1. It's not just technology
Geeks pioneered blogging so people think it is all about the technology. It isn't. Focus on people. It is people who read, subscribe, comment and tell their friends, technology is merely the tool you use to bring your content to the people.

2. Content is only the start
Yes, content is king, but without an army, what is a king but a simple man in a funny hat? If content is your king, promotion is your army. Saying all you need is content is like saying all a pie needs is flour. Success comes from several ingredients in the right measures; consistent, quality, valuable content, with good promotion, community and most of all patience!

3. It's not just WHAT you know
Networking is the key to success in blogging, and probably in life. Yes, it is not just what you know but also who. Get out and make friends.

4. Be nice on the way up
As a continuation of the previous point, I have seen so many people use and abuse their contacts and readers only to find when the proverbial hits the wind making device they are all alone. Do not make this mistake, be nice on the way up and you might get some friendly help when things go rough.

5. Give to receive
What you get out all depends on what you put in. Over the years, I have seen the idea constantly reinforced that before you try to take any rewards, you need to give, give and give some more. All too often people think blogging is a route to riches, so they slap ads all over their theme, push dodgy affiliate offers and generally try to extract every last cent from their blog before even creating any useful resource. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

Let's Enjoy!

Yes, you read that right. Why you should NOT blog.

Blogging is not for everyone.

There are some good reasons I have seen suggested why you should not blog:

• You don’t have the time to do it justice.
• Blogging would add nothing to your business or life.
• Writing is too difficult or unpleasant.
• Your company is struggling to keep up with current order levels.
• Customer contact can never be in the culture.
• Change is out of the question.
• Colleagues can’t be relied on to behave.
• Lawyers, PR and Brand team have to sign off on every communication.
• If you created blog for earning the it may "Adsense CTR is too low"
  … And so on
  

Some of these are more valid than others, some have counter arguments and some are harder to solve than others. I can think of tactics that suit certain businesses better than blogging purely from an ROI basis.

One example would be a local swimming teacher who is booked up three years in advance and barely has time to spend with her own kids. A blog might give her opportunities to sell her expertise, gain private bookings, make more money and free up her time, or it might just create more work, a chore that takes her away from family quality time. It depends on the person and nobody can decide for her.

That all said, fact is there is only one reason you should never blog. You should never blog if you are not interested in communicating.

Blogging is all about your interaction with an audience. It is not a passive advertising platform. Creating a blog is not a magic ticket to the top of search engine results, and it will not suck eyeballs like a vacuum cleaner.

To succeed in blogging you have to be interested in your audience, you have to be there, be authentic, interact, and you have to consistently serve and delight them. If this is too much like effort, do anything else but blog. It just won’t work for you.

On the positive side, blogs are very good at attracting, educating and interesting audiences. You can get very fast feedback, gain a better industry profile, create sales leads, and have fun doing it.

It all depends on your mindset and motivation.

Promote Your Blog

No matter how much you update your blog, how long it takes you to write your quality posts, you can only get so many viewers without actively promoting it. One of the easiest ways to do so is by joining various blog communities, and directories. Here is a list of over 75 directories you can submit your blog (and RSS feeds in some cases) to:
My Top Five Recommended Blog Directories:

1. Best of the Web Blogs
2. Blog Catalog
3. Blog Hub
4. Blog Flux
5. Blog Wise

Other Blog Directories To Consider:
Blogarama
Globe of Blogs
Blogbib (paid or reciprocal required)
Blog Dex
Blog Directory Submit (reciprocal required)
Blog Intro (no PageRank)
Blog Search
Blogtastic (paid)
Blog Universe
Bulletize
EatonWeb
FeedCat
FeedDirectory
Feeds4All
Finding Blog (redirects links)
AddUrlBlog- (closed for submission until years end)
RSS Mad

Miscellaneous Topical Blog Directories:
Blog Burst (adds your blog post to major media website)
Blogdir - (Spanish blog community)
Blog Street (India Directory)
BritBlog (British Directory)
Boing Boing (submit blog posts for review)
iBlogBusiness (adds business blogs only)
Blog Search Engines That You Can Submit Your RSS Feed
Blog Hop
Blo.gs
Bloogz
Blog Lines
Blog Digger
Blogz
Blog Pulse
Feed Map
Read A Blog
IceRocket
RSS Network
Syndic8
DayPop
Technorati
Postami
2RSS
News Mob
More Over
Ping-O-Matic (submits to multiple rss feed submissions websites at once)
FeedFarm
RSSFeeds
Search4RSS
Feed Directory
FeedPlex
Feeds4All
Plazoo
Feed24
Feeds 2 Read
JordoMedia
Feed Bomb
nFeeds
Feedooyoo
Feed Age
Golden Feed
RSS Micro
Octora RSS Feeds
Feed Fury
FindRSS
Day Time News

Miscellaneous Topical Blog Search Engines:
Edu RSS (educational only)
Educational Feeds
Feeds.com.br (Brasil only)
Finance Investing Feeds
Realty Feeds
Medical Feeds
Science Port
Sports Feeds
Political Feeds
Government Feeds
RSS Verzeichnis