How To Be A Successful Blogger In 12 Steps

What Makes Them A Top Blogger?

This list isn’t an official Top 8 like you hear on the radio. Nobody, not even Google or Alexa, has enough traffic information to create a real ranking.

The bloggers on this list are the top bloggers in their niche, or incredibly up-and-coming bloggers, based on detailed research (and lots of coffee drinking).

But what they did have to do was meet a certain criteria that looks like this:

• These folks are frequently featured on top ten and/or top blogger lists for their niche.
• They didn’t buy an established blog; they grew it from nothing.
• They have a mailing list or social media following of 10,000 or more people.
• They’re actively producing content.

• A Look Behind The Research

  We care about content here at CoSchedule. And how you can create better content: This research aims to reflect that.
  I’ve used BuzzSumo’s content analysis tool, as well as my own research, to focus on the content these bloggers have produced and how it’s made them a success.
  This covers, but isn’t limited to:
  • Content length
  • Their content (and if their readers are content with it)
  • Visuals
  • Social media
  All with the goal of showing you what they do and how you can do it, too.
  Each section breaks down a blog, their content, and what they’ve done to become successful—and how to be a successful blogger all by yourself.
  If you’re ready, let’s get into it, shall we?

• #1. Consistency Is Key

  Jon has a strict posting schedule of only one post per week, maximum. And, more often than not, that post is released on a Thursday.
  While that isn’t concrete—the blog occasionally posts on other days—that’s when he achieves the most success. Which shows his audience knows when to expect content, and is flocking there as soon as it’s released.
  That consistency doesn’t just apply to when he posts his content. It’s also in how he writes his content.
  For example, the introductions to all of the blog’s posts (even the guest ones) follow the exact same style.

• #2. Maintain A Predictable Frequency

  Between Monday and Friday, she posts content of different lengths at least once a day. As Matt Cutts from Google notes says, publishing content frequently can help you build an audience who checks in often to catch the latest information from your blog.

  #3. Build One Clear Distribution Channel

  While it’s definitely beneficial to get yourself out there on every form of media, it can be more effective to focus on fewer, or as is the case here, just one channel: Facebook.
  By focusing on building her Facebook presence, Chiara’s able to predict and manipulate a large source of her traffic. Plus it’s much easier to build a following on one channel than on multiple.
  Which is why her blog’s Facebook page has over 1,192,000 likes and counting.

• #4. Understanding Your Audience, And Engaging Them, Is Crucial…

  Matt’s content doesn’t really go viral. In fact, his social shares are some of the lowest here:
• But what he lacks in social shares, he makes up for in comments and engagements. Matt goes out of his way to talk to, and get to know, his audience on a different level. It’s not blogger to audience, it’s friend to friend.
  And that’s why his posts regularly exceed 60 comments.
  He constantly surveys and asks his audience what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.
  There is no such thing as filler content either. He doesn’t have any fluff that just fills a posting schedule. He only provides long-form, actionable, or insightful content that his audience will benefit from.
  This level of control for him—and his readers—makes sure that there’s a consistent flow of traffic, and that Boost Blog Traffic style of brand-standard-ness throughout his content.

• #5. …But Not As Important As Outreach.

  What has truly helped Matt get this blog to such heights is getting out there and networking with other people in the niche. You just need to look at his ‘As Seen On’ page to see just how hard he worked at that:

• What That Means For You…

  While social shares are important as a metric, they can sometimes cloud your measurement for success with vanity. And, it’s possible to have lots of success without ever going viral.
  Instead, take the time to get to know your audience—through surveys and emails and polls—to find out what they want and give it to them.
  While you’re finding out what your audience wants, be sure to reach out and find opportunities to write for other blogs in your niche, too. Not only does this help for SEO, but it helps for your overall branding and drives traffic to your content from other authorities, too.

• #6. It Starts With Personalization…

  Benny’s blog is not about him. It’s not a way to boast about how many languages he speaks or about how good he is at teaching. Instead, it’s all about you and what you want to achieve.
  When you first come to his site, he asks you what language you want to learn, and provides a tailored email course for you right away:
• So not only is he providing consistent, valuable content to his readers directly to their inbox—he’s laser-targeting them and increasing his opens, and eventual social shares, by doing so, too. An average post gets 780 shares. That’s quite an achievement.

• #7. …And It Ends With User Experience.

  The rest of the site is built around what you want, too. Instead of wading through blog posts trying to find the one you want, Benny has set his site up to be:
  • Tailored to you
  • Easy to navigate
  And, because it’s an endless resource with instantly actionable content, that means you stay on the site much longer.
  It’s simple, but it’s effective. You need to give people a reason to stay on your site, because they’ll easily find a reason to leav

• #8. Use Your Blog To Build A Personal, Likable Brand

  But the real takeaway from John’s blogging success isn’t just in how well he does all these things. It’s the personal brand he’s built. Because people don’t just come for the knowledge bombs—they come for him.
  With a close look at the blog, you can see not all of the content is to do with health and fitness. Instead, he focuses on the attached subjects to it that he, and his readers, care about.
  Things like:
  • Confidence
  • Life skills
  • Cooking
  • Sex
  And, not only is this done in an informative way, it’s also done in a charming, funny, sometimes controversial way. Whether that’s through a Facebook post or the headlines he chooses for all the articles on his blog (even the guest posts).
  He always makes decisions, and chooses content, that builds his personal brand. By creating such a strong, audience splitting tone of voice, he rallies people towards him (or pushes them away from him). Which is exactly what makes his blog remarkable.

• #9. Give Away More Than Just The Milk

  You’ve heard the saying, “Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?” before, right?
  Lots of bloggers and marketers believe this to be true. That you need to save your best, and most valuable content for your paid content, because it’s stupid to give away your knowledge for free.
  But, that’s not a belief he shares.
  The average length of content there is around 3,000 words (I used to write him a 5,000-word epic each month), and he covers any topic a niche marketer might ever need.

• #10: Shooting For Virality Is A Waste Of Resources

  While this might not equate to a lot of social shares (his average is only 85 per post) what itdoes equate to is massive engagement, email subscriptions, and conversions into sales:

• #11. Authentic, Transparent, And Personal…

  He grabs your attention with stories, both personal and of others, to maintain your attention and keep you on the page:

• #12. Breaking The Content Mould

  Where most blogs churn out content like, 5 Ways To Be Happier Today, and the yawn-inducing, 10 Habits Of Happy People, Gretchen grabs the topic by the scruff of the neck and creates content you can use.