Well that’s what I wanted to be able to tell you.

Tony Robbins once told me (ok – so it was on a tape but hey..) that to be successful, we simply need to find out what successful people [bloggers] do, and do the same.

So let’s find and ask some of the top bloggers what they do..

I started with the top 25 blogs about blogging – http://www.dailyblogtips.com/top-25-blogs-about-blogging/ – and asked everyone the following question:

“If you were to focus right in on the most significant factor in the success of your own blog – what would it be?”

Here are the answers, in alphabetical order. (I really should have put Frank at the top.. sorry man..)

Danny Brown – http://dannybrown.me/ says:

It probably sounds cliche, but I’d say nurturing and appreciating your community. Without your community, a blog is really just a private journal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a personal blog or one with a more business-led approach; the community drives its success, so look after it.

Reply to comments (and not just with pat responses). Highlight great comments (perhaps turn them into follow-up posts). Email your commenters and thank them (Valeria Maltoni does a great job of this).

Encourage interaction; ask what your readers would like to read about.
Invite them to guest post for you to share their ideas with the rest of your readers.
Encourage disagreement; I’ve seen way too many “A-listers” become defensive over a commenter who’s questioned their views. Instead of disagreeing, admit your point of view could be wrong as well, and expand the conversation.

I could go on, as community is a very big thing for me. But then we’d be here all day

Let’s just say a blog without a community is like a Ferrari running on the engine of a Mini – it looks the part but it’s missing out where it counts.

~ Danny – that’s awesome – thanks man.

John Chow – http://www.johnchow.com/ says:

My Wife

Now this was the shortest answer – but it’s important. A supportive relationship and environment can make or break anyone’s success.

~ Thanks for that one John – it’s easy to get too ‘left brained’ about this.

Brian Gardner – http://www.briangardner.com/ says:

I honestly think that consistent posting is important. I’ve probably lost a lot of readers due to the fact that I haven’t written much this year, and think that continuing to keep readers and subscribers engaged is key to running a successful blog.

~ Thanks Brian – much appreciated.

Chris Garret – http://www.chrisg.com/ says:

The number one factor I would say is focusing on your audience, what they want/need/find interesting. This doesn’t mean that you try to please everyone all the time, but you need to have an empathy with your audience and to provide something truly beneficial.

Thanks. Hmm.. Chris – Because there is an audience for every conceivable trend/subject/want/need – how does that connection, that ’synergy’ between you and your audience evolve – where does it come from?  i.e. How do you establish your original course or goal, and then successfully navigate your way forward?

Chris sent me a picture:

~ Thanks Chris – that sums it up excellently.

Grant Griffiths – http://blogforprofit.com/ [c'mon man - he's the boss..] says:

The single most important factor is content. But not just any content. You have to provide up to date, relevant content on a regular basis. And the content needs to be written for your human audience and not for the search engines. Basically, if you keep the human search engine happy, the inorganic search engines like Google will follow along.

The key I found to having a successful blog of my own is really tied to my first answer. But, I can expand. One problem I see a lot of new bloggers make is not posting enough. I am a firm believer in the fact a new blogger needs to post to their blog daily for at least 3 months to kick it with the search engines and to get noticed. Not only getting noticed by the search engines, but by visitors and other bloggers. Use your content to answer questions too. As a business especially, we get questions daily from people. What I found was, these were the same questions people were searching for on the internet. By using my blog’s stats, I was able to ascertain from the search inquires to my blog, that those questions needed to be answered. So, I answered them and still do. If you answer the questions humans are looking for, you will move up in the search engines and stay there. And if you answer the questions being asked, you become known as the place to go for those answers. And your traffic become visitors. Your visitors become readers. Your readers become subscribers in one form or another. Which all leads to getting business from your blog.

~ Wow – great answer. Thanks Grant.

Matthew Henrickson – http://blogaboutyourblog.com/ says:

Networking.

Whether it’s with other bloggers or just networking with people who would possibly read your blog. Through Facebook I’ve been able to build an awesome community of 5,000 fans which has increased that particular blog 1000%.

~ That’s interesting – thanks Matt.

Frank Kern – http://masscontrolsite.com/blog/ [I want to be like Frank] says:

It’s to always give really good content. Hands down.

~ Much appreciated mister Kern sir, thanks.

Alex King – http://alexking.org/ says:

Be real, be authentic.

~ Thanks Alex – much appreciated.

Michael Martin – http://www.problogdesign.com/ says:

It’s cliché, but I really would say that writing great content is the number 1 success factor. Back when I started Pro Blog Design, social media meant sharing links on Digg and Stumble, but I never could do that properly (Didn’t seem right to be self-promoting so directly!). The only promotion I did was to write good comments on other blogs. The real work was in the content; I just made sure I was writing detailed posts on topics that other people weren’t covering.

~ Nice – thanks Michael.

Mike Sansone – http://www.converstations.com/ says:

In one sentence, “Write with the Reader in Mind.”

To expand, many blogs are a all-I-know-in-one-long-post types of writing. Most readers won’t want to read that. So trust your reading self, then define which types of readers you’re trying to attract (commenters? folks who will share your stuff on Twitter? etc?) and go read what they are reading to get to know the styles they like best.

Write the stuff you want to write, in the style your reader prefers (bullets? lists? short posts).

Write with the Reader in Mind

~ Awesome Mike – thanks.

Yaro Starak – http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/ says:

Paul, To answer your question – I think the essence of a good blog is consistent quality content, but unfortunately that answer often isn’t very helpful.

You have to look at what goes into quality content and so far I see it as two very important ingredients -

1. Stories: you need to either be doing things yourself or reporting what other people are doing (telling other people’s stories) that are interesting to a group of people
2. A willingness and ability to share stories using interesting mediums, whether that be video, audio or just plain entertaining writing

That’s the key to a successful publication of any format, including a quality blog.

~ Yaro – thank so much man.

Denise Wakeman – http://www.buildabetterblog.com/ says:

The single most important factor contributing to the success of a blog is publishing top quality content consistently and constantly. Fresh content posted a minimum of 3 times per week will attract consistent traffic, new leads, new clients and new opportunities for your business.

~ Thanks Denise – much appreciated.

And thanks again to everyone – you are all busy and I appreciate the time you took to respond.

What Can We Learn From This? – Let’s Summarise the Answers:

• Focus on your audience [audience]
• Provide something beneficial [content]
• Blog within common ground between you and your readers [audience content]
• Content – fresh relevant often regular [content]
• Answer questions [interaction]
• Write great content [content]
• Comment on other blogs [interaction]
• Write unique content [content]
• Work within a supportive environment [environment]
• Write with the reader in mind [audience]
• Understand and write for your audience [audience]
• Top quality content consistently and constantly [content]
• Networking [audience]
• Really good content [content]
• Consistent quality content [content]
• Tell real life stories [audience content]
• Use interesting mediums [content]
• Consistent posting [content]
• Engage readers [audience]
• Nurture and appreciate your readers [audience]
• Reply to comments authentically [interaction]
• Highlight great comments [interaction]
• Email commentors and thank them [interaction]
• Encourage interaction [interaction]
• Invite guest posts [content interaction]
• Encourage disagreement [interaction]

And Then Let’s Group Those As Best We Can:

1. Content ************ 12
2. Interaction ******** 8
3. Audience ******* 7
4. Environment/Support * 1

So here we have a list of blog success factors, based on the feedback of people who are successful bloggers:

The next step would be to model those activities. Remember though – the scores are just an indication of the answers, not an indication of importance – they are all important – all being the habits of highly successful bloggers.

My strategy as a blogger would be to put together a content plan based around the summary list. I’d also print off the summary list so I could see it as I write my content.

Check out the category on a Blog Content Plan.

I hope you enjoyed reading the article – I enjoyed writing it.

Normally, that would be a nice article, with a good question, a variety of answers, a useful summary and a next step.

But.. after years of working with successful people, training and qualifying as a life coach, studying success and psychology – there’s a little something it feels important to add..

A long time ago – I asked a few very successful  (multi-millionaires and happy) people the same question, within the context of personal success though – not blogging.

The most significant factor affecting the success of a person – not so much the success of what they do, but the success of who they are – is their hidden self image – not their conscious self-image.

It turns out that your mindset - basically your attitude – is the predominant and controlling factor of your success in life.

So even if you have the skill, the time and the opportunity – if your mindset is one of negativity, of lack and limitation, one which sits on top of a poor hidden self image – then you will limit or even sabotage your success as it comes your way. Obstacles will mysteriously appear, resistance will manifest – and you may wonder why things seem to go wrong..

This where the benefit of a coaching program comes in. Not only do you learn the skills and the strategies of successful activities – you also develop your self-image – your confidence – your awareness.

Your self worth is a direct reflection of your hidden self image. You will only allow yourself to earn as much as you think you deserve or are worth. Crazy huh?

So as important as a blog content strategy is – also have a self-development strategy – one which takes you along the path of growth.

- to your success – in all areas of your life,

Paul.