Blogging: Principles That Work

If you have a blog, here are some key principles that will help you find more readers and as a result, have more influence:

1)    Find your niche – what area or issue can you write about that no one else is addressing?   In the blogging world, the niche is the new big.

2)    Keep it simple – my blog was tested and is actually written at a 7th grade reading level.  At first I was offended, but then I realized, it’s a diary, not a research paper.   Write at a level that’s popular, not exclusive.

3)    Keep it focused – your readers generally seek it out for one thing.  What is your identity?  What is your brand?  What makes your blog different?  Why should I hear from you?  What makes you an expert?

4)    Keep it short – I’ve discovered that crazy people write the longest responses.  There’s a reason we call people on the web “surfers” and not “readers”.

5)    Your personal perspective matters.  Check out Dooce.  A housewife simply writes about raising kids.  And now she’s one of the top blogs in the country and makes about $40,000 a month in advertising.  It’s all her personal perspective and people love it.

6)    Three words:  provocative, personal, and preemptive.  Be controversial, intimate, and strike before anyone else.

7)    Consider multiple writers.  Study the Huffington Post, Church Marketing Sucks, Engadget, and others who have a team of writers, versus this blog that has just me.  I love writing, but if you have difficulty doing it regularly, then you might consider getting help – just make sure they express your vision.

8)    Are you a creative blog or a content blogs?  I’m a creative blog.  I write original stuff.  But some of the most popular blogs aggregate content – as in the Drudge Report or Bully Pulpit.  They don’t do anything but scour the web and bring all the articles on a particular issue into one place on a daily basis.

9)    There’s always a debate about conflict.  Although I wish my serious posts were the most read – sadly, my most popular posts are usually gossip related.  If I write on the challenges of the new media world I get a few hundred readers.  But if I write about Paula White’s divorce or Juanita Bynum’s fist-fight in a hotel parking lot, my readership spikes.  Problem is, I don’t want to be the Tmz.com of religious media.