What is the Secret of Successful Bloggers?

February 1, 2011 - Last Modified: February 14, 2013 by Terje Sannarnes 3,050

Who are successful bloggers? Are they extremely talented people who have managed to become skilled experts in certain field of business or just hard workers who are ready to spend a lot of time in front of a computer? What is the secret to their popularity? And what features does one need to possess in order to become successful? These are the questions that, sooner or later, disturb the mind of every blogger. Your progress depends on the way you answer them.

After creating a blog, you will be overwhelmed with joy and happiness. However, this feeling won’t last too long. You will be happy because you’ve managed to become a blogger and think that this is the occupation that you’re ready to be engaged in for the rest of your life.

After several months your previous optimism may leave you. It’s very frustrating to dedicate every minute of your time to the blog, write interesting articles, comment on other blogs, communicate with people in social networks and get no result at all. To be more exact, you have a result, but it’s very poor. Within a month, you have managed to receive an insignificant number of subscribers and some amount of search engine traffic. So, you may wonder how to stand out among the other bloggers and become successful.

How to become a successful blogger

Blogging is a job

Success is out of the question until you realize it. Those people who say that it’s no more than just a hobby and do not aspire to become successful are insincere in fact. Writing interesting and highly valuable posts is not enough to become successful. There are many other things to be done for achieving this goal. Website optimization work, usability improvements, and promotion must be done on a regular basis. It’s well-known that success is 10% talent and 90% work.

Be a professional in your sphere of activity

Is it possible to become a successful blogger if you don’t know what to write about? Most certainly, it is not. However, there is some reciprocal connection between blogging and your knowledge. You will not only share your knowledge and experience, but receive them as well. The older the blog becomes, the more you’ll be able to learn.

The ability to write

This statement implies not only literacy, but also the ability to communicate your thoughts to readers successfully. You can be an excellent webmaster or SEO expert with a huge store of knowledge, but blogging won’t bring you significant income if you cannot explain your thoughts in the right way. However, this shouldn’t be the reason you refuse to blog. Most people manage to learn to write successfully. Therefore, practice is what you need for the problem to be solved.

Goals and motivation play an important role in blogging

Misconception of the main goal may cause disappointment. Before starting to search for information on how to create a blog, think about why you need it. If this is no more than just a hobby, then don’t expect to have high popularity and high search engine rankings. If you really want to become a successful blogger, the motivation must be so strong as to keep you interested in blogging for many years to come. For some people, the motivation is money, while for the others, it’s envy or even desire to prove that you can do it. No matter what your motivation is, constant enthusiasm is what really matters. If you have firmly decided to make blogging an integral part of your life, then it’s time to determine what your goals are. It’s quite clear that you’re ready to fight for your main goal, but you can be easily disappointed if it brings no results for a continuous period of time. It would be reasonable to set some minor goals in front of you. For example, set a task to increase income for 10% during the next month and get 50 subscribers during a week and so on. These small victories will encourage you and bring much pleasure.

Readiness to perform monotonous work

Blogging is not only writing interesting content and communicating with readers. If you have decided to become a successful blogger, you will have to work constantly at your project. Besides, this work can be boring and monotonous. I set a goal to increase PR for my entrepreneur training website. The experiment succeeded, but how hard it was! Even when doing something interesting, not each person is able to spend 10-12 hours without a break sitting in front of a computer. It becomes really boring when you’re doing the same work all the time.

The ability to withstand stress

It is acknowledged that people are unpleased with their job experience very often. You are wrong if you think that blogging cannot cause stress. You must realize that failures may happen any time – suspension of your hosting account, website functionality errors, hacker attacks, content stealing and republishing on other sites, some promotional mistakes, negative comments and many others. Each of these problems is able to spoil your mood a great deal. In this situation, you must pull yourself together and keep on working. To err is human. Unfortunately, not everyone can continue work after such failures. You should stop treating criticism as personal insult. Criticism can be fair and will help you realize what your mistakes are.

Desire for knowledge

Progress is not standing still. Neither is the internet. If you really want to become a successful blogger, you should learn not only how to adapt to new conditions, but how to outstrip them as well. Keep updated on the latest news, make more experiments, and read what other bloggers write about. Find new information, analyze it, and draw your own conclusions. You should keep in mind that constant work is needed even if you have already become a successful blogger. You probably have noticed that the necessity of some specific knowledge hasn’t been mentioned here. You already possess everything you need to become a successful blogger. The only thing you have to do is to develop these qualities. Thus, it always makes sense to complete special online entrepreneur training courses for successful bloggers in advance!

To your success!

About Terje Sannarnes

Follow @MarketingRoyal

My name is Terje Sannarnes, live in Norway, Kristiansand. Born in 1975, married and have 3 beautiful children. I am CEO and Founder of a SEO Company called Rank no.1. I am a SEO expert and SEM advisor. I live by this quote: "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." ~ Zig Ziglar | See WHY You Should start Blogging! Go Here...|

{ 38 Responses }

Steven says:

Nice articles, especially the stress part and desire to learn. I also find that everyone these days is a writer. This is not a way to professional blogging. you need to write well, writing is an art whether print or web..you need to understand the pulse, give a punch, and creative. Not always school level simple works in blogging. people get impressed with good writing.
Tinh says:

You have listed nice list of things here but I must say that I have read nearly a hundred of ebooks either free or paid but learnt nothing, no secrets at all. All of them are similar from each other and theoretical. Then, I must say, there is no secret at all or they will never share it :-)
Val says:

Good article, very true. I would like to add to this list the ability to question the others' opinions, teach yourself, experiment and form your own thoughts. This will let you become someone original and noteworthy, rather than just a node in the Internet echo chamber.
Michael Aulia says:

Ohh..what a beautiful article! It's something different and not those 101 blogging tips that I've read on and on everywhere. I'll make sure to send my friends to this article when ever they want to start a new blog. Somehow, they always think that it's so easy (sigh)
Murlu says:

Handling stress is the big one for me; there's just sooo much to do that it can make you pull out your hair - time management mixed with being able to let go are the two things that help me get the job done because I know when I'm overly stressed, nothing gets done - it's better to relax a bit with a smaller work load than to be completely burnt out.
Nasrul Hanis says:

Truly inspiring. One important thing is to have the right mindset - blogging is a job and it is a profitable business! And I truly agree that you have to have motivation, aims and goals to ensure that you are on the right track. Blogging could be monotonous but when you enjoy the benefits from it such as meeting new friends, get new knowledge while have the opportunity to share ideas and thoughts - you'll love it more than you imagined!
Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter says:

Hi Terje, You have said a lot in your post about bloggers and blogging. What you said is right all the way. That gave me a lot of food for thought. It also depends on individual's perception of the results with their blogging. Still there are almost 64 billion blogs globally, out of which 32 billion are word press blogs. This is a rough estimate which I got at the end of December 2010, from Internet. When so many people are doing it, there must be something right about it. What is that it is hard to say, because every blog is not able to monetize it. Fran A
Wasim Ismail says:

I like your last point Desire for knowledge, which should be a quality not just of a successful blogger, but also of a successful Entrepreneur, there's always something new to learn, you can be the master of your filed, but still learn something new every day. Nice Post. :)
- hyderalis says:
  
  Agree with you, desire for knowledge is something which applies in every field. Learning & experiencing something new every day & the hunger to desire more knowledge makes a person perfect & good entrepreneur.
Darren Scott Monroe says:

Great post Terje Another add to that MUST be the ability to stand your ground in the mist of attacks and credibility challenges.
tushar says:

there is one more factor to consider... the undying quest of learning..the moment you think you know everything and the bok of knowledge is full, you have pulled yourself right behind.. constant learning is essential
Dennis Edell says:

The ability to write is an interesting one for me. I can write. I can write really well for almost anything at anytime. Lets say for instance though, I'm consulting someone on something, or I need consulting on something. I'll inevitably say, lets chat via phone...almost every time. Sometimes "type" just don't cut it, know what I mean?
- Jack Harold says:
  
  @ Dennis Edell, totally agree that the ability to write is an interesting one for me too. I always think that the success of any blogger is the ability to carve out compelling content that will be able to get everyone buzzing with life!
Brad Harmon says:

Wow, Terje. You depressed me there for a while, but I think more would be bloggers need to have their eyes opened to the amount of work it takes to become successful as a blogger. I remember watching The Social Network and my thought after watching it was about how much time and passion you have to have to make something like Facebook become a success. The same is true when it comes to blogging. Thanks for the honest insight into what it takes to be successful blogging.
Terje Sannarnes says:

WOW, I am swept away about the feedback in here, I did not expect my first guest post ever, should get any comments at all, not to mention all the shares, likes, loves, you name it. Thank you all for all positive feedback, and you have inspired me to continue doing what I'm doing and keep on moving forward. Sometimes when I look at myself about the work I do, not to forget the time I spend on blogging etc. it may seem pretty wasted, but in the end hard work pays off, eventually. Remember, people look upon you as you image yourself, so if you image yourself as a successful blogger, visualization will eventually become realization. Again, Thanks for Awesome feedback. Happy Blogging and Visualize.... :-)
Chadrack says:

Hi Terje, First, must say thanks for this insightful article. It's not only indept but well laid out. It shows you practise what you're teaching. Your point about being ready to perform monotonous work really got to me. I must say that's one of the challenges that I'm facing as a blogger. I'm not very good at doing the same thing over and over again and I've found this to be a weakness for me as I struggle most times to so the same activities every day trying to promote my blog. Having seen that overcoming this is neccessary I definitely have to work on this. Thanks a million!
Amr Boghdady says:

Couldn't agree more on your "Readiness to perform monotonous work" tip Terje! Blogging could sometimes get boring, however, if you compare it to any other day-time job, you'll find both one and the same. You do the same work everyday, in order to earn some money in the end (of course, this only applies to people doing it for a living, which are the ones always feeling obliged to write more, and do more SEO work)
Andreas says:

A successful blogger is always a patient blogger. Being patient is very important in the blogging game. With thousands of blogs popping up like mushrooms every minute on the internet, it naturally takes some time until the blog becomes popular in the chosen niche.
Devesh says:

Great Post. You’ve made some awesome points Terje. To be a successful blogger one needs to put of efforts, dedication and passion. Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great Post Terje. Have a great day.
Devesh says:

Great Post. You've made some awesome points Terje. To be a successful blogger one needs to put of efforts, dedication and passion. Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great Post Terje. Have a great day.
Mani Viswanathan says:

You are spot on the point of Professional approach. Blogging should be taken quite seriously if you wanna succeed in it.
Mavis Nong says:

Hi Terje, Great insight on how to become a successful blogger. Success in blogging doesn't happen overnight, it does take time, commitment and hard work. The key is to keep at it until you see the desired results. If you treat blogging like a business it will bring you great results and make you money and if you treat it just like any another hobby, it will cost you a lot of time and money. Thanks for sharing your perspective, Terje. All the best, Mavis
bryan says:

Hey Terje, I totally agree with Alex's comment. Readiness to do monotonous work is something you have to do even though you really hate it. I've seen passionate ppl losing their interest from doing things that get too repetitive and mundane. Success is hard work and it doesn't come over night. I also believe that you've got to meet the right people, pair up with the right people to help with your business. It's not so much about striving to be the best these days.
Alex says:

I think one of the most important factor for a blogger to pass his infancy is the "Readiness to perform monotonous work". If you are not up to doing the some o some o for a number of hours a day you might not be cut out to be a blogger. Writing posts never changes although the subject will, also answering the comments that you have seen time and time before might be a boring job but there all part of a bloggers life and you have to do them.
Andrey Fidrya says:

I really like the article and all recommendations on how to become a successful blogger. I will follow all instructions provided by Terje because they are really helpful, these tips are very valuable and informative. I don't have my own blog and online business yet, but if I have I will return back to this article to read it again. That's why I will save it in my bookmarks now and also will share with my friends. Great work, Terje, thanks!
Vijayraj Reddy says:

stress and patience should be controlled to be a successful blogger...
Patricia says:

Hi Terje I have been blogging for less than a year. I realised when I started it was no silver bullet to success. That I would have to work hard, learn heaps and persevere when the going got tough! However, what I have also experienced is that there are heaps of kind experienced bloggers/marketers who will answer my many questions, guide me with my fledgling business and encourage my journey. I know I will be successful; it will just take time :-) Patricia Perth Australia
Maria Pavel says:

Hello, Who are successful bloggers? Successful bloggers are the hard-working people that are absolutly commited with their blogs and jobs, they work really hard for their blog, put a lot of passion in their blog and share their thoughts with the readers of the blog, they are cool people that help other people through the articles by teaching the readers one or another or giving advices or anything else. The bloggers are great persons that directly help everyone by sharing useful articles on his blog. Thank you very much for sharing this great article. Keep up the good work! Best regards, Maria
Henway says:

I think the #1 key to be a successful blogger is the ability to write original, compelling content, and knowledge in your field of expertise. The other things such as knowing how Wordpress works, SEO, networking, etc are all icing in the cake. If you don't have exciting stuff to say, noone will bother reading your blog regularly.
Lennart Heleander says:

Hi Terje Lenny from Sweden here. What a nice thoughtful post, so many people try to get a successful blog by writing and blogging like idiot the first months and after 2 months drop the project because they don’t get the big money or result. I hope they could read this article before they start and understand better what they are going in to and how to do it.
Terje Sannarnes says:

@TJMcDowell, that is true. There is a good visualization regarding that. To men are working on a big project, they both are being interview about what they are doing at the project. The first say, “I’m carrying stones.” The other one are saying, “I’m building The Opera”. So it is also the way we look at things or tasks that maybe our issue if something is boring or getting boring. Mindset is important anyhow.
Sandy Moore says:

An honest perspective Terje, on what it takes to become a successful blogger in 2011. Yes i't s hard work in the beginning , with all the set up etc... constantly writing posts and giving your readers valuable information in whatever niche you are in. However, the rewards are so uplifting and make blogging a worthwhile profession. There nothing better than getting fantastic comments from your readers, landing on the 1st page of Google or acquiring a new page ranking from Google... truly makes it all worth while.
TJ McDowell says:

I think you're right about blogging sometimes being monotonous. Even the most exciting jobs have parts of the job that are boring. My wife and I run a photography studio, which many people would consider a dream job, and it has boring parts. The key is that just because parts of a job are boring, that doesn't mean you're in the wrong career. It just means you can't always do exactly what you want to do.
Kevin Pagarigan says:

Hardwork, dedication and with the right mindset will bring successful results. That's how I've been doing it since I got online and it feels like I'm getting closer and closer to my goals. It makes me feel good! I want to get a small taste of success this year so I'm definitely putting in the overtime. Great Post Sir!

What is the Secret of Successful Bloggers?