Starting a blog was one of the best decision I’ve ever made, and than writing my first eBook on Starting a Blog 101, building a community of bloggers, getting featured on world’s top blogs like Daily Blog Tips etc are the things that shows that my blog is on the right track and defines the success of my blog.
But, success in blogging is defined differently by different person, Isn’t it?
Some bloggers are seeking a path to money while others are more interested in simply connecting and or sharing their voice.
I don’t know how do you define a success in blogging, but for me blogging success would be more of a community.
I’d love to see my readers, subscribers and visitors posting quality comments and discussing the post, sharing their ideas and making a conversation.
My opinion for success will never change, It’s all about the community and the numbers don’t lie, but in many ways, It isn’t an accurate gauge on how much of an impact a blog makes to It’s readers.
I’ve said a lot of time before and you should understand that a lot of hard work is needed to get to become a successful blogger; It isn’t an overnight occurrence.
With all the blogs screaming for attention, how are you supposed to know that your blog is on the right track? Well, there are a lot of ways to tell If your blog has what It takes.
So, Is Your Blog on the Right Track?
Here’s the five things to tell If your blog has what It takes.
1. Loyal Readers:
If your loyal readers count is growing than you can consider yourself on the right track.
Loyal readers are the one who visit your blog on daily basis, read your posts and make a conversation in comments section. You also have to show some appreciation to them by responding to their comments and answering their questions which in turn will make them love your blog.
It can take months to get some loyal readers for your blog and that is only possible If you’re able to encourage the first time visitors to stay through your writing.
All of the popular blogs like ProBlogger, CopyBlogger and Daily Blog Tips has thousands of loyal readers which makes them successful blogs.
2. Subscribers:
All growth is progress. If you’re building an email list and all of your readers are subscribing to your list than you’re going great.
If you’re not than sorry to say, but you aren’t on the right track and I’d suggest you start today.
If you can’t afford $19/monthly for Aweber, than you can start with Mailchimp which is FREE for first 2000 subscribers. Here are few tips to increase your subscribers:
- Offer an eBook to your readers in return to opting in because ya know, people love free stuff.
- Create a landing page like this and write about everything that they can get from you through emails.
- Design beautiful optin form with your eBook cover in it and place it in your sidebar or below posts.
- Give more reasons to subscribe.
You can’t consider yourself on a right track If you don’t have an email list or at least a community of people that trust you.
3. Comments:
Comments gives the feeling that people are reading and liking what you’re writing on your blog.
If your blog is receiving a lot of comments on each post, that’s probably a great sign, but If the majority of those comments ring to the tune of “Great post” or “Thanks for sharing” than even 1000 of those comments are rather meaningless.
Comments that provoke the discussion are far better than the 2 or 3 words comments that are there just for the benefit of a link.
A couple of months ago I wrote an article on 5 things I did to increase my blog comments helping you increase the number of comments on your blog.
4. Blogger Friends:
Having blogging buds is essential in order to become a successful blogger because they’ll help you grow and gain you credibility online.
Do your best to connect with more and more bloggers in your niche because It is good to have friends who can share stuff that is related to your expertise or niche.
My blogging buddies really rock and I love all of them. Couple of month ago when I left a comment on Ian Eberle’s blog, that single comment made him one my good blogging buddy and he also interviewed me on his blog which introduced me to some new bloggers.
Nishant Srivastava is my another blogger buddy who mentioned me in his on top upcoming bloggers post that I really appreciate.
5. Social shares:
It is a good sign If people like your stuff and thus sharing it with others.
Social media is very crucial to every blog’s success and almost every blog has Facebook like and tweet button.
If you’re not getting social shares for your blog posts then you should try to improve the quality of your posts and get involved in social media sites. Stay active on Twitter and Facebook and interact with others.
If you you get a lot of social shares on each post, that means your blog is on the right track.
Now I ask It to you:
According to you what are the things It takes in order to consider If a blog is on the right track? How do you define success in blogging? I would love to hear from you and the comments section is all yours!
Hi Ehsan,
Some great advice there, responding to user comments is ofter overlooked and is fundamental to building a community around your blog. Spam remains a big problem for many blog owners though.
I notice you don’t have captcha enabled, how do you combat spam? Sometimes I log in and find thousands of bot comments and it takes me ages to moderate them all.
Welcome Nick,
That’s why I do respond to every comment on my blog. Read my post here and you’ll know why I take time to responding to comments.
I use a GASP plugin that controls the spam comments for me. Let me know If you need to ask something else?
Well written!
Thumbs up for the #1- Loyal Readers!
Welcome to the Bloggers Community Amal, keep visiting…
Hi Again Eshan,
Great Post again Eshan.. I’ve been reading your blog for quite sometimes already and find it all awesome.
Anyway, Social shares and commenting is the best way to say that your blog is in the right track for when you have lots of comments and social shares meaning they like your post and want to share it all over again
Thanks to your post.
Thanks for reading Gel, I hope you’re enjoying reading all of my posts.
BTW, I’m Ehsan not Eshan.
At some point we always stray from our intial plan we need to keep track of our activities and try not to stray too far from the plan.
You have great information Eshan, For me, When you want to know if your blog is on the right track. 1st you have to make quality contents; if people like your blog, you’ll get lots of referrals, that makes your blog on the right track.
It’s a nice post indeed!
Agreed with you Jule! Glad to know found it great.
Brilliant ideas you have here. I should definitely take note of them. It’s sure to help me this 2013
Glad you found it useful Emilia. I hope It’ll help you in the new year.
This is definitely a question we need to ask ourselves day in and day out. We may not notice it but our readers do. Thanks for sharing this it’ll surely be a great reminder for us to keep our sites on track.
There are a lot of things that a blogger can’t notice, but the readers do. So you have to do your best to make your readers love your blog, not yourself.
Hey Ehsan, the hard work that goes into your posts sure is amazing. The quality of topics just within this one article are so hot to talk about. Anyone wanting to have a successful blog should 100% be over here reading your blog. Look how amazing you’re doing now, tons of comments and blog engagement, congrats my friend.
Hey Brian, I’m honored really! I think that the best strategy to grow a blog is to increase the engagement on your blog and make as many friends as possible. That is what I’ve been doing on my blog from when I started.
Thanks for the nice words.
I definitely agree with point 4, despite the fact that you have quality posts if you don’t have people to endorse or share your work, you’re not going to make that much of a difference.
Thanks for the heads up Joy
Your job is not just to publish an article on blog. To get on the right track, a blog owner needs to follow these five things. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the heads up Mark.
I do think that there still
is plenty of room for more improvements….,
Recently I did make several new improvements like for example an About the Author Message in the Comment section, and for example made some improvements to the ‘Share the Best Stuff Strategy’ with a strong visual near the Most Popular Posts List etc. etc. You can also see that today I actually wrote a new post looking back on on some of the things that Happened in 2012.
I’ve read your post on things that happened in 2012 and I loved it.
You’re doing an awesome job on your blog Van, but why don’t you register a domain name for it?
Thats a very helpful post. I have no email list yet. Now i will get one soon. My blog is not so old yet. So i dont get loyal readers. Now i am on a very tight academic schedule so i cant give much time on my blog. But i am trying to do that. Again thanks for the post.
Sabir, This is one of the biggest mistake I made when I started my blog. Building an email list at first is must in order to grow your blog in less time
Thanks for your comment.
Great blog!
In my opinion, to get readers coming back for more content is imperative get targeted traffic. This means that when someone comes for the first time to your blog is through a link that offers what the reader wants.
To put it another way, you do not want lots of visitors to your blog, you really want to connect with those looking for what you can offer.
Welcome GoodTracker,
I agree with you, I have written a lot of articles on encouraging the first time visitors to stay on your blog.
Thanks for the heads up
Ehsan, This is exactly what i had learnt after visiting your site as a new blogger.I had learnt the effectiveness of responding to comments and encouraging visitors to become loyal readers & learnt the reasons like offering an ebook to get subscriber email list, connecting with the bloggers regularly & sharing the content on social media will definately help to get blog on right track.
Thanks Lokesh,
I hope you’ll follow everything I did and I’ve shared in this post to get your blog on the right track too.
Thanks for the awesome comment bro.
i think you are the first one who put this feeling into a blog. Seriously speeking, i don’t think anybody cares about anything but money today. Even me too write for making money. but yes, thinking might change as the time changes. anyways, nice work!!:-)
Thanks Sanju and glad you liked the point.
I too think that every blogger these days aren’t thinking about anything but money.
Thanks for your comment.
It’s great if you can build a sense of community around your blog. it’s a great feeling to know that people value your thoughts so much that they keep returning to comment on them, and discuss them with others.
While many people might find that rewarding in itself, it’s also a stepping stone to earning money. the fact that these readers keep returning means that they respect your opinion. So if you promote products (either your own or other people’s) on your blog they are more likely to buy them.
It’s even greater to build a community of people interested in your niche on your blog. It feels great when people appreciate your work.
I agree with you Matt, Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Hey Ehsan,
Excellent post. I think loyal readers and true subscribers are really important for any blog.If you are getting good traffic and readers are not Interested in reading your posts and just increasing bounce rate then you should close the blog.
Same is the case with subscribers that if the subscribers open rate is less then you there is no loyal subscriber.
Thank you
Agreed with you Jenni, Traffic that adds no value and just increases the bounce rate are useless. You should try to increase the loyal readers and subscribers of your blog.
Blogger friends or blogging community play an important role in the success of any blog. Mr.Ehasaan I just found your blog while I am searching some tips about Blogging. I do some work from Cyber Cafe and search good bloggers like you. Its also increase my knowledge in Blogging. I also want to start my blog soon. Thanks for your Informative words.
@Intership PHP, Glad you found my blog when you’re starting out. Don’t forget to grab my eBook which will guide you completely to start a successful blog. Here’s the link http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/11/29/starting-a-blog-101-my-first-ever-ebook-launch/
Thanks.
Loyal readers are the backbone behind a good blog. You don’t want people to show up once and never again. True, I will never accept comments that add no value to my blog. Who cares if you want to write nice post to get a link from me!
I use Welcome Splash to help build my opt-in list. I have it set to not annoy the users. Have you ever used this plugin?
I think seeing an increase in traffic, maybe not money but with more and more traffic the money will come
Always moving forward and getting more and more feedback on your blog will help get you on the right track.
Thanks for the nice comment Garen,
Loyal readers and subscribers are must, but Galen do you know which readers are the loyal ones?
It’s first I’m hearing about the Welcome Splash plugin! What kind of plugin is thos?
Well, I don’t really care of money and traffic both at this time because my focus is on the readership of my blog.
Thanks for stopping by Garen.
The loyal ones are the ones that leave quality comments. Not just something that adds no value to the blog post.
Welcome Splash is a popup that helps increase your opt-in rate. I have mine set very low so it doesn’t annoy readers.
I agree with you that loyal readers are the ones that leaves quality comments, but ya know sometimes we get a high quality comment from a first time visitor who never come back again, so I don’t think loyal readers are the ones who only leaves quality comments, but also subscribes to your blog, shares your post and buys what you recommend.
Well, I hate pop-ups and I wrote a post about it too http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/09/27/pop-ups-is-most-annoying-thing/
Thanks.
Hi Ehsan Ullah,you have said it all, but i will like to put it my own way.
A successful blog is one that ranks high in search engines,get new visitors and subscribers daily,loyal subscribers who read your blog posts,and share them on social sites,good amount of comment on each post and of course generate cash for you.LOL
Thanks for putting it on your own way Iteire, You’ve got it.
Of course getting high ranking in search engine is must, plus the loyal readers and subscribers also shows that the blog is on the right track.
Thanks for sharing Iteire, I appreciate your comment
Dear Brother Ehsan
You expressed really nice things in this article, although my blog is new and it will take time to make relationship with my visitors and readers but in the light of instructions that u gave in above post i will chalk out a strategy to make my blogging successful. Thanks
Thanks Adnan, Yes It takes sometime to build relationship with other bloggers and with your readers, but don’t give up If It took too much time. Just keep doing and be yourself, you’ll surely achieve your big goals
Glad you liked the post. Thanks for the heads up.
Ehsan,
You shared some very insightful ideas about tracking success. I can also see that all you suggested comes from your personal experience which is a great way to add credibility to what you are suggesting. Great job!
Whether it is a blogging or any other form of business, when you don’t know where you are going, it doesn’t matter what you track. Therefore, I think knowing the goals is the first cornerstone of success, even in blogging.
I think having a goal is important and then tracking your progress against those goals on a daily, weekly and monthly basis can give a satisfaction. And in fact, only then all these 5 steps start to make a whole lot more sense.
You are awesome and energetic! I like reading your posts!
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar, Glad you liked what I suggested and shared in this post.
I agree with you that having a big and small goals is must, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to know where you’re going. Just a few days ago, I’ve published a guest post on Basic Blog Tips where I shared the importance of having goals.
You’re awesome saying this man and Kumar, you’ve got some alignment going on with your blog and yourself, It’s great to see
I appreciate your comment, Hope to see ya back.
Hello Ehsan, awesome tips to figure whether your blog’s on the right path, indeed!
I was looking for extra indicators of a blog’s quality in my mind while reading your article, but I don’t think you’ve missed any.
I believe subscribers are the most important readers of a blog, and that is a strong indicator of the quality!
Yes, subscribers and loyal readers are the most important things to tell If your blog is on the right track.
Glad you liked my post Andrew, Thanks for the heads up.
Yeah well said ehsaan, if our blog has loyal readers then we can assume a good profit. although having good number of comments to the post will be the next point to say that the blog is in right track.
thanks for the great points
“If our blog has loyal readers then we can assume a good profit”
Well said Sarvesh, agreed with you
Thanks for your comment.
I like your #4 Ehsan. Being a starter, it’s an asset to build your blogger’s friend communities. Let’s all be friendly and we will reap a lot of fruits.
Welcome Alex, Connecting and building relationship with other bloggers is must in blogging that everyone should do.
Thanks for the heads up Alex. Hope to see ya back.
Hi Ehsan,
I am happy that I have come across this post. Now we will know for sure if our blog is on the right track. I totally agree with you that the blog statistics, including the number of visitors, subscribers etc., is the best way to analyzing the effectiveness of the chosen strategy.
I’m happy that you stopped by Dlan, I appreciate your comment.
The number of loyal readers and subscribers is the best way for analyzing the success of a blog.
Thanks for stopping by Dlan
Thanks a lot for the information really needed it i will surely apply it in my blog.I am a newbie though but i want many more information from the very professional bloggers
If you’re a newbie blogger than you’ve come to the right place Shashak
Feel free to ask anything from me
Hey Ehsan,
Buddy, I just read another great article which is written by you and that’s really inspiring that you produce quality content to the web.
Now I’ll be regularly visiting your blog for upcoming posts. Keep the spirit up.
Regards;
Abdul Wali
Thanks so much Abdul Wali, That really motivates me to write more like this
Hope to see ya back here.
Thanks.
Hey Ehsan,
You are right, blogging success is defined differently to so many people.
I define blogging success as having consistent loyal readers who benefit from the content I share. Without them I would be nothing and my content wouldn’t be seen by near the people that it does.
Sure, there are so many steps to making this happen and you’ve shared some good ones here that will really be beneficial in helping them get further as well.
Congratulations on moving up in the blogging world Ehsan. What an accomplishment and something to be very proud of.
Enjoy your week and thank you so much for this awesome share!
~Adrienne
Thank you Adrienne,
I think you also define blogging success as having a community and consistent loyal readers who read what we write and share it with others.
Glad you liked the ways I shared on making this happen.
I’m really proud of what I do on my blog.
Thanks for stopping by Adrienne,
I believe most of the people who comment on the blog posts come just for sake of getting a backlink from a blog. This is a case with every other blog. Just to figure out how much popular your blog is, you can just turn off comments and then check Google analytics and compare the past and present data. This will give you a much better picture.
I agree with you Rinkesh, but comments is must in blog because this is the best way to build relationship with other blogger and commenting for backlinks is good too. If you’re getting organic traffic than no matter you use comments section on your blog or not, you’ll still get traffic, but there won’t be a way to convert that traffic and make them loyal readers, so what to do with that traffic?
Thanks for stopping by.
Hello Dear
what a informative post rally i totally appreciate with your points really i think comment is one of the best way to connect with your reader i will try your points thanks for the sharing me
Hey Sarika, Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views
I hope you’ll try my points on your blog.
Hi Ehsan,
Great achievement you have, congrats. In my experience, to know whether our blogging journey is on the track or not is through our plan achievement.
For example :
Where do you want to be in the next 6 month? Have ever made a plan like that? Then look at where you are in the next 6 month. If you have managed to achieve what you have planned then I can say you’re on the right track.
Thanks
Thanks Okto, I agree with you on what you’ve said. Our plan achievement also shows whether your blog is on the right track or not, that’s also something like goals for 6 months period that you have set and work towards that goal to achieve it.
My blog is now going in the right track. My subscribers are now increasing. Slowly,but increasing. My traffic has also increased after my two guest posts on Ian and Wade’s blog.
Awesome article. Thanks for sharing.
Nice to know that your blog is going on the right track Lahaul.
You’re working hard and hard work surely pays of!
Thanks for your comment.
Comments can be outsourced meaning, you comment on mine and I reciprocate. Comments is not always a mark of success but it does say that you are on the right track. The real mark of your success is page rank, alexa ranking and number of unique visitors a day.
Shalu, To be honest with you I don’t really care of PR and Alexa rank, what I care about is my readership, subscribers and revenue.
Thanks for stopping by Shalu
Hi There Ehsan …… Great Killer Post . Since the beginning I have been trying to build a loyal readership and eternal relationship with my readers . Yet , it is quite tough for me to build relationships . I am having very few loyal readers . I think I need to put in a whole lot more of effort . Any Tips ??????
I have written a lot about it on the blog Navneet, few of them are:
1. http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/10/14/gain-the-trust-of-your-readers/
2. http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/10/02/encourage-visitors-to-stay/
3. http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/10/19/respond-to-every-comment/
I think these are enough tips, but If you still have question, feel free to ask
Very splendid Ehsan,
All the above tips rocks. But to me, one other thing that will also show that your blog is on the right track is if it has started paying for it self.
That is, you your blog is already taking care of the expensis needed to run it. Like the hosting, autorespnder fees and other minor maintainace fees. And if its also giving you additional income, that is also a sign of success.
But apart from that, every other thing you said here is superb.
Thanks for sharing friend.
Agreed with you Theodore,
It also shows that your blog on the right track If It’s started paying and you’re making extra money from it, but as I mentioned in post that not everyone seeking path to money, most of the bloggers are happy with connecting sharing their voice with others.
Glad you liked the post and thanks for stopping by.
I think every blogger must follow the rule of quality and valuable where they need to write better and introduce them to friends so that the first need of every bloggers i.e, visitors gets complete.
Thanks for stopping by Atul Kumar.
With Google analystic, I think we will more quickly know about health and the risk of a blog. and all it needs care and attention, you know regards Ehsan
@Value Blogging, Google analytics just shows the traffic and visitors of your blog, but there are other things that you need to care of like readership, building relationship and subscribers. Isn’t it?
Hello Ehsan.
What a great piece of writing.
The crucial part of blogging is readers, content, and design of the blog.
I definitely agree with most of your points.
Thanks for sharing.
Welcome to my blog Kahil,
Yup, those are the crucial parts.
Thanks for your comment
Hello Ehsan,
A Nice post and a well framed post, I can’t say that my blog is on the right track bcaz the one thing I am missing from your post is comment. Let’s hope after the new PageRank my comments also increase.
Regards
Sohil Memon.
Are you missing just one thing from the the Sohil?
BTW, I’m sure you’ll get a lot of comments on your blog. Did you read my post on increasing blog comments? http://www.guideandnews.com/2012/05/18/5-things-which-i-did-to-increase-my-blog-comments/
Yes, I must work on the eBook more. On the list for 2013 to finish early. Maybe I’ll work on it today- you have me inspired! I signed up for Mailchimp and must work on that too. So many pieces to blogging, isn’t there Ehsan?
I hope you’ll complete your eBook early Lisa, Nice to know you’re signed up for Mailchimp. It’s same as Aweber, and free. Yup, you’re right! If you’re going to launch an eBook, then you have to start a mailing list too. What’s the topic of your eBook BTW?
Hi Ehsan,
I thing you are write this article only for me. because last night I was thinking…. Is my blog on the right track. so today you give this topic on your website. I got your this topic on facebook…. I know very well sharing and Blogger network is very important for every blogger and Loyal Readers also. and thanks for suggestion email subscribing…. I will do it on my blog. Keep it up. …… and thanks for this post.
Regards
Rahul Kashyap
haha, glad you found this post useful Rahul.
So, do you think there’s anything else that is needed other than these 5 which I shared?
Great post Ehsan!! One more point to be mentioned is the low bounce rates. Bounce rates these days crucially conclude the survival of a blog.
Yes that is also a great point Harish
Thanks for including it and thanks for stopping by.
Hi Ehsan,
First of all thanks for mentioning my Blog post in your article, I think everything which you have mention above is important for right blogging, and top most thing is relationship with fellow bloggers.
Fellow bloggers helps you in your critical situation helps you in your queries, appreciate your work everytime and guide you when they found something unethical.
Thanks Nishant, that post really deserved to be mentioned here and you’re my good friend too
I have said a lot of times that relationship building is must in blogging…
Indeed you write very well Eshan.
Keep the good work going. I am sure you both will do well in the coming days.
And yes a very nicely composed post.
Thanks Sadhil, Glad you liked my writing and I hope you’ll love more If you keep visiting
Thanks for stopping by Sadhil.
Yes you are right Ehsan. If you are not getting enough comment and loyal readers then it means you are doing some mistake. All is need to analyse where you are lacking and work over it.
Hey Atish, you’re right. Bloggers should always try to figure out their mistakes and work over it.
BTW, you’re rocking over at your blog TechTricksWorld
Thanks bro. Its all because of the awesome support from my blogging buddies. I feel like home when I come online and see all the bloggers online. However I don’t talk to everyone due to lack of time but still feel like a member of same family. Love this feeling. My ultimate goal is to leave my 9-5 job and give more time to my Blogging family
.
~ Atish Ranjan
I also treat my blog as my home and I love other bloggers too. I also have a goal to become a full time blogger
Thanks Atish.
I have to improve my subscribers .. And I know the reason also. This is because of regular updation. I am not able to write daily.. This is a real fact..!!
Thanks for writing an informative post on this topic.. Good Luck
Aren’t you building an email list yet Dhruv?
Thanks for stopping by.
I think my blog is on the right track. But if it is not than IT will be now by applying all the tips you have shared here. Thank You for the share.
BTW, How to design the subscription form like you have did in your sidebar. Help me out.
I hope you’ll be applying the strategies on your blog Anurag
It isn’t that easy to design that form. BTW do you want it for Aweber?
NO i am using mail chimp too. Can you please tell me some steps here or you can mail me.
Anurag, there aren’t steps. Design it from Mailchimp form designer in your account. That how I did.
Hi Ehsan,
Again nice post bro. I don’t have email list. But I have RSS subscribes(Via Email).
However, after reading this article I could understand that building a email list is a must thing to be a successful blogger. Now I can’t go to Aweber. But I will go mailchip as soon as possible.
Thanks
Thanks Raplus, yes building an email list is essential in order to consider your blog in next level.
Go with Mailchimp Raplus and let me know whenever you have a question regarding it ok?
Thanks for the kindly words Ehsan. If I have a question I will contact you
Thanks Raplus, sure
Hi Ehsan, I’m hearing a lot of people talking about building relationship with loyal readers and I’m kind of scare that I haven’t done good enough so I’d definitely put more effort to it.
Creating an ebook is most headache stuff I have. it’s gonna take me a long time to finish that and I believe that spend 20 min in to my ebook for each day will get me finish the book and eventually share it to the community and my fans.
Thanks for sharing – Ferb
Hey Ferb, I guess you’re doing good on your blog regarding relationship building, but ya know about your blog better than me lol.
That is what I’ve done Ferb, I spent extra 20 minutes on my eBook each day for few months to complete it and It’s gonna work too. Glad to know you’re working on your eBook
Thanks for stopping by Ferb.