The Secret to a Successful Blog: First in a Series

This is it! The secret to a successful blog. The tool you have been looking for to drive huge numbers of people to your site in order to read your opinions. This is a compendium of my extensive research and vast experience of several years (okay, actually a few months) of writing a blog. I did this research for the very simple reason that I want a successful blog. So what is the secret? I don't know, I was hoping you would tell me. Seriously though, here are a few important suggestions based on my experience. These observations are based on reviewing blogs deemed by others who are more informed than me as extremely popular. Sites that are receiving massive volumes of hits or have huge number links connected to it.

• Successful sites are really busy. It appears that blogs are made for really ADHD personalities. I say this as one who suffers a little from such myself, but appears not enough for some of the most popular blogs, such as engadget.
• Successful sites have many pictures. Business Plus had virtually none until recently, but every popular blog I have seen had pictures. This is why I finally gave in and forced myself to find a picture like the one in this entry. Life is tough at times (you will see why I chose this below).
• Successful blogs ride on the popularity of other sites. Such sites decry other sites such as PayPal or ride on the popularity of other sites such as this on Wikipedia.
• Successful blogs often focus on beautiful people, such as this on Maria Sharapova (see above). Do you blame them?
• Successful blogs entries are usually quite short. My articles tend to be too long still, I'm afraid. It is that dang liberal arts education and career as a writer. I'm too used to being paid by the word. However, I'm working on it.
• Successful blogs are updated regularly. This goes hand and hand with my last point I'm afraid. If you write often, you will likely keep it brief.
• Finally, successful blogs claim to do great things, like tell you the "secret of successful blogs" and outrageous claims like that. I don't think I will ever have the stomach to go that far.