Engaging an audience to your blog

I read in awe some of the fantastic blogs out there and am inspired by the activity that they attract. How do they get their audience? What can mere mortals like us do to make our blogs attractive? Are there rules of thumb when creating blog questions? Please enlighten us all on how you get the crowd to attend and participate. Perhaps blogs are dead and web 2.0 demands more active transmission of content - no one wants to come and visit our blogs, what can we do?