If you’ve an interest in human psychology and self-improvement then you’ve probably heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Basically this is a simple pyramid model of human needs with the most primitive at the bottom and the most advanced at the top. Whilst our lower level needs remain unfulfilled, Maslow proposed, we have difficulty concentrating on and fulfilling the higher ones. So for example we’re likely to find it easier to write our great novel if we’re not constantly worrying about money.

That’s not to say that we can’t work on higher level needs before securing the lower ones (ask J.KRowling!), just that it’s more difficult. It’s far easier to achieve our potential if we first to ensure that our basic needs are met.

It occurs to me that a similar model can be applied to blogging. There are basic primitive needs such as a working server, then higher levels such as good content and subscribers. Whilst it’s theoretically possible to have (for example) subscribers without quality content it will be very difficult – and without a reliable blog host it will be more difficult still.

Following Maslow’s original five-layer model I’d like to suggest the following five layers, starting with the lowest and most primitive:

Technical
These are the basics for any blog: a reliable server host, your own domain name, a blogging platform with which you’re comfortable. Personally I’d also include language skills here; if you’re blogging in English then you really do need a decent grasp of the English (or American) language to be successful.

Content
“Content is king”: a cliche but a valid one. It doesn’t matter how pretty a blog looks or how interactive it is, without good, relevant, original content it’ll never make my bookmarks. Too many people concentrate on the appearance of their blog so much that they neglect the content. Remember to pay attention to user-generated content such as comments. Quality is important, not just quantity.

Presentation
Of course, presentation does matter. You want to show your quality content off to best effect. That means at the least finding a new blog template – using the default one just looks cheap. Interactivity – assuming it’s user-friendly and relevant – also fits in this layer and in the case of user-generated content may feed back into the layer below.

Reputation
So you’ve got a working blog with great content that looks fantastic. It’s all a bit of a watse of time if nobody reads it! At the simplest level you need links, but that’s not really enough. There are many spammy blogs (splogs) with plenty of links but no readers. You need to build your reputation – get you and your blog known, comment on other blogs, socialise. Give something to the blogging community. Of course this is a bit of a waste of time unless you have some content to back you up.

Actualisation
This is where it all comes together. You’ve got a great blog with superb reputation beautifully presented. You have a stream of loyal readers and your blog is associated with its niche in the same way that Engadget, 43 Folders or Problogger are with their subjects. Congratulations, you’ve made it! Now the hard work really begins

OK, it’s an interesting idea (I hope) but what’s the practical take away? Simply that if you’re having trouble making your blog as successful as you’d like, if you’re feeling blocked and stumped, perhaps you’re concentrating on the wrong layers. Maybe you have a beautifully designed template with no useful content, or a wonderful blog which is painfully slow to load.

We all have a temptation to spend our time doing things we enjoy and that we feel we’re good at and that means we sometimes neglect the other less interesting tasks. Sometimes we need to take a step back and make sure the fundamentals are in place.

Image Credit: J Finkelstein (Gnu Free Documentation Licence)