Tips to a Successful Blog

1. Don't Sit Back.  Many bloggers tend to relax once they have set up their blogs and populated it with several posts.  What they don't realize is that the more contents their blogs have, the greater the chances for them to be picked up by Google which will yield more traffic.
   
   
2. Sell Something.  Unless you are blogging for some personal reasons and have no intention of monetizing your blog, then this is not for you.  Otherwise, you might want to create your own e-book to sell in your site or become an affiliate for products that are related to your blog.  A great place for affiliate programs are Commission Junction, PayDotCom  and Clickbank.  If you have something to sell in your blog, this will also create additional income for you.
   
   
3. Go For Light Colors.  Dark template backgrounds are not advisable if you are blogging to earn some money.  Dark colors create a negative impression i.e., scam site to viewers specially if your blog is selling or promoting a product.  Either white or light colors are recommended.
   
   
4. Socialize.  Your readers can become your customers.  A vendor will never make a sale if he doesn't know how to interact with prospective buyers.
   
   
5. Collect Leads.  This will increase your database to which you will be able to promote your business.  One great site I found where I get 3 opt-in leads per week is TripleYourList.  It's free to join and once set up, your leads will be delivered to your email on a weekly basis.
   
   
6. Drive Traffic.  This is the most important part that you should not forget when you are blogging.  If you don't drive traffic to your site, you will not get wide readership and you will not earn anything.  There are free resources where you can create traffic to your site.  Among them are Perfect Traffic Storm,  Free Traffic System and Free Traffic Fast.