There's currently a poll on the front page of ProBlogger that asks "How Long Have you Been Blogging?" While the voting results are not conclusive, even with the number of voters being at 1983 (at the time of this writing), the results indicate a trend. A lot of bloggers aren't serious about blogging in the first place. Look at the percentages. Do you really think the percentage of bloggers blogging for less than three months would be higher than the rest otherwise?

I have some opinions and they're exclusively my own. My opinions make it extremely difficult to write a fair review of some of the blogs that I'm being asked to review.

If you've gotten your feet wet, are beyond the three month mark, are attempting to monetize your blog and you still have your blog hosted on a domain like blogspot.com or wordpress.com and without your own domain name, I'm not going to take you seriously unless… you're only using your blog as an expressive outlet. Some of my favorite blogs fall in that category. A hosting account, and a domain name, can be had for an entire year for less that $100.00 USD. If I can afford it, with a pension of less than $1500 USD per month and living in a foreign and underdeveloped country (and with some unusual monetary obligations), anyone who can afford a computer and an Internet connection can also afford it.

Are you blogging about the exact same thing as a hundred or more other bloggers? If you're serious about your blog, you'll pick a direction that doesn't follow the herd. One of the reasons I like personal blogs is that they don't follow the herd. In order to be successful with any blog, you have to be serious about it, even a personal blog. My blog is a personal blog, but I'm serious about a lot of the topics I write about. I'm serious about making money with my blog, even though it's not the primary reason I write.

Do you have the time to commit to your blog? If you're writing something on your blog only once per month (or less) then you're not committed to it. People who are committed to their blogs write something at least twice per week, and I'm not talking about something that has the effect of "Hey, I'm still here, but I don't know what to write about." The same people who don't commit time to their blogs are the same people asking why their traffic numbers and rankings are so low.

Are you a blogging hermit? Do you write articles for your blog on a regular basis, but that's all you do? If it's true, then the only people who are going to read your blog are those that find it via the search engines. You need to read other blogs at the very least. How else are you going to know what other bloggers are doing or what they think of your blog, if they even know about it. Read, comment, interact — three words when combined will get your blog noticed.

Is your blog content interesting, or is it boring and uninteresting? A blog is not a news agency. If your blog is in a specific niche, it needs personality. If all you're going to do is report what happened, without interjecting your own ideas or opinions, your blog is going to be boring. Boring blogs are difficult to read, even for people are sincerely trying to read them. If you write with a passion, it's noticeable, and you can make a boring topic extremely interesting.

A serious blogger pays attention to comments, answers questions, listens to feedback and uses criticism constructively. A serious blogger reads other blogs, comments on other blogs, and writes about other blogs. A serious blogger has a unique domain name and pays for hosting (in most cases). A serious blogger is passionate about the topics being written about. A serious blogger commits time to a blog. That's my summary and I'm sticking to it.

I could drone on, but you get the picture. Before you write another article, think about whether you’re serious about what you're doing.

In conclusion, neither I nor my blog are without our own faults. Feel free to pick us apart. I promise I'll use any criticism constructively.