Catch of the day

The Blogger’s Dream: PJ’s, Profundity, Paycheck

Many people dream of blogging for a living. Why not? Vegging out in your jammies, writing posts, and getting paid for it sounds sweet! It does, I agree. Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple.

As one of those lucky people that actually do make a living as a professional blogger, I’m going to tell you right now that I could stake my job security on one simple fact: it’s ridiculously easy to write a really, really bad blog and even easier to write a mediocre one that takes up space but adds no value. That’s why in this article, I’m going to spill the beans on what it takes to create a truly successful blog, the kind that will garner pageviews, comments, free swag, and eventually, profit. As we say in the blogosphere: read more!

Give Potential Blog Topics the “Shower Test” (SFW)

 

Test: What do I have furious whispered conversations with myself in the shower about?

 

There is one secret all great bloggers know: the foundation of any awesome blog is passionate expertise. So to write a great blog, you need two things: passion and expertise. If you take a look at any of the popular blogs out there, you will see they are a passionate experts in something.  It doesn’t have to be rocket science. Dooce is the doyenne of profanity and postmodern motherhood. Gizmodo is the godhead of ping-pong robots and PS3s.  To get started with your truly great blog, ask yourself, what are you an expert on? Don’t edit: It can be anything that gets you truly fired up.

 

Beginning Blog Topics: Sample Brainstorm List

I am an expert in….

1. Global politics

2. Gossip Girl

3. Making pesto mushroom pizza

4. Not getting pulled over

5. Getting shy animals to like me

As you can see, anything you happen to be a bona fide pro in is fair game! Brainstorm a list and don’t be afraid to include your quirkier passions-sometimes those are the very best blogs of all!

Special People Don’t Write Superfluous Blogs

Ok, so now you’ve got a big healthy list of potential blog topics you know a fair bit about, like “ballet” or “the internet.” Good job! But the work isn’t done yet.

Two crucial pre-blogging questions

1. Does the world need another blog on this subject?

2.What does the world desperately need a blog on?

To answer these questions, go through and Google each term on your list. Are there already a million blogs on that exact subject? If so, then no matter how smart,funny and proficient you may be on the topic, don’t write a blog about it. Take it from me, who once carved out a successful blog in one of the most cutthroat blog categories of all: it’s too stressful. It will give you gray hair at 27 like I have. Focus on ferreting out less-traveled topics you love, and be the first to blog about it (or the second but better and funnier :)

 

Zoom in on your Zeal

A common deathknell of blogs is creating a blog subject that is too broad, and therefore too hard to cover well. You need to safeguard against this by narrowing your blog topic to the finest point you can.This may sound pointless, but it’s actually crucial to differentiating your blog from the pack. Let’s look at some great examples.

Examples of successful blogs with narrow niches:

1. Good Url, Bad Url (Not “The Internet Blog”)

2. The Bad Pitch Blog (Not “The Public Relations Blog”)

3. 52 Cupcakes (Not “The Baking Blog”)

4. LOL Cats (Not “The Animals Blog”)

5. Social Paintball. (Yup, just paintball.)

Ok, by now I’ve beaten you over the head with the example. You get it, but why does it matter? The blogs above all used narrow niches to establish industry dominance. I may flit between Seth Godin and Marketing Pilgrim depending on what kind of marketing blog I’m in the mood for, there’s only ONE site I go to learn about urls (hint: because only one exists). When I want to read about PR pitches, I go to the Bad Pitch Blog over the other PR blogs out there, because I know it’s more specialized on the topic and therefore will offer deeper, better coverage. The moral of the story? Zero in on what you love most, cover it well, and your blog will go far. I promise.

Narrowing the Niche: Putting it into Practice

So you want to blog about….Italian Cooking. Narrow it to: “Clovely: One Great Garlic Recipe a Day!”

So you want to blog about….Cold-weather fashion. Narrow it to: “Umbrella Spotting: Seattle’s Prettiest Parasols”

Viola! Think of it as tinyurl for your blog topic! Take your idea, and shrink it for a more impressive effect!

Pour some Flavor on It (In the name of love)

Oy! Y’all! Zexi! What am I talking about? Flavor! Now that you’ve selected a nice narrow subject matter that you absolutely love to talk about, it’s time to talk about your blog’s flavor. I use the term “flavor” to encompass the feel of your blog: the voice, the art, the style conventions. This step is important because adding strong flavor to your blog is a good way to take even a more commonly blogged about topic and still achieve rockstar success.

One example of such an accomplishment is PerezHilton. Could there be a more heavily blogged about topic than celebrity gossip? Probably not. Yet PerezHilton is not just another celebrity blogger, even though technically, he is. WHY? Simple. Because his blog offers a unique, heavily flavored voice: a Latino homosexual perspective that very meticulously weaves fun and wickedness throughout the site. In the case of Perez, the flavor manifests every aspect of the blog: offbeat category names like “Icky Icky,”signature catchphrases “Zexi!,” and his now-infamous white scrawlings on every picture.

Spicing up your blog meme:

1. “The TeleMarketing Sales Blog” →”Hey Sugar: Telephone Sales Advice from a Sassy Southern Belle”

2. “All about Online Dating” → “Woody Allen was Right: The Online Dating Adventures of a Neurotic New Yorker”

3. “Direct Marketing for You” → “Yeehaw! Direct Marketing in a One-Horse Town”

Once you’ve chosen your awesome blog topic, make sure to consciously weave that flavor from the footer to the 404 page. This extra spice is a major shortcut to industry success!

Opportunities to add flavor to your blog:

1) Unique spellings of words

2) A  stylized rating scale

3) A creative 404 page

4) Branded category names.

5) A trademark photo style

7) Playful category icons

 

 

Make like the cheese (and stand alone)

Domestic Violence is Bad. True! But not a great blog topic because it’s not controversial. A great blog needs to inspire emotion, sparks, fights, making-up. Otherwise it’s as boring as any other day job right? So when choosing your blog meme, another great idea is to think of something you hate that everyone else loves, and write about that. Hate Facebook with a burning passion? Think Edward Cullen is the absolute worst? What are you waiting for? You’ve got a goldmine blog to start! “A Million Twilight-Haters Strong” or “Kilt Lovers Come out of the Closet” are both grand blog topics sure to spark people’s attention.

Caveats for Writing a Controversial Blogs

1. Fictitious characters and ideologies are ok to attack. Blogs dedicated to attacking real people aren’t.

2. Comments are for diplomacy. Posts are for honesty.

3. You still have to be an expert! John Stewart’s eviscerating political wit works because it’s grounded in masterful expertise. Yours needs to be too. Otherwise you’re just a spoil sport.

That should be enough to get you started on strategic positioning, a huge piece of blogging (arguably the most important.) I will write more in the coming weeks about the next steps, like style guides, site maps, social networks, and writing great “bloggy” content, so check back!

blogging, social media, starting a blog, starting a business blog, writing