Let’s be honest.  The dream is to start a blog and gain an international readership that will lead ultimately to a book deal or, at the very least, a healthy income from all of the clicks and sales your fascinating blog will generate.  True?  So what happened over the course of 2008 that caused over 133 million bloggers to dwindle down to a sorry 7.4 million bloggers who continued to write entries?  This statistic is from a survey by Technorati, a search engine for blogs and bloggers.  Why do less than 10 per cent of blogs continue to exist in the blogosphere, and fail to flourish and find readership?  Here are some of reasons.

It’s easy to fail at blogging.  There are few success stories.  One is the now legendary blog called “Stuff White People Like” which gained such fame that its author, Christian Lander, ended up with a book contract for a book of the same name.  The book was ranked 2449 on Barnes and Noble as of June, 2009which is not huge.  But, Lander’s blog www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com has had –are you sitting down—over 57 million hits.  Gulp.  He even has his own line of T-shirts you can buy on his website. 

Christian Lander is the rare exception; the blogger who has achieved the dream of both fame and some fortune.  Most people fail at blogging.  They fail for several different reasons.  First, most people are sloppy writers.  They simply don’t spend time working on their blog entries.    If I’m going to spend time reading your blog, you better be sure it’s well-written and carefully edited. Go purchase a copy of Strunk and White and start editing.  A blog entry shouldn’t read like an email, a text, or a tweet.  And it needs to have readable content.  Seems obvious, right?

So the second point is, if you are going to succeed at blogging your blog should be about something.  Unless you are Jerry Seinfeld, a blog about nothing is destined to fail.  There are exceptions, but not many.  There have been more than a few blogs in the diary genre that have been successful.  For a while.  Look, if your life has turned to dust and you’ve lost your father, your job, your apartment, and your boyfriend (like the main character in my screenplay The Contessa’s Vineyard-it’s a comedy, believe it or not), you can write a diary blog about the disaster your life has become.  Very soap opera.  But the fact is, soap operas are not doing well these days, and people soon tire of reading about your pathetic life.  And, with any luck, your pathetic life will eventually improve, and then what will you write about?  How good your life is?  Duller than dirt.   If your blog is going to succeed, pick a theme.  Something to write about that you can sustain over a long period of time.  Try to avoid topics like how cute your cat is, or why you love vampires and vampire movies.  Entertainment, gossip, education, parenting, careers, hobbies, food, travel, technology, politics; the list of topics is long.  The point is, try to keep your topic broad.  That is bound to increase the chances you’ll be able to come up with something to say as well as a wide readership. 

Which brings me to the third reason blogs fail.  Bloggers lose interest in writing them and quit.   If you can’t sustain enough interest in your own blog to keep writing it, why would anyone else want to read it?    If you don’t want your blog to fail, try to keep writing entries at least a few times a week.  Write short, interesting, well-written entries with a photo, or music, or even a mini-movie inserted from time to time.  If you write for a broader audience than yourself, your family, and your friends, you may stay more engaged with your blog and be less likely to quit.  It takes time to build a solid readership.

Failing at blogging is common.  One final way to be a blogging failure is to name your blog something utterly forgettable.  No one will find you, read you, or remember you.  So what should you name your blog?  If you’re famous, or plan to become famous, use your own name like Arianna Huffington does (www.huffingtonpost.com).   Otherwise, try something catchy, cute, or clever.  The blog www.boingboing.net, describes itself as “a directory of wonderful things”, is one of the most popular blogs around, according to Technorati. It’s a gimmicky title, but it works.  Another example of a good title is  www.parentdish.com.   It’s clear and self-explanatory.  A favorite of mine is www.mymarrakesh.com.  This blog has been a finalist several times in the Weblog Awards, which is like the Academy Awards of blogging.  I like it because I love travel, the site is visually stunning, and because I’ve been to Marrakesh.

My own blog is going well.  I’m not embarrassed to tell you than my first blog failed.  I made all the mistakes I’ve told you a about here.  I had no particular point or theme.  I rambled.  I ranted.  I wrote sporadically.  I also was on a blog site that didn’t get much traffic.  I’m tickled to say that I’ve found my theme and a good spot for my new travel blog.  Check it out at  www.teethetrav.travellerspoint.com .  I blog about two things I love--food and travel--and I found a great site to host my blog.  I’ve had a few thousand hits in a few months.  Who knows?  Maybe a book deal is just around the corner…Good luck with your blog.  Let me know how it’s going!