I have been blogging for a few months now and realizing that successful blogging is not successful without equal attention to all its parts.  Writing well and offering substantive content are certainly plusses.  However, there are other components…marketing related. 

A successsful blog includes reading other blogs and leaving messages.  Surfing the web to see what others wrote and their online presentation.  You are in a quasi competitive position.  You want people to read what you’ve written (otherwise why bother writing it in cyberspace), yet you never dreamed you would be competing for eyes.

To draw attention to your blog, you leave messages and add your blog address on other blogs.  Be sure to email all your friends, family and colleagues announcing that you have launched the best blog ever.  If they like it, they will pass your blog onto their friends. You offer contests. You link to other blogs.  You carefully select metatags and sign up with other search engines.  You join social networks and describe your blog on each of them.  Some examples of social networks are facebook and my space.  Others might be jigsaw.com, linked in, classmates, reunion, you get the idea?  You could run down the directory from your college or group membership.

One other thing that attracts readers.  That is if you have an edge to your writing. Maybe you write with humor?  Or maybe cynicism?  Your writing has to have bite.  You need to engage or incite people, so that it gets readers to think and revisit.  Or if you aren’t prepared to critique or write humor, try supplying straight fact or information. 

If you give a reason for people to visit, they will come and come back. 

If you are a writer and have not been to www.redroom.com, then you are truly missing something.  There are lots of talented writers blogging and putting up sites about their thoughts and new books.  It is where we writers can hang out when we want some moral support…or want to procrastinate because the blank computer screen is just too daunting.

If you are published writer, you too can take out a page in redroom too.  You will have to answer some questions before getting the nod to create your own cyberpage beauty.  Nevertheless, the blogs are pretty good.  I found bloggers on this site  good and every once awhile, like panning for gold, you find a nugget to remind you why you stopped pursuing your writing.        ~~~Cori