10 Secrets Successful Bloggers Know

Laura McClure, Multimedia Editor of motherjones.com, created this awesome list for blogging best practices. Check it out...take from it what you will.  

10 Secrets Successful Bloggers Know

1) Everyone loves a list

2)Most people also love embedded video, polls, charts, photos, or primary source documents.  If you need a blog post idea and are coming up blank, try picking one of these options, adding "of the day," and matching topic to fit.

3)Longer than 600 words is too long.  When in doubt, make it two posts.

4)  Start with the assumption that all your blog readers have already devoured the NY Times that morning, and probably at least skimmed the Washington Post as well.  Use different sources than these.  BBC, the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Politico Der Spiegel, Grist, the LA Times, HuffPo, Mental Floss, The New Scientist, BoingBoing, MetaFilter, Neatorama, AndrewSullivan.com, Wonkette, Kevin Drum's MotherJones.com blog, the from page of Digg- these are good starting points; branch out from there.

5) Being timely matters.  Want to know what's timely right now? Try searching Twitter (sidenote: I just got a Twitter account so (if you have one too) find me and let's share tweets!)

6) Aim to include at least five links per post.  To maximize search engine optimization make your anchor tags proper nouns, catchphrases, and other keywords people might search for in Google.

7) Headlines really matter.  Start with a keyword when possible, and make it catchy.

8) Consistently link to the blogs you wish would link to you; also join their comment threads.  And don't be afraid to email posts you've written to blogs you like- a little chutzpah goes a long way.

9) If you're funny, be funny.  If you're not, be cocktail party conversational.  The best bloggers are both.

10) You can write about anything you want, as long as you make it interesting and leave people a small but useful factoid as a party favor.