A week or two (maybe three?) I wrote a Thursday 13 post in which I mentioned finding a niche as a good way to helping your blog find success. I received several comments in response claiming that having fun blogging makes it hard to stay in one particular niche and even just this week, Chica posted on her site that she felt like not having a niche was like not wearing undies, but that she found it hard to find ways to stay on topic with a set niche.

Well, guess what? A niche does not have to be as specialized as the type of car you drive or your favorite style of music. It can be something as obvious as “personal diary” where you talk about your day, your job (which in itself is a whole different post topic) or the funny LoL cat photo you saw yesterday. A niche can even be as detailed as marketing, real estate or boating. The idea is not to limit the topics you cover, but to give yourself some boundaries (providing you do not limit yourself to only talking about Hansgrohe faucets, you should be ok)

In my original post I equated a starting a blog to starting a business. Most businesses (the successful ones anyways) start with a business plan, a set of goals and a “mission statement”. They also have an area that they work in. You don’t find many aquarium cleaning services also offering tax help or a doctor’s office changing your minivan’s oil. They have a niche. You walk in to a store, you know what kind of store it is by the products they’re offering. Your blog should be the same way.

Cigar Jack for instance, is very obviously a blog about cigars and while the majority of the posts on the blog are about cigars (some really good reviews by the way), he also has posts about things that go along with cigars (liquor). He’s not limited in his topics, but guided. A post about smoking a don Peppin in a Tesla Roadster wouldn’t be too out of line, as long as there was some focus on the cigar as well as the car.

So I guess, in response to Chica’s post, don’t be afraid to pick a niche or topic for your blog, as Mr. Tibbs said in Pirates of the Caribbean, “its more a suggestion really”.

Popularity: 69% [?]

Thirteen Blogging Mistakes to Avoid
In no particular order…

1. Using a popular theme - Yes. Its extremely easy to use a theme that is widely available and very popular. Maybe you like the colors but so do 100 other bloggers and the problem occurs that all the blogs start to look the same after a while. Choose a theme that makes your blog stand out. If everyone is using three columns this month, switch to two. If the trend is towards lighter fonts on darker backgrounds, change it up. Be different. Make your blog stand out and your readers are more likely to remember your blog.
2. Agree with everything everyone says - Sure. Its nice that you and John Chow happen to feel the same way about a product or a website. However, writing a post that agrees with something that the major players say will gain you far less readers than writing a post disagreeing with them. The person you disagree with is also more likely to pay attention to you as well, especially if your counter argument is well formed and supported. Don’t just post “John Cow said this, but I disagree.” Back up your argument with examples and facts.
3. Widget Love!! - There comes a point when there too many widgets are a bad thing. This is especially true in the case of thirdparty widgets that load from someone else’s websites. Issues can arise that cause your site to never complete loading. Plus, your readers aren’t there for the widgets. They’re there for the content. CONTENT should be THE most important thing on your blog (yea, the widgets are nice, but really, out side of a select few widgets, they’re more for you than your readers!)
4. Once its posted, thats it - Don’t let the conversation stop once the post is published. Get some good dialouge going in the comments on your more popular posts or post a question regarding peoples thoughts on some less popular ones. The more you get people active on your blog, the better your blog will do.
5. Doing it for the money - Yea, money is nice and its always good to be able to pay the bills so the lights stay on, but if you’re blogging strictly for money, your posts will show it and you’ll get tired of blogging.
6. Talking above your readers - If your posts read more like a college textbook than a trashy romance novel chances are your readers are few. Don’t go all academic on your blog, keep it real.
7. Constant Tinkering - Do not constantly tinker with the theme, layout, plugins, etc. Thats what a dev blog on a subdomain is good for. The biggest reason for this is a simple mistake (you accidentally erase something, or add some code and something goes horribly wrong.) Its easy these days to setup a second “development” blog where you can test new themes, plugins and whatnot with out damaging your main blog.
8. Trying to make everyone happy - You can’t so don’t. Besides, if people like the drama thats going on on your blog, they’re more likely to return to catch up on it. That does not mean you have to pick fights with anyone who leaves a comment, but don’t bend over backwards either. Remember, its your site, you’re the only one who has to be happy.
9. Not Promoting your site - Unfortunately, your blog is not the Field of Dreams (such a good movie). If you build it, “they” will certainly not come, at least not with out a little help. You need to promote your blog. Use entrecard, use bloglog, blogcatalog, bloggingzoom. Hit your favorite message boards (don’t be spammy) or community sites. Post comments on OTHER blogs. Spread your link around and then they will come. Its simply not enough to simply build it these days (especially since EVERYONE has a blog).
10. Taking yourself too seriously - Seriously. Unless you’re a nationally syndicated columnist, you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. When you start to fret more over what your readers think then whether or not you’re having fun blogging, its time to reevaluate things. The important thing to remember is that when it comes to blogging, the next guy is just as important as you are (doesn’t that make you feel better??)
11. Blogging about things you don’t know - Never a good idea. You wouldn’t get up in front of a group and talk about a subject you don’t know anything about (well, unless you’re me and its a college history class you need to pass) so why would you blog about something you’re not even vaguely familiar with? Before you blog, do your research. Better yet, stick to things you know (that means a car mechanic should talk about fixing cars and not about fixing the space shuttle)
12. Tire of blogging - Its tough blogging once or twice a day but you need to at least update a couple of times a week. Never let more than a few days go by with out posting. If you know you’re not going to be able to for a while, ask some other bloggers if they’d like to guest post. Give your readers a reason not to forget you as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind!
13. Blog about the current hot topic - Did you see what Britney did to her children with that monkey?? Chances are if there’s a hot topic going around the internet (say, the google pr bitch slap) then there are tens of thousands of similar posts going on about how so and so was hit hard by the PR update. Instead of writing about the same thing as everyone else, come at it from a different angle. If everyone is writing about HOW they were affected, write about what you’re going to do instead. Hot topics are nice, but if the market is saturated with posts about it, your won’t stand out. I came across a really good post @ problogger about this very topic…

Popularity: 78% [?]

Thirteen ways to blogging success
In no particular order…

1. Find a Niche. Pick a subject (or a couple of subjects) and blog about those specifically. Don’t jump from Britney, to Politics, to Software reviews to auto racing on the same blog. Your posts would be everywhere and no one would be able to follow. If you want to blog about a variety of subjects, create multiple blogs (they can all be subdomains!). Look at the big guys, they all have a fairly narrow subject and they stick with it.
2. Blog regularly. Regular blogging helps keep you on your toes. It provides more content for your visitors and it gives them a reason to keep coming back. Not to mention, but it looks really bad when there is a month span between posts. Almost like you don’t care to blog.
3. Write about what you know. I’m a dad, a history major, a backpacker and an IT guy. It would be insane for me to blog about cars or soccer or even milking cows when I know very little about those things. However, I can blog about family experiences, computer related topics and even history and politics to some extent with a little credibility. It helps to sound like you know what you’re talking about. You wouldn’t go to the Doctor for a physical if his doctorate was in poetry would you?
4. Communicate with your readers. This is one thing that a lot of bloggers fail to do. Yea, you’ve written the post. Maybe your job is “done” but it shouldn’t stop there. If susie leaves a comment on your post follow up. Either a reply in the comments or an email to susie thanking her for her comment and commenting on it goes a long way to gaining a new reader. Besides, your readers are more likely to check back if they know you’re going to reply.
5. Don’t do it for the money. Yea, money is nice and its always good to be able to pay the bills so the lights stay on, but if you’re blogging strictly for money, your posts will show it and you’ll get tired of blogging. Not to mention, your readers will get tired of reading the CRAP you put out.
6. Relate to your readers. I know it sounds silly, but the better you relate to your readers, the more readers you’ll have. Instead of spouting off statistics, numbers and links, try and tell your story (think of each post as a story) on a personal level. If you add a bit of personality to your writing your readers will be more likely to relate to the post and find that nugget of wisdom in it you want them to have.
7. Post things you like. If you like something, chances are your readers will too. If you’re disgusted by something, again, chances are your readers will be too. One of the best things you can do is post about things you like (it goes back to posting about what you know).
8. Keep a journal. Call it what you will, but journaling on paper was the precursor to blogging as it is today and it still has a valuable place in every day life. Unless you’re a hermit living in your mother’s basement (sorry Gruntled) you’re not going to live connected to your computer/blog 24/7. Keeping a small notepad on you will help you remember what you wanted to blog about the next time you log on line (like that outfit the really fat guy was wearing at the mall today, or something your professor said in class about making sausage). Its easy to come up with ideas to blog about, its harder to remember them.
9. Write as though you’re having a conversation with a friend. This is a tricky one that could get a lot of bloggers in trouble and it shows in the blogs that use broken English as their main language. The trick is to write so not to seem stuckup and snooty. If you write as you talk (make sure grammar and spelling are correct) your readers will have a much easier time reading and will be more likely to come back.
10. Do not use a FREE blogging site like wordpress.com, blogger, livejournal or myspace. If you really want success as a blogger, pony up the $10 a year for a domain name and find some inexpensive hosting. Know though, that as with most things, the cheaper the hosting the cheaper the service. If you go for a cheap hosting plan, don’t be upset when you experience outages, downtime and poor customer service. The cheaper hosts aren’t concerned about quality so much as quantity.
11. Have fun. I mentioned post things you like above, but you also need to have fun. Successful blogging is a job (whether or not you see it that way) and as with most jobs, the more you enjoy it or have fun doing it, the more likely you are to continue doing it. Imagine that instead of blogging we’re talking about making widgets. You spend every day punching a time clock and standing on a manufacturing line making these widgets. Every widget is the same as the last. For the sake of arguement, lets say, they’re money making widgets. Each one is the same color. The same size and shape. After a while, the newness of the “job” wears off and you hit the snooze button in the morning because you really don’t want to make widgets again. Blogging is a lot like that. If you don’t enjoy blogging (I mean really enjoy blogging) it becomes a chore and one thats easier to give up than most. Don’t constantly blog about the fact that you aren’t making any money. Instead, blog about things like what you did with the little amount you have made. Blog about your children, pets (well, dogs really) or your favorite pair of shoes. Blog about things that are fun to blog about.
12. Comment on other blogs. Establish a network of blogs you visit daily. It doesn’t take long to pop in to five or ten blogs and leave a comment. Even if its just a “hey, this was a good post” comment. Almost every blog around will at least let you drop a link to your blog back in. Some of the cooler ones let you drop a couple. And every link counts.
13. Make social networking your friend. I don’t mean myspace. There are plenty of other SN sites out there. FaceBook (there is a really cool WordPress plugin for facebook), entrecard, digg, thoof, bloggingzoom, sphinn. These should all be your friends and you should be visiting them daily. One of the best ways to gain readers is to figure out what the hot button topics are and post about them. I don’t mean the “John chow said” type posts, but blog about the hot stuff in your own voice. Yea, hot button topics are good, but the same old crap isn’t. Bring a new and different (conflicting?) view to the scene and more people will visit and comment.

Popularity: 89% [?]

It appears that several of the bigger players are abandoning ship in hopes that they aren’t dragged down with it. The promises made by BlogRush head John Reese have failed to materialize as more and more bloggers pull the widget from their sites in an effort to rid the web of such bloaty scripts.

I had posted back in November about my experiences with BlogRush and whether or not it was worth it and at the time, I decided to make some changes to the way I handled their system. Instead of giving them my main feed with every article in it, I switched to a specific blogrush feed that only showed the articles I wanted to show. It helped a little, but as the next screenshot shows, it still wasn’t the boon to traffic that programs like EntreCard, and even just making comments on other blogs has been.

My next step was to change the category my blog lived in as well on the BlogRush system. That did little more than drive my credits up as I received less and less exposure. So now, I have around 20k credits that aren’t being used (which is a far cry from the Cow’s 10,000,000 credits). I’ve noticed that as I browse the blogosphere, I’m seeing the BR widget less and less and with bigger sites pulling their widgets, I have to wonder if it was a good idea poorly implemented. One of the things that makes EntreCard worth while is that you have to get out and drop your card on other blogs and YOU get to choose who you advertise on and who advertises on you.

This form of self quality control enables you to make better choices that benefit you and your readers more than blogrush. Most of the crap on the blogrush widget is just that, crap. I really don’t need to know that you failed to make 28,000 a month last year. What I need is good incoming traffic.

Popularity: 65% [?]