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A June 4th article in Ad Age (subscription required) compiles some useful studies of the blogosphere, but, like most mainstream media articles about blogging, it largely misses the point about what really makes blogs influential. That got me thinking about what really makes a blog popular.

The article notes:

"[Blogs] have the power to send stock prices plummeting and influence the buying decisions of millions. Consumers count them as more credible than your advertising and e-mail marketing."

And that's absolutely true. But it's not the 15 million active bloggers who have that kind of influence, it's the top 5,000. They're the only ones who are read by more than a handful of friends and family members.

Ad Age says:

About 15 million active blogs are read by 57 million people, a number that gives bloggers great credibility, power and influence as sources of information for everything from news to corporate reputations to product purchasing.

But those influential blogs are not the blogs written by teenagers. To influence decisions, impact on business, and grow an international following, a blog has to write about topics people want to read about, in a format that is interesting and compelling enough to make people come back on a regular basis.

The blogs that move markets are the ones that :

- are written by a blogger with high credibility in his/her field
- are well written
- are written for the readers, not just for the digerati
- acknowledge that the blogger doesn't have all the answers
- asks readers for their opinions and input
- reflect the personality and style of the blogger so people know with whom they are having the pleasure
- has a sense of humor and doesn't take itself too seriously
- has a high level of original content
- links to other interesting blogs and websites
- provides analysis that helps readers succeed
- has lots of examples that readers can apply
- is not afraid to have a strong point of view
- engages in conversation with readers who comment on posts
- is fun to read
- uses images to illustrate its points
- have short, pithy posts that are easy to read off a computer screen

What did I miss on this list? Please add to it.

Posted by B.L. Ochman

This is a great - and very complete - list of success factors. Thanks for putting it together!

I'm a member of a couple of blog communities. One of them has a very active comments section -- we're talking as many as 300 comments after some of the posts.

We wonder where some of our members are if they haven't commented for a day or two. (One member recently fell ill, and, oh, were we glad when she returned!)

Some members have also arranged Meetup-style gatherings in various U.S. cities.

BL -

Great list! I'm going to link to it.

Nettie

You forgot RSS. That is huge in blogging. The ones that use it right are getting enormous exposure from it.

Hey BL :)

Way to go!

Wonderful to see you firing on all 12 cylinders once more. It's what life and friendship are all about, surely?

John

Thank you for the list BL. This might be restating a couple points (and the obvious) but...the successful blogs seem to:
- share good stories
- evolve a personality - over time - that is composed of the readers AND the writer
- visits other blogs in the developing community

I really like your point about not having all the answers.

--Lets you create categories where people can find certain posts on certain topics quickly.
So many people use Blogger which doesn't offer this option.

--Uses relevant keywords in headlines and body copy, making it easier for the search engines to find the info.

I think it is especially important that blogs take an authoritative but not patronizing tone.

Like others, I'm perhaps most inspired to revisit blogs that instill a sense of community via their tone and very active post comments.

Likewise, I've been very impressed by blogs whose authors make it easy to contact them directly and are very responsive to emails that you send. Seeing some question or idea you sent to a blogger subsequently show up as the topic of a blog post is a very gratifying thing.

Great list, BL!

I am not sure about post length. If post is really interesting and useful, it can be long, very long.

Two main points - strong unique point of view and the usefulness to readers are crucial. If you have both of them, you can post rare, long post. Readers will read.

Hello BL. Someone just forwarded me your post and I had to stop by and take a closer look. Great list and I definitely agree with each bullet. I am an avid blogger and I see a direct correlation between time spent on writing a post and the resulting blog activity. Maybe you've witnessed the same result... I'm sure the following bullet combines some of your list, but a blog that moves markets must:

* Creatively and intelligently compel readers to return, either via RSS or to the site (and compel them to use word of mouth to get others involved). i.e. Social Media, forums, other blogs posts, email, etc.

Again, it probably combines what you already listed, but with thousands of blogs going live every day, I think a blogger need to be ultra-compelling.

Great list - thanks (and for all the additional info left in comments).

Although only a very few bloggers will be writing about subjects with a very wide appeal, and thus become one of the top 5000 influential ones, I think, as long as the writer knows their subject and conveys this in well written posts on a regularly updated blog, even those blogging about very niche areas (as I do!) can become big fish in small ponds, and so it can still be worth blogging when the audience might be quite small.

Niceread, I 've been documenting myself a little and read this gladly. Here is my take on the subject: http://latest-headlines.com/editorial/2009/04/30/how-to-make-my-blog-popular/