What Makes a Good Blogger?

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What Makes a Good Blogger?

August 4, 2005 3:27 PM Posted by mac

An excellent case study over at ProBlogger got me thinking about the odd nature of blogging. The study details the travails of a blogger who has decided to ditch his blogs after six months of giving them a go. While I was reading I realized that the real-time nature of blogging perhaps creates unrealistic expectations of success.

Confused? Let me explain. Blogging offers instant gratification. You write something up, you slap it into your blogging system, you hit publish and BLAM! you've got a nice piece of Web content. This is unlike any other medium -- even daily newspapers and 24-hour cable networks have content cycles.

But the instant gratification ends at the submit button. Just because you publish something doesn't mean anyone is going to read it (or find it for that matter). True growth requires months of consistent posting and grooming.

As I see it, the key traits of successful bloggers are:

A unique voice -- No one likes boring content.
Consistency -- Blog early, blog often and blog even when no one is reading. Eventually they will come.
Search knowledge -- Good bloggers know what search engines want.
A great host/conversationalist -- At its best, blogging is about conversations and a person who can both start and continue discussions will do very well in the blogosphere.
Business savvy -- Self-promotion, grassroots marketing and a thirst to learn can help a blog turn a profit (or at least cover its expenses).

Am I missing any? Feel free to share your thoughts below. -- Mac Slocum