Personal blogs can be more random if it is simply sharing what you are doing with friends and family. But a blog for business, one you hope will make money, a blog that presents you as an expert or one to drive traffic to a website needs to have a marketing goal or purpose.

Generic will kill you. Trying to post a blog about being a stay-at-home mom might find fierce competition. Trying to post one about how a stay-at-home mom can run an Internet business might be more specific. But do not go posting a blog until you have taken a look around. You do not want to be number one million trying to climb to the top of the heap.

Can your blog be too niche?

Yes it can. If your blog is only about bunions, it could get boring fast. While the hot phrase is niche, you do not want to make it so specific that you run out of ideas in two weeks. There is a good chance you will run out of bunion material.

However, you could instead have a blog about foot problems and this would open up all sorts of titillating subjects of interest, like plantar fasciitis or narrow feet, high arches or flat feet. Now we are talking. We can go into orthotics, shoes, wrapping devices and even socks! I could go on as the excitement is never ending.

So niche does not have to mean singular subject.

That is not to say that drivel.com would not be a viable blog. It would be. In that case, the audience wants to be entertained on various subjects on any given day. They are looking for random or comedic posts and nutty articles.

When it comes to your blog, think Relationship Marketing.

A blog is more personal. Which, in a place as impersonal as the Web, is a big advantage. So it is an opportunity to be professional and give potential clients, customers and visitors a chance to get to know you on a more personal level as well. It is relationship marketing similar to email marketing.

Your blog should also be about a passion or something about which you are an expert. You share information and expertise on this platform and it needs to be changed and updated.

Do not let your blog bo down with the sinking ship called “Mediocrity.”

Please do not do a boring blog, because that is Internet litter. Usually people land on your blog because of a keyword. So you have to have something there that captures attention and makes them want to stay and even return. Welcome to my blog is not going to capture attention. If you have a boring blog that is not informative, you will find out soon enough because no one will come or stay either to come back to play.

Steps to keep in mind: 

• Define your target audience. Who are they? Really define your market. Defining your target market is the part that will most directly affect your bank account, so this step is vital. You have to speak to them so you have to define what is important to them so you can provide the solution or answer.
  
• Write down your marketing objective (a.k.a., your goals). For example: I want the blog to position me as an expert in foot problems.
  
• Write the marketing strategies to make it happen. Article marketing, offline direct mail, sponsor 10K races or marathons, social bookmarking. Look for opportunities to tap into the sports medicine market through forums and AdWord campaigns. These will be strategies on how you will promote your blog.
  
• How will the blog make you money even if it is support for your Internet presence? Example: I want athletes to sign up for my newsletter on improving their gait and preventing future problems of the lower extremities. I will have various products I endorse to avoid and treat problems on the blog and in emails — products I know work because I have had patients try them.

Planning for Success

Success does not just happen no matter how many things you read that tell you it does. It takes some work and perseverance and planning.

Graduation from Basic Blog Branding 101 means you are not going to write, Welcome to my Blog on your blog no matter how tempted you are to do so. And you are going to write some goals down and do some planning for your success.

Anne Moss Rogers is a professional freelance copywriter with 20+ years experience turning marketing strategies into memorable advertising and websites. Her clients include everything from national brands and local businesses. The only common thread in her work is that they are all positioned to a target market. She is also an SEO specialist who takes that definition well beyond plugging keywords in a headline.

There are millions of blogs on the Internet. In fact, there are a very large number of regular websites about blogs and blogging. For every niche and subniche, there are thousands, even millions of blogs. For every person’s opinion or personal crusade, there are millions more.

The trick is to make yours stand out from the crowd and capture your readers. The ways to accomplish this are very similar to the steps you’d take to develop a unique spin for a product you’d plan to sell in your niche. Essentially, your blog is your first Internet product, and you would position and market it to attract and build a relationship with loyal readers.

So you’ve got a great idea for a blog? Just like the process of developing a product, all blogs start with an idea. But what makes your idea different? This is very important, especially if you are going to write a blog aimed at the blogger audience. Since this niche is so competitive, you will have to fill a need that no other site is offering. Failing that, you will have to outdo your competition by over-delivering valuable content to your reader — better yet, position yourself to do both. This applies to every niche, not just one focused on the blogging community.

One way to see if you can offer something unique to your audience is to research your competition. The most common way to do this is to search Google for blogs in your niche and visit them. Another method is to search your niche at Alexa, which ranks websites according to their traffic. Take a look at what they are doing. Study their pages and what topics they are focusing on. Then add your own voice, experiences, and personality to their strategy.

This is a very neglected step that most people skip when starting their blog. They get their great idea and put up their blog… then wonder where the traffic is. This might take you a week, but the time you spend doing it will not be wasted. It will pay you dividends in the ultimate success of your blog. You might even discover an approach that none of the competing sites are using.

Once you’ve reached this point, you need to develop a plan to attract attention and readers to your blog. This is where your content plays a big role. You’ll need lots of it, and it has to keep appearing several times a week, if not daily. Content attracts traffic to your blog. Your voice might hook the reader on that first visit, but it is your quality content that will keep him returning frequently to keep up with your posts. You will lose your readers quickly if you fall behind on adding new posts and articles.

Elle N. Dee writes for The Blog Ladies which offers tips and tools, plus a free AdSense WordPress niche theme and “Cash Blogging for Beginners” ebook at Niche Blog Designs.