If you want to have a high quality blog, there are some things that you should avoid. One of those things is focusing too much on the form and not the content. There are many ways you can improve the quality of your blog by making it look more professional, such as using some advanced html programming or other tricks. However, ultimately the content of your blog is what is really important. I cannot emphasize this enough, content is what brings visitors to your site, and this is what you should focus on.

Another thing that you should avoid is stealing content. By this I mean a person copy/pasting posts from other blogs and not giving credit to the author. Sooner or later people are going to notice such behavior and will prefer to read such posts from the website of the original author. On the other hand, if you get an idea to post about something by reading a post on another blog, and write about the same topic on your blog, it does not mean you are stealing content. As a matter of fact, I sometimes get ideas what to write about on my website after visiting other blogs.

While college literature and writing classes can teach us to write articles properly, the Internet has its own rules. Here bloggers try to converse with their readers, and usually avoid using complicated language as they appeal to a broader spectrum of people. Actually, very few good and popular bloggers graduated from some kind of English studies, or have a diploma in this field. Writing the highest quality posts takes dedication, rather than knowledge. Here are some ideas on how to write a really outstanding post:

1. Use as many visual aids as possible. Do not hesitate to use colorful images that correspond to the topic of your post. It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. In today’s world of media with so many ways to present reality like movies and slide shows, it is essential to do everything possible in order to stand out. Otherwise, your posts and blog might not attract many readers.
2. Use different formatting techniques to underline the most valuable content of your post. Try underlying the key points of your article. Use capital letters to emphasize the content that cannot be missed by your readers. Make use of it so that you can communicate something very important. Nonetheless, it is important not to use formatting techniques too much, because this way your post will become harder to read.

Of course, nothing can replace actual experience so I suggest that you keep writing. Writing high quality posts takes a lot of time so take that into account.

There has been some discussion lately concerning the most popular blogs on the Internet. Someone noticed that the most popular blogs are usually those that have started the earliest as this way they had a big advantage. For example, problogger.net was one of the first, if not the first blog dedicated to the subject of blogging, and his blog still strives as one of the most popular. I think this can be explained quite easily when you look at the facts. When problogger was starting there was not a lot of competition, so even if he was making some small mistakes there were no other blogs to pose a serious threat to him. You took advantage of this time when there was less competition to learn from his own mistakes. On the other hand, if you are starting a new blog these days, then be prepared for a lot of competition and even if you do not make mistakes you will have a harder time attracting readers. On the bright side, there are already many successful blogs out there from which you may want to learn on how to achieve success. Read other blogs for at least a few days before starting your own.

If you are a blogger, then there are a lot of things that you can learn from newspapers. When it comes to newspapers, usually space is premium. This means that an 100 word article with the same information as an article with 500 words is a lot more preferable. Too often bloggers forget about this important rule, and try to write posts which are simply too long. We live in times when people value their time, because there are hundred things to do that you can choose from. When you write articles, make sure that they are short and concise. In my case, I always try to present some advice or information in my posts, and I make them short enough so that people can read them within a minute or two. Personally, I am really bored by blogs where posts are too long, because I am usually visiting blogs to acquire some information, not to fill up my time. One the other hand, all those who read blogs for fun will appreciate if your posts are long, especially if your readers are your friends that enjoy reading things that you write. Be sure to check who your readers are before starting blogging and make sure that your posts are not too short and not too long.

Some time ago there was a blogger who asked an interesting question to the top bloggers:
“If you had 2-hours a day to devote to no-cost, off-blog (even off-line) marketing for your blog, what would you do?”
I read his article, and I selected some interesting responses, so here I present them to you in a concise manner:

-Leo Babuata from ZenHabits in also in favor of writing guest posts. He says that there is no better form of advertising, free or otherwise.
-Darren Rowse, author of ProBlogger claims that guest posting in the same niche is the best way to market your blog. He said that he would interact with other bloggers and their readers.
-Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist says that there are two offline things that are great for promoting his blog. This includes talking to people at parties and while speaking in public.
-Anita Campbell from SmallBizTrends would engage in social media marketing while using content sharing sites, social networking, and even community based sites.
-Muhammad Saleem from MuhammadSaleem would socialize with other bloggers in different ways including guest writing and commenting.
-Liz Strauss from Successful-Blog gave in my opinion the most elaborate response as she said that she would use StumpleUpon, comment on blogs, talk on the telephone with bloggers, speak at a local rotary and conference, or even buy a weekly hour of live radio time among other things.

I hope this article gave you some ideas, but remember that content is king, so it is good to first work on the content before you get heavily involved in promoting your site. If you have any additional ideas for building traffic for free, let me know.