What makes a blog a success?

The blog I chose to analyze is RealitySteve.com. Steve is a person who makes a living off blogging about different reality shows and publishing the ‘spoilers’ of each show throughout the season. I enjoy reading his blog because he shares his opinion on what’s happening in the show whether a reader likes it or not. He doesn’t hold back. Some may think a blogger like this will probably lose followers quickly, but that’s not the case. Steve’s site brings in “a million and a million-and-a-half unique visitors monthly, and then page view monthly is between 8 to 10 million” (Skinner, 2014). Here is a man who is brutally honest with his readers and this tactic keeps us coming back for more. I can’t say much about his writing style, but I can say that after reading ’12 Steps to Launch a Successful Blog’, Steve follows at least six out of the 12 steps that I’m publically aware of. The steps involving webhosts and plugins are something only the blogger knows about. 

Here are the steps I believe Reality Steve succeeds in:

ü  Decide what you are going to blog about.

ü  Decide for (sic) your blog’s name.

ü  Get a professional blog theme.

ü  Get a professionally designed logo.

ü  Install social media sharing widgets and buttons.

ü  Blog as often as possible but try to have a post at least 3 times a week.

I think that all of the above mentioned steps can be considered “best practices” when creating and publishing a blog. Steve’s blog “started as an innocent email chain among three of his buddies, and turned into a full-time job” (Skinner, 2014). Why is this blog so successful? I can go for the best answers and say it’s a great blog because Steve stays interactive with his readers. He goes through every e-mail and answers/publishes the ones he finds interesting. It could also be because of his dedication to the blog. As I mentioned earlier, this is his full-time job and he takes it seriously. But I think the number one answer to why this blog is so successful is the general topic! Just as it says in ’12 Steps to Launch a Successful Blog’, the first step to writing a successful blog is to ‘decide what you are going to blog about’. I think Steve hit gold when he decided to not only write about reality television shows, mainly the Bachelor and Bachelorette, but when he also chose to spoil reality television shows. As much as people don’t want to admit it, we are naturally noisy creatures. There’s just something about sticking our nose in someone else’s business that provides a certain rush. Steve is taking this ‘human curiosity’ to a new level by providing episode-by-episode spoilers so that the public will know what happens before the show even airs.

For the people who do not like to know the ending of something before they’ve had a chance to watch…don’t visit his site! It’s that simple.  Reality Steve has gotten sued a couple of time by ABC and yes his blog is still up and running. Why? Because in reality, he’s not doing anything wrong. He has the right to publish whatever he wants and there’s obviously a high demand for his information or else he wouldn’t have so many loyal readers. So as far as form and function, Steve is good in that department because his blog/website runs great and is easy to follow. Substance is another thing I think he has. Of course this is just my opinion, but I think it’s nice to read a blog that isn’t about the everyday hardships of life. Do I get any deep emotional connections to the world or my inner being when I log onto his site…no…and that’s exactly how I like it! His blog is entertaining and provides just the information I want to know. As long as there are people like Reality Steve in the world, blogs can continue to be a more interesting way to ‘escape’ from reality.

References

Daily Blog Tips. 12 Steps to Launch a Successful Blog. Retrieved from

            http://www.dailyblogtips.com/steps-to-successful-blog

Skinner, Paige. 2014. Blogger Reality Steve Makes a Living by Spoiling The Bachelor,

The Bachelorette. Dallas Observer.