This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I have unfollowed 1000s of people over the past few days.
Why?
I am doubling down on tip #3. I do not follow the news. But my social media streams became news sources; allegedly. Attempting to find helpful content amid this wave of news wasted too much of my time for me to tolerate. Spending less time on social media lets me spend more time blogging and guest posting.
Being a professional blogger requires you to follow three basic tips for a sustained period of time.
1: Spend Most Energy and Time
on Your Blog and Buddy Blogs
Spend most of your time and energy on your self-hosted blog and on buddy self-hosted blogs.
Create on your owned real estate. Create on real estate owned by your blogging buddies.
You do not own social media or likely, forums. But you do own your blog. Ditto for blogging buddies of yours who own their blogs. Creating and connecting through owned blogs ensures whatever happens with:
- forums
your business will thrive, grow and expand exponentially over the long haul. Blogs are your business hub, the content engine driving increasing traffic and profits, 24-7, 365, if you spend 1000s of hours generously creating and connecting on real estate you own and owned by your buddies.
2: Sell through Trusted Digital Storefronts
Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in history. Doesn’t it make sense to capitalize on his:
- business genius?
- elite digital storefront?
- massive, loyal audience?
versus the nightmarish headache of trying to set up a shopping cart on your blog? Pay a prosperity tax by allowing Amazon to collect their decent-sized commissions. Allow Bezos’ billions of dollars worth of:
- infrastructure
- support
- staff expertise
to handle all the backend stuff while you sell and profit as Amazon takes a cut. No brainer.
Sell through any trusted digital platform to leverage by using the power of the platform network, staff and overall branding. Think long and hard about setting up a shopping cart to buy through your blog unless you have a massive, targeted audience.
Even then, be prepared to invest substantial money and time in coordinating development for the endeavor. What happens when your digital storefront crashes? Unlike Amazon with their army of developers, your one-man-band may be sleeping. Ouch.
3: Spend Little Time on Social Media
Spend little time on social media because other people own those platforms.
See social media as a tool to share value, to build bonds and to tap into your targeted audience with light usage.
Every extra hour you spend on social is an hour you could use to create content for:
- your blog
- your brand
- your business
Pop in to engage on social for a few times daily. Time your sessions in minutes, not hours. See social media as a secondary or tertiary channel through which to share value and to forge bonds with people who love your blog. Make your blog home base to build a rock solid business.
Conclusion
Most bloggers never go pro because they do the exact opposite of tips #1 and #3. Bloggers usually spend way too little time on their blog and way too much time on social media and forums.
Turn around these trends. Publish helpful content frequently. Engage a little bit on social media to strengthen bonds but do the majority of work through your blog and through buddies’ blogs.
Have posture. Build your blogging business like a pro.
