OK, if not fame, then a loyal followship." Local bloggers tell you how"

Not many people visited Craig "Dodge" Lile's music blog, My Old Kentucky Blog, when it started in January 2005. But then Lile did something most bloggers in that position don't do -- he kept going.

"You have fight through those tough times, but really, 99 percent of bloggers out there will quit really easily," he said.

After sticking with it, Lile now sees thousands of unique visitors a day on his site http://myoldkentuckyblog.com/ and has been recognized nationally for his contribution to the underground rock music scene. The blog also has generated business opportunities and additional income.

Though there are millions of blogs, Lile's story still is atypical. Starting up a blog is no problem -- five minutes after registering at a free site your words are out there, ready to be viewed by the world. But getting people to actually read those words, and being able to successfully operate the blog for more than a week, is a whole different story.

After realizing this common struggle, local bloggers Noah Coffey and Shawn Plew decided to do something about it. What began as a discussion about the sorry state of many blogs snowballed into Blog Indiana 2008 Aug. 16 and 17 at IUPUI.

Guest speakers and more than 25 sessions will bring Hoosier bloggers together to discuss topics from writing about politics to incorporating blogs into your business.

To start things off, Coffey -- who blogs about the challenges of being a freelance Web designer -- and Lile shared some advice.

Consistency: Blogging is a marathon and not a sprint. Lile updates his My Old Kentucky Blog often, usually multiple times a day. Even for established blogs, frantic updates followed by long periods of silence are no replacement for consistency.

"With popularity comes enormous responsibility, and maintaining a popular blog really is a pressure-filled job," Lile says. "You wouldn't believe how many fold from this pressure. If you don't deliver on a regular basis, you'll become irrelevant, and your visitors will abandon you."

Coffey says there are strategies to maintaining daily posting over a long period of time. He suggests hiring a guest blogger to fill in if you have to take a break. Or, have a pile of timeless posts already written that can be posted when you don't have the time to write fresh content.

Lile even enlists a staff of contributors on My Old Kentucky Blog to pick up some slack, but he warns this also presents the extra responsibilities of being a boss along with being a writer.

Content is key: As the maxim goes, "write about what you know." But just as importantly, write about what you love. That way, you'll have the motivation and ideas to keep going.

Specializing in a small area can set you apart, but don't be so narrow that you'll soon run out of ideas, Coffey says.

But even if you are like Lile -- writing about something such as music, so overwhelmingly covered in the blogosphere -- you still can make your own mark.

"You have to express your own unique voice to get across to the reader," he says. "Whether in real life you are sarcastic, hilarious or somber, you just have to see that reflect itself in your writing."

Interactivity: Blogging is not a one-way street, so just writing and posting entries is not enough. Increasingly, social networking is becoming more important in establishing new readership bases and creating a dialog with visitors to maintain their interest.

"You can't just blog and hope the messages get out," Coffey says. "You need to take an active role in other blogs and social-networking sites, by leaving messages and linking to others. Taking advantage of the community aspect is where you will really see success."

Success is relative: Know your goals and what kind of return you want from your blog. Only a microscopic number of blogs can generate direct profit. Do you want to promote your business goals -- or just have fun writing?

"Success can mean many things to different people," Coffey says.

Bloggers who just write about their personal lives in diary form can be successful even with a very small number of viewers, if that's all they want to do. But if they're looking for higher visitor numbers, they might want to change their topic to something more mainstream.

Lile says he believes his blog is successful not only because it opened up other money-making opportunities such as concert promotions and his radio show, but also because of the personal satisfaction he gets from it.

"It's just another way for me to use my brain," he says. "And it provides an outlet for my love of music."

- By Trevor Brown

Blog Indiana 2008

Where: IUPUI Campus Center.

When: Aug. 16 and 17.

Cost: $49.

Info: http://conference.blogindiana.com