WHAT MAKES A BLOG WORTH READING?

. THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION : WHAT MAKES A BLOG WORTH READING? .

Do you ever find yourself pondering big life questions? What’s the meaning of life? What does my future hold? What makes a blog worth reading? Me too. The trouble with these types of questions is that there’s on firm answer, there’s no right and wrong, and there’s certainly a whole load of subjectivity that will come into play.

But with the blogging industry growing so rapidly, and so many mega stars being born out of what was once a little online diary, the question of what makes a blog worth reading is one I often ponder. The great thing about blogs, and why I think they’re so popular, is that they cover a whole variety of topics and niches that people are interested in reading, they’re unique, distinctive and real. And with that … all different. That in part is what makes blogs so interesting to read, but it makes answering the question ‘what makes a blog worth reading’ pretty tricky to answer too.

The answer is subjective, but I’ve share what I think (personally) makes a blog worth reading and what draws me into a blog. Not just once. but again and again.

#1 QUALITY

Firstly the quality of the content, the editorial, the thinking and the story telling is a key factor in what makes a blog worth reading in my opinion. Poor quality & unoriginal content offers nothing of value to readers.

#2 INTEGRITY

The reason blogs have become so popular, is because they’re jam packed with integrity. They are individual, unique and real (and trustworthy with it), they ultimately offer something utterly different to what the market offered before with glossy mags … the thing people wanted. Realness. Integrity. And with the blogging industry growing so rapidly, and new blogs cropping up by the second, integrity has never been more important. It’s the thing that stands you apart from the crowd, and it’s the thing that makes your blog interesting to read and importantly to follow.

#3 IMAGERY

As with all my tips posts, my opinion is subjective and by on means right (there is no right or wrong when it comes to blogging). But for me, when I look at my favourite blogs & the most successful (read: popular) blogs, imagery – and the quality, creativity and uniqueness of the imagery is a huge huge huge factor and pertinent part of their blog and brand. Imagery isn’t just about high res quality pictures, it’s also about the creative story that your images tell … in fact this is something I’m becoming increasingly interested in, and trying to improve myself … telling a story through my photos, and not simply just photographing something basic!

#4 TOPICS

The industry has grown incomprehensibly over the last few years, and actually with that the topics and content themes covered has expanded too. No longer is your #ootd enough, people want to write about, and read, everything from career, life and blog advice, to beauty tutorials, dining hot spots, travel guides or health & wellness tips. This in itself is amazing, more and more of us bloggers are writing about all our passions and not just one element of our lives (me included), and with this comes great opportunity to explore, create and produce editorial covering a whole range of topics. What’s best, is that there’s demand for all this content too!

For me a great blog either specialises in a genre, and almost becomes an expert in that field, or offers a point of view on a whole variety of topics. For us bloggers, we need to think more about what it is we enjoy reading, and start producing content that would draw us in. For me, that’s tips, photography & career features.

#5 CONSISTENCY

It’s no good getting someone to your blog once, and never pulling them back in again. A great blog has a loyal readership, in some cases a fan base, and the reason for that is consistency. Consistency in quality, in content (a regular flow of posts & topics) and consistency with what to expect … that regular Monday style post, the Tuesday tips feature and Wednesday shopping edit. People come to know and love what you write about, and so having that level of consistency is a really important factor in people loving your blog and coming back for more.

What do you think makes a blog worth reading? And worth going back to everyday? I’d love to know what you think, I’m always looking to improve my own blog, so knowing what you guys love and enjoy would be so good :)