As Anil Dash once said "Blogging has gone from an unnamed or even nebulous concept to helping form a nascent community, and then to the fundamental evolution of the social web."

Ten years ago we talked about online diaries, journals, personal web sites. We didn't talk about "blogs", the phrase was yet to be coined. Blogger.com didn't arrive until 1999, so the masses didn't really have the easy tools we take for granted today. My first blogs were hand coded in Perl, Java, ASP and PHP.

Now you hear the word on prime time news, in papers and magazines, over chats with friends and in song lyrics. There are now over 70 million real blogs, not counting spam. Every topic imaginable has a growing audience of keen bloggers and readers. What a wild ride for something, on the face of it at least, so simple or even trivial!

Blogging has indeed come a long way from those simple "new sites I discovered today" and "what my cat ate" articles. Let's see what ten years of blogging has taught me and how those lessons can help you today:

1. It's not just technology

Geeks pioneered blogging so people think it is all about the technology. It isn't. Focus on people. It is people who read, subscribe, comment and tell their friends, technology is merely the tool you use to bring your content to the people.

2. Content is only the start

Yes, content is king, but without an army, what is a king but a simple man in a funny hat? If content is your king, promotion is your army. Saying all you need is content is like saying all a pie needs is flour. Success comes from several ingredients in the right measures; consistent, quality, valuable content, with good promotion, community and most of all patience!

3. It's not just WHAT you know

Networking is the key to success in blogging, and probably in life. Yes, it is not just what you know but also who. Get out and make friends.

4. Be nice on the way up

As a continuation of the previous point, I have seen so many people use and abuse their contacts and readers only to find when the proverbial hits the wind making device they are all alone. Do not make this mistake, be nice on the way up and you might get some friendly help when things go rough.

5. Give to receive

What you get out all depends on what you put in. Over the years, I have seen the idea constantly reinforced that before you try to take any rewards, you need to give, give and give some more. All too often people think blogging is a route to riches, so they slap ads all over their theme, push dodgy affiliate offers and generally try to extract every last cent from their blog before even creating any useful resource. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

You will notice I don't talk about specific tactics, technologies or marketing techniques. Those are all important but I have found the key thread behind the successes and failures I have witnessed or experienced are those above. It's all about your approach and intentions. Get your head right and the blog will follow!

About the author: Chris Garrett is a professional blogger and internet marketing consultant. You can read more of his blogging tips, internet marketing advice and copywriting articles at ChrisG.com