What Do Few Bloggers Tell You About Social Media Marketing?

by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging | 2 comments

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.

Find the Midway Point Between a Hard Sell and Being Deeply Afraid to Sell

by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging | 4 comments

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:

• blog post
• guest post
• podcast

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.

1 Freeing But Uncomfortable Step for Moving Higher in Blogging Circles

by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging | 0 comments

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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What Blogging Anchors Do You Need to Cut?

by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging | 0 comments

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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Pro Blogging Tip: Never Skip Steps

by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging | 0 comments

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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