LinkedIn Answers Roundup | On Blogging

Last week on this post we left with you with a question asked by Karl Long, Social Media Integration Manager at Nokia on LinkedIn Answers where he answered a question on how one can make blogs more enjoyable. Given below is the question followed by answers found both on LinkedIn Answers as well as across the blogosphere on the same topic:

Karl Long, responds to a question on LinkedIn Answers via his blog:

Someone on LinkedIn just posed this question “How can one make blogs more enjoyable or What is that you do to maintain the popularity/readership of your blog?“. Here are my thoughts on this, this may not be all that leads to a successful blog, but these are for me pretty essential ingredients: Focus, Passion, and Originality.

Here's the original question:

And, here's Karl's response that was chosen as Best Answer:

Focus - I think one of the most important choices a blogger makes when they start their blog is what their focus is. Think about a first time visitor getting dropped on your blog from a search engine or stumbleupon, are they going to understand in 2 seconds exactly what your blog is about? If the answer is yes you will build a readership and you will have a successful blog. If not, you may well build a successful blog but it will take years as opposed to months.

Passion - This is the only possible way that you will be able to sustain regular posting of a high enough quality over the course of years. If you don't have the passion your blog will become a ghost town very quickly. People talk about the passion in the writing, and how important it is for readers, but IMHO the passion is all about the ability to sustain you through the emotional roller coaster ride of writing a blog. Sure your passion will come through in your writing, but it is your passion that will keep you plugging away when no one is coming back, no one is commenting, and no one is linking to you. Passion may not be the only thing that will drag you along, but it is the most enjoyable so unless you are a masochist you better love what
your talking about.

Originality - In branding terms, what differentiates you from the crowded playing field of blogs all talking about the same thing. They don't call the blogosphere an echo chamber for nothing, because most of the time everyone is reflecting and amplifying what else is happening around the blogosphere. Original content and original ideas in the blogosphere stand out like beacons in the night, and not to labor the metaphor but they also attract other bloggers like moths to a flame :-)

Other's seem to also triangulate on three key factors, like

Primary focus is content (still King). As Kathie wrote: I write about subject I'm passionate about, I consider worthy to notify and share.

Second: publish frequently. If you're not planning to write posts on a regularly basis, you forget your audience. They'll not take your blog seriously.

Third: make yourself known to search engines, RSS aggregators, listings, social networks, fellow bloggers.

Or Ajay Jain, who referred to a recent article he'd crafted for the Mint, a business daily published in India by The Hindustan Times in partnership with the Wall Street Journal, where he outlines the key factors that enable blogging:

Quantity does not beat quality: While frequent postings may help you go up the search rankings, don’t do it for the sake of doing so. Ask yourself if anyone would care to read what you are writing. Post once or twice a week if need be but ensure it is quality writing. You don’t want to turn away readers or bury your good pieces under the debris.

Is it unique? Unless the first blog Rip Van Winkle goes to after waking up is yours, your content is valuable only if it is unique. Search engines such as Google can now catch those who copy content from other sources. Spooky, but true. “A combination of originality and quality works beautifully—it takes you higher up on the search engines,” says Lalwani.

Is your content ‘buzzworthy’?
It can be if you offer scoops or write controversial stuff—but be careful and don’t go over the top. A positive buzz will get people talking about you and send links and traffic your way.

Are you a blogger? If so, how do you maintain the popularity of your blog?