long these sorts of blogs last. In my experience, most blogs about blogging tend to last about 6 months – I’m not sure if this is how long it takes people to realize its not easy to monetize it or whether it’s the time that people take to get to the end of their list of story ideas – but going beyond six months on the topic seems to be difficult (I suspect it is similar on other topics too).

Anyway – onto your real question – what’s next in blogging (or beyond blogging)?

I’d start by saying that I don’t think blogs are ‘past’ – but I would say that we seem to be in a period of consolidation and extension.

I see a lot of bloggers engaging in these sorts of activities at the moment:

• adding authors – group blogs are the new black
• clustering blogs around verticals – bloggers extending their blogs by adding sibling blogs on related topics
• networking – 2006 was really the year of the blog network but it continues to happen in both loose and formal ways. Many of the blog networks didn’t really survive but there are quite a few that continue to bubble away and sustain themselves
• adding services and features - whether it be video, podcasts, forums, job boards, classifieds, chat features, voting tools… many bloggers are beginning to add interesting features to their blogs that attempt to add value to blogs. I think what we’re seeing is bloggers more willing to see the limitations of blogs and wanting to blur the edges of what is and isn’t a blog.

I’m not convinced any of the above is what’s ‘next’ as such – it’s all happening here and now already.

I’d be interested to hear what others think the future of blogging is? Are blogs a thing of the past? What is next?