In the billions and billions of words posted by the millions of blogs worldwide, what makes one particular blog stand out from the teeming mass ? What puts the blog writer into a special class, makes readers return day after day and brings accolades from the media ?

It’s connection. Successful bloggers are those who connect with their readers, whether 10 or 10,000 people, by entertaining or enlightening them. Many people like to draw boundaries between bloggers and other writers (journalists, novelists, marketers) but their goals are similar : grab people by the collar and don’t let go.

Some of the bloggers writing in this handbook - Bahrain’s Chan’ad Bahraini, Hong Kong’s Yan Sham-Shackleton and Iran’s Arash Sigarchi - blog in countries where the government is watching their words very carefully. And the world is watching them as well, to learn about stories the press in their countries dare not tell. In these places, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are in danger, and bloggers’ voices online are an important link to the reality on the streets of their towns. The photos they take and the stories they tell are vital.

But what makes these and other noteworthy blogs shine ? Here are some of their main attributes, the things that set them apart from all those millions of other blogs.

A unique and personal voice

The best bloggers talk in their own voice, celebrate their unique identity and tell the stories that are real to them. Weblogs come from the idea of an online journal, a personal journal, so it’s important to remember that journaling is not like academic writing, not like impersonal writing for a wire service. Chan’ad Bahraini is the pseudonym of an Asian blogger located in the mainly Arab country of Bahrain, giving him an unusual perspective on events there. Yan Sham-Shackleton is a performance artist who has lived all over the world and helped run a protest against China blocking the TypePad blog sites - after several years earlier herself helping the Chinese authorities to filter the Net.

Keep it current

The biggest problem with the vast majority of blogs is that they are stale. Because most people are not paid to blog, it takes a while to integrate blogging into their daily routine. Many people start to blog, try it out, and then never have the time to update it. To be successful, bloggers must keep writing posts on a regular basis and stay up on the topics that interest them, including current affairs. That doesn’t mean they have to post 12 times every day, but a few weeks off can kill a blog’s audience.

Connect with and empower readers

One of the distinguishing features of blogs is interactivity. There are many ways to engage your readers, involve them in the conversation and utilize their feedback. You could run an online poll, or give them your e-mail address, or just enable comments under each posting. Jeff Ooi was threatened by the Malaysian authorities because of a comment made by one of his readers. Rather than take all comments off his blog, Ooi decided to moderate comments to make sure readers stayed on topic and would stand by their words. He also started up a Chinese-language blog called "The Ferryman" as a way to build a bridge between the Malaysian and Chinese blogospheres.

Tell truth to power

While many blogs include commentary, some also include original old-fashioned reporting. There’s no right way to do it, but having either original reporting or an original angle on a story helps set your blog apart. Chan’ad Bahraini offered photos and audio of protests in Bahrain when an activist was jailed in November 2004. And blogger Arash Sigarchi was arrested in Iran and sentenced to 14 years in prison for criticizing the hard-line regime’s arrests of other journalists. He was later freed after paying a fine, but his case is under appeal. The key is that these bloggers and so many others have spoken truth to power, and had the courage to stand up as a collective blogosphere to authorities that would rather hide the truth.

Mark Glaser

Mark Glaser is a columnist for Online Journalism Review, a publication produced by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication. He is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. You can reach him at glaze@sprintmail.com