Key Components of Successful Blogs
Introduction
Over time, blogs have increased in numbers and popularity and as of Feb 15th 2011, the number of public blogs numbered more than one hundred and fifty million. It has been noted that one of the key contributors to the popularity of blogs is their interactivity. In this text, I identify as well as explain the various components of successful blogs.
Key components of successful blogs
It is important to note that various authors as well as analysts have their own ideas of how to enhance the success of blogs. With that in mind, some of the components that have been identified as being successful as far as successful blogging ins concerned include but are not in any way limited to Continuity, Connection as well as content.
Content
Content can be taken to be the value of the published entries as well as posts. Content can also be taken to be the blog’s format, HTML, utilization f keywords, tone, genre as well as theme and layout. This when deciding on the content to have on the blog, one should take the same to be the internal environment of the blog. Some of the things to look into as far as content is concerned include the relevancy as well as timeliness of the topic of the blog. What is more, the various posts in the blog must and should be presented in such a way that reading is enhanced and made easier through the avoidance of errors as well as utilization of keywords. Turban et al. (2009) is also of the opinion that all the entries in the blog must be well researched as this goes a long way to enhance their reliability and hence the reliability of the blog as a whole. Time must also be taken to come up with an understanding of “what will sell and what wont.” Though this sounds like a marketing gimmick, the need to understand your audience and what they need cannot be understated. Though content has been branded the king when it comes to blogging, it must not be used in isolation and hence other components should also future so as to enhance the success of the blog.
Connection
This is yet another critical component of successful blogs. It can be taken to mean links to the blog (both inbound and outbound). It also represents the community, competitors, readers as well as friend’s network of the blogger. It is therefore important to note that connection is actually the interaction of bloggers with their networks (Turban et al. 2009). Hence connection enhances the publicity of blogs through the application of a number of strategies as well as techniques. When I talked of the content above, I likened it to the internal environment of a blog. Now, connection can be likened to a blog’s external environment. Hence things to consider as far as connection is concerned in this case include things like the RSS. This should o along way to chart people’s contributions to the various feeds. Next, whether the comments received in regard to the various posts are negative or not, and they require your response, you should by all chances respond to them. Further, as far as the success of the blog is concerned, it may also be beneficial or prudent to sign up in Squidoo, Blogcatalog, Mybloglog as well as Technorati. Further, as far as connectivity is concerned, it pays in the long-term to ensure that the main search engines have your blog registered with them. Others to register with apart from the search engines include but are not in any way limited to RSS directories as well as Blog directories.
Continuity
Continuity in simple terms can be taken to be the continuous improvement as well as development of the contents of the blog as well as the posting and updating of articles contained in the blog so as to enhance their relevance and freshness. According to Schneider (2008), one of the surest ways to ensure that your blog is as deserted as a beach during winter is to disregard continuity and hence fail to continuously freshen or update the various articles contained ion a blog. It is indeed an indisputable fact that some of the most successful bloggers are those who update their blogs on a continuous basis and in the course of doing so; they attract a huge following of readers as well as attract not only other weblogs referrals but those of the search engines as well. However, continuity must and should not be confused with continuous blogging. Instead, continuity is more of progress and development as opposed to mere continuous blogging.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to note that the factors discussed above are in no way conclusive and there are still a wide range of tactics that can be invoked to further contribute to the success of your blog. It hence follows that rather than adopt some “key” components of blogging on their own, a more objective approach should be undertaken and only those components that work adopted in their entirety.
References
Turban, E., Lee, J.K., King, D., Liang, T.P., & Turban, D. (2009). Electronic commerce 2010: a managerial perspective. Prentice Hall
Schneider, G. (2008). Electronic Commerce. Cengage Learning
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