Photo by Ahmed Zahid???????? ????? ????????

I’ve always been fascinated by how every man is unique. There’s no two alike in the world, no matter how much they’d physically resemble each other. Even if a person would share 100% of another’s DNA code, I’m positive they’d still be two different individuals, because, although they may look identical, they won’t think the same.

We all have our own consciousness, our own unique thoughts and views around anything that catches our interest and by having an independent mind you’re free to exercise those exact thoughts and ideas in any way you see fit. This is the catalyst for creativity and creativity is one of the main traits that defines uniqueness. So, rejoice fellow bloggers, for you are all unique!

What Makes A Blog Unique

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There are literally millions of blogs out there. An obvious question quickly arises: what sets your blog apart from all the rest? You might be quick to say that you blog is in a different niche, then other bloggers are, but you have to consider that over the years, almost all of the most common subjects you could possibly think writing about, have already been covered before. So, inevitably, the question returns: what makes your blog unique?

1. Personality. You, me and everyone else knows that you’re unique, but you need to properly express and voice your thoughts when blogging, so that your personality is as obvious as possible. Put your own personal touch into every blog post and whenever you get the chance talk about a personal life experience, that is relevant to the subject at hand. Keeping things semi-formal is a great way in doing so. Think of it as an open letter in which you address everybody, but at the same time you connect with each person individually.

If a post is nicely written, I can usually make a picture of the person who’s written it in my head; this brings me to whole other level with the blogger. Our writing, the way we express our ideas or the ideas themselves, all make a profile of our personality. Think of all the treats, qualities, skills, virtues etc that you possess in real life and try to transfigure them into your writing. It’s pretty difficult, I know, and the only way to do this is to keep on practicing your writing. Let your personality shine!
2. Sincerity. Copying someone else’s style, writing or even content won’t ever get you anywhere. Your just lying to yourself and your readers. By being transparent and sincere in the thoughts you lay down on your blog, you’re actually being… you! And in doing so, you display your personality at its fullest, which in term (as I’ve shown it above) is the first step towards uniqueness in blogging.
3. Confidence. There’s something that’s been really bugging me lately, namely the alarming number of people having self confidence issues. They blame themselves for every little mistake they make, they self-denigrate and under-evaluate themselves and have a total lack of confidence in their own abilities and powers to succeed. This of course can be clearly seen in the blogsphere as well. I’ve met a lot of bloggers who feel their blog isn’t ever going to get successful or that they’re not unique. They don’t believe their writing is special, remarkable or worth reading, but they keep on going because they sorta have a sense of duty to their readers. Keep telling yourself your unique and don’t pay attention to the people who through mud in your eyes. Really, if you’re confident that you are unique and have something of value to add, then you’re half way there on the road towards uniqueness.

Photo by Raimy Sofyan

4. Design. When the superficial side of your blog is concerned, a good design can mean the difference between one in a million and dime a dozen. You want your blog to sport a design that makes a returning visitor exclaim: “hey! I’ve been here before, no doubt.” Your blog’s design represents, to a certain extent, your blog’s content and, of course, you, as a blogger. So if you want to be unique, you need to have a unique design as well. That doesn’t mean you have to spend thousand of dollars on a unique template; you can always grab a free template, like the one I’m currently using by Paul Stamatiou, and customize it a bit. Change the header (the most important part of your design) so that it matches your blog’s vibe and make an original and unique logo, that will, from now on, represent your blog and which you can use to promote your blog.

After you finish applying these two very important steps, you can proceed to more minor modifications, like the themes background, text font, formating and so on. If you’re feeling uncomfortable with making too many modifications yourself you can always opt for some help from one of your more skillful friends or ultimately you can pay for a designer’s services.
5. Competition. If I were to sum the term uniqueness in a few quick words, I’d say that it’s a treat that describes something that can’t be found anywhere else. This should be the first thing on your mind: what can you bring new to the table that your neighbor hasn’t already? Research your competition, check out other blogs and analyze them. First find out what makes them unique, so that you may in term understand what makes your blog unique. Look for anything they might not have tackled. You, as a visitor, have a better critical eye, meaning you can see mistakes and missing features a lot better then the actual owners.That doesn’t mean you should stay away from anything your competitors are doing; if they’re doing something right, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try it. I don’t mean copying either, but rather getting inspired by their model and based on that to create your own version of the respective successful model.
6. Originality. Give course to your creativity and express it in your writing. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind about anything and always be opinionated. To be original you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or something, you just have to put it another point of view. Meaning there’s no problem if your writing about a subject that’s been covered by hundred of other bloggers, as long as you add your own perspective on the subject. That’s originality right there.

Photo by Leviathor

7. Innovation. Uniqueness at its fundamental core, is based around two main principles: originality and innovation. It’s well known that innovation is the catalyst for progress, so it’s very important not just to innovate your individual writing on your own blog, but, in doing so, to strive to, somehow, improve blogging in general. Break your quotidian patterns and start thinking of new ideas on how you can improve anything in particular, in your field of activity and how you can help your readers in a innovative manner. Don’t be afraid to voice even the most scandalously outrageous ideas, you never know what your mind might spit out.

People wanted to burn Galileo Galilei to the steak when he unveiled his astrology theories, claiming the Earth isn’t the center of the Universe, his studies however proved to be inestimable for the progress of science. Of course no one’s gonna go a witch hunt after you, if you happen to say something stupid *sigh. The innovators are the communities’ spearheads, they’re the ones that set the tone for progress. So if you can’t seem to be very good at something (not enough to be remarkable at least), you can always try to come up with something extraordinary, that will bring something absolutely fresh to the scene.
8. Meaningfulness. For your blog to be unique, it has to differentiate itself from all the rest, by giving them a positive and lasting impact. Provide your readers with something to look forward too, something they can’t find at other blogs, be it your original content, features, contests and so on. Your goal should be to entice readers to go back and check if anything new will impact their lives in a better way.
9. Communication. Sure, you know your blog’s unique, maybe a few your readers have already realized this as well, but you need to make the rest believe it too. You need to clearly, but subtly, put all your good cards up front. Make it perfectly clear what your blog’s strong points are and why it’s so special; the best way in doing so is clearly your about page.
10. Memorability. For a blog to expose its uniqueness , as best as possible, it has to stand out and get engraved inside your readers’ head. This can be done a several levels, either through your content, design, personality etc. Maybe the first thing, that will spark a blog’s memorability, is its name. My blog’s name, Lost Art of Blogging, although pretty long, is very generic, easy to remember and most importantly unique. So, building a blog under a generic title, as opposed to lets say your own name (johndoe.com, averagejoe.com), is a lot more recommended, because it helps you blog stand out, that of course if you’re not a celebrity (John Chow etc). I doesn’t even have to mean something, as long as it’s unique and easy to remember (see Flickr, orkut, bebo and so on).

What Makes Your Blog Unique?

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These are just ten principles, that I consider fundamental, for building a unique blog, but also a unique blogging persona for the author.If you can assure your blog’s uniqueness, success is just a few steps away. We all have it in us, uniqueness that is, we all have one or more characteristics that makes us special, not only in real life, but in blogging as well and it’s only up to us to find it.

What I want to hear now is what you believe makes your blog unique and, if you don’t mind to share, what were the steps you took to achieve its uniqueness.

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The The 10 Commandments of Unique Blogging by Tibi Puiu, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.