This is what I suggest in terms of priorities.

Write.

You have to write good articles. It is advisable to write 5-7 really good articles. These articles should set the tone of the blog. They are the kind of articles that you would be happy to put in a selection – ‘Recommended Reading’. You can highlight these excellent articles, so that people who come across your blog will read them and want to bookmark it. Without good content everything else is a waste of time.

Links.

You can write 1,000 excellent articles, but, if you have no inbound links, if you don’t tell anyone about your blog you should expect 0 traffic. You may get the odd short burst of traffic from blog posts, but, these will soon tail off (google, give new blog posts high rankings for about a week before dropping there rankings.) Getting links is an art. The most important is to have some good content. View – How to get links to your blog

• Note: Links should be natural. You want to slowly build up the number of links that you get. Don’t wait 6 months and then think – I’ll get a 100 links this week. It doesn’t work like that. Google want to see a steady progression of links. The sooner you start the better. If you don’t get any links you will be demoralised by the lack of traffic.
• Note: I will be writing more advice about links soon.
• Not every article has to be very indepth. It is good to offer a mix of long and short posts.

Encourage Subscribers.

This is similar to point number 2. Subscribers are the best way to build your blog and gain natural links over time. See: How To increase RSS subscribers. You should look to start building RSS subscribers soon after writing your first 10 articles.

Good Design

A new blogger should get a good design. This is essential for attracting new subscribers and links. However, you don’t want to spend too much time because there is a lot to learn in this area. I advise using a free template and pay for a really great logo. People don’t expect perfection in design. Something clean and simple will keep you going until you make the big time. But, you want to stand out from the crowd.

Things For New Bloggers To Avoid

Looking for affiliate programs.

There is no point trying affiliate programs when your trafffic is small. Get traffic first before worrying about advertising.

Hours Tweaking design

Not worth it in beginning

Spreading Yourself Too Thin

Don’t Take on More than you can do Well.

It is better to do 1 blog well, than struggle with 5. In a way I don’t follow my own advice because I have over 7 blogs. But, 20% of your efforts can give 80% of your results.

Don’t Plaster Your Site With Adsense.

If you want have an adsense block at the bottom of a post. This is a good position without being too impluctatious. But, if you plaster your blog with 3 big blocks in the beginning, it is a bad move.

Hours Checking your Stats

Don’t get too carried away by earning 20 cents everyday  – Think big. Do use your stats to see good keywords but don’t spend too many hours reading them (I say this from personal experience and am shamelessly an unreformed stat a holic)

How to …..

e.g. How to be a prolific blogger

2. Links to Resources.

Links to other external sites. Some successful blogs are collections of good, relevant external links. I am always looking out for good articles on writing, blogs. The problem is that searching the internet can be very time consuming. Well researched links to the best articles help alot. (It’s also a useful way to make contact with other bloggers.)

3. A conversation

Only a small % of visitors to a blog will make a comment, but those who leave comments have made a close relationship with the blog; it is in an indication the blog, at the very least, has stimulated further discussion.

4. Inspiration.

Sometimes we visit blogs for inspiration. This can be either in a specific sense; i.e. inspiration for our blog writing, or it could be general inspiration when we don’t feel like writing.

5. Beauty / Aesthetically pleasing.

The internet is not always the most beautiful places. Some websites are so full of stuff and ads, that it dazzles the mind. Other blogs can have a soothing effect. Aesthetically pleasing blogs do attract readers.

6. Regularity

A regular posting schedule does help. At my favourite blogs I’m always happy to see a new entry

7. News / New Features.

Most topics have some news element. Readers don’t want to just see recycle content, the same old “top tips for getting links” It is important to be able to add newness into a blog. Offer new insights and comment on the latest development in your niche.

8. Uniqueness

Whatever you blog about, you have to make sure you stand out from the rest of the crowd. The internet has countless blogs, You have to differentiate your blog from others. This can be through either a personal angle or a different insight.

9. Reliability

This is a little related to regularity. However, in addition to regular postings your readers want to know what to expect. This requires consistent good quality posting – on a targetted niche. If you vary between unrelated themes, you could end up losing readers, but not gaining any extra ones. Successful blogs become well known in a niche.

10. Humour

Humour on an SEO blog may not be most obvious but it can relieve the seriousness. If your humour is a little offbeat / not funny don’t overdo it. (why not to write another blog post)

When starting a new blog it is very important to choose the right niche and topics to blog on. Before starting a blog it is also worth considering what the purpose of the blog is for. This will to a large extent determine the approach of the blog.

If possible also make sure you can get a relevant domain name, to go with your blog.

When choosing a niche for your website, make sure you consider the following points.

1. Do you have knowledge about the subject?

Can you write articles without having to copy ideas from others? If the answer is no, the blog is a bit of a non starter.

2. Do you have an interest in the subject?

Do you enjoy writing / talking about the topics you have chosen. A blog is a long term project, make sure it is not just a passing fad.

3. Don’t make the niche too narrow.

If you blog only about “Poetry of Keats” you have a very limited audience. You could easily expand the blog to be about the Romantic Poets.

4. Don’t make the niche too broad.

Ideally, all categories should be in some way related. For example, in a blog about writing for blogs, you can diversify into SEO techniques. Blogging for money will not appeal to all. If there become too many posts about making money online, it may put off some readers to this blog. Remember the really successful blogs become known as a specialist and Authority in a certain field. The purpose of your blog should be clear to readers.

5. Brand name for your blog

A Good blog needs to be able to develop a brand. This is a distinctive title, it needs something to differentiate itself from others blog. Don’t underestimate the title of a blog. Ideally it should tell you all about the blog. Tip look around at the top blogs – “ProBlogger”, “Daily Blog Tips”, they all do what they say on the tin, so to speak. Other blogs develop a brand around a person’s name. This can be a good way to develop a brand in a highly competitive market.

6. Something Unique?

Can you offer something new that hasn’t been said before? If you want to make a blog about making money online, the problem is that there are already 10,000 + blogs on this subject. This does not mean you cannot enter the market. But, it is likely you will need to be able to offer some personal angle that makes it more likely you will be able to succeed.

If you are blogging for Money

If you are setting up a blog to make money, the above need to be all true. However, you need to take into consideration other factors. In particular, you need to be aware of the monetary potential of your theme. Whatever advertising you use, you will get paid more if you blog about products or services people pay for.

If you blog about Mortgages, mortgage companies will be willing to pay a good amount to advertise on your site. This is because, tf people click on the ad and buy a mortgage, it is a big profit margin. Therefore, they are willing to bid a decent amount per click.

If you blog about “funny quotes” which companies want to bid for that? People going to a page on funny quotes, are unlikely to be buying anything. Firms will only be willing to pay a few cents per click. Thus it may take 100 clicks on a site about funny quotes to get the same revenue as 1 click from a mortgage site.

If you want to make money from a funny quotes site, you may need to attract 100 times the traffic of a mortgage site. However, you may feel it would be easier to get 100 times more traffic for funny quotes than mortgages. But, maybe there is something in between. If you have a hobby, say cycling, you could always blog about cycling and cycling products.