What are your needs as a blogger? What helps you meet your goals as a blogger?

I know everyone needs traffic and money, but what else enables you to succeed? Ideas for posts? Friends in the blogosphere? Motivation to blog? spill!

1. a good blogging platform. I use Typepad, which I LOVE! I HATE blogger, and probably would not continue blogging if I had to use it.
2. Windows Live Writer and Scribefire (a FF extension).....

For me it is finding out if I actually entertained anyone. So comments on posts or people getting involved in my forum is the measure for me.

I don't like the idea of whistling in the dark. My site is not a diary, I don't presume to think anyone would care about my awesomely erotic and dangerous adventures. But I do hope people get some yuks or think a girl is pretty or something.

So for me - I guess it is human confirmation that I am not wasting anyone's time. Including my own.

Good question.

Damn. Ditto what Acadia said also. I suspect that most of us would not blog without that confirmation.

It's all in the doing for me, the taking the picture in the first place that excited me for whatever reason. Then, publishing it so it adds to the collection of NYC photos FOR ME. Of course, I want others to see them, even like them--maybe even steal them! (not so much the stealing: http://earthtodavid.com ]

But I blog for me to keep myself busy doing something I want to be doing--recording interesting aspects of NYC that I notice, interesting or beautiful to me.

If you like my blog, that can be fun and I'm glad you could share in what I saw. If you don't like it, that's okay. I didn't make it for you.

Traffic means nothing to me unless there is some evidence a proportion of those people are actually reading. I neecd some kind of feeback and sign that I have an audience. Otherwise what is the point?

EREC - you should avoid using the term 'evidence' with your blog.

ZING!

Yep, some 'ping' from my readers will be very much appreciated.

In fact, I'm much encouraged by the comments left in my posts and will try to include some of them in my subsequent posts in an attempt to build up some form of relationship.

Unlike some of the more popular sites out there, mine is not about babes, money making or traffic generation. As a result of which, I make an effort to respond to each and every comment that people left.

"So for me - I guess it is human confirmation that I am not wasting anyone's time. Including my own." <- well I guess you can use analytic tools to find that there are people who read your posts or not :)

There are too many I guess.. - ideas - traffic - money - comments - loyal readers - returning people - community - encouragement from readers or other bloggers - writing what we want to write, not what readers want to read I'd say it's everything :D

is status a need for anyone? Is anyone out there blogging for the spotlight and having people know your name?

just trying to get as many answers to this question as i can, both conscious and subconscious, but please don't let me put ideas in your heads.

My blog is part of my platform. When I tell people a certain publisher isn't legit, the website and blog help back that up. Am I in it for the status per se? No. But do I want to have sufficient status that people will listen to me and not be scammed. Yes, sure I do.

I also like giving other people a chance to write and get read.

I'd like people to know my name, but it's not a fame thing. I want people to know that I have useful information on my site. If I help someone, I've achieved my goal. Anything above that is a bonus.

Comments and emails from visitors keep me motivated to continue blogging and I measure my success by them. I guess my prime goal is to make a helpful site/blog that people will like to visit. If I say that I don’t care about the money it would be a lie. Earning big from your blog is probably one of the best motivations but for now the appreciation of people is enough for me.

My blog is an outlet for me to write and share my experiences and information. I've used and tried other means b4 - church website, printed newsletter (limited circulation), email newsletter, etc but the blog is still the best platform thus far with ease of use, words and photos easily put together, feedback from readers.

A wider readership is what I aim for.

I like it when I stir some kind of (non-sexual) passion in someone- either good or bad. If I can get a conversation (in the comments or as inspiration for someone else's post) then I'm thrilled. Even when someone sends me an email telling me I should "tone it down". I love those.

I also blog to have an outlet for my own (non-sexual) passion or frustration or amusement. By using a pseudonym and not blogging for money, I feel I have the freedom to say whatever is on my mind and get away with it. No one's going to rap my knuckles and/or make me cry in my beer. I love that too.

Of course, if I get famous somehow...well, I'll probably pack up my stuff and move to a new domain. :) I can't handle that kind of social pressure. snort

I'll take fame and fortune but I also want respect. I want people to feel that anything they spend money on from my site is not a scam. I expose scams so I'm careful not to put ads on my site that don't deliver a solid product ... that's a little hard with something like AdFlip where you don't know what will come in. I'd like to drag the idea of Make Money Online out of the mud and show that it can be done without ripping people off.

Judging from my reader's comments, I feel like I'm making headway in that direction.

I'd like my ideas out there. I have long suspected that I think differently, and that maybe there are people who can relate to my ideas. My blog proves that there are. Blogging is a realization of what I can do, and i learn more about myself as I work on my blog.

it is also extremely gratifying to note that even a tiny tweak or a little bit more effort that I put out will yield immediate and sometimes astounding results. Blogging is challenging to me, and part of that challenge is getting noticed for what I can do.

Yes, graham, I blog to get noticed.

so who out there is trying to be the next tech crunch? is anyone out there blogging with the hopes of cashing in, in the future, looking for their blogs value to skyrocket?

or is it not about the money?

I blog to show even us monkeys have a voice... or something. ;)

@ Graham -- I simply blog for pleasure. If I can induce a grin or chuckle from someone that's plenty of satisfaction for me.

I simply blogging for fun, to support my football/soccer team Newcastle United. But if I can get something from it (money from ads) why not? but that's not my priority at the momment :-)

This is an exercise in writing. I need criticism on how to improve my blog. I also need someone to provide a set of CSS code snippets to do various things for me. A CSS code library would be very nice allowing me to mamipulate my blog. Most instruction on how to do xml in blogs is terrible.

More than traffic, I need incentives for people to stick to my blog, I need stickiness. I also need suction, the ability to draw people in and be absorbed what they are seeing.

I also need entertaining advertising that is very targeted and relevant to my blog.

For me, blogging is practice for something much bigger. The model of user engagement is the current key to success on the Internet. Very few of us will accomplish this with a blog. What I'm learning with my blogs is invaluable and it will benefit me tremendously when I launch my next venture.

Lots of feedback, comments, and many many visitors.

I guess it's the things I learn through blogging. I may have lots of paid posts on my blog but each one of them made me learn a thing or two. I usually research before writing.

It's also a good way to learn how to write.

Bragging rights is also a motivator hehehe.

I blog for money. I promote my graphic design services as well as try to increase the value of my blogs for advertising revenue, etc. I also create a lot of niche blogs mainly for Adsense income. I've made a living online for about 8 years by freelancing, blogging, affiliate marketing. The blogging and Adsense income is the newest endeavor. While I'm blogging for money, I insist on quality content and enjoy writing.

I make money from my product. The personal blog just promotes it. The EREC blog has zip to do with earning me money and actually costs me abut 50-100 dollars a year all up.

I blog for fun; for a feeling of community; to make friends, to exchange words, thoughts, ideas; for some sort of feedback even though it's not so easy on my blog.

I blog because I want this to be my lifetime career.

Not only for money, but also for my passion to communicate with others.

Of course, who would want to work at home with your family, instead of working hard for a company to make it big and getting underpaid. It's not worth it, man.