At Apollo Media Blog, we are currently mulling over a new sense of direction and purpose for our articles here. While we are still going to keep posting about blog tips, SEO and other highlights from the Web 2.0 world, we feel that there needs to be a more distinct focus for our efforts in the realm of social media. As we go through the process of brainstorming ideas and coming up with an action plan, we thought we would share some of the steps and considerations we are taking, so we can all learn together.

Whether your blog is fairly established, just starting out or on the brink of collapse, there are several pathways to lead you to a better blogging experience. Here are some of the key ideas we are currently delving into as we shift our blogging priorities:

1. Define your demographic.

Create a mental picture of who’s reading your blog or who you want to be reading your blog. Define their age, sex, occupation, interests, location, income and what have you. You can even model your archetype on someone you know or a group of people you associate with. Give your writing and blog design better direction by targeting a specific set of characteristics that you value, relate to or identify in existing readers.

2. Understand your reader’s needs and aim to show them clear value.

You want people to come to your blog with a feeling of urgency. You want them to say “wow, this is really useful”, eventually bookmark it and share it with their friends and peers across social networks like Digg and Facebook. Once you’ve established who your demographic is, it’s a lot easier to move towards providing them information that will meet their demands.

3. Set some goals.

With your (prospective) audience in mind, lay out some goals, either short-term, long-term or both, that you want to shoot for. They can be measured in revenue, visitors, popularity, contacts, whatever you feel is an attainable and desirable point in your future. It’s important to have a general focus on improving your online reputation, establishing a memorable brand and coming up with a reasonable source of revenue.

4. Do some research and gather your resources.

With your excellent list of goals and a clear vision for future posts, you’ll want to pool your resources together so you can put your plan into action. Think about the things you’ll need in terms of financial assistance, hosting, technical support and design concepts to initialize your efforts. Also be sure to take a good hard look at your competitors within your niche so you can understand what others offer and how you plan on making a distinctive mark in the field.

Separate research can also be conducted offline, with special attention paid to viral concepts in advertising and marketing. Everywhere you look there are sticky and unforgettable images and phrases begging for prime real estate in your head. Be receptive to clever or innovative strategies and note them for future reference. You never know what tactics are going to put your blog over the top, so be open to new ideas!

That’s the four key areas that Apollo is currently exploring for our blog so that we can expand our work here and bring you important social media and Web 2.0 information in a more accessible, direct and entertaining fashion.

As we continue on with our development here, we would love to hear your stories, so feel free to share both your successes and mistakes, as we can all learn from both. We hope to share this exciting journey with you, so be sure to stick around!