Julie Bacon : : Consulting, Programs, Campaigns, Marketing Communication

Like you, I travel all over the Internet on any given day. A little shopping, a little banking, a lot of social, some research, some work … But one of my frequent stops is a blog in which I have absolutely zero interest.

Woody Boater is a blog written and maintained solely by my friend and colleague, Matt Smith. Matt’s blog is the epitome of what a good blog should be and demonstrates every tip you’ve ever read about good blogging.

Be passionate. Wood boats may do little for me – although I can appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty – but Matt loves his topic and it shows and his readers respond. As a result of this passion and his execution on the next points, Matt enjoys the largest following of any related “publication” (print or online) in the niche.

Focus on a niche. According to Matt, there are only like 20,000 people in the US who care about wood boats. This number comes from those who are members of associations and/or subscribe to the leading publication in the field. Matt’s analytics are twice that. Twice.

Make an impact, have an edge. Matt puts fun and humor at the top of his values for a good life and it shows in his blog. His humorous tone layered on top of his quality content makes his blog fun to read. Not only does he have a loyal following as a result but also is making an impact on the category by appealing to the younger audience who will be the future of the sport and hobby.

Write regularly. Now that his audience is hooked, he doesn’t let them down. Now that he has momentum and a loyal following he writes nearly every day. He also travels to events and reports on what he is seeing several times a day during events. He is his audience’s eyes and ears.

Persevere. Matt is just about the opposite of patient as anyone I can think of, and yet he stuck with it. His impressive following didn’t happen in the first quarter or even first six months. It took about a year before Woody Boater started racking up the impressive analytics it has today.