Anne’s blog pointed me to this post on Asterisk about what makes A Successful Blog. It’s a pretty good list, just check out the top five:
- Well written. Good content will make or break your blog. Period. This it the #1 thing that makes a blog successful in my book.
- Frequently updated. Unless you’re a guru of some sort you really need to stay on top of it. This can be a real challenge.
- Consistent. This is kind of a combination of the first two. I like sites that are able to maintain quality and frequency overtime.
- Open. I like to read people who are honest and willing to talk about tough issues in a free and open way.
However, I think the question you need to ask first, is "what are you trying to accomplish with your blog? " Some people want a journal, others want to keep friends and family informed, others are trying to influence political views, … Unless you know what you are trying to do, you won’t know if you are successful or not.
Which brings us to the question of "what’s the purpose of this blog?" I started it to learn about blogging. For me, it’s become a place to show what I’m interested in and what piques my interest in the world. I think it has primarily three audiences:
- friends and family
- people looking for esotric information on topics like double dutch jump roping
- people looking for book reviews
I’ve often thought about starting a topic specific blog, but at the moment, I feel more like a jack of all trades. There are way too many things to learn about to limit myself to studying and talking about just one!