Its been a while since I have talked about what it takes to be a good hobby blogger, and I have received an influx of emails asking me to write a post that explains a little bit about how to get going and really build an audience. Because the number of hobby blogs has exploded in the last few years, its becoming tougher and tougher to find your niche in the card blogger network.

I remember back in the beginning of 2008 when SCU was getting going, and how few resources were available on how to start and maintain a blog. To be honest with all of you, I don’t come even close to having all the answers, but I do know a little bit. I mean, here I am almost three years later and I am still learning new things every day. SCU just went through the biggest overhaul I have ever done, and it really taught me a lot about what it takes to make any site worth keeping around.

So, with that, here are some insider tips on what you should do if you have a blog, or if you are thinking about starting one too. These are some of the things I did when I first launched, mainly in order to build the audience. Once the audience is there, you can start thinking about everything else.

Topic

Obviously, every blog needs a topic, but honestly, topic is even more important in the hobby blog world. Because there are so many blogs, you cant just throw your posts up there with random stuff and hope people enjoy them. As great as it would be, you really have to narrow down your subject matter to be successful. There is definitely such a thing as TOO NARROW, as you don’t want to limit yourself if you find your brain in lockdown mode. Pick a sport, pick a part of the hobby you like, write what you know. If you want to start a football card blog, but havent collected football cards, its going to be tough to be a resource for people. If your blog is about breaking into collecting football cards, well, that’s different. I think some of the best blogs out there are just people who write about the stuff they have talked about with their friends for however many years. If you know your subject matter, you will no doubt be able to convey said topic to your readers. Be careful though, stepping on someone’s toes with a similar approach can be extremely frustrating for the existing site, and that is not something you want to deal with. Trust me. Lastly, just like there is such a thing as too narrow, there is such a thing as too broad as well. In order to maintain a fluid audience, you don’t want to have an influx of topics that wont appeal to a majority of people. The most annoying thing I can think of is finding a blog you like and then discovering a string of posts that don’t matter to me. Give me something interesting to come back for, not a bunch of stuff that generally have the same topic.

Name

Once you have a topic, you need a name. Not only do you need a name, but you need a catchy name. Let me tell you right now that naming your site may be one of the hardest things you have to do. It needs to be clever, but not too clever. It needs to be relevant, but not so relevant that its boring. I can tell you right now that if you are thinking of some sort of name with “cardboard” or “wax” in the title, stop. Those are already taken. Go a different direction. On the other hand, you don’t want it to be so different that you lose readers because your blogs name has no connection to the subject matter. If I named this blog “Gellman’s Autographic Fantastic Voyage” instead of SCU, I can tell you it would be a lot tougher to market this site to an audience. I once heard that you should never name a business something that doesn’t look great on a business card, and I think this part of the blog creation process falls under that addage. Think of something that you could tell to someone outside the hobby and they would get it. Don’t name it something so random that someone passing through wont understand, or wont care about. Although “Gellman’s Card Blog” would give a pretty good clue as to what I would be writing about, it is just way too boring, so make sure that you give your readers a title that suggests interest in the hobby.

Blog Setup

First off, before you choose a place to setup your blog, make sure the .com is available. If its not, find one that is. Even if you are just going to be casually updating your site, nothing does more for you than a .com can do. With google and company selling domains at less than 10 bucks a year, you have no reason not to do it. After finding out if the .com is available, sign up with a blogging service to host your writing software. This is where things get tricky. Blogger blogs are easier to set up, but are actually more difficult to maintain. WordPress blogs are harder to set up, but pay you back ten fold in available and user friendly features. My suggestion is getting some help from an existing blogger and going with wordpress. WordPress looks more professional (not that this site is any respectable example), and is much easier to adapt if you are going to take it big time. Blogger will get you started, but as I experienced, it is a pain in the ass to make anything external work on it. Yeah, a Hummer looks like you have money to throw around, but it drives like a hummer. The Porsche SUV is a little bit harder to get into, but it drives that much better. Why drive a lumbering behemoth when you can put some extra work into it and get more out of it?

Content

When it comes to creating a successful site, content is first and foremost. If you are going to start a blog, and you want people to read it, you better believe its going to be hard work. The energy needed to run a site is so great, that many people give up before they get started. Lets be honest here, if you want people to read what you write, people outside of just other bloggers, content needs to be there and at the top of the list. There is no reason for a non-blogger to read your posts if you arent going to give them a reason to do so. That means well written, relevant material that is updated daily AT A MINIMUM. If you cant post once a day, expect a small audience. Its just the way things go. In fact, when SCU was getting going, I made sure to post more than once a day to make sure people would come back more times than usual. A lot of people will tell you that they just want to do this for fun or whatever, and don’t care about readership, but the reality is that if you are going to put in the work, its nice to have it appreciated by someone other than your parents. On top of that, you cant just post to post, either. You have to be able to pull topics out of your ass with regularity, and that is why a narrow topic line is detrimental to a blog’s success. It may sound overwhelming to have to do this much to maintain a successful blog, but that is why its so tough to have the type of audience that most people assume just magically appears out of thin air. There nothing more frustrating to me than trying to help someone build content and come back to see the “card of the day” or similar type posts. All that shows me is that you are unable to find something to write about, and with the hobby as expansive as it is, even niche blogs should have more to talk about.

Promotion

If you think that you can just write and people will show up, think again. You are responsible for building the audience through your content, AS WELL AS with key marketing. That means joining and posting regularly on message boards like FCB, Blowout and the like, approaching existing bloggers for links on their blogroll, and also trying to make sure that you are giving people an opportunity to stumble across your site at every turn. This is why its so important to know what you are talking about, because in most cases, each message board has veterans that will call you out if you talk out of your ass. You have to be on top of your game at all times. In addition, sign up for a twitter account under your site and start mentioning existing bloggers. If you arent on twitter yet, you are missing out. Twitter is the place where card bloggers go to shoot the shit, and being a part of that conversation with relevant or humerous insight does wonders for your status in the blog world. Lastly, start commenting with regularity on other people’s posts. Nothing gets a bigger blip on my radar than a well thought out comment on one of my posts, and I can tell you that discussion on a site that’s not your own can make you a made man (or woman) in this realm. Even if we don’t agree, if you make valid points, you will have my respect.

Pizzazz

This is a grey area because its tough to state what it takes to have “it,” and when you do have that x factor, most of the time people will gravitate towards your site. I can tell you from personal experience that any thing can be learned with few exceptions, and that is where you need to study up on what makes other sites successful. Whether its coming up with an interesting engine to drive traffic, or a cool set of graphics for the site, star factor comes in many forms. I will say that the most successful blogs didn’t become successful overnight, but rather moved up the popularity scale because of what their site brought to the table. Figure out what unique thing you are going to focus on, and exploit it like a sweatshop worker. That will be your ultimate success, because it is rarely something you can duplicate.

Continuity

One thing that tends to have a lot of success in blog form is continuously running features on the site. Here on SCU, I have more than a few, and each of them is always featured prominiently among the different parts of my online persona. Find your own, and make it a point to run with it. Whether it’s a top ten list or a special column focusing on one specific thing, it can get you noticed if they are done well.

Design

The last thing I want to talk about is site design, because this is where a lot of people fail miserably, and it often can cost a site a good amount of readership. Pick the simplest design you can find three columns at the most, just so that people can get used to your style. Do not immediately jump into advanced templates because if you do, it will look like you are in over your head. Secondly, design a logo and a masthead that is eye catching. Hire someone to do it if you don’t know how to do it yourself. Try to stay away from text at the top, it just looks boring. Instead get a banner that looks professional, and luckily there are a lot of people on message boards who will do it cheaply. I cant stress how much of a turn off it is to see someone use graphics that look amateur, especially when resources are out there. If you need ideas, look around and see exactly what I mean.