Many people run an online blog, but relatively few of them are either popular or profitable. Often, people simply write blogs for friends and family or even just for their own amusement. However, if you want your blog to be something more than an online journal or diary, what can you do? This article looks at key components to consider if you want to run a popular, profitable blog.Have a specific subject
Firstly, it really helps if there is a specific subject or area about which you can write with authority. This will help your blog to gain credibility and also build up a dedicated readership that is interested in what you have to say. You don’t need to be an expert in anything complicated in order to run a blog (although if you are, this could definitely be useful!).
As long as there is something you are interested in and can talk about, you could make a success of your blog. For instance, perhaps you’re setting up your own business and want to share the journey, or maybe you work for a good cause that deserves attention, or perhaps you’re going through life changes that could make for an excellent story. All of these could make very popular blogs.
Market it properly
The next thing to consider is your marketing. If you want your blog to be popular and profitable, you need to make sure people actually know about it. This means it’s important to update your blog regularly to keep the content relevant. You might also want to consider setting up accounts on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook to promote your blog to different audiences.
Appreciate your readers
Something else that’s vital to running a popular blog is to appreciate your readers. They are much more likely to invest their time in your blog if they feel that you are interested in them and are grateful for their readership. Make sure you reply to comments so people can see you’re paying attention and, when your blog gets more popular, you could even run competitions to keep people’s interest. Whether or not you want your blog to be profitable, keeping up with your readers is essential.
Run ad campaigns
When it comes to making money from your blog, one of the most important things to do is to set up advertising campaigns. You can generally do this through programs such as Google AdSense, which you can sign up for and then display ads on your blog. When people click those ads, you then earn money from them. Obviously, the more people that click them, the more you will earn – so it is definitely in your interests to make your blog as popular as possible.
Link up with other blogs
Something else you could do to help your blog be both more popular and profitable is to link up with other blogs. You might, for instance, be able to earn money by writing guest posts for other people’s blogs, or for including links to their blogs on your site. This will also help to attract a wider readership, growing your blog and its success even further.