1. It takes more than writing skills.
Not only does your voice, but grammar and spelling also need to be top notch; there are various other skill-sets a mega-blogger must retain. Write about whatever excites you and your blog will be more narrowed down to an interesting topic and more interesting.
2. Polished Graphic Design
Not only is it important to know how your blog works in the backend code, but also know how to make great, eye-catching graphics for your content. Keeping up to date on all the latest visual trends is key if you want to have the next "in" signature style. A pretty blog is a popular blog.
3. Well Lit Photography
A sharp, well light photo is so very attractive to the reader's eye - it may be the thing the helps your page get clicked on. For bloggers, the only medium of your photos is the web. This means you basically can get away with using any decent camera with the right lighting. Plan out your shoots, notice little things in the background that could be distracting, and aim for minimalism. If you struggle in this area, google photography basics, as well as photoshop tutorials to fix your rookie mistakes.
4. Thrilling Titles
A simple yet accurate title might be what is causing you to lose out your page-views. I'm not encouraging you to be that blog with the super promising title that after you get to the article it never actually reveals any wonderful secrets or truths untold. Make it outrageous or something current people will be searching for. Just make it something you would want to click on.
5. It takes Community
A constant flow of good looking and quality content will be pointless if no one gets to see it. It's important to share on all of your social media sites to gain your maximum reach. If you don't have a twitter, tumblr, Pinterest or Facebook, GET ONE and start making friends. These social networking sites are how people find new blogs.
6. Support Other Bloggers and You will Feel the Love
You cant' just put yourself out there and expect everyone to come running. Be the one to reach out and make blogger friendships and work to maintain them. Follow their blogs and always leave a comment, most will return the favor if you post a link to one of your blog posts with RELEVANT content.
7. Be Subscribe-able
Make sure it's easy and clear for your audience to be able to follow your blog. The people you want reading your blog are the ones who are devout blog readers. These people do not bookmark all of their favorite sites like an amateur, they have fancy RSS reading programs or sites such as Feedly, bloglovin, and Reedah that can organize their hundreds of blogs into groups. Trust me it's part of their breakfast or nightly routine to log in and scroll through tons of new content daily. Make sure you are able to be part of that mix by registering your blog through a site like feedburner.
Keep it Exciting "Above the Fold"
Back in the newspaper days, the term "above the fold" referred to that prime space on a newspaper that showed all the juiciest news when the paper was folded up. This is the part that would show when laying on top of the stack; it would make people want to buy the whole paper. Feed readers usually give only the title, the first picture and a limited amount a text in the preview. Keep that in mind when creating your post to have to put all the exciting things to draw people in "above the fold."
8. It Takes Time and Commitment
Unless you already have a major following somewhere else online, you are not going to create a blog that is valuable enough to sell ad space right away. Most will have to blog as a hobby your years before this becomes an option. Once you have a large audience hitting your site every day, your site becomes worth something in the eyes of advertisers. They only want to pay for ads in a place that is highly trafficked.
Don't give up! If you are a new or aspiring blogger, please leave your link in the comments below and I'll take a look!
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