12 Tips For Builidng A Successful Blog

Some great advice on how to build a successful blog from Leo Babauta. Here's a summary:

1. Write from the heart. The best blogs, in my experience, are those that are written with authenticity and soul, that are personal.

2. Be insanely useful. Create a resource like no other. Even if it’s being done elsewhere, you can explore new angles, create new resources, give tips from your own experience.

3. Keep the reader’s problems in mind. On this blog, for example, many of you seem to be bloggers who want to build a successful blog — and therefore, I would be remiss not to address that problem here. On Zen Habits, many of my readers face problems having to do with simplicity, with productivity and organization, with health and fitness, and so on.

4. Don’t just write about yourself. You’re writing for an audience. Make it about them, and you, in a shared conversation.

5. Interact with readers. A blog is really a conversation. It starts with your post, of course, but it continues with comments from readers, and with comment and criticism from other bloggers.

6. Give them a reason to come back. Why would a reader keep coming back to your blog? You’ve got to give them a reason.

7. Write catchy headlines. Headlines are like advertisements for your posts — if they’re not very good, no one will read the posts.

8. On social media. Zen Habits would never have found as many readers if it weren’t for the social media sites — mostly Digg, delicious and Stumbleupon.

9. Guest posting. Besides social media and the occasional link from a bigger blog, the best way to draw new readers to your blog is to write great guest posts for other blogs, especially bigger ones.

10. Reveal yourself. This is similar to writing from the heart, but it’s going beyond that — readers want to be able to relate to you. They need to know who you are, and why they should be reading you.

11. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Blogs can get stale if they do the same things over and over. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and to fail. It’s from this failure that you’ll find success.

12. Focus on the essential. Figure out what’s essential, what you really need to do, what actions pay off … and spend your time doing these things.

Follow the link for much more on each point.