Designing a blog that has looks that make jaws drop is not a guarantee to blogging success. Launching a blog is one thing but attracting the right visitors is a different ball game all together.

This is not to say that you go and create a blog that looks like it has seen better days. Making a blog calls for several calculated steps. The success of your blogging career depends on what you do from the word go.

The top bloggers you see today most of them made lots of mistakes before they hit the big leagues. Many of them can account to sleepiness night trying to find the right magic pill that would make their blogs popular.

You therefore have to consider yourself lucky that others sacrificed that you could have an easier time. On this post we are going to share with you on how to make a blog and set it on the right path. You do not have to go through hills and valleys like most top bloggers have done before.

This is not to signify that you ignore the element of work hard. Blogging is not easy and for you to make a blog that stands out you have to be ready to sink in the world of blogging. No business is easy, whether it is online or offline, there is always a price to pay.

The reason of sharing this article is to help you avoid the pitfalls that come with blogging. We want to set you on the correct path and make your journey to blogging success bearable.

Now that you have the full picture let us get down to business.

Below are 10 strategies on how to make a blog that will connect you to the right audience.

1: Be prepared to generate content:

The heart of blogging is in writing. You cannot expect to make a blog and fail to generate content and still expect readers to come rolling in. In fact, the only reason that the internet flourishes is because of content.

So, if you want to attract readers to your blog be ready and willing to write on a regular basis. This does not mean that you publish articles just for the sake of it.

Posting on a daily basis is good but that does not guarantee blogging success. You need to define your blogging agenda. Create a writing culture that will make your blog stand out. It is better to post one epic article a week than publish an article daily that adds no value to your readers.

Planning is an integral component of making a blog. Readers will not respect you for writing everyday but rather for sharing unique, creative, detailed and helpful content.

Culture also entails the element of consistency. If you decide to post 3 articles a week make sure you stick to that religiously. These way readers will take you seriously because of your professionalism.

Note: The secret is not in writing but how you write.

2: Your take off matters a great deal:

How you set the foundation of your blogging career matters a great deal. From the onset, your content should be epic. You may be getting 5 visitors a day but that is not an excuse to post shoddy content.

It is from these 5 visitors that you need to build the base of your blog. Make certain that the 5 readers find your blog the most resourceful. This is what will lead to them sharing your content thus helping you generate more leads and grow your business.

I would rather you attract few but targeted audience than having 500 readers who don’t add value to your blog.

3: Show zeal in every article you publish:

There is nothing as powerful as blogging about a topic that you are passionate about. This helps bring out an element of uniqueness that makes your articles reach out to your audience.

Readers will always try to find a reason to close your blog. Therefore, writing with enthusiasm and instead of them leaving make them bookmark your site.

The only way you can write with passion and poise is when you blog on issues you are an expert in. Just because you heard people are making money blogging about health products does not means you start a blog on the same.

If your heart is into farming, make a blog that share on agriculture and everything pertaining to farming. Attracting the right traffic is the sure way to blogging for profit.

4: Think big:

Before you make a blog you have to decide what you want to achieve. Part of your goal in blogging should be making it big time.

It is OK to make $1000 or get 5000 unique readers a day but I would rather you think bigger. There is an adage that goes like this, “Aim at the sun and you might just reach the stars”.

I like the way Jim Rohn puts it; “Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much”. The thoughts we harbor in our minds play a big role in what we later become in life.

Make a decision today that you will make a blog that will be successful. You will be amazed on the kind of blogger you will turn out to be.

Sometimes we limit our success by thinking small or should I say been afraid to think big. If your goal is to be in the top league then start thinking positively and sideline any inferior thought pattern.

5: Write to a specific audience:

Whether you like it or not some people will like you and other will dislike you. Hence, forget about trying to please everyone.

Some people assume for you to be successful in blogging you have to attract 10, 000 visitors daily. That is true to some degree, but what if this 10,000 are unresponsive people?

I would rather you get 100 unique and targeted readers than attract 5,000 blog visitors unresponsive to your content. You don’t need a large fan base to make money blogging.

Focus your efforts to reaching your target audience and forget about the rest. Yes! I said it and I have no apologies to make. This will be a better pill to take for some bloggers but this is the naked truth.

Erase from your mind the idea that traffic is the secret to earning from blogging. I know of blogs that get 5000 hits a day but their bank accounts leave a lot to be desired.

If you decide to write about farming, don’t wake up one day and start writing about music or fashion for that matter. Concentrate on what you are good at even if you are writing to 5 people. That is how to stand out. It will not take long before you become the talk of the town in your niche.

6: Check your ad-to-content ratio:

For you to make a blog that generates revenue you need to commercialize it. One of the ways of making money blogging is through affiliate marketing.

That being the case, it does not mean you go overboard in the name of making more sales. You need to be tactful in how you display your affiliate banners.

Having ads flickering on very webpage you create is the wrong way to go about it. Did you know that sometimes readers suffer from something called ad blindness? This happens when you cluster to many adverts in one place.

Your sidebar acts as a strategic place to position your ads, but try and be moderate. Do away with the 10 banners appearing on your side bar. If you didn’t know, having many ads on one page can get you punished by Google thus affect your blog overall ranking.

If you use wordpress, I would recommend you try a plugin called Ad Injection which will help you manage your ads. This way you can have 2 or 3 advertisement space where different ads keep rotating.

It is time to clean up your blog and start looking like a professional blogger.

Note: Place affiliate products that are relevant to your niche.

7: Go an extra mile:

Create a blog that offers people more than what they are expecting. Whether you like the sound of this or not, the fact is that when readers come to your site they want to know what’s in for them.

If you can deliver more than readers are expecting than for sure you will be a darling to your audience. Personally, I do this by writing free epic content day in day out.

Once someone told me I share too much information on this blog and thus readers don’t’ have a reason to buy from my blog. I believe if you are blogging just to make money then you will never get to your full potential.

The best way to make a profitable blog is to help your readers solve their problems and attain their goals. It is by creating a helpful and educative blog that readers become your diehard fans and evangelists.

If you want people to talk about your blog then you have to go beyond the normal. This will sometimes call for breaking old fashion rules of blogging such as writing half baked articles in a view to sell.

The few readers that visit your blog are worth more than money. If you treat them like Kings and Queens then they will hand in their wallets to you and also call their friends to the party.

To achieve the above, you have to keep to what you promised when you launched your blog and better still, over-deliver.

8: Know your target audience preferences:

Articles are released everyday on how to make a blog but very few are published on how to write for your target audience. If you didn’t know, the way you write is the most important element of blogging.

Am sure you know how difficult it is to communicate to someone who does not understand you. You say one thing and they translate it in a totally different way.

Before medicine is subscribed, a doctor must first determine what you are suffering from. The same case applies to blogging. If you don’t know what your audience are looking for then don’t expect much from your blog.

Conducting a market research is very important before you even embark on making a blog. For you to be an authority in your niche and start making a six or seven figure income, you have got to know your target audience preferences.

The best way to research is by listening. Join forums where your audience spend their time and read what they write. Read tweets and updates posted by people in your niche and you will know what they want.

When you publish a post wait for people to react. This will give you an idea on what to write about next.

Note: Respond to all comments posted on your blog and reply to tweets and facebook updates. It is through communicating that you learn more on what readers want to hear.

There are also other sites such as Yahoo Answers and Digg where you can gather information on topic to discuss on your blog.

9: Build a contact list:

As you build your blog there is one thing that you must do; capture your readers email addresses. For someone to voluntarily give their contacts to you shows they are ready to consume what you have to offer.

We cannot over emphasize the important of targeting unique visitors when it comes to online business. This is the only way of making sure you keep on making money even when others are complaining of lack of traffic.

Therefore, from the onset ensure you include on your blog an email capture form or landing page. I highly recommend you work with Aweber that offers great email management services.

With search engines constantly changing their algorithms you can traffic proof your blog by having an email list.

10: Don’t over indulge in a marketing strategy:

It is true that some online marketing strategies are better than others but that does not mean you concentrate on one technique. You need to attract traffic from all kinds of sources for as long as it is targeted.

For example, don’t over indulge in creating backlinks and forget to generate content. Yes, you need lots of backlinks to get to 1^st page, but why rank high and when readers land on your blog find you have nothing to offer?

Remember what we stated in the beginning that blogging is not easy as most people would like you to think. You need to do a combination of things in order to succeed in making a blog. This includes building relationships, adding backlinks, generating content and of course applying different marketing strategies.

Neglecting other aspects of blogging just because you overheard people saying that guest blogging works is missing the point. By the way, what works in one niche may not necessarily work in another niche.

A good blogger seeks to incorporate all elements of blogging. Find different and unique ways to engage your readers and you will definitely make money. Remember, it is not about you but rather about your readers. Thus don’t get carried away with only one aspect of blogging.

Summary: All said and done, how you make a successful blog is determined not by writing but on how you write. Consistency, planning, determination and having an entrepreneurial spirit will for sure make you a great blogger.

Am sure you will be happy when your blog is mentioned on forums, seminars and shared on social sites. This viral effect can only take place if you observe what we have discussed on this article.