What makes a blog successful? Is it the content? Is it the readers? Or is it the niche? How often should one post? What narrative should you use? Should you publish a RSS feed for your blog?

These are some of the questions I’m asked as the Founder and Executive Editor of Smedio. In that context, I strongly believe that you must adhere to the following 7 fundamentals for establishing a successful blog.

Quality

Content is king and blogging is no exception to that rule. If your blog lacks quality content, it will never be successful – period. There is no substitute to quality content and I can say that by personal experience. If you offer valuable insights and thought provoking content, it’s bound to bring in more readers than sensationalized/ controversial content.

Quantity

While quality is of absolute paramount importance, the right quantity (volume and frequency) also plays a key role in establishing a successful blog. Blogs which don’t get updated often enough risk the danger of being termed as dormant while others which stuff tons of posts every day to gather eyeballs achieve little. Balance is key.

Audience

A blogger needs to write like a writer but think like a reader. In other words, it’s crucial to know your target audience. This is often a crucial factor in deciding the overall fate of a blog. Most blogs cater to a certain niche and it’s best advisable to offer timely quality content based on your target audience.

Size

While there’s no golden rule to define an optimal blog post length, I strongly believe size matters in determining the appeal of a posts and overall popularity of the blog. I personally prefer to read blog posts which are well segmented into paragraphs with sub-headings as appropriate. IMO, it’s a pain to read blog posts with no markers of what’s coming next.

Marketing

A blog needs to be marketed. You can’t rest on quality content or high profile writers to bring in traffic. A number of blogs have grown manifold with effective social media marketing via email, Facebook , Twitter, other social media channels, and old media.

Impact

At the end of the day, a blog is all about the impact it creates on a reader. It’s key that your posts connect with your audiences. The headline of your posts often determines whether your readers will read the body content or not.

SEO

SEO is a crucial factor in promoting a blog. Choosing the right keywords and having a solid SEO strategy in place are key factors which determine how much traffic your blog gets. A lot of Smedio posts get ranked on the first page in Google Search Results – that’s not by accident.

What’s your secret of running a successful blog? Please share your tips/ opinion by leaving a comment.