Not all blogs are built the same, especially considering that as of February 16, 2011 there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.

Given there’s such an enormous number of blogs, it’s easy to understand why having a professional blog can help you stand out in a crowded space. Like beauty, a professional web blog is judged by the eye of the beholder.

Here are 8 blog tips that can make your business or personal blog more professional in order to captivate new readers and keep existing readers coming back.

• Use a customized theme. Although a custom theme might cost a few extra dollars, it makes your blog different from being “Just Another WordPress Blog.” If you must stick with a free theme, be sure to upload a custom header or a logo to give your blog a bit of personality.
• Provide pictures and videos. Let’s face it, pictures and videos are worth a thousand words. By providing images and video that supports your blog content, you’re providing a better user experience for your visitor. If they take the time to watch a video that you’ve provided it increases the time time on site at your blog and (hopefully)  provided them with additional relevant information. Any images that you publish on your website should be licensed to prevent legal issues with the original IP owner.
• Make sure you’re hosted on a fast server. Major search engines have disclosed that website speed is a factor in analyzing and assigning position in search engine results. By running a fast blog server you’ll make both your visitors and search engines happy with fast response times.
• Use ads in moderation. Most people have come to expect some sort of advertising on blogs, but overwhelming your visitors with a page full of ads not only annoys them, it also slows down your website response time while your blog pulls information from ad servers.
• Be mindful of spelling, grammar and language at all times. Don’t forget about putting the final touches on your posts by editing your post and correcting any errors.
• Provide social sharing buttons. Since most people have become accustomed to sharing websites, news articles, blogs and other information at popular social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and other social sharing destinations.
• Keep updating. It’s easy to see how a blog that hasn’t been updated can fall behind others that are discussing current news, events, product and service offerings and other hot topics. If no one is taking the time to update the blog, it will fall behind as other professional bloggers continue to publish.
• Provide contact information. If your visitor cares enough to contact you for some reason, make it easier for them to do so by providing them with your preferred contact method . Use a “Contact Us” form or provide a webpage that has your Email address, physical address and/or phone number readily available.

These eight  professional blogging tips are a solid foundation for anyone that wants to improve the success of their blogging effort.

I hope they help you achieve the blogging goals that you’ve set for yourself either personally or professionally.