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.
I deleted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from my phone recently.
I also decided to spend only 5-10 minutes checking FB and Twitter daily, from my laptop.
I cut each blogging anchor to social media for a few reasons. Realizing how much time I wasted scanning social media sites on my phone goaded me to delete each app. But paying close attention to how I worked social media through my laptop revealed how each site formed an anchor holding back my blogging campaign.
I intend to scan each site for a few moments daily in order to:
- check DMs
- check messages
- read and reply to FB comments
- read and reply to text-only Twitter @replies
to build bonds with readers. But beyond 10 collective minutes of scanning, social media marketing plays a small role in the effectiveness of my blogging campaign. Scrolling through my main streams wastes my time.
Scanning Twitter lists and Facebook Groups largely wastes my time. Why? Mark Z. owns Facebook. Jack D. owns Twitter. I appreciate each site but care not to build their social media empires over building my blogging empire at Blogging From Paradise.
Every:
- comment
- @reply
- Message
- Direct Message
- tweet
- Facebook status update
helps me and my social media followers a little bit but adds one more brick to the empires these social media titans built. Each owns everything I do on social media.
I own nothing I do on social media.
I applaud each entrepreneur. I admire their vision. I appreciate their creativity. But I also know this basic law of life: where your attention and energy goes, grows. Give attention and energy to your blog. Observe your blog grow quickly.
Give your attention and energy to social media marketing. Observe your Twitter and Facebook accounts grow quickly and watch your blog grow slowly. Why grow what I own slowly why I grow what they own quickly?
Social media marketing and mindlessly checking your phone tend to be two blogging anchors holding back your success. Every second, minute then hour spent scanning your phone is one second, minute or hour you could spend writing and publishing your next blog post.
Engaging readers through Facebook and Twitter for a few moments daily makes sense but spending hours on social media sites holds back your blogging growth. No blogger has mastered the skill of being in two places at once or of giving their attention and energy to two ventures simultaneously.
I shared recently how I have published 4,014 blog posts on Blogging From Paradise. Identifying and cutting anchors swiftly helped me publish a fairly high number of blog posts.
Common anchors holding back your blogging growth
- spending hours daily scanning your phone
- Checking your email 20 or more times daily
- spending hours daily on Twitter and Facebook
- spending hours daily reading and replying to niche specific forum posts
- networking in circles of struggling bloggers
- networking in circles of beginner bloggers
Picture a 20 ton anchor holding a massive ship in place. Engaging in each anchoring activity holds your blog traffic and profits in place, too.
Cut your blogging anchors to experience increased blogging growth.
Delete social media apps from your phone. Record videos with your laptop or via a camera not embedded on your phone. Set up blockers preventing you from checking email or social media obsessively. Network only with successful, prospering, professional bloggers who teach you how to free yourself through blogging.
Look in the blogging mirror. Evidence of anchors reflects itself through stalled traffic, non-existent profits and a general feeling of heaviness.
Cutting anchors instills creativity, generosity and a general feeling of calmness in you, allowing you and your blog to move forward swiftly toward greater online success.
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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.
The blogger I am today is the sum total of 15,000 plus hours of steps I took from 2008 until 2020.
I did not skip steps because skipping steps would have led me toward failure and eventual quitting. Bloggers love skipping steps. Blogger enjoy taking short cuts. But have you ever skipped a step while walking down the stairs?
I once skipped a step before flying from the US to Oman. I suffered for the entirety of each flight because the pain of my rolled ankle throbbed dramatically as I sat cramped into my seat. My mistake: I skipped the last step of my stairs in the house because I rushed wildly down the stairwell.
Bloggers try to rush the blogging process, skip one or more steps and suffer the same pain. Picture the high volume of new bloggers who skip the flat out most critical step of buying your domain and hosting to establish some credibility with your blogging campaign.
Blogging intelligently, effectively and generously on a free platform for 1, 5 or 10 years almost always leads to failure because few humans deeply trust bloggers who fear spending a few bucks per month to invest in hosting.
Seeing a generic URL flashes a serious red flag. Why would a serious blogger brand a hosting platform versus branding themselves with a minimal financial investment?
Other bloggers take the proper first step of buying
their domain and hosting but skip critical steps like:
- selecting a blogging niche they feel passionately about
- solving problems related to that niche by listening closely to readers who follow top blogs in the niche
- formatting blog posts effectively
- networking genuinely and generously to engage in effective blogger outreach
Skip any blogging step to fall flat on your face. Or take all necessary steps to position yourself to go pro. Everything depends on your willingness to not skip any crucial blogging step or else you will pay the consequences.
Becoming a professional blogger requires your:
- generosity
- patience
- persistence
- trust in self
- trust in the blogging process
But digging deeper than these basic mindset qualities, aspiring pro bloggers need to learn and follow simple but necessary, practical blogging tips to lay the foundation for their professional blogging career.
One odd step most bloggers skip seems to disqualify bloggers
from calling themselves bloggers: they rarely if ever blog!
A decent chunk of bloggers invest in their domain and hosting for years but publish only a few posts during that time frame. Enabling automatic renewals via your credit card for 5 years does not mean you have blogged for 5 years. Making automatic payments to secure your domain and hosting is quite different than spending 10,000 plus hours blogging over years.
Each one of those 10,000 hours you blog serves as one step you take on your blogging journey. The act of gaining blogging experience makes up a series of vital steps allowing you to become a professional blogger.
Respect the Progressive Nature of Blogging Success
I played a fairly large role in helping to raise my niece.
Now she is approaching 5 years of age in a few months. But I vividly recall the day she sat up on her own power for her first step toward locomotion. She took the next step by crawling. She took another step by standing up. Shaky walking followed. Eventually she walked with confidence. Now she sprints quite fast for a small child.
Picture the progressive nature of blogging success being similar to my niece’s journey, one familiar to most small children. Bloggers progressively become more successful by taking one step at a time.
My niece could not sprint until she mastered all prior steps. Her knees and elbows offered testimony for when she tried to sprint before she could even walk. Bloggers suffer the same traumatic fate by doing the ridiculous thing of trying to sprint before they can barely crawl.
Stop trying to write a viral blog post if you have yet to buy your domain and hosting, if you have not written and published a 600 word post yet and if you have no idea what readers interested in your niche want.
Baby step your way to becoming a professional blogger. Slowly, steadily, patiently and persistently respect the progressive nature of blogging success.
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by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Blogging failure indicates a lack of commitment to the blogging process.
Failing bloggers usually harbor deluded expectations.
Do you want to become wildly successful after 6 months of blogging? Save the rarest of cases, no one achieves staggering blogging success in a 6 month time frame. Observe professionals in various niches. Professional athletes, famous singers and captains of industry require years or even decades to hone their skills to master levels.
Thank goodness, becoming a professional blogger does not require decades of blogging effort. But going pro demands you blog for 1000’s of hours spanning years to lay the foundation for a prospering blogging career.
Think about after you go pro.
Does your workload vanish into the ethers? Of course not; pro bloggers sometimes work as much as during their amateur blogging days. I routinely blog for 6-8 hours daily. I have not missed a blogging work day for the past 5 years. Top pros taught me becoming a thriving pro required a full commitment to the blogging process of:
- creating
- connecting
- monetizing
for a sustained period of time.
I observed professional bloggers who attracted immense blogging success after generously, patiently and persistently creating and connecting for 10 years. Toss in monetizing for the professional blogger triple play. Contrast these seasoned pros who keep at it for 10 years with frustrated, impatient amateurs who give up on blogging after 6 months or 1 year.
Why do you expect to go pro after 1 year if seasoned pros spend 10 years to become niche leaders? Most pros blog as amateurs for at least 3-4 years before becoming professionals. No blogger has access to short cuts, hacks or other lies presented by less than honest, unscrupulous, manipulative bloggers intending to use your greed and desperation against you.
Being fully committed to blogging means doing simple things frequently for a long time. Picture the blogger writing and publishing simple posts solving reader problems, connecting with bloggers and readers, and monetizing their blogs generously over a decade long time frame. Few bloggers commit fully to blogging for 10 years because most bloggers refuse to commit to blogging for 10 months.
How can you go pro if you try to skip the years of blogging:
- practice
- skills
- experience
you need to gain to become a professional blogger?
Cori invited me to guest post on her rocking blog because I committed completely to blogging for years. I wrote daily for a long time. I gained confidence and clarity in my writing voice. I also networked genuinely for years. Creating and connecting through my commitment to blogging developed my skills, exposure and credibility to the point where a respected blogger like Cori invited me to guest post on her blog. I offered to write a guest post for my blogging buddies. She graciously accepted my offer.
The process appeared to consume only a few minutes of my time between my offer and Cori’s acceptance but in truth, I spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours blogging up until the point I made the offer Cori accepted. Does that sound like a hack to you? Did it sound like I took a short cut to reach this point?
I have observed top professional bloggers explain how they would have blogged for free for their 15 year careers due to their love of blogging. You better love blogging this much if you ever dream of committing to this gig for 5, 10, 15 years or longer.
Be all in.
Blog mainly for the fun of blogging.
Being fully committed to blogging allows blogging to fully commit to you.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I read an excellent post by Jan Verhoeff a few moments ago: Sporadic Bloggers Need Love Too
I did a few things after reading the post. I slowed down. I commented on the blog post. I generated the idea for writing this guest post. Most importantly, I want you to understand that holding yourself to super hero blogging standards always leads to disappointment because humans are not super heroes. Jan stressed how bloggers become sporadic bloggers sometimes. We are all human beings who blog sporadically because humans are not super heroes.
Humans do amazing things. But the only humans who do super hero things are enlightened beings. Unless you and I give up a worldly life to meditate for 40,000 hours we both never develop God-like, super hero powers like Jesus Christ or The Buddha.
That is OK.
Humans at peace with being human become powerful, influential, helpful pro bloggers who change their corner of the Universe.
I personally own no qualities in the prior line. I see myself as a humble servant. But some bloggers believe I am a blogging super hero because I publish content at a decent clip. I am not a blogging super hero. I am not bullet proof. I inhabit a human body for a bit. One day, I will exit the human body as we all do.
After waking at 4 AM with insomnia, my neck felt painfully stiff, my mind raced incessantly and general agitation coursed through my being.
Does that sound like a super hero? No. But I wrote and published a blog post because I do not hold myself to super hero standards. I am at peace with being human. I feel clear on being less than perfect. I feel confident about blogging in less than perfect conditions. I write and publish posts even if I feel bad, tired, agitated or run down.
Since I do not hold myself to super hero standards, I sleep for 8-10 hours daily. Or I lay in bed for 8-10 hours daily if sleep does not greet me for the full 8-10 hours. I am realistic. I have few expectations. I simply focus on the process. I do not try to blog solo. I network generously and genuinely. Even though I share personal stories I intend not to put the attention and energy on myself. I blog predominantly to focus on you. I intend to help you.
Not clinging to super hero expectations instantly dissolves concepts like disappointment, frustration or even heavy self-judgment.
You are a human. Sleep for 8 hours each night or else pay the price of living in a fatigued, exhausted human body. Super heroes do not need sleep. Human beings need sleep. Bloggers who do not get sufficient sleep lose their creativity, dissolve their imagination, rarely publish content and seem imprisoned by mental blocks. I will go back to bed at 6:30 AM after writing this post because I am no super hero. I am a human being who functions horribly on 5 hours of sleep.
Stop holding yourself to ridiculous standards.
Virtually every single blogger holding themselves to super hero standards does so to escape a miserable life of fear, pain and suffering versus moving toward a life of love, fun and yes, some discomfort, too. Face fear, feel discomfort and accept your humanity. Blogging becomes easier if you accept yourself and your humanity because you remove layers of delusional resistance propped up by your insane super hero aspirations.
One reason why I am appear to be a blogging cyborg to some – based on my creating and connecting – is specifically because I take great care of my human body and human mind. I spend 4 hours daily managing my energy through meditating, doing yoga and exercising. I sleep or rest for 8-10 hours daily.
Become a successful blogger by embracing your humanity.
Sprint past deluded bloggers who fail and quit based on their super hero ambitions.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Being offline is as important as being online.
Does this idea confuse you?
Think it through.
Spending hours offline daily increases your creativity, establishes a sense of trust about your blog and energizes you for your work. Being offline lets you enjoy the freedom of living the internet lifestyle. Visit the store at off peak hours. Take your kids to school. Eat lunch with your husband or wife. Sleep in. Go to bed early. Capitalize on running a thriving blogging business. Soak up the passive element.
But bloggers fear being offline because humans generally do not believe in the power of their work. Do you micro-manage? Do you need to handle every aspect of your blogging campaign? Do you stay up late and wake early to get your blogging work done daily? Be generous. Be diligent. Be persistent. But avoid overworking and the inevitable burnout following your obsession with being online.
Check out these reasons why being offline aids your blogging campaign.
Increase Your Creativity
Increase your creativity. Fill your mind with ideas. Spend hours offline daily to detach from blogging. Allow in blog post topics to explore and expound upon. Blogging gets easy for bloggers who spend ample time offline because creative types spend ample time in quiet. Prolific bloggers pluck ideas from the ethers at will in silence.
Turn off your phone. Shut off the internet on your laptop. Sit in a quiet room. Relax. Play around with ideas. Being online blogging tends to create increased tension as online time grows. Mind-ego busies itself with gaining friends, traffic, profits and business. Being offline shifts attention-energy from gaining to giving.
Writer’s block cripples bloggers hellbent on being online. Tension arises in your being if you rarely shut down your phone and turn off the internet on your computer. Exit the online world. Enter the offline world. Dissolve blocks to creativity. Become prolific.
Develop a Deep Sense of Trust
Spend time offline to deeply trust in yourself and your blog. Trust in the quality of your blogging work. Trust your blogging skills. Allow your blog posts and guest posts to gain steam through merit.
Bloggers rarely believe deeply in their work. Lack of belief manifests as feeling the need to promote your content aggressively across a wide range of channels. Relax. Allow your blog content to promote itself – save light social media sharing – by spending more time offline. Readers promote good content for you. Add a passive element to your blogging campaign. Let your content be seen through its effectiveness, value and power. Enjoy life offline. Succeed online. Free yourself.
Stabilize Your Energy
Stabilize your energy. Take off time from blogging. Rest. Recharge. Meditate. Do yoga. Enjoy life with your family.
Blogging is a long term commitment spanning years of your life. Going pro requires 1000’s upon 1000’s of hours spent working online. Spend time offline to energize yourself for time spent online.
Set up blogging hours daily. Establish equally important offline hours. Make offline time as important as online time. Beware staying up late to blog if you should be sleeping or unwinding before bed. Block your blog and social media sites if necessary to ensure you remain offline during scheduled rest periods.
Being offline is as important as being online.
Allow this idea to sear onto your mind to accelerate your blogging success.
