by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Me and my wife just arrived to our new travel location.
We will spend 2 weeks by the Jersey shore.
But this Jersey shore is quite different than the Jersey Shore much of the world knows. Before you picture Coppertone, characters and club kid crazies, we are spending time in one of the more exclusive regions of zip codes in the United States. Bruce Springsteen lives a few minutes from us on his 400 acre farm. One farm close by just got listed at $28 million USD.
As a rule, people who live in this area became highly successful not solely by working hard but by letting go whatever held them back. Massive success meets people who release old ways of thinking, feeling, acting and living.
Paying close attention to happy, thriving individuals reveals an evolution from holding on to much toward releasing much. Success tends to be more about releasing than acquiring. For bloggers this means releasing old states of mind, old ways of thinking and old, worn out strategies to accelerate your success.
I vividly recall attempting to drive heavy blog traffic solely by volume publishing 20 to 30 thin blog posts daily nearly a decade ago. My failure consciousness dominated decisions during my early blogging days. I released the volume publishing approach to publish more robust, thorough content less frequently to my blog.
But I eventually released publishing posts solely to my blog. I decided to publish posts on Blogging From Paradise and other blogs related to my niche via guest posting. Gradually I released using social media heavily to engage in a prolific, genuine blog commenting campaign. The process continues; I routinely let go in order to grow.
Letting go precedes acquiring.
Allow this idea to sear itself onto your mind. Picture someone using a branding iron to impress the concept onto your consciousness.
What can you release to accelerate your blogging success? Asses ego for excuses. Observe limiting beliefs stifling your blogging growth. Let go worn out habits. Release unintelligent strategies. I formerly published blog posts and guest posts linking to one blog post, eBook or course. However, releasing this less abundant approach goaded me to link in and out multiple times through each blog post and guest post.
Why not promote a high number of helpful posts via a single blog post or guest post?
Google loves rich links in and links out of course but readers also appreciate thorough resources to add credibility and increased research materials to every post you publish. Skipping this step hurt me in the past but adding this step greatly benefitted my blogging career.
Blogging becomes easier by letting go what needs to go. Blogging feels tougher by clinging to what seems to be outgrown.
Assess your blogging campaign.
Do you need to release publishing posts only to your blog to make room for guest posting? Perhaps you need to move higher in blogging circles by releasing struggling bloggers from your network. Bloggers tend to bond with struggling bloggers during their beginner days. But some stall while others flourish. Toss your uncomfortable feelings aside to let go anyone who either appears to hold you back or does little to accelerate your blogging growth.
Surround yourself with successful bloggers. Release failing bloggers. Learn from the best to become the best.
Letting go feels scary. Releasing feels highly uncomfortable. Will the new strategy work? Will you waste time? Or will you waste money? Will bloggers prefer your new theme? Will the developer hit the mark? Doubts arise on releasing the old and worn out but growth is in release, not in holding on or clinging to what needs to go.
Trash blogging garbage. Seize blogging treasures.
Grab opportunities for growth by emptying your hands of stale blogging activities.
SEO-optimizing long-form posts felt good to me for a bit but turned stagnant recently. I released the tactic. Guest posting popped up in my mind as the prime idea to explore going forward. But I never would have pondered guest posting if my blogging hands were full with SEO-optimizing long-form blog posts.
Let go to grow.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Someone just messaged me with this line:
“I’d love to connect with you.”
Unfortunately, many people messaged me the same exact line since I began blogging in 2008. Many millions of bloggers, entrepreneurs and online business owners would love to connect with and collaborate with the many professional bloggers of the world.
But “I’d love to” messages from complete strangers does not open doors.
Blindly pitching strangers whom you never:
- helped
- served
- impressed with kindness
is a common blogger outreach error rooted in the dis-ease of festering ego. Ego believes simply saying YOU would love to do something results in pro bloggers perking up and fulfilling your lazy request. Imagine a Jedi Mind Trick. One ego wishes to do something because the ego would love to seize the opportunity for itself. What mindless fool of a professional blogger falls prey to this absurd blogger outreach tactic?
Based solely on the fact that I’ve been online since 2008 I estimate at least 10,000 human beings have:
- messaged me
- emailed me
- social media commented me
- blog commented me
stranger-danger pitches leading off with:
“I’d love to…..”
Requests ranged from pitching link exchanges, guest post opportunities and other collaborations all geared toward benefitting these stranger bloggers with a Do Follow link on a high DA blog and not benefitting me at all. Do I need free, valuable content? I published 2500 posts to Blogging From Paradise. I have published 5 posts daily to my blog and have even began to rank on page 1 of Google recently, too for highly competitive keywords, like in the case of this post.
None of these strangers:
- helped me
- supported me
- bought my stuff
- hired me
- promoted me
- endorsed me
Why would I do anything beneficial for them if they have not earned my:
I paid my blogger outreach dues over 13 years by generously serving professional bloggers and expecting nothing in return. Putting in sustained time and work challenged me. Fears arose. Discomfort surfaced. But I nudged through the uncomfortable emotions to gradually move higher in blogging circles.
I helped blogging power brokers for a long time and asked for nothing in return to earn their trust. Popping up on the screen of blogging power brokers influenced these pros to endorse me and promote me. Gaining support from top pros helped make my blogging career.
This is how to do blogger outreach properly.
But the “I’d love to” crowd believes a passing desire from a stranger opens the door to all types of sweet blogging growth. Unfortunately for this crowd, 1000’s of blogging creating and connecting hours from a detached energy leads to blogging success.
Work Not Mindless Requests Precedes Success
I’d love to be an NBA player. But calling an NBA front office explaining how I’d love to be a member of their NBA team would result in an instant hang up because I have no professional basketball skills. Tens of millions of basketball fans and former grammar school, high school and college players would love to be NBA players. However, a passing desire from an unskilled baller does not precede an NBA career. Thousands upon thousands of hours of practicing basketball to master this skill positions one to go pro. Professional bloggers take a similar path.
The 2021 NBA draft unfolded recently. The Golden State Warriors selected Jonathan Kuminga with the 7th pick. He played high school ball at The Patrick School. I have followed this high school since roughly 1993. No less than 8 players from this tiny school in Northern New Jersey of 50 to 200 students has been drafted by NBA teams. What an impressive feat! But I personally observed how all of these kids worked tirelessly at mastering their hoops skills from a young age through their late teens and early 20’s to become NBA players.
Jonathan moved from the Congo at 13 years old to pursue his hoops dream in the USA. He saw his parents for the first time in 5 years the other day because now he can finally afford to fly them to the States.
He did not call NBA team front offices and say “I’d love to get an NBA try-out” as a 13 year old living in Africa. He left his homeland and gave 5 years of his life to pursue his NBA dream.
Recently I watched US Olympian Sydney McLaughlin win the 400 meter hurdle Gold medal with a world record breaking performance. She grew up one town over from me in New Jersey and attended the same high school as me, Union Catholic Regional. Even though our high school were separated by 25 years I followed her career to see the immense amount of work, energy and flat out commitment she put in to become an Olympic champion with a professional endorsement deal worth millions of dollars.
Expect to walk a similar path of high energy sacrifice, work and flat out commitment to make your professional blogging dreams come true.
No established, professional blogger will hand you traffic and profits on a platter, courtesy of a guest post or link lobbed your way solely because you proclaimed that you’d love to place a guest post on their blog.
Serve pros generously, patiently and persistently. Be genuine in your interactions.
Engage in blogger outreach with integrity to move higher in blogging circles and to accelerate your online success.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Most bloggers agree that social media marketing can be a prospering channel through which traffic and profits find you. But few bloggers clearly explain how to use social media in vivid detail in order to drive traffic and profits.
Even fewer bloggers explain that:
- you will be talking about other bloggers, their content, and their business most of the time
- you will be promoting other bloggers most of the time
- you will be tagging fellow bloggers on social to notify them that you linked to them from your blog, at least some of the time.
Few bloggers tell you that effective social media marketing is spending most time and energy engaging on other people’s profiles. Engaging people who Like, Retweet and comment in response to your content.
90% to 95% of social media marketing is:
- posting genuine comments in reply to updates published through friend’s profiles
- promoting other blogger’s content
- posting genuine comments in reply to people who engage your content in some way, shape, or form
Most bloggers seem confused upon learning this truth because
most learn from fellow bloggers that social media marketing is:
- copying and pasting a link to your profile
- dressing up the link with an attractive copy
- using images to goad engagement
- asking questions to goad engagement
From 13 years of blogging experience, 5% to 10% of traffic and profits comes from mainstream social media advice for bloggers and 90% to 95% comes from promoting other blogger’s content on your profile, linking to fellow bloggers via your blog, and tagging them on social to give them credit (to shine the spotlight on them), commenting genuinely on fellow blogger’s updates and replying to people who engage your updates.
The traffic and money come from making it all about other human beings. Sometimes, highly prospering bloggers become so successful that they forget the networking, engaging, and sharing they put in to become successful.
This crowd teaches social media marketing as a sole study in making updates as pretty, appealing, and engaging as possible, and business will arrive. However, they forget that the 100 FB Likes, traffic, and profits flowing to the Facebook update largely comes from the 1000’s of hours they spent networking genuinely and generously, one authentic comment engagement at a time.
Lisa Sicard and Sue-Ann Bubacz are two of the best in the blogging business at engaging genuinely, patiently, and persistently through social media. Each pro knows almost all social media marketing success is talking to people about:
- THEIR content
- THEIR life
- THEIR business
Making social media about other people makes marketing on Twitter and Facebook easier.
Again; you will tend not to hear this advice from most bloggers because most have no idea how to use social media, parrot back advice offered by pros who forget how they became successful through social, or most bloggers simply are not in blogging circles with pros like Lisa and Sue-Ann.
Pay close attention to what both Lisa and Sue-Ann do on Twitter and Facebook daily. Follow their streams. Note the 1-to-1 engagement every day. Both see the human beings behind the avatar. Adopt a similar frame of mind to humanize social media.
I slow down my mind, relax and mindfully see the human being on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I even imagine myself speaking to these humans as I speak to humans offline.
Remember that behind every avatar a living, breathing, human being with emotions wait for your genuine engagement.
Successful social media marketing is chatting with humans about their interests and making it virtually all about them.
Embrace this mindset and you will have no issues driving traffic and profits to your blog through social media.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Some bloggers adopt a hard sell approach. Fear courses through their veins; they need a sale! After one, two, then three calls to action made within a single blog post, most readers feel their fear masked as desperation or greed and leave their blog, never to return. Blogging hard sellers feel like a sleezy used car salesman hellbent on making a sale with little concern for actually meeting the needs of their readers.
Some bloggers deeply fear selling anything. Fear courses through their veins; they do not want to annoy, upset or turn off anyone! 5 years into their blogging career, readers email fear-filled blogging sellers asking what products and services the bloggers offer because said bloggers bury their premium offerings under layers. You are in deep trouble if long term readers are unaware that you even run a blogging business.
Finding the midway point between a hard sell and being deeply afraid to sell seems to be the blogging sweet spot for boosting your profits. Fear sits at opposing ends of the selling spectrum. Desperate or greedy bloggers employ a hard sell approach due to the fear of missing out on sales. But bloggers who fear selling emit an equally powerful fear for any number of reasons. Find the halfway point between cramming your offerings down reader’s throats and hiding your offerings under layers of pages and mental blocks.
Increase your blogging profits …
By maintaining a posturing midway point between aggressive selling and ashamed hiding.
True; some bloggers go pro never mentioning their products and services save the odd note here and there. But said bloggers are few and far between. I know of a small pro blogger collection who employs such a passive system of almost complete surrender. However, most bloggers never mention their premium offerings from energies of:
- shame
- embarrassment
- a general lack of clarity
- a lack of confidence
- self-doubt
- a fear of criticism
- a fear of being outed as a fraud
I know. I faced, felt and released each fear intimately during my professional blogger journey. Following this path built my blogging posture.
I mention one of my eBooks via every:
I publish. But I simply do so at the conclusion of the blog post in 2-3 clear sentences. I feel posturing in so doing. I never feel pushy, desperate or greedy in promoting my eBook because I just share helpful content for a money exchange. Hey; it’s just money.
I had to promote my eBooks freely to overcome the fear of promoting my products and services.
Old blogging me …
seemed to be a serial hider.
I hid my premium offerings from my readers because I feared:
- being criticized
- being outed as a fraud
- being not good enough to attract return clients and customers
- nobody would buy my stuff or hire me anyway
Deciding to promote one eBook via every piece of content I created forced me to face, feel and release these fears in order to increase my blogging profits.
I never made the mistake of pushing a hard sell on readers because I felt thoroughly agitated by bloggers who employed such an approach.
Ultimately, only you know what works best for you.
Trust your intuition.
Remember that you are a professional blogger – or aspiring professional blogger – who has every right to sell your products and services.
No blogger needs to remind readers to buy their stuff 3 or 4 times via a single blog post. Selling overkill almost always suggests a deep fear manifest as desperation or greed.
Find the midway point between a hard sell and fearing to sell to increase your blogging income.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by our top contributing author and travel blogger Ryan Biddulph. He is the founder of Blogging From Paradise, his course 11 Fundamentals of Successful Blogging and the author of more than 126 eBooks.
12 years ago as a new blogger my mind seem filled with fear, poverty, loss and scarcity.
Birds of a feather flock together. I picked blogging buddies whose minds seem filled with fear, poverty, loss and scarcity. We bonded nicely. We all felt comfortable in our fear zone. Of course, we all struggled and failed mightily because one never learns how to succeed online by surrounding oneself with fear, struggle and failure.
I became disgusted with failing. I faced, felt and released fears slowly, steadily and progressively over my 12 year blogging career. Naturally, save a few bloggers – who chose to grow with me – I am no longer blogging buddies with any of these folks. I vibe mainly from love, not fear, these days. I surround myself only with bloggers who vibe:
- love
- generosity
- abundance
- trust
- patience
- persistence
But I had to routinely take the freeing but uncomfortable step of shedding fear-dominated blogging buddies to move higher in blogging circles. Interacting with scared, pained, suffering bloggers who old blogger, scared, pained, suffering me resonated with felt awkward, unpleasant and flat out uncomfortable. Former fans and dear blogging buddies became vicious critics.
Being jealous with fear turns loyal friends into envious beasts. I dropped these tortured souls like a hot potato because I faced, felt and released fear-based jealousy and no longer vibed with envious bloggers.
I also let go blogging buddies who complained about not having enough money to purchase a $15 eBook. One blogger requested a payment plan of two separate $7 payments when I knew I had to let her go in order to move higher in blogging circles.
I have compassion for suffering bloggers anchored down by illusory fears but it is not my job to feed their fears; doing so prolongs their suffering. My best course of action is to befriend bloggers who choose to evolve as I evolve and to let go every other blogger.
Clinging to fear-based bloggers perpetuates your:
- blogging fears
- blogging struggles
- blogging failures
because where your attention and energy goes, grows. Give your attention to fear. Observe fear-filled results.
Letting go fear-based bloggers:
- accelerates your success
- amplifies you freedom
- allows loving, abundant, compassionate, successful pro bloggers into your blogger buddy network
But letting go former blogging buddies who refuse to face their fears feels awkward, uncomfortable and quite unpleasant sometimes. Feel your fears manifest as their fears. Feel guilt. Feel shame. Feel any fear arising in your being. Let them go.
Bloggers you officially let go 5 or 10 years ago may message you out of the blue from an awkward, uncomfortable energy, feigning familiarity, asking for favors or special pricing or some benefit based on their fears. But the days of your resonance ended 5-10 years ago. Either do not respond or pleasantly decline because where your attention and energy goes, grows.
Even though fear-based bloggers:
- take things personally
- act from deep, unhealthy attachments
- create financial struggles by continuing to charge woefully low rates
your release has nothing to do with the individuals. I observe these bloggers with the honest admission of how I acted the same exact way when I was a scared, newbie blogger anchored in scarcity and loss back in 2008. But I paid my fear tax by facing my fears to rid myself of these poisonous energies. Fear-based bloggers need to pay the same tax to move higher in blogging circles, too. Every blogger needs to pay their dues to be successful. Every human being needs to take complete personal responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, actions and results in order to be free.
Let go your fears.
Let go attachments to fear-dominated bloggers. Accelerate your blogging success but more importantly, cultivate a greater peace of mind and sense of freedom in all you do online and offline.
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