Characteristics of a successful blog

Since I try to improve my blog and make it more interesting for you guys I thought about all the qualities that are part of a good blog. So here is what I’ve come up with so far:

At first, a noteworthy blog should captivate its readers interest and address them, too. Of course sufficient and correct language is very important as well as a variety of expressions to avoid dull writing but all in all content is even more important. I mean how enjoyable is it to read a post which contains marvelous expressions but basically just rambles on without actually saying anything at all. Obviously these types of writing also have some positive aspects since you can learn quite some useful expressions from them but honestly when I want to get to know more about a certain topic I don’t want to spend hours reading through a text that ends up giving me no sufficient information at all. Do you know what I mean?

Another important aspect about blogging is to write in your own words instead of simply copying and pasting a text from a website to your blog. Not only is it unfair towards the person you take it from and pretend it’s yours but it also becomes clear pretty easily that it’s most likely a different level and or style of English which you wouldn’t write when you’re writing it yourself. For example there is a huge difference between those two extracts:

 

• Keep It Simple. This is where minimalism can be applied to any blog, irrespective of its genre. No need to place superfluous advertisements or widgets all over your site; stick to the basics and remove anything you don’t need, remove anything that doesn’t add value.

• Try to stick to a simple style, this applies to any blog, no matter what type of blog and what topics it tackles. You don’t need to add any advertisement or special widgets to your site. Just try to keep it as basic as possible and get rid off anything unnecessary which doesn’t make your blog more valuable.

The first one is part of a post on http://www.theminimalists.com/blog/ and the second one is my rewritten version. They are quite different, right.

This aspect leads me to my next point: If you find any helpful sites concerning your chosen topic give them the credit they deserve by posting their link at the bottom of your post or wherever it fits best. Same goes for relevant pictures or videos. (They will also make your blog more intriguing ;))

All this talking about topics might make a few of you thinking “but what’s a good topic to post about?”. Well, I kept asking myself that question for quite some time as well until I realized the best topics are those you got experience about or interest in. Not is it only easier to write about something you already know a great deal of information about or eager to learn more about but it will also be (hopefully) more interesting for your readers since you put more work into it and try harder in general.

In case you want to write about something but feel like you don’t have enough knowledge about it do some research beforehand in order to know what you’re talking about.

Keeping all these steps in mind, I will hopefully become a more successful blogger this semester and maybe helped out one or other of you guys.

 

If you need any further advice, check out the link I included above, you can find quite some helpful tips there as well.