I have just searched for the title of this post in Google. It returned 329 results.

Some of them align partly well with what I am going to write. Others simply offer tips to do more specific things with your blog, namely increasing traffic, feed subscriptions, how to write regular content easily, and so on.

So, what makes a blog successful? Here’s my take on it from another perspective.

Just like a goal or generally life, you’ve got to have a purpose — a measurable milestone to cearly define what is success and otherwise.

Having a successful blog is no different.

As we know, there are many different uses of a blog. An individual may consider a blog successful if s/he is able to publish his/her daily public journal to the blog. In that case, a blog has been successfully established once s/he can easily make his/her thoughts available on the web.

That aside, even if we narrow the context to just small business blogging, as this blog implies, still you have to clearly define your purpose up front.

Perhaps, you want a blog to start a conversation with your prospective customers. Or, in other occasion, you may want to use a blog to generate a buzz around a product, offering tips on how to use it (customer retention tool), lead generation channel, or to answer customer questions (customer support).

This tip may be awfully simple.

In one sentence, all you have to do is define the purpose and start working toward it.

So, what makes a successful blog?

There is really no single answer to the question. I have seen popular weblogs that are nothing but inane rants and discussions. There are great blogs with a lot of interesting thoughts but almost no readership. Having a handful of loyal readers for the second blog perhaps is more satisfying than lots of traffic that won’t convert.

However, most of us would categorize successful blog as one that has constant stream of new or repeat traffic, feed readership, regular participants who contribute comments and content and other more tangible aspects.

What’s more important if you blog for your business is the impact and bottom-line the blog brings for your business.

If you haven’t got one, start owning one by writing it on a paper. In your definition, what makes a successful blog?

Don’t underestimate the power of written purpose.