Becoming a blogger

I have been asked about what it takes to become an established blogger.

All it takes to have a blog, is to be prepared to write for an audience of 1.  Write about stuff that will interest someone.  At first that will be the author.  If it bores you, then find something different to write about.

To be a well read blogger you need more.

Consistency in the way you write.  

There is an audience for most topics on the net.  It's a very big place, and there is an audience for most things.


But audiences are hard to gain.  If your bounces around too much; then you will lose your audience.  Imagine if the greedy goblin started talking about giving up earning ISK and started talking about how much fun it was to F1 button mash, bashing structures in null in cheap ships.  Or Tiger Ears started talking about how bad ganking in wormhole space.

We all have preferences in what we like to read.  Step too far outside our preferences, and we will stop reading you.  That said, if you write something that appeals to us, we will come back for more.



You don't need to be 'Correct'.  Correct is a subjective term; what is right for me is wrong for someone else.


While I would prefer that you had a consistent message, there are many successful writers as part of various media empires that change the examples, but have a consistent theme.


You don't need to have a consistent argument.  It would not take too much effort in most parts of the (western) world to find examples of writers with agenda's to push - The Dollar/Yen/Pound is going up : Disaster, so change the government.  Oh now it's going down : Disaster, so change the government.  The consistent theme of those writers is 'change the government' with only the excuse of the day changing.

Or in Eve terms; We gained a system so we are winning the null war;  Oh we lost a null system but have higher morale so we are winning the null war;   Or we destroyed one of our own titans so we are winning the null war.  You get the picture.

Consistent Posting schedule

Daily writing attracts more readers.  Consistently posting even once per week on the same day will attract readers.  Sadly, this is something I appear incapable of doing on an amateur (i.e. not paid for) blog.

What is in it for your readers?

A family photo album of that trip you took overseas is a bit boring to everyone but the family involved.  A blog about how to plan overseas trips and the best way to take photos of your family is far more interesting, even if it has exactly the same photos.

I try to write my posts keeping an 'eye' on how I think a reader will find it.  I fail as often as not, but I still make the effort.

Controversy helps.  

There are some controversial but very popular bloggers out there.  Scott Adams (Dilbert), Greedy Goblin, even Syncaine.  Going back further into my past there was even a 'Critical Goblin', who made a big splash in our circles by being controversial on that other game.

Marketing

Very few people will just 'find' a brand new blog.

• Ensure your blog will be picked up by google, looking at http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/website-owner/.  Love it or hate it, google will send more traffic your way than all the other search engines combined.  Give it a head start to know about you.
• Submit your blogs to community link sites.  
• http://foo-blogroll.blogspot.com.au/ (leave a comment way down the bottom).
• http://www.evebloggers.com/get-added 
• http://lowseclifestyle.blogspot.com/ (leave a comment asking to be added to https://sites.google.com/site/newedensource/)
• http://eveblogs.net/add-your-blog/ (leave a comment)
• http://cognitiveindustries.com/opml/addBlog.php 
• Participate in open invite endeavours (like the Blog Banter), where you have something to add.  For these to be interesting, you should apply your own (and sometimes liberal) interpretation of a topic, rather than just parroting what everyone else has said. 
• Participate in the community.  Write appropriate commentary for your environment.  When commenting, ensure that you leave a website, email or name whenever you do so.  Leave your blog in relevant "do you have something to add here?" locations.  Post blog items your items on Reddit, Slashdot, Facebook (ugggh)  or whatever other form of social media you use. 

For other reading, Gevlon has written an article Blogging is for the long term. I agree with most of it, with the exception that I think he misses the importance of social networking in establishing your presence.