Written on October 21st, 2009 at 01:10 am by Darren Rowse
5 Ways to Know if Your Blog is on the Right Track
In this post David Wright and Sean Platt from direct response copywriters share some suggestions on indicators of when your blog might be on the road to success.
Starting a blog was one of the most exciting things we have ever done. Building a loyal audience, gathering intelligent subscribers with insightful comments, and making plans for the future were all part of a wonderful first year blogging. The problem for us was that reading about blogging and actually blogging are two entirely different things.
Blogging is hard work. Much like becoming a parent, all the warnings in the world do little to prepare you for the reality.
No blog becomes famous overnight unless its author happened to be famous a couple nights before. Blogging requires hard work and diligent effort for a sustained period of time. Many bloggers give up in the first few months and the majority never see their sixth. I can sympathize. With all the blogs screaming for attention, how are you supposed to know if your work is going to pay off or if you‘re wasting your time?
Outside of tons of visitors, or lots of ad revenue, success is defined differently by different people. Some bloggers are seeking a path to money while others are more interested in simply connecting or sharing their voice. The list below is simply a way of gauging whether or not people are connecting to your blog.
Five ways to tell if your blog has what it takes:
1) Comments
Comments can be both an empty measurement and a solid indicator that things are going well. If your blog is receiving a lot of comments, that’s probably a terrific sign. However, if the majority of those comments ring to the tune of “great post!” then even 100 are rather meaningless. A couple of valuable comments that provoke discussion are far better than double digit comments that are only there for the benefit of a link. It means that people are finding value in your content and interested in engaging you and other readers regarding that content.
Darren previously wrote on 11 ways to get your comments noticed on a popular blog. Use this information to help you determine the value of the comments you’re receiving, while helping you to learn to make your best comments.
2) Subscribers
All growth is progress. If your subscriber count is growing, then you can consider yourself on the right track. Slow and steady wins the race and it can take months blogging to break into the triple digits. Many people, ourselves included, set unrealistic goals for their subscriber counts. This only leads to disappointment and frustration. Be realistic and remember, blogging is a process, not an event. If your numbers show steady growth, then you’re doing something right. If not, then you need to reevaluate your content, posting frequency or perhaps your social media strategy.
Darren has written many times on getting more RSS subscribers. This post has 9 tips to help you find more with a nice video and link roundup.
3) Links
Links are the currency of the net and help to pay for whatever it is your blog needs: traffic, social proof and search engine rankings; all are the direct result of high quality links. And one of the best ways to generate quality links is to produce quality content (and make sure that content is seen). The more recognized you are, the more links you will receive. The beauty of incoming links is that they carry a cumulative effect. After a while, people will start linking to you simply because others are.
Getting links is important. Here are 11 ways to increase your chances of being linked to by a blogger, as previously written by Darren.
4) Friends
With blogging, an ever expanding web of friends and blogging buddies is essential to long term success. You could even make the case that who you know is sometimes more important than what you create, though I do believe the quality of your work must always stand on its own. Strive to meet new people and widen your network as best you can. I’m not saying to strike up phony friendships with people you’d otherwise have no interest in. Rather, find people you are genuinely interested in and can learn from. You will have created a network of mentors that can teach you a lot more than a dozen courses. If there is a natural complimenting of each other‘s strengths and weaknesses, all the better.
As part of Darren’s excellent 31 Days to Build a Better Blog series, he ran a post on Day 15 about finding a blogging buddy.
5) Niche
Many bloggers make the mistake of not clearly defining their niche. I know I’ve made the same mistake several times myself. If you are blogging as a hobby, it is unnecessary to build a fence around your ideas. If you are looking to turn your blogging into profit, or a full-time living, it is essential that you understand the audience you are targeting and how best to market to them.
In this previous ProBlogger post, Glen Allsop talks about how to find your passion and know what you should be blogging about.
Remember, we all define success differently. However, paying attention to the above list and the advice linked within can help ensure your blog lives up to its fullest potential.
Question: How do you define blogging success? How have your opinions of success changed since you first started blogging?
David Wright and Sean Platt are the team of direct response copywriters behind GhostwriterDad.com.
100 Responses to “5 Ways to Know if Your Blog is on the Right Track” - Add Yours
David Shaw
October 21st, 2009 2:15 am
Nice post!
I like to look at the comments, subscribers and links more than the other 3!
Roschelle
October 21st, 2009 2:18 am
Although my subscription numbers and meaningful comments have increased considerably, for me the best indicator is the friendships I’ve gained since I started blogging. I consider many of my readers…my friends.
eCommerceCircle
October 21st, 2009 2:23 am
Been blogging for 3 months… I see why it’s hard, but I’m gonna keep on trying.
BlogInterface.net
October 21st, 2009 2:26 am
Starting a blog is really hard. I started posting on my blog a week ago and the first thing I learned from blogging is: if you are not working hard, you get no traffic. You must be very active on relevant blogs with commenting them, working around StumbleUpon and of course tweeting. The more you do, the bigger is the chance that someone will notice you.
BG Novini
October 21st, 2009 2:28 am
What about posting comments by myself. It is not a real tracked how popular is the article. Maybe social network start are better way to chek article popularity.
Wisdom Credit Cards
October 21st, 2009 2:35 am
I am still researching on how to get my blog noticed or atleast one or two post noticed. It really pays you as the fruit of effort that we put on.
Still unlucky even after done some real hardwork.
Cjniche
October 21st, 2009 2:36 am
Creating a dynamic(build community) and trustworthy(educate and help) enviroment for your blog should be a priority.
The number of comments and subscibers can be perceived as social proof.
Friendship 2.0, integrating new media platforms(Twitter, Facebook) and building a branded channel between potencial readers and you/your blog can be an eefctive path for growing
sbunting108
October 21st, 2009 2:59 am
i look at the number of subscribers + the amount of direct traffic coming to my photography blog.
Guillermo
October 21st, 2009 3:12 am
At the beginning i used to measure success through comments and visits. With the time I was changing my mind and now I measure the success of my blog based on subscribers (once you’ve reached 3 digits, then the rest comes alone “Eat sh…, thousands of flies cannot be wrong”), SEO and positioning for keywords and visits.
And that happened once i really understood how mi niche was, of course…
Jonny
October 21st, 2009 3:12 am
90 percent of blogger are failure, it is really hard to set up a successful blog.
Maria
October 21st, 2009 3:13 am
Thank you David and Sean for sharing this! I agree with you, that blogging success takes time and most people just give up too easily! People used to think that blogging would make you rich over night ->”Just write a couple of blog posts a month and you will earn as much as in your day job in no time!” People were sold on this ideas too get rich quick and when money is the only motivator, it often fails.
Like you said, getting a solid subscriber number takes time, I believe you should be stubborn enough not to give up before! Don’t let all these hours of hard work, nights of networking, writing, and reading go to waste and stick to it! I truly believe that you will then reach your goals!
Thank you for putting this back into perspective!
Brad
October 21st, 2009 3:15 am
Judging by this list and my experience so far, this blogging thing is a lot harder than it looks.
Jonathan Frei
October 21st, 2009 3:21 am
I feel like subscribers is the most important metric. It means someone has already found you, like what they saw, and commit to see what you do next.
Subscribers don’t really know what they’ll be getting, but it shows they trust that it will be good because of what they’ve seen already.
Amatuer Blogger
October 21st, 2009 3:24 am
Let’s see: #1 – No #2 – No #3- No #4 -No #5 – No
But I am just an amateur, and it’s a new website, and a new blog.
I think I can…I think I can….I think I can.
Nathan Hangen
October 21st, 2009 3:26 am
Definitely hard work, but it is fun. I liken blogging to building friendships in real life. You just keep being yourself and trying hard to listen and be there for people. Same things that work in the business world work in the blogging world.
Maryann Miller
October 21st, 2009 3:31 am
So glad I found this blog via Twitter. This post was so helpful as I figure out how best to increase traffic to my blog. And thanks so much for the terrific links. This is what I love about the Web. Like a little spider I crawled over from Twitter and then went out on other strands until I ended up back here. Pretty good for a woman who years ago only wanted a computer because it was attached to a printer that could churn out manuscript pages.
Bert Meert
October 21st, 2009 4:27 am
I personaly find Niche and Friends the most important points to focus on when it comes to building traffic.
Niche, because blogging is about dealing with a particular area of your life, finding the essence and communicating your thoughts with passion.
Friends make blogging very enjoyable, an opportunity to grow on a personal level and they also generate the remaining 3 factors: Links, Comments and Subscribers.
Monica
October 21st, 2009 4:55 am
While this is excellent advice, I am still struggling to determine where to begin with starting my own blog. I have a niche picked out, but I want to be sure to set it up with the future in mind. Any ideas? I have a domain name idea that I think works well…but after that I am having a hard time deciding which step is best to take!
Surender Sharma
October 21st, 2009 5:09 am
Niche is the main and most important part of the blogging success.Useful niche can build better readership base.
It’s true that comments measures the progress of the blog.
For me the long list of subscribers measure the success of blog.
Jannie Funster
October 21st, 2009 6:14 am
I already feel very successful as a blogger with all my current buddies and new ones arriving out of the blue, but seeing my Alexa rank drop below 200,000 then 100,000 would make me very happy. (I think) :)
I’m not so sure about subscribers counting as a success indicator — a lot of those are spam. A LOT. Or am I the only one experiencing that?
John McTigue
October 21st, 2009 6:20 am
I would add repeat visitors to your list. Ideally people like and trust your posts, subscribe to your feed and come back for more whenever they see a new post. One more would be Twitter retweets that include a link to your post. The more of these you get, the more you grow your following.
Ronblogger
October 21st, 2009 6:25 am
I look up first to Niche then Subscribers then Links then Friends and im sure with great content, Comments will follow
Robin Cannon
October 21st, 2009 6:33 am
Excellent stuff. I think that a lack of comments can definitely be one of the most disheartening things when you’re developing a blog. You see all these extensive discussions on other blogs, you want to be part of this social *network*, but it feels like you’re writing in a vacuum.
The good thing is that developing a blog commenting strategy and making sure that you take the time to interact with other writers isn’t really a chore. There’s so much material out there that there should always be something that you want to talk about, a blog post you want to agree or disagree with, and that’s all there really is to blog commenting. So long as you don’t neglect that activity, it will provoke a long term benefit in visitors and engagement on your own blog.
BenG
October 21st, 2009 7:31 am
When I first started blogging it was all to make a buck and I thought to be successful I had to be able to make a living off of blogging.
After blogging for about nine or ten months now I have started taking ads off of my site and getting more excited about followers, comments, and making new friends.
I think it all changed when I realized I enjoyed writing about the outdoors almost as much as actually being outdoors.
Kim - inspirational thoughts
October 21st, 2009 7:32 am
I’ve had my blog for 4 months now and I have been encouraged by some of the comments I have received. However, I have come to realize that it does take hard work. Currently, I try to add a new post every 3 days. Thank you for this article. I now have other items to watch out for to let me know if I am on the right track.
We Fly Spitfires
October 21st, 2009 7:58 am
Great post!
…
Hehe, just kidding :)
Some very valuable points there that are nice for me to read as it reassures me that I’m on the right track with my blog. I don’t want to stagnant.
Roger Ariarates
October 21st, 2009 8:02 am
Be blogguer is a job that requires discipline and perseverance, I think if it’s the money we do a blog a little longer we delay in getting results because we focus on what we have earned and not to write quality content.
ser blogguer es un trabajo que requiere disciplina y constancia, creo que si es por dinero que hacemos un blog nos demoraremos un poquito más en obtener resultados dado que nos concentraremos en cuanto hemos ganado y no en escribir contenido de calidad.
Dave Doolin
October 21st, 2009 8:50 am
I’m going with the slow and steady: average 12 new aweber subscribers per month over 6 months. One subscriber dropped, open rate 55%. I’m cool with this. I’m learning the ropes. It feels right. I would hate to have a huge pop in subscribers or traffic, and not know what the heck was going on… when I got back to low numbers after the spike.
@jannie: I’m just about to drop under 100,000 for the 7 day average. It feels *good.*
Teen Blogger
October 21st, 2009 9:56 am
Great Post.
I actually think that fellow readers are actually encouraged to leave comments if your blog already has some comments on your blog post or blog. When ever a reader sees that your blog doesn’t receive any comments it will most likely also not comment. So I think getting comments is pretty much a importent indication on how visiters perceive your blog.
Annabel Candy
October 21st, 2009 10:28 am
Let’s hope that getting the first 100 subscribers is the hardest part!
There are still a lot of perceptions about the Internet and it’s very hard for me to get many of my friends to subscribe to my blog because they are scared of spam. Even when I convince them that I’ll be the only person to get their email address and I already have it anyway the fear is still there!
Maybe it’s easier targeting a younger and more computer savvy audience.
The Constant Complainer
October 21st, 2009 11:27 am
This is a great site. I read about it on Fruitful Vine and decided to check it out. I definitely have a niche blog. And the comments do tend to rack up pretty quickly. But now I’m working on growing my audience. I think I’ll be spending a lot more time on your site!
Tom Wanek
October 21st, 2009 11:32 am
Thanks for posting. With so many stats to look at I often get frustrated with information overload. But this list simplifies it, and will help me move the bar forward.
Brandon Cox
October 21st, 2009 12:00 pm
So you’re sayin’ I’ve got a chance!!… :)
Tony
October 21st, 2009 12:14 pm
I just wanted to say that I read problogger everyday:). I started blogging in April of this year. Just the other day for the first time I had 59 viewers, yeaa lol. I know this isn’t alot, but it’s better than the five or lower that I mostly get. I guess either no one likes gardening or my blog stinks lol. I am trying a craft blog on word press, just started this one other day. but it is hard to do a blog if you have no idea what your doing, like me but I try. So far I have no subscribers, but it is still there so far. As for my blog, sure I would like to make some money, but also like to do it for a hobby besides gardening.
Kelvin Servigon
October 21st, 2009 12:46 pm
I can say that after one year in blogging, my blog is really improving compared on what it looks like when I was just starting.
And for me, subscribers/loyal readers and friends are the most important for building up a blog into success.
Thank you for this post. :)
Technology Slice
October 21st, 2009 12:53 pm
Nice post. Usually reader participation is a good indicator for the success of your blog.
Annie @ PhD in Parenting
October 21st, 2009 1:26 pm
With regards to comments, I find the best way to get great comments is to ask a question or write about a provocative topic and then engage people when they respond. Reply to their comments, ask them more questions, etc.
The issue of niche is important too. I have a specific niche for my blog and when I want to write about something that falls outside of that, I tend to blog about it on BlogHer.
Farnoosh Brock
October 21st, 2009 1:55 pm
Thanks for the article, Darren. I go back and forth on comments. I had them closed initially – after I read (and logically agreed with) Steve Pavlina’s blog post on comments and managing them takes time away from creating content, and perhaps a forum (if you have the traffic) is a great place to let your readers talk. I also wonder if it’s possible to have a passion (and slowly develop a niche) over more than one area. I would not want to choose between some of my passions, only to develop them further- and writing about them. Anyway, I feel new to blogging every day and that’s one reason I love it, regardless of how I rank :)!!!!
carte memoire
October 21st, 2009 3:18 pm
I like your tip about asking an open ended question. Its a really good tip because people are inclined to provide an answer to your question. I am definitely going to try to include this in my posts from now on.
hokya
October 21st, 2009 3:59 pm
nice, i never heard about niche factor before, thanks
however, i just have the number 1 and 2 yet
batteries
October 21st, 2009 4:56 pm
Thanks! They really did make a huge difference on our blog. I’ll add your feed to my Google Reader too.
techprism
October 21st, 2009 6:03 pm
I usually look on the comments on my blog & google analytics tools to track visitors.
Although Wordpress plugins like Most popular posts & Blog Stats are of great help in tracking website’s performance.
Dana@Online Knowledge
October 21st, 2009 6:39 pm
I surely define blogging success by how much earn that blog have. I call it success if already get a good earn. :D
aprces
October 21st, 2009 7:16 pm
This is a problem indeed. A successful blog that I think is one can bear the loneliness all the time, focus on blogging his own niche and never to be garish, break out naturally step by step, day by day. Even if others don’t take it as anything seriously, but he is still crazy about what he is doing now, with a good appetite, keep masticating and mull them over and over
Business Blog
October 21st, 2009 9:32 pm
Thanks for the nice post. The popularity of a blog depends on the participation of it readers though commenting and subscriptions
Mike Skel
October 21st, 2009 10:12 pm
So, I will not write great post!
I believe quality comment is surest way of knowing one’s blog is right track.
But if comments, subscribers are not growing, but still if unique visitors keeps increasing steadily, I think one should be happy about his blog!
Vivek [All About Presentations]
October 21st, 2009 10:32 pm
Hi
A nice post.
I would like to understand why you have not talked about the amount of traffic on the blog as a measure.
I totally agree that RSS & Email subscribers is a more important metric but I would like to know your thoughts on the traffic part.
Thanks
Vivek
lair360
October 21st, 2009 10:37 pm
According to my research on subscriber, most of the readers are robots and the rest are real people and evil spammers. So, to clarify yourself… readers do have their own minds and the number will drop if they are not reading your article.
That is all…
Womens Car Insurance
October 21st, 2009 10:46 pm
Finding a blog niche is probably the most difficult. Creating a blog on a popular topic usually means too much competition. Now if you have some original and useful content to back it up then competition won’t matter.
Ade Adenekan
October 21st, 2009 11:20 pm
This is a very commendable effort, keep it up.
work at home
October 21st, 2009 11:26 pm
Yes all Signs are really noticeable if our blog is good track or not.
I think that subscriber is great matter here. If our subscriber is going increase then we come to know that reader are enjoying our blog.
Google Biz Kit
October 22nd, 2009 12:06 am
I really like your tips. The best one is about comments. There may be 100 useless comments put only for the sake of a link.
Few useful comments are far better than 100s of use less comments :)
Blogging Tips
October 22nd, 2009 12:33 am
Great post.I have been blogging since 6 months and have good readers on my blog
ITrush
October 22nd, 2009 12:57 am
Hmm, if everything fails.. keep trying, who knows right?
Mal Keenan
October 22nd, 2009 12:59 am
Thanks for this. Some very useful tips.
I’ve just started taking blogging seriously even though I’ve been in the business quite a while. My brand of blogging until now has been for search engine bait. I’ve just recently changed course and am enjoying blogging quite a bit.
It’s slow progress as you say. I believe persistence is the key. I’ll keep at it.
Mal Keenan
Bob Wagner
October 22nd, 2009 1:01 am
Great information, Being a new (serious) BloggerHow do you feel about StumbleUpon? I read it is a great way to make your subscribers soar if you can get high ranks there. Any suggesstions in doing that?
Tom Babinszki
October 22nd, 2009 1:25 am
One thing that serves as an indicator for me is the number of returning visitors. When I post something new, day by day I find that more people come back to read it. While the email subscription growth is an indication, it doesn’t always show the subscribers actual interest.
The Movie Scene
October 22nd, 2009 1:52 am
For me I define success as waking up each day with an urge to work on my site, adding new content and trying to improve it even if I’ve had bad days with traffic and earnings. Yes getting a lot of visitors and making money is a goal – which will grow over time, but the minute I lose passion in what I am doing is when it is no longer a success.
I would also add ‘bounce rate’ to the list as achieving a good bounce rate is a good sign of things are moving in the right direction.
erman
October 22nd, 2009 2:03 am
hello, i am a new Blog begginer , i find that your articles are very useful and interesting, here by i will let you know that i put your ideas in ” Five ways to tell if your blog has what it takes: ” in my article title ” Belajar Tentang Blogging Nih.. “, it is in Indonesian. Ofcourse, i did not forget to write your site in my article. Let me learn a lot from your articles, Thx a lot..:)
Jessica Nunemaker
October 22nd, 2009 2:07 am
Well, drat. I guess that means things aren’t going so well for me…yet.
– and my site looks so handsome, too. ;)
Ravi Spielberg
October 22nd, 2009 2:34 am
Most people don’t understand that a lot of hard work is needed to get to become a successful blogger; it’s rarely an overnight occurrence.
I like comments best if you can generate them (like the question just did:)) because you get a true picture of what your blog is to people, as opposed to what you think it is. Subscriptions usually come after the comments to me; especially from repeat visitors, like a second step to growing a worthwhile blog.
Friends and link love make it all the more enjoyable. You feel like part of a great community…and you get the added impetus to give more back to everyone
kaspersky key
October 22nd, 2009 2:45 am
Links are the only important thing for our blogs. The more links the more traffic. The more traffic the more money. The more money, the more happiness.
Ciarina
October 22nd, 2009 2:48 am
Blogging success for me would be more of a community. I’d love to see my visitors and subscribers writing quality comments and discussing the posts, sharing their ideas and their thoughts on the topics at hand. It works both ways too: my blog gets attention, their blogs get attention, thanks to their comments (especially quality ones).
Even though I’m classified nowadays as a hobby blogger (I have no niche, so to speak), my opinion for success hasn’t changed: it’s still all about the community. The numbers don’t lie, but in many ways, it isn’t an accurate gauge on how much of an impact a blog makes on its readers.
Jonathan
October 22nd, 2009 2:54 am
Greetings Darren:
I was wondering if you could help me understand how to know who subscribes to your rss. In other words, if I’m going to offer something for free for subscribing, how do the person who subscribes? I can see the number of subscribers on feedburner, but how do I know the person behind the number?
Thanks, I enjoy your posts.
Ron
October 22nd, 2009 3:19 am
Thanks for the great post Darren. I certainly agree that Niche is the most important thing for a money making blog. Currently, my blog doesn’t have any real direction, and monetizing it is not my goal right now.
I took the approach that I will just write free-spirited and see where my blog takes me in the coming months. If i decided to monetize it, great, if not, oh well
I started my blog to write about any topic I enjoy, and I am a happier person because of it.
Keep up the great articles.
Lydia, Clueless Crafter
October 22nd, 2009 4:49 am
the agony and the ecstasy of blogging. i needed this post today, a strong salve for a wounded soul. i blog to find warm emotional connections and engage in intellectual discussions on art and craft.
i can see from my numbers that i have really good readership and it grows every day. i just wish more of them would share their opinions and insights with me. I want to learn, too!
Suzanne Vara
October 22nd, 2009 5:47 am
Darren
These are excellent points. Blogging is not easy as even if you set a time to blog life does not always run on your time schedule. The parent analogy is great as what a change of life when having a child.
Finding your niche and what readers like and then expect from you is a way to increase readers and subscribers. Also the time that you actually post the blog. This tells a lot about the location of your readers and when the best time to reach them is. Listening to your readers is a big part of blogging, especially for new bloggers.
Slow and steady is exactly right as a blog that stays consistent is everydays news where a blog that has a huge traffic day and then dies the next day is yesterdays news,
Thanks for the insight and inspiration to know I am on the right track with my blog.
Hyla
October 22nd, 2009 6:04 am
I used to think that blogging was all about stats and how many companies noticed you. Then I realized that I am blogging for me, not companies. Im less stressed now, I dont check my stats every week and daily number hits are dropping. And that is ok with me because I know that the people reading my content are interested in what I have to say not all of my giveaways.
Fakhrul Alam- Make Money Online Blog
October 22nd, 2009 6:51 am
Darren this is awesome and it gives the complete mindset of starting blogging with an focus niche.
You are right that this all basic this are very important to know first before start blogging
I have also done that mistake before that not focusing in one niche, providing everything in blog.
Later on I understand we need to maintain different blogs or website for different niche and it that way we make money.
Blogging is not All in 1, it’s all about 1 in 1.
Thanks for sharing this article and I have learned great thing from here.
Alam
cocacolabuffet
October 22nd, 2009 8:41 am
I wonder how Darren and Sean and everybody here found his niche. How do u differentiate between passion and niche? What one is passionate about may not be a niche coz there are many others who are better than him on this amtter. Or it may be something one is passionate about and is very good at but there’s not enough critical mass out there who may be interested in this matter.
Please advise. Thanks!
Lukman Doank
October 22nd, 2009 1:55 pm
I’ve just setup new blog, I hope my blog on the right track based on those indicators..
Gabe | freebloghelp.com
October 22nd, 2009 2:07 pm
Great looking set of tips. As for the niche, I still see so many blogs that are unfocused. In fact, some pitch several topics that are so unrelated, like pet care and cell phones on the same site!
Douglas Bonneville
October 22nd, 2009 5:07 pm
I have a blog 2 months old now. I worked about 10 hours on one of the posts with research and graphic design and production. It just got tweeted by Smashing Magazine and Just Creative Design. In the last few days, it’s been about 10,000 hits. The bottom line is that its better to make one great post than 2-3 mediocre posts, and there is no way to circumvent the need for real work. Good blogs are good because real work goes into all their posts. It’s actually pretty hard, and you can’t sustain what you don’t really want to do. But if you love what you do, the work is transcendent.
In the interest of seeing how much work a tweet-worthy post can take, take a quick look here:
http://bonfx.com/19-top-fonts-in-19-top-combinations/
Or simply google “font combinations” and look for “bonfx.com” in the first few results…I know many of you aren’t interested in font combinations, but that is not the point of the above link…
Miguel | Simply Blog
October 22nd, 2009 5:35 pm
David and Sean,
Right on guys. I was reflecting on success and how we can truly define it. I asked the community around a site I write for and here’s the top ten definitions they came up with:
http://simplyblog.net/10-definitions-on-being-a-successful-blogger/
I know you’ll enjoy it! Cheers!
-Mig
Greenhousecarol
October 22nd, 2009 10:28 pm
I have just started blogging, and I do find all of this challenging – so thanks. I don’t want to ‘monetize’ my 3 blogs (travel, gardening, handcrafted jewelry) but I wouldn’t mind at least somebody taking a look at them – maybe even once! So I have a long way to go to achieve ’success’. I do appreciate all of this advice.
Umar
October 22nd, 2009 11:44 pm
awesome post….very nice description
Joi
October 23rd, 2009 3:01 am
I’ve found that certain niches bring about more comments than others. I have some blogs that get killer comments and interaction while others….. nearly zilch.
Some are more apt to subscribe to rss than others, too. With my cat blog, for example – few actually subscribe to the rss, but they jumped on the e-mail alerts.
The number of people linking to you is a great way to give your blog a check-up. Also, the number of tweets you get is a good indication.
Thanks for a great post!
Crimson Conservative
October 23rd, 2009 4:30 am
I’m starting to get some quality comments on my blog. But my overall traffic numbers are still pretty low. But I’ve barely been doing it a month, so I’m just going to keep plodding away at it.
Problogger.net has been a good source of advice, inspiration and ideas for me.
Vickywebworld
October 23rd, 2009 7:22 am
I think the main problem many newbie bloggers face is choosing a niche
Red100
October 23rd, 2009 11:21 am
The problem is that online advertising doesn’t pay enough to support the costs of news reporting. ,
Paul Hassing
October 23rd, 2009 2:35 pm
Many thanks, David and Sean. I wish I were more advanced so I could say something better than ‘great post’. But I’m afraid that’ll have to do till I break my own triple digits. Best regards until then, P. :)
Tomas Stonkus
October 24th, 2009 3:35 am
Hi:
Thank you for the article!
I do agree with the article completely. All of those are signs of that a blog might going the right direction. However, I was more interested in answering the question posted at the very end of the article: “How do you define blogging success?”
I am a fairly new to blogging and to start out, I have been reading the 279 Days to Overnight Success by Chris Guillebeau (http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/overnight-success/) to get me started. What was really interesting is that he doesn’t claim to want to get the best indicators that show how great his blog is. On the contrary, he seems to be only doing just enough to support this own lifestyle.
And that is how I would define blogging success: does it support the goals that you want to achieve? That implies that you must have some sort of goal set, otherwise you will not be able to know if you are successful or not. So, even tho all of the indicators mentioned in the article can help you indicate if you are the right track, by no means will they tell you WHEN you are successful.
Best,
Tomas
Siraj
October 24th, 2009 5:57 am
Niche should be picked up first, it is your area of expertise or topic you would blog about.
I was involved for my mom’s food blog since 2006, which is in Bangla Community blog. Comments gives the feeling that people are reading or liking what I was writing. On those community blog there was nothing we could do for SEO. But over the time my mom’s kept her self running her blog, maintaining her readers well, answering their comments and suggestions for cooking. Specially her recipes, and cooking advise established her that the contents and recipes are unique and authentic. Sometimes she could not right her blog in regular basis.
So niche and passion is the first thing for a blogging success. Your reader is your asset for the blog. Keep your blog running with a new and unique post in regular basis, and of course do your blog SEO done. For my VoIP blog SEO has started working, without any advertisement of the blog it has been attracting 200+ pageviews everyday. Not bad for a 5 months old blog.
Rab
October 24th, 2009 6:51 am
How about another one for the list? Quite simply unique user stats and return visitors
Joseph Bestler
October 24th, 2009 5:28 pm
I think it would be interesting to see how long you have been blogging and how many post views you get in a day. Maybe some of your readers will be interested in posting this information.
Thanks
crazy blogger
October 24th, 2009 8:15 pm
I am loving your site. One great post after other. I have just started blogging and I thinks I will spend a lot of time in this blog.
ecommerce567
October 24th, 2009 9:08 pm
I like very much your way of presentation.. I got more useful information on this blog.. Thanks to sharing the useful information….
darren
October 24th, 2009 9:32 pm
what an unbeleivable site.will spend all day in here i think.
Kristine
October 25th, 2009 3:31 am
I never took blogging seriously…until I became a freelance writer, so I guess I blogged seriously out of necessity. But really, I’m quite thankful I came across this blog.
I think Siraj was right – niche should be on top of the list. It’s the definition of your whole blog, anyway. And from there, you’d be bringing more people to visit, to comment, to subscribe and to link. I mean, that’s what I’m trying to do…hopefully, one day, everything would pay off.
Measuring blogging success depends, but I think the best success for me is when I read comments from readers. At least I know I have readers who are interested with my posts. :)
Rita
October 25th, 2009 11:11 am
I’d like to get more comments. I’ve been blogging for nearly two years now for baby boomer consumers. I’ll go back and read Darren’s posts on how to increase your comments.
Rita, blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog
October 25th, 2009 7:40 pm
I believe in one thing and that is constant rising in everything showing that your blog is on the right track.
It can be comments, earning, subscriber and other relevant terms.
titan
October 25th, 2009 11:17 pm
i agree with that. Comment, links, backlinks and popularity. It will comes if you play well.
SEO Services
October 27th, 2009 1:02 am
Great point !It’s really useful.I really like to read.I am sure that I will be following the advice given in this blog .Thanks a lot,for sharing such an awesome list.Keep blogging…
Nacho López
October 28th, 2009 1:03 pm
I think that the most important in a blog is have a lot RSS suscribers. 1 reader is more powerful than a visit.
J. Aday Kennedy
October 28th, 2009 2:58 pm
It took m a year of poking around to find my niche, marketing & promoting books. The best way I’ve found to increase my subscribers is to read comments on other’s blogs. The substantive responses cause me to follow their links. I don’t follow “Great post” links.
I’m discouraged by my mere 30 subscribers, but hopefully my time and content will pay off.
Blessings,
J. Aday Kennedy
The Differently-Abled Children’s Author
Archie, ATT Uverse Reviews
November 6th, 2009 1:47 pm
I’m a new blogger and it’s more of a personal thing for me but you gave me an idea how to make my blog work for me.
work at home
November 6th, 2009 4:45 pm
Although my blog subscriber are not increasing afterall I gain new PR3 on my blog. So I can say that my working is something going good. I will have to work more so that I can success.
Markco
November 12th, 2009 7:02 am
I just started a new blog called http://mybumbusiness.blogspot.com and I’ve been using the tips found on your site to try and grow my base. Already after one day I have several phrases on google linked to the articles that in turn link to my site.
Thank you so much!
BloggerGirl
November 13th, 2009 12:59 am
Very good post.
I have a question,
how can i know how many subscribers do I have?
Flek
November 15th, 2009 2:12 am
Awesome post. Actually am new to blogging. Started a blog recently but not in the right track it seems :(. Reading this article shows that. I must do many more things. Thanking you very much.
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