Blogfrica: It’s 10 Percent Skill.

(Alternate Title: I heard the rain down in Blogfrica.)

The whys and wherefores of any reasonably successful blog are kind of mysterious. Few write at a level so head and shoulders above others that talent is the key to their existence. Trust me. The skill level is remarkably between a seven and an eight.

So then what makes a blog stand out from the crowd?

1) The Hook (10%)

John Popper once said that it’s the hook that brings you back. But in this case, he was telling you a big old lie. A hook gets you there. But a hook doesn’t keep you there. I would imagine that the Nation of Islam Sportsblog would have gone out of business if the writers were not talented.

2) The Subject Matter (15%)

What you talk about is important. You can be as specialized as talking of your college sports team. Or you can be a hodgepodgeatorium of sorts, like your humble hosts. The key to the whole matter is it has to be a part of what you love.

If your main love is say the Chicago Cubs, I will call you a degenerate, but you shouldn’t really be trying to stretch. Fansites are noble. Fansites are good. You don’t have to talk of Joe Raposo if you were weaned on Harry Caray and Steve Stone.

But if you aren’t magnamous in your fandom, you can talk of anything and everything. You can go from the hunt for 100 Grand to not fearing the Cubs latest acquisition to a batch of cute animals. And it just might work to get you a half decent fanbase.

But you need much more than this. It’s only what makes 35% of a good blog. Now we come to the heart of the matter.

3) Friends. (30%)

This is a post that got linked by Deadspin, The Big Lead, and With Leather. Objectively, it’s about a five, coming from Mister Patterson. This is only one of the most recent exhibits to prove that there is bias in Blogfrica. Now, I’m not saying this to complain. I’m really not.

Imagine how full the inbox at Deadspin gets. Desperate people wanting to get the 1,000-2,000 pageviews that a Deadspin link can provide. I know, I have been there myself. And if you have two sixes, one from a name you know and one from some douchebag you don’t. You go with the name you know.

Or failing that, you go with the better set of breasts. THESE STEREOTYPES ARE TEARING US APART! But the fact is, there is a bias. It is real.

4) Taste (5%)

I don’t know what other people are thinking. I don’t know what strikes their fancy. Quite Frankly, I am suprised that Deadspin linked to this post! It’s a photo of curly fries and an old YouTube video. Clearly, I have done better.

But there is a possible explanation. But I don’t think young Mister Leitch goes for the Google. Perhaps I have too much faith in the man, but I’m an idealist. These things happen.

5) Timing (30%)

Luck has something to do with this. But don’t they say luck is just timing meets opportunity? And the fact of the matter is, this whole Who’s Hack thing? Introduced on the second slowest sports day of the year.

It’s not to say we aren’t efforting toward something good, but the fact of the matter is, we just had excellent timing. And that is why it’s a building block of the blogosphere.

Now this is just for the schlubs of the blogging world. A famous person or a person with a blogging cache can disregard this formula.

And yet, connections and timing, the building blocks of page views? Man, I depressed even myself.

Bye!