In order for your blog to be successful, YOU must possess certain qualities which I call the 5 C’s of successful business bloggers.

Confidence, Creativity, Consistency, Curiosity and Clarity are basic business success foundations that would apply to businesses of all types, sizes and budgets and certainly blogging is no exception.

Before I get into that, some savvy bloggers make a living through their blogs. In other words, they don’t use their blogs as a branding tool for their businesses. Instead, their blogs are their businesses. This only proves that when done intelligently, blogging can be a very effective on its own or as a business branding tool.

Let’s discuss the 5 C’s in depth….

1. Confidence

Unless you have an unshakable belief in your business success potential, you wouldn’t be in business today. This sense of confidence in the value that you offer your customers should shine through your blog content.
But please don’t get me wrong here: I am not suggesting that you bore your readers to tears with your sales pitch! On the contrary, your confidence in your business and the quality of your service will be reflected by ensuring that your content is always informative, compelling and unique.
Evergreen content that’s interesting to read 5 years from now usually works best, since it will continue to drive traffic to your blog over a long period of time.
If you feel you are unable to write quality content, then there’s also a different solution available. Ever heard of Ghost Blogging?

The bottom line is: If you want to have a successful blog, be confident and invest in it!

2. Creativity

You need to be creative and diversify the topics you discuss in your blog and the way you present them to your readers. This way, your readers will be hooked to your blog because they will be educated and entertained. Don’t talk endlessly about your business, but provide them with unique content that’s relevant to your business and products, but which is also interesting to your readers. For instance; It’s better to publish an article on how to assemble your products, than it is to write an article about the vision of your company. Nobody cares unless you’re Apple.

When it comes to creative blog topics, there are very popular categories that are known to grab readers’ attention such as How-to articles, breaking news, controversial issues, tips and tricks, trends, products reviews and so on.

Also make sure to leverage various forms of digital content to satisfy different tastes. In addition to the traditional text posts, add some audio and video to the mix. For example, you can create interesting video interviews, publish them on YouTube, and embed them to your blog for maximum visibility. Also, you can create podcasts (audios) in your blog. (If this part seemed unclear to you, I will be discussing it in details in future posts. Also, feel free to share any questions you have in your comment and I will respond to you promptly).

The bottom line is: Diversify your blog content to satisfy all tastes.

3. Consistency

In the previous sections, we discussed the importance of delivering quality and diverse content. But if you do that every blue moon, you will be violating the basic ingredient of a successful blog.

Your blog must be updated on regular basis and it’s best to be consistent and systematic with regards to your content. For example, Monday is the “tips and tricks” post day while Tuesday is when you publish a controversial topic and so on.

This way, your reader will get accustomed to your blogging habits and will know when to expect what they visit your blog.
The bottom line is: Consistently deliver quality and diverse content

4. Curiosity

“The only constant thing is change”. We live in a restless age and staying up to date with the latest trends in your business is crucial to your business success.

Having a blog will motivate you to grow bigger ears and eyes and always hunt for new information to share with your readers. If you are not publishing evergreen content, that it must always be fresh and new. If your readers felt that you are offering them outdated information, they will be drawn away completely.
In order to ensure that you wouldn’t overlook this critical point, create a category for “hot trends” and make sure to publish post there at least once a week.

Of course, if you are writing “evergreen” articles that will still be interesting 5 years from now, you may slightly ignore this item.

The bottom line is: Curiosity kills the cat but gives life to your blog! Keep digging for fresh and interesting information.

5. Clarity

Some bloggers go overboard in designing their blogs, scattering all kinds of flashy and distracting images that turn their blogs into virtual mazes! That’s a major turn off to blog visitors.

As much as I encourage a creative blog design that reflects your brand and corporate identity, the design should clean and clear.
Actions speak louder than words! Check most well-known blog and you will find them neat and easy to navigate through.
The bottom line is: Your blog design should be neat, clear and clean (as well as creative and unique)

Finally, I will play a nice game with you. Think of any blog that you love and read on regular basis. Now, go to this blog and give it a score from 1 to 10 on each of the 5 C’s . Chances are high it will score more than 5 in each of them! This will be a great learning experience for you as well that you can use in your own blog later on.

Get in the habit of evaluating your blog as well as other blogs for the 5 C’s and you will master them in no time.

Enjoy blogging!