My roadmap to blogging success
Blogging does not come naturally to me. But I want to succeed as a blogger. So this weekend I did what I do really well. Breakdown a goal to smaller steps and then go about getting each of those tasks done. That is how I came up with my roadmap to blogging success.
Having done so I realized that many of my regular readers may find it useful, it can be improved further with your comments and publishing it online will motivate me to stick to it longer. Hence here is the roadmap that I have created for myself. Detailed breakdown is available below the fold.
- Create great/ useful content
- Make the posts interesting and easy to read
- Use tools to improve efficiency
- Participate on other blogs
- Make efforts to get more readers to the blog
- Even more effort to convert them to long term users
- Think beyond adsense
Great / Useful posts
I have come up with some posts that my readers have liked a lot. The problem is I have come up with too many mediocore posts. So any first time visitor to the blog doe not form a good opinion about the blog.
From now on every post to be published on binaryday must be something unique , thoght provoking OR useful. Observe the word “or” there. If a post is useful it need not be great/ unique. However if it is just some theory or viewpoint then it will be posted only if I am impressed with it myself. The problem is I get impressed with my own ideas all too often. 
I expect this to reduce the number of posts that are published which in turn will take the pressure off. More importantly, I am increasingly feeling that small number of good posts are better than regular dose of not-so-good posts in the long run.
Make the post interesting and easy to read
In the past I have never bothered about images/headline etc. That will change. It will definitely take time before I perfect the art but the effort is going to be there. If you are also planning to do something similar then you will do well to read http://www.copyblogger.com/10-sure-fire-headline-formulas-that-work/, Make your articles scannable.
Use tools to improve efficiency
Tools can help to reduce the time spent for keeping track of your favorite topic, going other blogs, searching for images for your posts, writing posts and promoting your blog post. Think of google alert, feed readers, image search engines, blog editors etc. A detailed post about my experience on this topic to follow.
Participate on other blogs
What makes me like blogging more than other type of websites that I create? Definitely not the money. I make way more money with my other websites compared to binaryday. What attracts me to binaryday is the constant inetraction that it allows me to have through the comments, the awesome people that I have got to know through it and the respect that a well researched post brings in. It should have been natural for me to participate more on other blogs and blogging forums. Expect more comments from me on your blogs. There is no guarantee that it will be sweet though 
Make efforts to get more readers to the blog
My best freind Google is not that helpful in getting traffic to my posts about blogging. That means I have to think of other ways of promoting these posts.
- Social media promotions
- Encourage users to spread the word
- Create content good enough for others to link to
Even more efforts to keep the reader for longer
This is one area which is given a lot less importance than what it deserves. A regular user is far more likely to
- Recommend your blog to others
- Link to your post
- Buy a product recommended by you
Fortunately each step outlined here i.e useful content, increased participation in other blogs and thinking beyond adsense will help me get more long term users. However I need to make it easier for the users to become long term users
- Make the feed subscription option even more prominent
- Respond to comments
- Maintain quality
- Reward long term readers
Think beyond adsense
No explanation is necessary. A good quality blog with quality posts can not be monetized well with adsense. So we need to come up with some other methods of monetization including affiliate marketing and consulting services.
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Great article dude..they are in sequence..Thanks for sharing the roadmap..I’m not following some of them…but seems to be reasonable…Will follow from now..
How about separating money making ventures from blogging.
Blogging is very hard to monetize. Unless you are a guru in your field.
But if you look at some grey hat techniques like combination of PPC Adwords and Affiliate marketing, thats a potent combo.
Thats my this years plan. I am studying the model and I will jump into it shortly.
Tarun
Well done. Many aspiring bloggers need to take notice that blogging is more than content. Content can not survive without promotion and periodic goal adjustments. Building reader community is very important. You might want to try ‘comment luv’, top commentator widget and adding gravatar to make readers ‘recognizable.’
You can keep all the reasons on one side and good content on one side. Content is king. Get good content and on a regular basis and the readers will come. Even monetization will be easy. On the other hand writing for AdSense or even for keywords and SEO does not work out in the long run. This will translate to readers but not loyal readers who will come back for great content.
@Tarun
looks like you are gearing up for the next big thing….
I thought concentrating on keywords and seo has paid off more than well enough for you
@SBA
I agree with you. We need to take care of aspects other than content. Promotion is an important ingredient of success which is all too often ignored by us.
@moserw
What is the story behind that name? Btw please understand that both SBA and me are NOT suggesting that good content is not necessary. Good content is necessary however what we are saying is that we need to do more than content alone.
Many of you think of Amit’s Labnol when you think of great content and website. Amit is taken as a paragon of blogging.
But what you guys forget is that, that Mofo (Amit Labnol) gets on TV, Newspapers to promote his website. He does not just concentrate on crating a great product. But does a lot of, off-site marketing as well.
Many of us do not get that option. So we need other ways and means to come in limelight.
Excellent Roadmap, I’m sure if you come through this clean.. you’ll be a very successful blogger…
Just one thing… the last point about adsense, i agree that many blogs don’t use them…. bu there are some blogs in a certain niche that make quite a bit of money out of them…. so really cannot rule it out completly
Keep up the good work my friend!
Cheers
Sandeep
@CLP
I agree with you that people make money with adsense. Even I make money with adsense on number of my sites.
The problem is adsense works great with sites whose main strength is SEO and content is not so great.
Adsense sucks on sites focused on quality and lot of return visitors. Unfortunately those are the qualities required for a good blog
“The problem is I get impressed with my own ideas all too often” This is a problem for me too.You have made a good road map to follow.But it seems a long journey for me as i am still not able to go beyond the first step-”Create great/ useful content”.Have to work a lot..
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