βBlogβ isnβt a four-letter word any longer. Itβs not a joke or a waste of time. A blog can be an incredibly profitable, sound way of making a living. Whatβs interesting is that if you look at what top blogs do, they tend to check the same boxes, even if theyβre in wildly different niches. Hereβs how to do what other successful blogs have done, whether youβre just getting started or youβre ready to upgrade your efforts.
- 1 1. Their passion is their catalyst
- 2 2. Theyβre confident in their niche
- 3 3. They change up content styles
- 4 4. They never stop researching their audience
- 5 5. They cater to beginners
- 6 6. They stick to a consistent posting schedule
- 7 7. They always keep branding in mind
- 8 8. They vary their income and traffic sources
- 9 9. They start with (or at least specialize in) one social media platform
- 10 10. They use their email list for targeted outreach
- 11 11. They monitor their traffic
- 12 12. They think of networking as part of the job
- 13 13. They capitalize on other industry blogs
- 14 Wrapping Up
1. Their passion is their catalyst
If you read the backstories of popular bloggers, so many of them started for fun, not necessarily with the intent to make it a full-time gig or a massive income source. Yet that passion and no-pressure approach are what tend to grow a blog β if you want to post often and youβre invested in the topic, the content comes out great and attracts passionate readers.
Another reason why a passion-driven instead of money-driven blog works is because the blogger isnβt afraid to give away their top advice and secrets for free. Their goal is to be of use to the reader, not to sell whatever they can.
That βgive it away for freeβ approach is a cornerstone of successful blogs. Your audience has to feel like you care about their best interests, not cashing in every chance you get. Showing your audience that youβll help them even if you get nothing in return builds trust and loyalty, improves engagement and makes them view you as a confident authority.
If youβre unsure of how your passion will translate to a successful, profitable blog, ask yourself questions like, βWhat are the problems in this niche that people struggle with the most?β and βWhat do people want answered or solved for them?β
2. Theyβre confident in their niche
Thereβs a misconception that the only successful blogs are the ones about blogging itself (or something in the blogging sphere, like landing pages or SEO). This isnβt true, though. Even if your preferred topic is uncommon or a sub-niche of a sub-niche, thereβs likely an audience somewhere who will want to learn more about it. Also, by being a big fish in a not-wildly-popular pond, you can develop a dedicated following first, then broaden your scope and add more related topics to cover.
Letβs say you do pick one of those big, overcrowded niches, though. Think about what will set your blog apart from the rest. Is it your voice? Your alternative stance on controversial topics? The fact that you dive into an untapped sub-niche of an otherwise vast subject? Even something as broad and covered as blogging has desolate areas that need filling.
You can also use a popular niche as a jumping-off point and create a blog that talks about the other side of the coin. For example, if you want to get into the marketing genre, your blog could talk about why you donβt need social media or why old school marketing techniques still reign supreme.
Pro Tip: You can combine niches, too
By creating a blog that covers two related or complementary niches, youβll appeal to people who like both of those things. Instead of alienating people who donβt like both topics, you may attract a larger audience of people who care about Topic A, Topic B or both. By keeping your blog organized with categories, tags and easy navigation, your readers can access exactly what they want and skip the rest. For example, if youβre a mommy blogger who also shares recipes that are great for the whole family, youβll have followers who (a) care about mommy advice, (b) care about recipes and (c) love it all.
3. They change up content styles
While you donβt want to vary the content styles on your blog too much, choosing two different formats can keep the blog fresh. Down the line, you can always add more styles to choose from. Content styles include:
- Curation-style blog posts
- Evergreen content
- Infographics
- News
- Short-form content
- Long-form content
- Q&A
- Submissions
- Video
The content styles you choose depends on what you want to use your blog for. For example, if you have how-to content, it may be explained better through a video. You could then mix in Q&A sessions every week to address the comments left on your videos. Or, if you want to create evergreen content but also want your audience to know whatβs going on in the industry, you can post long-form content at the start of every week and then post a curated list of news links on Friday mornings.
If you want to post different types of content but it doesnβt seem like a good fit for your blog, use your other outlets. For example, you can post how-to videos to Instagram Stories or use Twitter to promote news stories.
4. They never stop researching their audience
Your blog isnβt about you. Itβs about your audience. Even if youβre writing a firsthand account of a breakup, itβs still for your audience β itβs about what they can get from your experiences. Your goal is to build a successful blog that helps your audience achieve what they want.
A lot of time should be spent understanding your audience β and not just at the beginning, when youβre launching your blog, but all along the way. The better you know your audience, the more capable youβll be at creating content that matters to them.
Talk to your audience as much as you can. Poll and survey them regularly. Let them respond to your newsletters, and then actually read and act on those responses. Read blog and social media comments and reply back or contact them directly. Find out what they want and what theyβre not getting. Ask how and when they want to receive content.
Hereβs a secret about your audience: only a tiny percentage of them matter
You donβt have to accommodate every single reader. You have to accommodate the portion of them that best reflects your true audience, the cream of the crop. If you try to please your entire audience, you wonβt please any of them. What does your core audience need? Which problems do they need solved? What will they pay you for if it means their lives will be improved? Thatβs what you care about.
5. They cater to beginners
If you have beginners who will be reading your blog, keep them in mind when crafting your content. The beauty of appealing to beginners is that there will always be new beginners, and therefore your audience base can always grow.
Cover topics that are mysterious to people. Scale all the way back β clarify words and concepts that novices wonβt know. When explaining complex ideas, write as though youβre speaking to a layman. If you have a mix of beginners and people who are more advanced, create a type of beginnerβs corner with basic overviews and introductions.
6. They stick to a consistent posting schedule
There are many posting schedules you can choose from. You can post every single day, just Monday through Friday, weekends-only or even twice daily. You can put one post up weekly or even monthly. Whatever you choose, stick to it β frequency is important (that once a month posting schedule may not be enough), but consistency regarding the day and time of posting is even more impactful. Your audience will know what to expect and when to check your blog for new content.
You can post sporadically if youβre still adhering to your normal schedule. For example, letβs say your audience knows that you post every Monday at 8 a.m. As long as that post goes up, itβs okay if inspiration strikes later in the week and you opt to throw up a second post now and then.
7. They always keep branding in mind
Think of everything you do for your blog as another way to build your brand. Be consistent when it comes to your branding, including the images you use, post layout and your voice. Do this across all supporting media, like guest posts, social media posts, podcasts, etc.
In terms of format, each content style you choose should follow a similar format, like how you write the title, intro, conclusion and call-to-action. The format is part of creating your distinct style. When it comes to your voice and tone, some blog posts may be more straightforward while others may be more personal or flowery, but they should all be written in the same general voice. P.S. Itβs okay if your voice is polarizing, so long as youβre not turning off your core audience.
8. They vary their income and traffic sources
Top bloggers rarely depend on just one type of income. There are a number of income streams to choose from when youβre ready to monetize your blog. The way you get traffic to your blog should be varied, too, and some traffic generators may also double as income. Options include:
- Advertising
- Affiliate programs
- Membership-only job boards
- Sponsorships
- Ebooks
- Guest speaking gigs
- Online courses
- Workshops
Of course, you can also use your blog to sell products or services. When your audience has such a big problem that theyβre willing to pay for a solution, youβll have a profitable blog.
When youβre getting started (and maybe indefinitely), consider using just one social media platform and using it very well. Focus on building that specific presence. Youβll learn a ton about the traffic you get there and how to use it to your advantage.
When you focus on maximizing just one social media platform, you wonβt get bogged down tracking insignificant stats. For example, comments are more important than likes, but if youβre juggling five different profiles, itβs hard to drill down into the stats that matter, making likes feel more important than they are.
On that note, itβs okay if your content doesnβt go viral β a lot of content doesnβt go viral, and there are some successful bloggers whoβve never had a viral piece of content or social media post at all. Quality of engagement is more important than quantity.
10. They use their email list for targeted outreach
Donβt neglect your mailing list! Grow your list and regularly send emails that are supremely useful to subscribers. There are a lot of methods for growing a mailing list, but the most common one is to give away a compelling freebie in exchange for an email address. In order to send useful emails, you should segment your mailing list and personalize the emails each segment gets.
You can automate segmentation by having your signup forms connect to different lists. For example, letβs say you run a blog about blogging. You cover a bunch of topics, including work from home advice and using Facebook ads. If you have a blog post that covers a work from home topic, your embedded signup form will connect to your work from home mailing list, and your subscribers will only get related information. When you send an email, you can give subscribers the option to sign up for other streams so they donβt miss the info they want.
11. They monitor their traffic
Unless youβre using your blog as a sort of diary and you donβt care if people read it, you have to keep an eye on your traffic. Traffic doesnβt magically happen even if youβre the greatest undiscovered blogger to ever happen to a niche. Set a traffic goal, make a plan for getting there, reassess your plan along the way, change the plan as needed, repeat. Figure out where itβs coming from, when it spikes and when it dies down.
What youβll find is that a lot of your traffic comes from a handful of posts and that even if you blog daily, thatβs not necessarily why youβre getting traffic. When you figure out where your traffic is coming from, you can capitalize on it β you can take those successful blog posts and update them, expand them, write spin-offs and submit them as guest posts, promote them in your newsletter, run social media ads, etc.
12. They think of networking as part of the job
The most surprising part about blogging is how much βnon-bloggingβ work there is to do, like networking. You should connect with other bloggers as well as professionals in your niche. Itβs easy to do this online, but try to have some type of in-person networking, too.
Blogging is a lonely job. You donβt have an office full of people to talk to when you need to blow off steam or bounce an idea off someone. Thatβs why having relationships with other bloggers is important. Youβll be able to bond and trade stories with people who understand what youβre going through.
On top of that, network with industry professionals β so, if youβre a legal blogger, connect with other bloggers (in the legal niche or otherwise) as well as lawyers, law students, etc. Youβll get a closer look at the industry you talk about all the time.
13. They capitalize on other industry blogs
Guest posting and regularly commenting on other industry blog posts let you tap into other established audiences and learn more about what people want. Reach out to successful blogs in your industry, even smaller ones that may have a dedicated following, and ask about opportunities to write for them.
Another reason to stay on top of industry blogs? So you can find out what your competitors are doing with their content and marketing. Then, do it better. Fill in the holes they missed. Improve on what they did by writing higher quality articles or going deeper into a topic. Take a completely different approach and break the mold.
Wrapping Up
If you donβt already, youβll eventually think of your blog as a full-time job. Creating a successful blog takes focus, purpose and planning, and it also requires enough flexibility to edit that plan as needed. There shouldnβt be any fluff. Everything, even if itβs on the βlightβ side, should be worthwhile for your audience β everything should have a benefit.
Successful bloggers take this seriously, and thatβs evident in the way they run their blog, develop their branding, interact with their audience and approach their marketing. Even the bloggers who seem to travel more than they sit behind a desk have put in a ton of work to get to that point. Or, theyβre not showing you all the work theyβre doing behind-the-scenes β the early mornings, weekends and holidays theyβre working when everyone else is playing.
That said, thereβs no specific amount of time you have to work on your blog. You can plug away for 15 hours a day or a hyper-focused 5 hours. You can do all of the work yourself or outsource some of it. The point is that you donβt slack off. Youβve set your goals, figured out what it takes to get there and are dedicated to it.
Wondering what type of blog is best for you? Check out our article 12 Types of Blogs and When Theyβre Most Successful.
Featured image via aurielaki / shutterstock.com
Hey, Lindsay!
Excellent work.
You jotted all the things that are common in successful blogs. You explained everything in detail. I found everything so useful.
I will definitely follow what you mentioned in this blog.
I am happy for finding and reading your blog.
Keep up the good work.
All the best!
I want to start a new blog to review books and anything book related. I am scared to start and I am the type who gives up easily if they donβt succeed quickly. we will see how it will turn out. Thanks for the wonderful insights.
Good luck, Corona! I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Thanks! good article!
Thanks so much, Josh!
Nice tips, thanks for sharing, Lindsay. Just wondering does paying bloggers for positive reviews or for a backlink a common thing and is it right?
Hey Charlene – You’re welcome, and thanks for reading! Paying bloggers for positive reviews is somewhat common, but it’s not ethical – a review shouldn’t have to be positive or negative, it should be truthful. I know plenty of brands reach out to me asking for a backlink after I publish an article, but I’ve already sought out the most useful links for my audience, so there’s no need to update the piece. Paying for backlinks is a gray area when it comes to ethics, and in general, audiences want authenticity whenever possible. Encouraging a content creator to include a backlink is different, though – for example, a brand may build a relationship with a blogger, and then when that blogger writes an article, they’ll naturally want to include a backlink. Hope this is helpful π
This is a great summary Lindsay and a good guide for those who do want to become successful bloggers. All these are worth considering!
Thanks so much, Marko!
Re: #4 subsection: Only a tiny percentage matter.
I follow Zalack’s Law w/regard to this. 64% of your income/profit/results comes from 4% of your clients/contacts/customers.
This is the 80/20 rule applied to itself. If 20% of your clients provide 80% of your results, then 20% of the 20% ( 4%) and 80% of the 80% (64%) provide your final results.
While this, like all rules, may not be 100% accurate all the time, the concept is spot on.
When you have, or should have, employees in your business, YOU should concentrate your time and effort on those 4% and hire someone to work on the other 96%. Don’t let any of the 96% disappear, because they are your garden, they are the wide part of your funnel, and could grow into as well as interact with, YOUR 64% result.
And, as a business owner, you should constantly be trying to move the bottom of your 4% list to the top of the list of the 96% by replacing them with even better earners.
This was created by Dick Zalack. Who’s he? He’s the guy who CREATED and first used this: “Failure to plan your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on mine.” He FAXED it clients and potential clients when faxing was cutting-edge technology!