Everybody loves a success story right (well maybe not haters)?

Among other things, success stories reveal to us principles, patterns, secrets, etc., that we could apply in our unique situations to replicate similar results.

In this article, we will be discussing 11 successful blogs, and revealing the secrets and principles, they applied that made them successful, with a view to guiding you to set up your own successful blog or to help you optimize your blog (if you already have one), to start producing the kind of results you desire.

However, before we delve into all of that, let us set some foundation by discussing some key concepts here. Let’s go already!

What is a Blog?

According to Wpbeginner.com, a blog is a type of website where the content is presented in reverse chronological order (newer content appears first). An individual or a small group of persons usually runs Blogs, and its content is referred to as a blog post.The content posted on blogs is written in an informal or conversational style, for easy comprehension of the reader.

For more details, visit www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/what-is-a-blog-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-website-explained/.

Features of a Successful Blog

Regardless of the niche, they are focused on, every successful has some common features. Below are some of those features:

They have awesome designs

Before reading the first line on your blog, what most persons see is the design of the blog. Successful blogs always get this area right. When a user opens your blog and finds a poorly designed page, no matter how amazing the written content is, they will often exit without reading a line. This is because a poorly designed blog suggests that the page is managed by a mediocre.

In addition, a beautifully designed blog enhances the user experience. Users will always appreciate a blog with a beautiful design. These are some reasons why top blogs always have awesome designs.

They have a clear focus

A popular saying goes thus; Jack of all trades, master of none. All successful blogs carefully evade this trap. They focus on a niche and build their credibility there.

A blog that does not identify a niche to focus on will often fail. If you intend to build a successful blog, you should identify a niche that you have some reasonable experience. And then build your blog on that area.

If the blog is owned by an organization, it should focus on the industry the organization operates.

They Post Regularly

Another unique feature of successful blogs is that they post consistently. Consistently here can be as much as once a day, or at least once a week. However, the key here is to post great quality content consistently.

No audience is interested in blog posts that a step or two removed from outright garbage.This is why successful blogs post good content consistently.

Brilliant Images

Another thing you may have noticed with successful blogs is their use of images. They use unique and brilliant images to illustrate their point.

Among other things, the use of images in a blog post helps breathe life into whatever point you are trying to make. It helps your audience to easily grasp whatever point you wanted to make.

Successful blogs use brilliant and unique images that help them stand out from the crowd. If you are interested in building a successful blog, you should start considering using unique images in your post. It generally improves the quality of your blog post and enhances the user experience as well.

Engage your readers

Most successful blogs engage their audience through various means. One of such is to drop questions at the end of each post for readers to comment on. This gives your audience the opportunity to air their opinion, ask questions, and even mingle with each other, etc.

Also, engaging your audience helps you know what their needs are, and how to improve your service offering to meet those needs.You must find a means of engaging your audience if you intend on building a successful blog.

11 Examples Of A successful Blog

Below are some of the most successful blogs available on the internet. They are presented in no particular order.

Microsoft Story Labs

As you might have guessed, this blog is owned by Microsoft Inc. It covers interesting stories, news, etc. about Microsoft and the great experience users are having with their products.

You can be sure to find great informative and educative articles anytime you visit it, and learn what steps Microsoft is making to improve their services to users.

Lessons to Learn From it

A major strength of this blog is the quality of the content it boasts. They are both educative and entertaining. In addition, the general design and user experience it offers users is something that keeps users delighted.

If you seek to make your blog as successful as Microsoft Story Labs, apply the above secrets, and you will be pleased with the result you will get. Visit https://news.microsoft.com/stories/, for a feel of what has been described.

Tuts+

Since its establishment in 2006, Tut+ has focused on providing quality tutorials and content to help web designers. It is popular among web designers around the world because of the quality of resources it makes available for them.Presently, Tuts+ has a customer base of over 2 million persons, who purchase their products.

Lessons to learn from Tuts+

Tuts+ stands out in its niche today because of the quality of resources its makes available to her users. As you would agree, they would not have had as many as 2 million subscribers if they had junk on their blog.

To replicate their success in your blog, ensure to provide only the best content to your audience. If you are able to build your blog’s reputation as a great place to get great content, your audience will continue to increase. To experience Tuts+ for yourself, visit www.tutsplus.com/.

Gizmodo

Launched in 2002, Gizmodo focusses on providing content on design and technology. Because of the quality content, they make available in a thriving industry, Gizmodo has achieved much success, so much so that it has readers from many countries. Presently, Gizmodo offers translation of her content into some languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

Lessons to learn

A quick look through Gizmodo and you will discover some of the reasons why it is regarded as a success. It keeps a steady supply of relevant and great content for her audience. For more details, visit www.gizmodo.com/.

The Hub

This blog focuses on providing informative and helpful articles for musicians, offering them useful insights on various musical instruments, buying guides, etc.

For a newbie trying to shop for musical instruments, searching for a good product that comes at a great price can be a challenge. This is the need that “The Hub” seeks to meet. They offer useful insights to their audience, to help them make excellent buying decisions.

Lessons to learn

The Hub stands out in its niche because of the following factors:

  • They provide articles that answer the questions of their audience. In other words, their articles are answers to questions that their audience asks. For example, their buying guides help readers make informed buying decisions.
  • These articles are written in a way that anyone can understand.

For a personal experience of what “The Hub” looks like, visit https://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/.

Shopify Blog

The Shopify blog is owned by Shopify, a multinational e-commerce company, headquartered in Canada. The Shopify Blog focuses on providing content in the e-commerce industry, covering topics that are of interest to their audience.

Lessons to Learn

The Shopify blog focuses on topics that are of interest to their audience. They blog only on e-commerce related topics. In addition, they publish quality content consistently on these topics and have a team of good writers producing their content.

These practices will produce similar results for you if imbibe them To get a feel of the Shopify Blog, visit www.shopify.com/blog.

Mashable

This blog was launched in 2005 by Pete Cashmore. It focuses on entertainment, cultural news, technology and science, lifestyle, parenting, etc. One factor that has helped this blog stand out is the consistent publishing of quality blogs. This has helped it stand out over the years.

Another factor that has helped Mashable stand out is the use of social media to reach out to readers. This has contributed to itssuccess. According to figures cited by Ukwebhostreview.com, Mashable makes an estimated 2 million dollars per month. For a feel of Mashable, visit www.mashable.com.

ModCloth

We all know how challenging it can be to buy clothes online since there is no opportunity to try them on.ModCloth tries to solve this challenge by sharing quality content on fashion. You can be sure to get style tips, new products, etc., on their blog.

One thing that has helped ModCloth standout is the quality pictures used on the blog. It helps their audience get a better feel of the product before making a purchase decision.

To replicate the success of ModCloth, you might want to focus on improving the quality of your photography, as it goes a long way in giving your audience a better experience on your blog. Visit https://blog.modcloth.com/, for a feel of the blog.

The Home Depot Blog

One blog that stands out in the home improvement niche is The Home Depot Blog. It focuses on providing quality content on how to carry out your home improvement tasks.

One of the distinguishing features of this blog is the great design that welcomes a user when you open the page. In addition, it provides users the opportunity to filter the content on the page to get exactly what they seek.

Furthermore, when you select content, the blog provides other related content to you along with the opened content, giving you the opportunity to get more resources with much effort.

To replicate the success of The Home Depot Blog, you may want to provide facilities to assist with results filtering on your blog, and makes it easier for your readers to locate the kind of content they may be seeking. Visit https://blog.homedepot.com/, to see The Home Depot Blog.

Huffington Post

Huffington Post is an American news blog that covers topics on politics, technology, entertainment, lifestyle, Comedy, etc. It was established in 2005 and has since gone ahead to be one of the most successful news blogs in the world, so much so that it was sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million.

Among other things, the key factor that helped Huffington post excel are the publishing of easy-to-read quality content that keeps their audience entertained. Also, it made use of social media (in the early days of social media) to extend its reach to more audiences.

If you operate in a similar niche with Huffington Post, applying these steps will go along way in helping your blog to experience success.

Copyblogger

If you are a copywriter and you do not read content from Copyblogger, you are probablymissing a whole lot of resources that will be helpful to you. This because Copyblogger provides resources to help Content creators and marketers excel on their job.

The secret of Copyblogger’s success can be found in the quality content shared on their blog that is aimed at helping copywriters to be more successful in their jobs. If you apply the same principle of sharing resources to help people, your blog will produce similar results. Visit www.copyblogger.com/, to see the quality of articles available at Copyblogger.

Smart Passive Income

As the name suggests, this blog is focused on providing smart content on how to build your online business and generate income for yourself. What makes this blog stand out is the fact that the content shared on this blog isbased on principles applied by Pat Flynn, founder of the blog.

If you wish to emulate the success of Smart Passive Income, you can start by focusing on sharing quality content based on your personal experience in your area of expertise. However, ensure that it is an area that lots of persons are willing to acquire new skills.People are always are attracted to originality, especially when it offers great solutions. Visit www.smartpassiveincome.com/, to see the blog.

Conclusion

The secrets of the success of an organizationare often found in their practices. This article has discussed some very successful blogs and the practices that contributed to their success.

Just as mathematical formulas produce the same results if applied correctly, you will experience similar results, if you apply these practices (as it applies to your situation). Wishing you success as you embark on these practices.