A Few Strategies for Creating a Good Blog

The first step is to create a blog as obviously you cannot have a successful blog without going through the agony and ecstasy of creation.

1. Choosing a subject : If you want to blog successfully you have to choose a subject close to your heart. A subject which you should be passionate about. This has two advantages. One you will never get bored and stop posting to your blog. Secondly since you are passionate about the subject you will probably already have a large amount of information on the subject and - as the heart rules the head - are actively involved in finding more about it. It will also help a lot if you are blogging about your career and area of expertise. It will help even more if you choose to provide solutions to common problems in your blog. This is better than having an opinion blog full of rants and raves unless you are already a top-notch journalist with an existing audience.

Monitor blog and blog traffic : Keep a hand on your blog pulse. Install a counter to see how many hits you are getting. For full and detailed stats install Google Analytics. Keep track of your backlinks by claiming your blog at Technorati.

Add attractive content to your blog which will attract traffic.

2. Add content regularly without lapsing.

3. Add content frequently. The more frequently you add content to your blog it will attract more traffic and subscribers. Each post will attract some traffic. Hence as per the Long Tail theory the more posts your blog has the more traffic it gets.

Add original content. If not original provide links to the credits. Do not copy and paste blindly. Add your own spin to the originals (think The Departed, based on Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs which inspired Martin Scorsese to create this blockbuster.)

Add Readable Content. Long posts with bulky paragraphs are difficult to read on the screen. Lists of items are easily read and imbibed by the viewer. Implement the expandable summaries hack to show a small paragraph (teaser) followed by a 'Read More' link.

4. Upload pictures to your blog to illustrate your point. Not too many and not too large or page will take long time to load.

5. Check spelling and grammar before publishing.