To be honest, there is no reliable way of telling in advance which blog is going to make it big. On the other hand, there is a list of things you can look out for, according to an article at business2community.com.
- Writing: Do they consistently post informative, highly engaging content?
- Design: Is the blog also compelling visually? This says a lot about whether they are really committed. Promising blogs are those with an attractive, clear layout and not overladen with ads.
- Post frequency: Again, are they consistent? They should post at least twice a week. To have a relationship that is productive, you need their readers to be coming back regularly for more content.
- Social media outreach: They should be active on Facebook or LinkedIn, depending on the target niche.
- Comments: Do people comment on their posts? If this happens regularly and the bloggers are quick to respond to ths comments, that is a sign of good interaction. They are clearly engaging and know how to build a relationship with their audience.
- Relationships: Are they collaborating with other bloggers? If they do, there are good chances of having inflow of new traffic.
Interviews
To leverage influencers and popular bloggers, you might conduct interviews with them for your blog. Reach out to popular authors, bloggers and company executives of companies close to your target niche. By actually talking to someone, you generate original content. What will make you very effective is mastering the art of the interview via e-mail. Interviewees may even prefer this way because it gives them more time to consider their answers. So e-mail them a question list and then just wait for the answers.
-jk-