Blog Empire Construction:

No one Need Blog Alone

If the idea of sifting the news 20 hours a day for blog material gives you the willies, don’t panic: get a partner. One of the most popular blog formats (or rather, the format of many popular blogs) is the multi-contributor blog. We mentioned the Volokh Conspiracy earlier; it’s written by several legal experts who contribute in their areas of expertise to the blog’s main theme.

National Review’s “Corner” follows a similar format: NR’s columnists answer reader mail and contribute quips and opinions, making the page a lively read.

Creating a multi-contributor blog means that you’ll be sharing your Blog Empire with co-regents, and as history illustrates, this has challenges of its own. But if you share a love of your subject with other experts, you’ll be doing your readers a favor by sharing divergent opinions with them.

A second possibility is to join a site that has multiple blogs on it, drawing traffic that may come to read others and stay to read you. A number of newspapers like the Lawrence Journal World feature a stable of bloggers on their site and may even feature some of their bloggers in print or on their paper’s front page online. For the blogger who wants to build an audience quickly, this may be an option.

Be aware, however, that writing under someone else’s banner means you will be giving up significant creative control: it may be a good starting place for you to build a name, but you’ll soon want to strike out on your own.

The Makings of a Blog Empire

Choosing Content That Provides Value

Unless you are a successful newspaper columnist or a famous actor who is able to draw hordes of readers by your reputation alone, your blog is going to need a theme.

It may be a narrow one, like “Libertarian politics in the Massachusetts Governor’s race.” It may be a broad one, like, “art focusing on life and love.” But whatever your theme, your blog is going to keep readers by presenting them with the valuable content they expect.

Not coincidentally, it’s also going to be a theme you love and will not be tempted to stray far from. Because there are literally millions of blogs available, successful blogs reach one kind of reader, and they do it well.

The reason is obvious: a reader who might share your interest in model trains may not share your love of fine wines. He may not care about your vacation in Paris. Unless he’s a personal friend, he may not care about your new car.

That means you’re going to have to pick a subject and stick with it. A good starting place is the following list of popular blog categories:

• political
• spiritual
• society/culture
• rant
• business
• hobby
• technology
• art
• news
• reference

Of the most popular blogs, measured by Technorati.com, a popular blog search engine, a significant percentage are political blogs. This should not be surprising: with the exception of religious opinions, opinions on politics are some of the most fiercely held and vociferously debated.

Political opinions make great blog fodder. But there’s a catch: everyone has an opinion, but not everyone has one that millions of readers will take time to read.

Successful political blogs, whether the liberal Daily Kos, the conservative Red State, or the law-oriented Volokh Conspiracy, all have one thing in common:

1. They have important and timely information (not just opinions) that can be relied upon by serious political junkies.
2. They have high-level political connections, access to rumors, or expertise to share.

If you are connected in politics or law and have serious light to shed on the issues of the day, a political blog may be your Blog Empire. The same case holds for spiritual blogs, hobby blogs, and technology blogs:

• the successful blogs are those run by experts (that is, of course, why we’re going to build your empire on your own expertise) who can tell readers what they don’t know and want to know.

There are, however, successful blogs that are not run by experts; they are run, in fact, by someone who had a brilliant idea. For example, one of the most popular blogs on Technorati, linked by more than 25,000 other blogs, is Post Secret.

On Post Secret, the readers do all the work, creating a picture that represents a secret the contributor wants to anonymously reveal to the world. The secrets may be “I once made a student repeat a grade so I could flirt with his father for another year,” or it may be “I find it amusing when my blind dog crashes into furniture.” In every case, the entries chosen are skillfully presented (the blogger IS an expert in picking interesting content) and readers laugh, they cry, and they relate. But most importantly, they return again and again.

Post Secret illustrates that all you need is a well-presented good idea to build a blog empire.

News, link, and reference blogs require an abiding interest in one subject and the tenacity to find relevant, timely information. Successful ones cover their subject so well that they are considered valuable references by serious news hounds.

A good example of this type of blog is Zero Intelligence. Zero Intelligence gathers every relevant story about “zero tolerance” drug and weapons policies in public and private schools and presents them with commentary. It follows stories through the press cycle to resolution or disappearance and serves as a trusted clearing house for relevant information.

Another reference blog is “Literally, a Weblog,” which documents the popular press’ misuse of the word “literally.” If a writer needs an example to make a point about the use or misuse of “literally” in the arts or media, “Literally, a Weblog” can provide a fitting example for any story.

• No idea is too small, too silly, or too pretentious so long as you present your content in a manner that makes your blog a valuable reference.

If you have an abiding interest in a specific subject more than any other, then a news, link, or reference blog may be may be the place to start.

The final category is, alas, the largest category of blogs and the one that makes up the smallest percentage of professional blogs: the rant blog. Rant blogs are generally “brain dump” blogs, where the blogger simply writes what’s on his/her mind, tells about their day, or whines about their boss.

It is a cathartic project, designed for the blogger’s mental health, and while it may be interesting – at least to the author - it will seldom draw much of a crowd. Unless your life is interesting enough to write a book about, the rant blog is to be avoided. If your life IS interesting enough to write a book about, it’s probably best to write the book.

Building Your Blog Empire

Deciding What Type of Empire You’ll Build

So you want to build an empire. Unlike historical empires that relied on unique military tactics, advanced technology, and slave labor, your empire will rely on a single person: you. You’ll design it, you’ll build it, and you’ll people it with readers who return to it day after day, becoming in a small sense virtual citizens of your Blog Empire and eventually your happy customers.

• You’ll use the same tactics as others, but you’ll use them more efficiently.
• You’ll use the same infrastructure as others, but you’ll use it more effectively.
• You’ll compete with other empires for your readers’ time, and you’ll do so successfully.

A Blog Empire is an empire of customer service and you will not only be its ruler, you will be the servant of all who enter it. Sound like fun? It can be, if you design your empire with one person in mind: you.

It seems a dichotomy to say that a Blog Empire should be built around the provider rather than the customer, but there’s a simple reason for it:

• It will be you who updates it day after day.
• You will be the editor, the designer, and the main focus of the site.

Your expertise, your hobby, or your insight will provide the service that the citizens of your Blog Empire want. You can’t sell from an empty cart and you’ve got to be in it for the long haul.

That means you’ve got to provide content that features what you know and what you love. You will be the key, and every part of your Blog Empire will be designed with that in mind.

However, before you can lay the foundations, we need to review a few options. Let’s take a look at a few successful blogs and generate some ideas. Then we’ll come back for a good look at the one who can make it all work: you.

The Blog as a Business

Most blogs are small potatoes. The vast majority are online journals where teenagers talk about their lives to a readership made up of their closest friends. A growing minority, however, are businesses in and of themselves. They balance costs and income; they purposely seek out content providers, advertisers, and paying customers. They make a profit. They are, in fact, Blog Empires, ruling over a reader-defined section of the blogosphere as the go-to site for millions who come to get the news, buy promotional merchandise, and donate money to keep their favorite bloggers fed and happy.

That’s where you come in. You can draw millions of readers, because what you have to say is important. You can accumulate advertisers, because they will pay to reach your readers. In short, you can build your own Blog Empire, and it’s easier than you think. We will walk you through the steps necessary to see your name in lights and your blog climb to the top of blog listings everywhere, and to fatten your bank account with the profits from your own blog business. It will take a lot of work (what worthwhile thing doesn’t?) but you may find that being a blogger, building a Blog Empire of your own, is the most fulfilling job you’ve ever had.

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