Chapter Twelve
Blogging: What Works
Many organizations and individuals use blogs to express themselves, advance their brands, drive traffic, and produce sales. As a result, blogs continue to grow. From 2006 to 2011 the sheer volume of blogs grew from 36 million to 181 million.1 Interestingly, about one in three bloggers are moms.2 Here are nine quick wins and lasting concepts for anyone who wants to run a successful blog. They have helped Socialnomics.com become a top 10 blog, according to PC Mag.
1. Commitment: Blogs are free like a puppy, not free like a beer. In order for them to grow strong and healthy, they require time and care. The commitment is dependent on many factors (amount of posts, authors, skill set of bloggers), but you can anticipate a 30- to 90-minute commitment per day to run a successful blog.
2. Consistency: Unless you are someone like Bono and whatever you do or think will be of interest to people, you will need to pick a general content strategy for your blog. Is your blog going to center on politics or on police chase scenes? How specialized is your blog going to be—general politics or Republican female senators? Are you going to focus on breaking the news or reporting on the news? The more specific and consistent your content, the better chance your blog has at success. Remember, you are competing with close to 200 million other blogs! You need to stand out in order to be outstanding.
3. Audience: You should not be writing for everyone. As you begin, determine ...
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