Getting noticed might seem impossible. But there are blogs that rise up out of that vast sea of sameness. Blogs started by people just like you. You don’t necessarily need great writing talent, although it’s worth developing the talent you have. You don’t need to be able to break the latest tech news or celebrity gossip. And you don’t need to already be famous.

You do need to find something interesting that only you can say, then say it clearly and repeatedly. Here are some ideas for lifting your content out of the limitless ocean of blog mediocrity.
Don’t write in a tired space

Think twice before you start a blog whose sole focus is on affiliate marketing, your adoration of Apple products, David Allen’s Getting Things Done, or, yes, blogging itself.

It’s not that there’s too much competition. Competition is a great thing. The problem is how rarely anyone approaches these subjects with a truly fresh eye.

It’s not impossible to create exciting new sites on these topics. Ittybiz did it with making money online, and Zen Habits with an appealing personal voice and an easygoing, non-techie approach to GTD.

If you have a genuinely new angle or voice to contribute, go for it. Otherwise, ask yourself if anyone really needs another Shoemoney clone.
Don’t write in a space no one cares about

On the other hand, if you start a blog on naked mole rats, it had better be for passion rather than profit. The audience that wants more information about insect-like collectivist rodents is going to be pretty limited.

If you’re launching a blog (or trying to refine your topic to get more readers), start with some basic keyword research. Look for a subject that gets a healthy amount of traffic every day for combined relevant keyword phrases.

One way to find a great niche is to carve out a small corner of a popular topic. It will be hard to get attention for “weight loss,” but you could create a great following for yourself with “gourmet low-carb.”
Share a unique voice

There are a million snarky mommy blogs. There’s one Dooce.

The more vulnerable you’re willing to get, the harder you are to imitate. And the more likely you are to find the true fans that lead to blogging success. Dooce’s mix of serious and silly, profane and profound, has found a lot of would-be imitators. But Heather Armstrong stays at the top of the game because, well, no one else can be Heather Armstrong.

If you want to know how to strengthen your own unique voice, re-read this classic Copyblogger post on becoming a better writer.
. . . or be genuinely useful

Even though the world is virtually drowning in information, that information is getting harder and harder to actually use.

Who’s trustworthy? What are the first steps? Which resources actually work? When’s the best time to start? What’s overrated, hard to use, or annoying?

Look around for a set of useful questions you can reliably answer. Keep an eye on forums, blog comments, Twitter and your own email box for problems that seem to come up again and again. Keep looking for ways to help.

It’s absolutely fine if you compile rather than create. It’s not your job to invent something out of nothing. It’s your job to take the nearly infinite sea of information and distill it to something useful.
. . . or have real authority

If you actually make 7 figures on the Web, you are allowed to start a “making money online” blog.

If not, well, don’t.
. . . or focus on your community

It doesn’t matter how many blogs there are on your subject, or how big some of them are. If you focus obsessively on offering great solutions that benefit your readers, you’re going to be able to grab a nice slice of the attention pie.

Chris Brogan is the master of this. There are thousands of blogs about social media, but no one pours more attention and care into his community than Chris does. His dedication is both remarkable and infectious, and it pays off not just with great readership numbers, but with an engaged readership that talks Chris up and recommends his blog to others.
The key to creating a memorable web presence

It’s not what you uniquely do. It’s what you uniquely communicate.

There will always be bloggers who are smarter, more perceptive, better connected, or more entertaining than you are. But if you can communicate what you have to offer in an exceptional way, you’ll find a warm, responsive audience and all the amazing gifts that can bring.

得到廣泛關注看起來好象很難實現。但也有許多像你一樣寫博的博客從中脫穎而出。像他們一樣成為名博，其實并不難，您不需要非常出名、且具有很強的寫作能力，你也不必發表最新的技術新聞或名人緋聞來吸引眼球。你只需發現一些只有你能說的有趣話題，把它表達清楚，并持續堅持下去即可。下面是提升你博客內容，使它免于平庸的七個方法：

一、不要寫一個陳舊的話題

三思而后行，當你開始一個博客寫作前，你應該先考慮博客的市場推廣或者博客本身，您崇拜蘋果公司的產品，但David Allen’s 已經寫過了。

這并不是說博客有太多的競爭，競爭是一件偉大的事情。問題是很少有人能用真正新的思維來寫好這些主題。

這也不是說在這些主題上不能創造令人興奮的新網站。 Ittybiz 建立了一個吸引人的在線賺錢網站，而具有磁性聲音、隨和、非技術人員的Zen Habits建立了一個出色的GTD（譯者注：GTD為Getting things done的縮寫）博客。

如果你對你些陳舊的話題，有一個真正的新的角度或見解，就去寫它。否則，問問自己，是否真的有人需要一個克隆的Shoemoney。

二、不要寫無人關注的話題

另一方面，如果你開設一個關于無毛鼴鼠的博客，最好是因為興趣，而不是利益。因為想了解昆蟲類群居嚙齒動物信息的讀者是非常有限的。

如果你想開設一個博客（或試圖修改你的話題以獲得更多的讀者），你應該進行一些基本的關鍵字研究。尋找一個每天能得到較多點擊量的關鍵詞相關的主題。

其中一個好的方法是，從一個熱門話題里開拓出一個小角落來討論。如果你寫一個關于“減肥”的話題，這將是很難得到重視，但如果你開設一個“低碳水化合物美食家”的博客，將會吸引大量的眼球。

三、分享一個獨特的見解

這世界關于snarky mommy 的博客有100萬個。但Dooce只有一個。

你對你的認知變得越敏感，你將越難被人模仿。你就越接近發現你真正的粉絲，從而使你的博客取得成功。Dooce的混雜著嚴肅和輕松、世俗和深刻，已經發現了許多相似的模仿者。但Heather Armstrong 所做的Dooce仍然是最好的，因為沒有一個人能模仿Heather Armstrong。

如果你想知道如何提高自己獨特的見解，請重讀Copyblogger里怎樣成為一個更好的作家這篇經典文章。

四、你所寫的話題對讀者真正有用

盡管世界幾乎淹沒在信息中，但確實有用的信息卻越來越少。

誰是值得信賴的？第一步該做什么？什么資源真正有用？何時開始最好？什么被高估了、難以使用、或者惱人的？

對一系列你能回答的實用問題進行調查。對論壇，博客評論，Twitter和電子郵件中再三發生的問題進行關注，并不斷尋找各種方法來解決它們。這絕對是一項杰出的工作，盡管你只是收集，而不是創造。你的工作不是出發明了一些什么，而是從信息的海洋中提煉出對人們有用的東西。

五、成為某個領域真正的權威

如果您確實通過網站賺到了7位數字以上的美元，你可以啟動“網上賺錢”這樣一個博客。如果沒有，那么，請不要開設類似博客。

六、聚焦你所在的社區

不管有多少博客與你關注同樣的話題，也不要管它們有多成功。只要你煞費苦心推出偉大的解決方案，使您的讀者受益，你就能夠從你所關注的市場分到一杯羹。

Chris Brogan就很好地掌握了這一點。世上有成千上萬個關注社會化媒體的博客，但沒有人比Chris投入更多的關注和照顧他的社區。他的獻身精神是引人注目并富有感染力，他的所做所為不但使他獲得了極大的讀者人數，而且訪問過他博客的讀者會經常談論Chris，并把他的博客推薦給他人。

七、創造一個令人難忘的網頁

這不是你獨特的事情。而是你獨特的溝通方式。

總會有一些博客比你更聰明，更有趣，更富有洞察力，擁有更好的鏈接。但是，如果你能你能提供獨特的交流方式，你就會發現熱情，受到讀者的好評，并享受其所帶來的驚奇禮物。