Become a Successful Blogger

First lets get the stats out the way. There are 23,000 new blogs per/day. 11% of all internet traffic is to blogs. 61% blog readers are over 30 with an income of $45,000 and above. 2 million blogs are abandoned each year. 400,000 comments are posted to blogs each day. 92% of bloggers are under 30. 5,000 blogs are corporate blogs.

1. There are plenty of new blogs created everyday. In order to be a successful blogger a unique topic or unique twist is a must. Knowing your target audience goes without saying.
2. In order to capture search traffic - SEO Best Practice must be present throughout the site.
3. Knowing your target audience is important and keep in mind that 61% of blog readers are over 30 with an income level of 45K and above. So choose a topic that you love, but will be read by regular blog readers is imperative.
4. Most people start off writing and loving blogging, but a large number of blogs are abandoned each year. Determination to keep blogging has to be an important key to success.
5. Allowing visitors to comment on your blog is a requirement. Visitors love to participate so anything that restricts their participation is a negative.
6. All though stats say that must bloggers are under 30, I don't believe age matters. Just write for your readers.

All the marketing techniques applied in a regular business also apply to your blog.

• Network -Post to other blogs and forum, list blog url on your social networking profiles, and don't forget to talk people (offline) about your blog.
• Marketing - Offer free stuff, run contest, ask others to post articles to your blog.
• Monitor - Use Google Analytics, Trends, and Webmaster tools.
• Revenue - Have several different revenue generating sources on your blog. I use Linkshare, Amazon, and Google Adsense. (Host your own blog if you are building a blog to generate revenue - you can still use Wordpress, just host it on your own domain).
• Kept current - Read about current events or events that are in debate.