This post and the last one are elemental, and something I just hit on in my own post today (before I read yours!).

I am working on my goals for my blog, and the specific direction I want to zero in on to make the niche and the readership more targeted than just the overall “starting a business” theme.

A good blog knows its purpose, scope and limitations, and that is what you have hit upon and what I am working to distill.

Thanks for the reminder 🙂

@Happy Rock — I think more people have the goal of developing and enhancing their personal brand and important relationships in the online and offline world.

That's really my key goal, which allows me, in some respects, to not be hyper-focused on specific niche. I talk about a few things that interest me, each reaching different audiences, and raising awareness of “me” in those spaces.

Great point. After blogging for two years, I *just* realized what my blog's purpose is: 1) To establish my reputation, 2) to help my readers, and 3) to know what I think (via writing).

Matthew – Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

And the great thing about the goals you've laid out: you can accomplish all 3 at the same time!

My blog's goal is to communicate and share. I write about anything that strikes my fancy, from the flood that destroyed my lower horse corral (horses removed in time; thanks for asking) to how to modify your WordPress blog's theme to add Twit This links. (And that's just this week.) My goal is part personal journal, part supplemental reading material for the folks who (buy and) read my books.

That said, I can tell which posts are successful by how many hits and comments they get. The comments are especially rewarding; they turn a narrative into a conversation. I'm not lecturing — my visitors and I are discussing. And that's when I get to learn new stuff, too.

That's how I gauge success.

Maria – There's no question that comments are a gage of success. Comments are one of the most rewarding aspects of blogging.

However, there are plenty of successful blog posts that don't receive a lot of comments. Often I write something that's very rewarding for myself personally (for any number of reasons) but it doesn't receive huge discussion. And that's OK.