If you’ve got a special way with words as well as a cool skill/talent, or some know-how about an interesting topic, then you’ve got the potential to be a great blogger!

BlogPulse estimates that there were 152 million blogs on the internet in 2010. This is encouraging because when so many people can do it, why can’t you? At the same time it’s discouraging because more than 75% of these blogs have less than 10 followers and less than 15 hits per month. Hence, the chances of your blog drowning in the blogosphere are very high.

Blogging is an easy and inexpensive way to give words to your experiences. These can be ideas both personal and commercial. Writing a blog is like owing space on the web. The purpose is to have people find out about this space and then get them to visit, stay and re-visit. As the word spreads and the content improves, a blog gains rankings on search engines and attracts more people.

However, there are a few things which can negatively affect your blog’s rankings and prevent it from climbing the attention ladder:

  1. Picking a Boring Topic: No-one wants to visit an un-happening mall, or in this case, a dead web-space. But it’s not easy to put on a show which everyone can appreciate either. You’ll always have critics. The secret is to write about something which truly interests you. For example, a food blogger needs to love food to be able to write interesting stories about it for a sustainable period of time. ‘Boring’ is simply what you cannot do all the time. Hence, write about something which you can imagine yourself being associated with for the rest of your life
  2. Procrastinating in Your Blogging: Blog posts are like a whirlwind – you have ideas at the spur of a moment which die out quickly. If you’re able to express your idea exactly the way you’re imagining it in your head the minute you imagine it – viola! Your chances of success are very high! However, if you delay your writing, not only will your idea and words die out, but also the moment will become stale. A procrastinator blogging is like breaking the news about the Royal Wedding to the world a month after it happens. Definite suicide! A useful tip is to write out your post on your mobile phone or paper the moment you get an idea about it. Later, you can type it out and improve on it.
  3. Writing Hard Language: What kills most blogs is that they sound like theoretical essays coming from wannabe intellectuals. On the web most people want to read words which are easy and they can relate to. They want to feel like the person at the other end of the cyber world is speaking out to them. You can write very intelligent and useful articles on blogs in easy language too. This will make them fun to read and digest.
  4. Being Scared: You might be a wonderful writer with lots of wit and charm in your words, but if you think more than do more… you’re dead in the world of blogging! Your first blog could have a comment telling you it was the worst piece of writing ever read. Even worse, your first may not get a single comment! This is perfectly fine. You need to take a deep breath and keep coming up with interesting ideas written in web-friendly ways. Don’t let the critics bring you down, take it positively. There is an ocean of tips and tricks out there – just keep learning and applying.
  5. Ignoring Competition: You might be writing only for fun, but you are still competing with other blogs for your readers’ time and attention. I could be your best friend but before visiting your blog I’ll definitely ask myself why I should keep visiting your blog if I have 5 other friends who are writing and doing more interesting stuff on their web spaces! Keep browsing and if you want to become an excellent blogger keep finding out what new recipes blogs similar to yours are cooking. Gain inspiration from them and keep improving!

The most important survival tip for the land of blogging is to keep posting! The more posts you make, the more content Google and other Search Engines have to crawl you for. The key is to find out what you would like to write about. Then pick a blog name which is both creative and easy at the same time. And then start writing while reading up on blogging tips online and applying them on your blog simultaneously.

So, anyone can blog if they want to! As a startup tip, there could be more food and comical blogs from Pakistan. Hope the housewives and young artists are reading!