Did you know, that as of this month, there are over 156 million public blogs in existence? And with that type of competition growing everyday, is the effort worth the prize? What makes a blog a rewarding a home run? and are you still wondering how to attract more visitors to your blog?

We are too.

I did some research regarding this matter and there’s a lot of opinion on the subject. Some say sell advertising, some say to blog every day, some say to not write more than 200 words so the audience doesn’t get bored, others suggest tightly niche your content and others say wake up the dead with extreme controversy.

I do agree with them all, most importantly I believe that businesses need to write stuff that people actually want to read!

Before you start writing, ask yourself who the target audience is and what the do they really care about. Also ask your self these questions:

1. Why do you write your blog? To make money, to serve as marketing tool?
2. Have you clearly identified 3 other highly read blogs in your topic?
3. Can you see their magic formula? Is meaningful content – are they a rock star, have a book and/or a national expert?
4. How is traffic being driven to their site? This takes some digging, but it’s important.
5. Does your niche topic have a big enough audience to tap?
6. Have you looked at Google analytics to see what you have written in the past that really drew readers?
7. Does your content provide pragmatic advice? Is the writing original and thought provoking, Is it entertaining, or is it just sucking up your time and you should be doing something else?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, stop writing, talk a walk, read a book and start again.

Be useful. Be unique. Be engaging.

How do these blogs do it?
HuffingtonPost – 35,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
TMZ – 17,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
engadget – 11,500,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.

For more blogging tips, view: 10-steps to making writing your blog easier.

Recently, they’ve produced some polarized opinions.

Miracle Whip has launched a “Love Us or Hate Us” campaign complete with a YouTube channel which has a place for people to take a side and sound off, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. The ads feature people stating how they feel really about Miracle Whip. Reviews range from, “I love it!” to, “it tastes like lotion.”  Not one person thinks it’s “just OK.” Spots also include celebrities that elicit strong reactions from people, the love ‘em or hate ‘em:  “Pauly D” from MTV’s Jersey Shore and James Carville, democratic strategist. The ads seem scripted, but you get the idea and the feedback on the social network supports the campaign’s theme.

Cate Blanchett boldly stepped out on the red carpet at the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards on Sunday in a Givenchy Haute Couture gown.  The internet was abuzz as journalists, bloggers and Twitter users weighed in. Opinions were extreme as people either raved about the dress or declared it awful. In her photos, she appears as a glamorous, fashion-forward woman who is not fazed by negative reviews. She could have easily selected a ho-hum gown thereby avoiding being placed on some worst dressed lists. However, she would have stayed off some best dressed lists, too.

The reactions that these two stirred up is what you want for your brand, company, product, service, book, art, etc. It may be difficult to hear the criticism, but your fans will be as loyal and enthusiastic as your detractors are harsh. When you conjure up these types of reviews, you know that you have clearly defined your brand. There is no question as to what you (or your company, product or service) are all about and you are building your awareness.

The worst thing you can do is to try to be all things to all people. While this strategy may spare you some criticism, it will probably also render you unremarkable and off the radar. A strong brand is authentic, fearless, full of conviction and self-confident.

Need some help differentiating your brand? Our Differentiate your Business Ta-Do List provides you with over 80 ways to be unique and create powerful distinction with products, service and how you market. Or, as always, feel free to email us your questions.

For more on how to define your brand, view:
Can a strong brand make a visit to the dentist less painful?
Blending in is so yesterday: Stand-up, Brand-up!

I’m a late night gal. Although, I do spark after my java and eggs in the mid AM and then again at 3 and again after tennis around 8 or nine. I suppose the point is we all have peak performance and high think zones. For a week, monitor your best creative juice output. What time is it? Then, if you can, plan your day accordingly.  We should not fight these waves of brilliance, we should leverage them.

If nothing else, have a pad ready at your peak times and make list of ideas for marketing, blog posts, new biz prospects. Do this every day for a week. By Friday, you’ll have a bunch of powerful stuff.

And hopefully you are an entrepreneur and can decide your schedule. And if you are not, you should highly consider the jump. It’s really the most awesome place to be.

Regimes and rituals do help me stay on course. But there are others days, I am a reckless, wild, free bird and fly all over the place and still produce.

Do what works for you. If it’s not working, try something new.

If you have not read Finding Flow, you should. It’s an awesome book. All of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi books are amazing.

For more on marketing, visit our Market your biz blog.

This weekend was full, but not with all my favorite things. Friday night I celebrated a girlfriend’s birthday and went to a swanky steak place, consumed caviar, nice wine and had a good time. Saturday AM, I had a league tennis match and before I even got there, I was convinced I was going to get beat. My opponent had the reputation of being over skilled in our group and had beaten everyone. To my total surprise, I played my best tennis and beat her. Pretty cool.

That afternoon I had marked out time to work on my book proposal. My proposal has been finished for months and my agent has been working the field, pitching away. I’ve gotten two bites back and a request based on a the publisher’s feedback. Simple enough, right? Starting point, feedback, tweak up and send back. A nice orderly way to manage my Saturday. Well it didn’t quite look like that. By 6PM I had transformed into a non thinking, sleepy, procrastinating zombie. Then stress was entering my head because I knew I also had other things to do before Monday. I was making no progress on anything. My conclusion: I needed some new black shoes. So I hit the stores. Nothing called out and said “Buy me, Buy me”.  Another thought entered my mind, Sushi and Saki – now there’s a nice combination! And I have my notebook and file with me. I’ll eat, drink and work. Well I did the first two, drove home and passed out. Missed Saturday night live, damn it!

Sunday morning arrives along with a mammoth, too much, Saki headache from the night before. For the next few hours I scribbled nonsense, napped, had a nightmare, watched football and procrastinated even more. This was so unlike me. The weekends are my best creative output time. I’m usually a machine.

My logical alias checked in. He whispered, “You are scared, Karen. Scared you may come up with a brilliant new twist for the book proposal, the publisher will hire you and then you will have a giant deadline. Or you won’t come up with JACK and you’ll get rejected.” It’s all bad. So is drinking poison, which was not even on the list and just as unlikely.

It’s 4:15 and my local Tampa Bay Bucs are playing on the radio. TV was blacked out. That makes my cranky too. But, I can burn through another couple hours of fear and fuel my procrastination even more.

It’s past 8pm, the Bucs lost 28, 24 and I have not written one darn word or even had a half of a thought of genius. It’s cat nap time, again. I set my iphone for 20 minutes. I will rest, from all the hard labor I did today, wake up and then write.

I opened my computer and within a couple of hours, drafted a discussion document about an expanded approach to my book proposal, wrote a short blog, sent 10 new business emails out for speaking gigs and went to bed. Phew, got through it! It should not have been so painful. I suppose next time my brain freezes I will go exercise, that usually works well for me, but this weekend my funk wasn’t liking much exercise other than looking for the remote control.

Today I feel like new person, maybe because the document was off my plate for a few days. I was venting to one my colleagues about my brain freeze and procrastination, guilt and stress and she sent me this excellent article on high-level creative thinking. It’s worth the read and I will try the advice next weekend. Thank you Lauren!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this on going challenge I had this weekend. What’s your story?