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You’ve finally decided to take your Mustang love (and expertise) to the next level—or whatever your passion, hobby and joy in life might be. It might seem easy enough to throw up a blog and sit back to wait for the fans to roll in. After all, there are plenty of free blogging sites out there, or maybe you even subscribe to a few favorites yourself. You’ve played around with WordPress or Wix, and are confident that you can build and sustain a gorgeous and fan-heavy blog. You know that your site needs to be fast, and maybe you’ve even had experience with managed WordPress hosting. How hard could all this be?

Plenty difficult, it turns out. The point is, there are a lot of blogs out there (especially about cars and a bevy of other hot topics!) so how do you get yours to stand out? Maybe you’ve just dabbled in writing and this is more about sheer passion than building a following or making an income. No matter what your goal, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

Building Your Brand

Blogs are mean to be easily digestible, fun to read, and catchy. Would you really enjoy a blog, no matter how helpful, if it was dry or rambling? Probably not. It’s best to try to “write like you talk” while incorporating correct grammar. There’s no need for fluff, pomp, or circumstance. Everyone has a voice, and a writer’s voice, but it takes time to develop. It takes practice, which is exactly what a blog can offer. If you’re truly passionate and/or knowledgeable, preferably both, readers will accept writing that isn’t top of the line because they’re getting something out of it. (Still, you want to make sure the writing is error-free and get as many eyes on it as you can before publication).

A lot of blogs take off because the writer “seems” friendly, approachable, sometimes funny, and knowledgeable. Just like grade school, it’s important to be liked. A few blogs succeed based solely on sarcasm and attitude, but that’s difficult to pull off and inevitably turns some readers away. Embracing a positive attitude will enamor more readers and get more fans on your side.

Every Word Really Does Count

Maybe you’ve only heard about the importance of SEO, link building, and even analytics for your site to see where readers are really lingering. Here’s what you actually need to know about it: most blogs take off based on word of mouth but showing up high on Google rankings is critical. You get there by using the right SEO key words and phrases, and you get better by knowing your reports and analytics.

For example, if you’re posting about high performance automatic parts, that needs to be peppered through your post in a variety of ways. Be generous with key words that you think blog readers want to know about while still keeping the tone casual. This is much easier said than done and often requires SEO strategizing, keyword and key phrase planning, proper image/video placement and quality, and keeping track of page analytics to see what works and what doesn’t.

What Kind of Sites Succeed?

Most blogs succeed because they give readers what they want. Think of your favorite blogs, or of popular ones. They provide high-quality, 100% original content on a regular basis.

No one is going to read your blog if you post once a month. Once a week? You’re getting warmer. Ideally, it’s best to post once a day and that’s a serious commitment. Even if you see that not many people are viewing it, keep posting and you’ll keep growing. Consider what you can do to get more viewers, such as inputting more SEO best practices or seeking out link sharing opportunities.