Five keys to blogging stardom from Jay Leno

Despite Jay Leno’s success, A-list blogger and Edelman VP, Steve Rubel, says says he’d still buy Jay a beer if he saw him. The reason being that he appears to be a hard working down to earth guy.

Per Steve, here’s a lot to learn about how to become a top blogger by emulating some of Leno’s steps. Here’s five lessons leading to Jay’s success Steve picked up from a Fortune article he kept.

1. Be incredibly focused on delivering a quality product. Think of your blog as a product building a great brand. Make sure your you’re consistently putting out a quality product. Jay whittles down a 200 to 300 joke list for each night. Take your time to get it right.
2. Talent is never enough. It takes a champion work ethic and passion to succeed. Jay Leno hasn’t taken a vacation in 20 years and he rarely takes days off. He loves to perform and it shows. Like other bloggers, I’ll confess to not taking a real vacation in years.
3. Be a man or woman of the people. Despite many long hours working and cris-crossing the country for gigs, Jay remains a man of the people. His Jaywalking segments reveal how comfortable he is with ordinary people folks. If you make it big as a blogger don’t let it go to your head. Continue to reference other bloggers and people others have never heard of.
4. Have something to sell, but also let others sell on your stage. Jay’s a good listener letting his guests get in all their plugs. Selling ideas, as you do as a blogger, drives a lot of the conversation. Let people get their points in. Do Remember the ideas you want to sell and own them.
5. Stay a little bit paranoid and push your comfort zone. Jay’s always trying to stay one up on the competition and testing new material on stages other than the Tonight Show. Don’t rest on your laurels and regularly test new ground.

Generating a conversation, or at least the talking aspect, is something I’m okay at. I need to work at giving the stage to others so that they can get in their plugs and views.