Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a successful blogger? Popular bloggers have learned there is power in generosity. They stand out in the crowd as the rare gems that know how to succeed. We can learn a lot from them. They do what unsuccessful bloggers don’t.
Many bloggers start out excited and enthusiastic. Not long later they become discouraged and frustrated. Why? They just don’t understand what steps to take. Becoming a popular blogger is not as difficult as you may think.
How do you blog like a top dog and achieve blogging success? In this post, I share how you can begin blogging like a pro!
1. Be generous
Being a giver navigates people toward you! Give of yourself generously without expectation. This is a sure way of achieving success as a blogger!
When you love what you do it shows through in how you present yourself to others. You can show love to your readers by giving them what they need.
Solve their problems.
Show your readers you care about them by being a giver.
Enthusiastic people shine brightly and stand out in the crowd.
People will want to know you. It just happens.
Being enthusiastic and generous helps you live life from a place of love, not fear. Do this and you’ll experience blogging freedom and futuristic success.
These are magnetic qualities not all bloggers have. You will shine brighter in the crowd of many others in your niche.
[bctt tweet=”People know when bloggers are giving to get something in return or giving without expectation.” username=”https://twitter.com/CoriWriterBWP”]
2. Connect with other bloggers in your niche.
Getting known for what you blog about requires you to show up. Go to the places where other bloggers are and connect with them. Show interest in what they write about and regularly read their blog posts. Thoughtfully participate in the comment section of their posts.
Share their content in your social media places. Do this consistently and they will remember you.
3. Expand your reach to a larger audience.
The main point here is to get your work out there! Lots of it! We cannot succeed in isolation and can’t grow our blogs alone. Participating, connecting, and helping others helps you grow your blog.
In order to reach a larger number of people, you’ll need to expand our reach. To do this you will need to write and ship your content out into the world.
Guest posting on other blogs helps you to reach a new blog audience.
Write and publish to Medium and other online platforms.
Joining online communities is a great way to start putting yourself out there.
Facebook groups will help connect you with a larger audience.
Showing up consistently to these online networks establishes valuable connections.
You’ll make some great friends too!
4. Consistently write and publish quality content.
Having a blog posting routine is important. Your readers will rely on your regular publication of new content.
Spread your content around the web by guest posting on other blogs.
My blogger friend Ryan Biddulph is constantly writing and publishing new content. Ryan submits so much of it as guest posts to other blogs. His work is seen all over the internet!
As a result, he is well known by many bloggers and reaches a large audience. Ryan freely gives what he writes generously to others. He is also the published author of approximately 126 ebooks.
He is an example of a blogger who became successful through being generous. His generosity built his blogging business.
Follow Ryan’s lead and you’ll be a happy and successful blogger!
What you write has your name on it. The more you write, publish and ship… you are seen by a larger number of people and often.
5. Utilize social media effectively.
Social Media is a great tool for getting known for what you do. The problem is many people don’t know how to use it properly.
Social Media is all about interactions and connections with others. Facebook live has become very popular! Mainly because people love connecting with the person behind the message.
Your readers want to know they matter to you. If they are following your Facebook page that means they like what you offer there. It is important to maintain consistent engagement with them.
6. Learn what you can from successful bloggers.
Successful bloggers are teachable. They had to learn the tools of the blogging trade just like you. You don’t have to start alone.
There are so many successful bloggers to learn from. Engage with people you are learning from as much as you can. Eventually, they will get to know you no matter how successful they are.
Take an online course(s) about blogging and writing.
You will learn so much from your blogging teacher/guide. By signing up for their course you will also become one of their students which means they will get to know you.
I believe it is important to get the right information starting out. Courses can help so much! I recommend the following courses for consideration;
In 2013 when I knew nothing about blogging I found my first blog mentor Greg Narayan. He is the founder of Dear Blogger. If it were not for Greg, his blog and his help I would not be blogging as I am today.
7. Enjoy the process of growing as a blogger.
I remember when I started my first blog. I wasn’t enjoying the experience after a few months. Mainly because I wanted results quicker than they would come. Until I surrendered my expectations and fears of failure.
Blogging is meant to be fun not frustrating. It can become difficult to enjoy when we get stuck on results. When we are too perfectionistic about everything we do it gets complicated. None of us are perfect. Your blog won’t be either.
Yes, there is much to learn about how to become a successful blogger. You’ll learn the tools of the trade step by step.
8. Patience and perseverance.
If you are a new blogger starting out know you aren’t alone. Every blogger had a beginning. It takes time to successfully grow a blog. You’ll become known for what you blog about over time.
You’ll need to persevere. Give your blog time to grow. All successful bloggers will tell you that it takes about 2 years or more. During that time you will see results. It just doesn’t happen all at once.
If you put into practice some of the suggestions here and learn from other bloggers… you’ll be soon blogging like a top dog in your niche!
Join the conversation
What have you done that’s worked for you to grow as a blogger?
Is there anything you could add to this list?
In my first year of blogging, I think I made every mistake a blogger could make! Today I’m thankful for the valuable lessons I learned as a direct result of those mistakes. I once heard a saying while at a business conference that success is simply failure turned inside out.
As a matter of fact, when I wrote that post I was thinking about all the things I learned in my first year of blogging. Most of which was a result of what I learned from the mistakes I made. My many errors were the result of a lack of knowledge and experience. To become a good blogger I needed to practice. Overtime I learned more and became a better blogger and writer.
The most affluent bloggers I know describe failure as the springboard that helped launch their blogs to success.
The message being we don’t need to fear failure. These common mistakes once recognized and corrected help us to become better bloggers!
Many bloggers unintentionally made a few or all of these mistakes that caused some to abandon their blogs. Most of them quit before their breakthrough. If you avoid making these mistakes you’ll have a blog that grows and is guaranteed to last.
1. Blog about too many different topics.
If you speak about too many vastly different subjects you won’t have a target audience and worse your blog might fail. At best you’ll get a small amount of blog traffic. Narrowing down to a niche topic area of interest will attract a specific audience. If you blog about a particular topic you’re interested in you’ll be able to write about it for a long time.
Many bloggers don’t know why they blog. Do you know why you blog? If not, I recommend reading this post; 9 Answers to “Why Do You Blog?” to help you discover the answer to your why.
2. Impatience in the process of growing a blog.
We all like to see the results of our efforts materialize quickly. Blogging with the expectation of quick success is usually met with disappointment. Blog growth takes time.
Successful bloggers all had to develop patience and persistence while learning from blogging mistakes. In their process of growing their blogs, they learned to enjoy the journey. If you stay with it and don’t quit you will make progress. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results!
When we let go of unrealistic expectations, we begin to blog just because we love blogging. You can then blog freely and connect consistently with our readers and other bloggers. I once had a wise teacher promise me that effort always produces the desired results in due time.
3. Failure to keep goals realistic and reachable.
There are steps to take that will launch you toward the completion of your blogging goals efficiently. Here are a few;
Avoid overloading your daily agenda of things to do. I use a six most important things to do list for daily blogging tasks. Until I complete those 6 tasks, I try not to move on to anything else.
Try to keep your blogging goals realistic and reachable by taking small steps to achieve them. I’ve heard it said that when you chase too many rabbits, you won’t catch either one. Chasing too many goals at once usually works out the same way, resulting in achieving much less.
4. No consistent blog post routine.
If your readers notice you’ve not been publishing fresh content in a long time they’ll think you abandoned your blog. Most will not come back.
Having quality content written on your blog consistent with your blogging topics and posted on a regular routine is key. Quality and regularity are more important than post quantity on an irregular publishing basis.
5. Poor blog design, difficult to navigate, and not enough buttons or links.
First impressions count! A blog that is poorly designed will drive away your audience. If the purpose/message of your blog is not defined right away, is difficult to navigate with not enough buttons or click links then visitors will leave.
Use a simple start blog design and layout you can build on over time. Less is more here when starting out.
Making your blog easy to navigate and fully responsive to view on all devices, such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, is important.
Your visitors will love buttons and links to click that take them where they want to go on your blog. Links should be added to all pages and blog post content.
6. Attempting to do it all alone.
All of us need support no matter what we are doing. From friends, family, and colleagues. There are many bloggers and writers you can connect with. Where do you find them? In communities. Facebook groups and their blogs are good places to start. You’ll be amazed at how beneficial online communities are to your life as a blogger.
Every successful blogger started just like the rest of us. They too had to learn the tools of the blogging trade to grow their blogs. What these affluent bloggers now know took time, commitment, and tons of perseverance to get there. Each one learned from other successful bloggers and most had a blog mentor to help guide them in the right direction. None of them achieved their blogging goals alone.
7. Failing to expand the reach of a larger audience.
Guest posting is a great way to expand your reach to a larger audience. Publishing on a variety of platforms is a sure way to expand your reach to a larger audience of readers. If you do this, you’ll get known for what you do and over time, people trust you and regard you as an expert in your field. You’ll also gain a higher volume of blog traffic.
8. Not building an email list of subscribers is a blogging mistake.
Not building an email list of subscribers is the best way to cause a blog to fail. If you haven’t already established an email list-building strategy, I’d encourage you to do this as soon as possible.
One option is to sign up for Mail Chimp is free up to 2,500 subscribers. This can be a great great starting place for those seeking to keep costs low or free. Constant Contact ,Aweber,and Convertkit are also great choices. All helping you to accomplish your email list building goals.
9. Trying to earn an income as a blogger too soon leads to many blogging mistakes.
I’m often asked by beginner bloggers if they can earn money blogging. The answer is yes. You can, over time, earn a lucrative income as a blogger. Your blog will not generate much of an income for you in the beginning.
Affiliate earnings are a great way to start. The problem is people try to do this too soon. Try waiting to monetize your blog in the beginning. Let your readers get to know you and trust you first. Give yourself time to gain some social proof.
10. Neglecting Comments
People who take the time to read your blog post and comment on it deserve a response from you. Over time, as your blog grows, so will your number of comments. It can become difficult to keep up with all of them. While you don’t need to answer all comments it is important to respond to many of them.
By replying to comments regularly, you show your readers that you care and appreciate them. Routine comment responding is such a big natural growth technique in blogging that not doing it can be one of those silent but huge blogging mistakes!
11. Expect more than they give.
An integral part of growing a successful blog is to give your readers more than you get from them. Show your readers it is all about them and not you. A loyal audience develops over time.
Being a giver is a magnetic quality that all successful bloggers demonstrate to their followers. Give whatever you have to offer on your blog for free when starting out. A free eBook or an email course is a wonderful place to start.
12. Weak social media integration and Networking.
Networking is an important part of successful blogging and worthwhile in helping you to promote your blog. Many bloggers don’t know how to optimize the use of social media or begin networking in a way that helps their blog growth.
This results failing to adequately promote your blog and having a weak social media online presence. Social media is all about connecting with others. Not showing up regularly on these powerful platforms disconnects you from your audience.
Integrating your blog with social media outlets helps you to achieve blogging success. Facebook and Twitter are great places to start. You’ll be able to personally connect with your existing readers. A consistent routine of social media interactions helps to establish a new audience, all pointing back to your blog.
Conclusion
When everything indicates you should give up is just when you need to step away but come back to it. You can revisit your blogging and writing goals with a clearer focus.
What blogging mistakes have you made and what did you do to correct them?
How did your blogging mistakes help you grow as a blogger?
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I prepared to write a guest post to publish on another blog a few moments ago.
However, the blogger seems to have written off the blog. I write and publish one guest post for the blogger infrequently. But the blogger who owns the blog:
never engages on social media
never checks in to scan comments
never seems to do anything related to the blog
I still happily publish the odd guest post for the blogger and their community, but if they care little about the blog, I will guest blog infrequently for the community.
Before typing one word for the blogger, I logged out of that blog, logged in to Cori’s blog, and wrote this guest post. She tirelessly promotes my work. Cori engages me on Twitter. She also promotes one eBook of mine at the end of every guest post I submit. Why in the heck would I NOT guest blog for Cori?
Joy Healey displays the same appreciative, engaging perspective any time I guest post on her blog. She even drops the guest post links into a group who promotes each post freely on Twitter.
Cori and Joy are guest blogging priorities because each warm blogger engages me and works with me for us to spread the word.
Sazzadul Bari has tirelessly engaged me for the years I have guest-posted on his blog. I happily wrote and published 281 guest posts on Blog CD.
I have written and published 48 guest posts on Blogging Front because Apurva Vishwakarma engages me freely and promotes each blog post.
Sazzadul and Apurva appreciate me! I appreciate them! I freely help active bloggers who engage me, for all of us to succeed.
I go to where I am loved. In simple terms; guest blogging for live, active, engaging bloggers is the easiest way to co-create success for everyone involved. But guest blogging for bloggers asleep at the cyber wheel wastes your time. Guest blogging for bloggers who largely write off their blogs seems silly. Why should you care about their blog if they do not care about their blog?
I happily pick up the blogging slack to publish a high volume of genuinely helpful content for bloggers who promote the content and engage me across social channels. I love lending a helping blogging hand for folks who want to succeed.
But if I reach the point where readers believe I am the blogger who owns the domain, I simply know; it may be time to move on because guest blogging works best as a joint venture and quite poorly as a solo venture.
Where do you guest blog? Why do you guest blog on specific blogs?
I once stopped guest blogging for a 2 million-member community because fundamental differences goaded me to part ways. I saw things differently than their editors. But I also suspected that the site owners slowly but steadily cared less and less about the blog.
Observing the blog’s Facebook Page along with other onsite clues, including non-existent engagement and questionable ad placement notified me; guest blogging there no longer seemed to be a match for me.
I do promote old guest posts from that blog and from any blog whose owners seem less than active, but I rarely if ever guest post where the owner has little or any interest in the blog.
Guest blogging works best as a team effort between 2 bloggers intent on co-creating success for one another. Two bloggers promoting guest posts for their tribes amplify each other’s success. Guest post for live blogging bodies. Guest post for engaging bloggers who actively work their blogs. Let go all other bloggers.
Even though I appreciate having admin rights on some blogs whose owners see blogging as a purely passive exploit I see the power in people, not in guest blogging for a passive blogger with a lukewarm or non-engaging community.
Guest post for live bodies. Remove the featured image.
Do you want to start a blog but don’t know how or where to begin? The first baby steps are always the most difficult. The good news is starting a blog has never been easier! In this post, I offer several simple steps to help you begin your blogging journey!
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I see one tough trend among bloggers these days.
Unfortunately, the trend has been going strong for years.
Facebook crashed a few moments ago. Bloggers complained or simply noted the site being down. Some bloggers invited blogging buddies to connect on new social media websites. Others railed against Facebook. Some sat patiently, waiting out the outage.
But I guarantee a tiny percentage of these bloggers:
wrote and published a post on their blog today
read comments on their blog today
replied to comments on their blog today
improved the user experience on their blog today
While bloggers scramble to connect on new sites or bemoan not being able to connect on Facebook, they are not spending time and energy connecting on their blog. Ummmmmm…..you are a blogger, right? Bloggers blog. Bloggers spend most time writing and publishing blog posts and guest posts. Or bloggers spend most time writing and publishing blog posts and genuine blog comments.
I find it odd how most bloggers spend most time connecting through social media but have no time to blog. I also find it odd how these folks call themselves bloggers when they are amateur social media connectors for all the time spent on social versus their blog. I am a blogger. I spend many hours daily on Blogging From Paradise and other blogs in my niche. Since I am a blogger I spend only a few minutes connecting on social media.
Bloggers spend most time and energy connecting on blogs.
Bloggers struggle, fail and quit by spending most time and energy connecting on social media. Since where your attention and energy goes, grows, giving your focus to social allows your social followings to grow. But growing a large, loyal social following matters little if you spend little time creating and connecting on your blog because people will know you as a social media guy or gal versus being a blogging guy or gal.
Scrap social media for a bit.
Connect on your blog. Spend 30-60 minutes daily rendering some helpful service through your blog before doing anything else. Bloggers create a non-posturing crutch related to social media. Most believe you need social media to connect with readers. But social media is one way to connect with readers, not THE way. Genuine blog commenting connects you with readers. Guest blogging connects you with readers. SEO-optimizing blog posts connects you with readers. Publishing helpful content on your blog connects you with readers.
Why would you spend hours connecting on websites
you do not own?
Spend most time and energy connecting through your blog because you own your blog and set the rules. Frame social media as a secondary or even tertiary connecting medium behind your blog and email list. Never wait around to work because Facebook crashes. Stop migrating to new networks for connecting. Connect through your blog. Connect through a genuine blog commenting campaign.
Donna Merrill would still be connected with her tribe if social media disappeared overnight because her 1000’s of blog comments, 100’s of blog posts and loyal email list exist completely independent of social media. Facebook vanishing does not erase her 1000’s of genuine blog comments. Twitter disappearing does not erase 54,000 backlinks pointing to Blogging From Paradise. Donna and I spent years creating and connecting through online real estate we and our blogging buddies own. Our work vanishes only if our blogs vanish or if all of our buddies’ blogs vanish.
Connect primarily on your blog. Use social media sparingly. Build a rock solid foundation for your blogging business by spending most time creating and connecting on cyber real estate that you own.
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Do you seem to slam into the same blogging problems again and again?
One confusing aspect of blogging failure eludes you.
First off, lighten up! Bloggers tend to beat themselves up for struggling and not pinpointing the cause of failure. But why would you waste energy in self-loathing when finding the solution to your blogging ills seems like the best use of your time, talents and skills?
The confusion: bloggers fail again and again because bloggers do not face fears in mind fueling failure.
Bury fear. Failure continues. Duck fear. Failure repeats. Be aversive. Blogging failure seems as predictable as the movie Groundhog Day, greeting your depressed blogging eyes again, and again and again.
But cutting through confusing failure with the clarity of facing fear instantly changes your blogging strategy.
Bloggers cannot get over what remains within.
Working 18 hour days for 7 days weekly stretching 6 months does not dissolve the fear in your mind. Observe bloggers who work long and hard for years yet fail. The fear in mind induces self-sabotage and failure no matter how much the blogger works.
Bloggers who face, feel and release fears in mind proceed from a success conscious mindset. Success-focused bloggers think, feel and act successfully to succeed. As within, so without, the talisman of wisdom states. Go within. Observe your mind as it is. Change your outer experience.
Face fears now. Dissolve the fuel for your blogging failures. Position yourself to succeed.
For example, imagine setting an intent to be in a billion places online. Even if the premise sounds completely unrealistic, observe how most bloggers who cling to similar lofty intents, behave. Most write and publish a few blog posts and guest posts then quit on fulfilling the intent.
Fear in the mind of most bloggers holds then back from being in 1 billion places online. Being in 1 billion places online is not impossible but attempting to do so with fear in mind is impossible because fear anchors you, holds you back and prevents you from being the person who appears to be everywhere.
However, gradually facing, feeling and releasing fears slowly but surely goads you to think, feel and act like a billion-place blogger. Perhaps you write and publish 1 blog post today and 3 guest posts today. Maybe you follow a similar strategy tomorrow. At the end of one month, 30 blog posts and 90 guest posts with your name attached pop up online.
A growing legion of bloggers promote each post, mushrooming your presence. After one month you show up in 5,000 places online. Digging deeper into fears in mind allows you to appear in 15,000 places online over your first 2 months.
Blogging struggles are in mind. Blogging success is in mind.
Everything is in your mind. Even the actions you take or do not take are in your mind because humans act based solely on their mindset. Someone appears to inspire you but you mentally chose to be receptive to their inspiration, first.
Truthfully, understanding this confusing but powerful blogging truth feels overwhelming at first because you observe your limitless potential on journeying deeper within your mind. I set a billion-places-online intent a while back. Slowly but surely the intent is manifesting as true.
52,000 backlinks point to Blogging From Paradise based on one web service. But I appear in far more places. Why? I gradually, patiently and persistently delve deeper into my mind to face my fears. Ferreting out fears allows me to be the blogger who appears in more spots. Note; appearing in more spots is not really for me but rather to be truly helpful for you. Intent counts!
Face fears in your mind. Clear the source of continued blogging failure. Free yourself to succeed.
