I come across lots of new blogs every so often and it seems like with the similarity in topics going on lately, I like to find ones that I’m going to WANT to read and not be obligated to read. It gets kind of hard and I have 5 criteria that are so normal for me that I dont even have to think of them or say them out loud and its all a matter of my first quick browse. Here are my reasonings:

1. Good Quality Posts – Its not quantity that matters but the quality of the posts that I look at. Some bloggers are only able to do 2-3 posts a week and thats fine as long as the posts are of good quality. I also see sometimes when bloggers have 2-3 paid reviews followed by one good post and thats not the kind of blog that I usually follow. I look for the type of posts where I can tell that there has been time spent on the post. I’ll be having a post sometime soon where Ill be talking about how much time I usually spend on a post but I need to see that the blogger has inputted time to make the post useful and informative for his/her readers

2. Design Efforts – Okay, I know I’ll probably get a little heat about this but you can’t just pick a default template and add your blog title to it and call it customized. If you can’t edit your design then ask someone for help and atleast customize it to the point where you can differentiate your blog from others. By design I not only mean the way the template looks but organization. You don’t need design skills to organize your sidebars, to have logos display properly and advertiser spots show up without overlapping content. Its all about the way you present your blog.

3. Experimenting New Ideas/Concepts - This isn’t a key requirement but I like to see “case studies” or things of that nature. This is usually something that gets me hooked onto a blog. If I see some type of tutorials or case studies or experimentation with new monetization techniques then that gets me really interested. The reason for that is because it helps me realize your skills and abilities in a glance and thats usually a good selling point.

4. Reader Interaction/Input – This doesnt mean that you have to have comments on every posts or anything of that sort but its about the way the blogger interacts with the readers. If he asks for their input or asks them to relate to the post, it shows that the blogger would like to see how the readers would respond. If the readers are responding, its a good indication of how loyal they are and thats always a good sign but as I mentioned, its more about if the blogger is concerned with reader interaction rather than the number of comments his/her posts generate.

5. Obsessed with MMO without Making Money – Some bloggers are just too concerned with making money online without actually having made money online. Someone had asked me to talk about how much money I actually make online and I’ll be discussing that in the next week however you can’t be all about writing sponsored posts and loading your blog up with Adsense and disclosing a $200 income per month when all you’ve had is paid reviews and nothing else. I dislike to come across a blog that pretends to make money when its actually a 100% active income and a result of forcing ads upon readers.

Well, that wraps up this post and I apologize for the delay in posting this. This week was the first week of school and has been quite busy but I’ll have more posts lined up for the coming week. Hope you guys have a great weekend!