There are two main types of bloggers: those who write just for fun and enjoyment, and those who blog for business and for building a community. For about a year, I fell into the first category. I used to blog whenever I felt like blogging – maybe once a month, or once in two months. But ever since I bought my own domain, I started blogging seriously. At that time, a question popped into my mind:

What makes a good blogger?

After keenly observing the writing patterns of some awesome bloggers, here are a few of my observations regarding the above question.

A good blogger must have:

1. Passion: I’m sure what pulled you towards blogging was passion. Passion for writing, passion for creating, and passion for sharing interesting ideas. Passion is exactly what will keep you going. Initially, when you’re just starting out, it will take time to generate traffic to your blog, but if you keep working at it, you’ll find a lot of people visiting your blog soon!

2. Dedication: If you are seriously into blogging, you should try to blog everyday (or every alternate day). This needs a lot of dedication and also creativity. Coming up with new content is not an easy task. Keeping procrastination and laziness at bay, a good blogger knows how to keep generating good content and work hard every day.

3. Consistency: Like I mentioned, consistency needs dedication. Some people start their blog with a lot of enthusiasm, but over time they lose interest in it and stop updating their blog. You have to allot specific time every day as your ‘blogging time’. Choose a niche in which you are comfortable of writing and knowledgeable about. That will help ideas flow effortlessly!

4. Quality content: If you write every single day but your content is not engaging, interesting or informative, then your constant efforts will go unnoticed. Quality stands out from the crowd. From what I’ve seen, quality content always goes viral.

5. Good marketing skills: Good knowledge about how to promote your blog without being too annoying is important. Bloggers should have basic knowledge of SEO as well. Sending Auto DMs to new followers asking them to check out your blog/Facebook page, or constantly spamming their mentions with links to your posts is not how blog marketing is done. That will only put off people. You can write guest posts for other bloggers with links to your own blog to increase your traffic. You can also ask your friends to share your blog posts so that your posts receive a wider audience.

6. Thick skin: You will find a lot of instances where people will disagree with what you write. Getting thick skin is very important for a blogger because remember – you cannot please everyone. A blogger must learn to handle both – appreciation and brickbats, with ease.

7. Be Helpful: Bloggers are a part of a community. All bloggers must help each other by sharing each others’ articles and content. Not only this, but a good blogger must also try to answer questions and help out other people. I have noticed some bloggers who do not respond to comments on their blog even after months. Good bloggers always respond, respect and be regular.

These were some of the things which a good blogger must have! If you have more points to add, please do share them in the comments section. Happy blogging!