by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Bloggers sometimes take it easy if business seems slow.
I take the opposite approach.
I help more people for free through more channels if blogging business seems slow for a short stretch. Why? Helping more people for free through more channels allows me to help more people for pay.
Helping people for free increases your skills, exposure and credibility. Skilled bloggers with great exposure and strong credibility profit handsomely over the long haul.
Guard against the backwards-thinking mistake of pulling back on helping people for free through:
- blogging
- guest posting
- promoting other bloggers on your blog and through social media.
Is Your Blogging Business Slow?
Blogging business seems slow because you have not helped enough people for free for a sustained period of time.
What do I mean by helping people for free? Creating content for free and building connections by freely helping fellow bloggers and asking for nothing in return both form the foundation of building a thriving blogging business. Imagine writing and publishing 1 blog post and 1 guest post daily for the next month. 30 days down the road you will have increased your:
- skills
- exposure
- credibility
by writing and publishing 30 blog posts and 30 guest posts. Writing 60 posts polishes your writing skills. Appearing in 60 more spots boosts your exposure. Being skilled and seen fortifies your credibly. Guess what happens when more people see your blog and trust your skills? Expect to see an increase in blogging business because skilled, credible bloggers with solid exposure profit through their blog.
As a rule, bloggers who struggle to build a thriving business hold back. Struggling bloggers publish one blog post, promote the blog post through a few channels then sit around and wait for business to grow over the following 1-2 months. Gaining sufficient skills, exposure and credibility is quite difficult for most bloggers who publish a post every 1-2 months.
Prospering bloggers generously help people
without holding back.
I have observed a number of highly successful bloggers who created and published blog posts and guest posts for years before hitting it hit. One millionaire blogger has published almost daily for the past 15 years, between himself and his guest bloggers. He admits he’d still be blogging 15 years later even if he had not made a penny because he blogs mainly for fun versus blogging mainly for money.
Another millionaire blogger published 2-3 valuable posts daily while building friendships with people who handled syndication at major business publications. He basically worked for free for quite a long time before his valuable content and business connections helped him become a millionaire through blogging.
Blogging business seems slow
not because of any specific cycle.
Blogging business seems slow because you have not created enough free content and made enough influential blogging buddies to increase your skills, exposure and credibility to thriving professional levels consistent with seeing ever-expanding blogging business success. After being incredibly generous for 1000’s of hours you will reach a tipping point where your blogging income increases consistently. Being seen as a credible blogger in a high number of spots allows you to profit handsomely over the long haul.
But prepare yourself to put in the time over 5-10 years of your life to reach a level of ever increasing blogging returns from a business perspective. Overnight success does not exist. Do not hold back after creating and connecting generously for a few months. Never be stingy. Highly successful, powerful bloggers can afford to be stingy but these folks continue to help people freely because being generous is in their DNA.
Give freely.
Receive easily.
Accelerate your blogging business growth by generously creating and connecting.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
11:49 PM on a Friday night.
I intend to slap another blogging single.
I built my career not on writing and publishing spectacular, viral blog posts but by writing short, simple blog posts over a decade. Help people with clear, simple posts. Solve problems. Develop a viral online presence versus trying to write a viral post.
Most bloggers swing and whiff because most bloggers put too much attention, energy, fear and attachment into a single blog post. For every viral post millions upon millions die in the cyber grave yard being virtually undetected.
Stop trying to hit a blogging home run every time you publish a blog post. Slap singles day after day to learn the secret of becoming a professional blogger.
The Legend Shares
Someone once asked online legend Gary Vaynerchuk how he landed an interview on the world-renowned Conan O’Brien Show. He shared how he completed over 2000 YouTube interviews. Gary Vee also explained how a decent chunk of the interviews registered zero views. He simply did not turn down an open mic. Gary did not land the interview on a world-famous show by hitting 1 or 2 home runs in the form of viral blog posts. He hit thousands upon thousands of singles by accepting 2000 plus interviews for virtually any YouTuber who asked to interview him.
Legends focus on being solid for 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 hours or more. Fools and failures try to be spectacular for a day, week, month or year.
Stop swinging for the fences. Start slapping singles. Embody the secret of happy, poised, professional bloggers. Go pro by writing simple, helpful blog posts thousands upon thousands of times as you build your friend network, open multiple streams of income and trust in the blogging process.
I Hit Singles for 10 Years
Bloggers sometimes ask how I got featured on Fox News, Forbes, Virgin and Entrepreneur.
I simply wrote and published helpful blog posts for years while networking genuinely, generously and persistently. My answer confuses new bloggers. Newbies believe pros do spectacular, eye-popping stuff to pop up on the radar screen of contributors from world-renowned blogs, brands and businesses. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Forbes, Fox News, Entrepreneur and Virgin contributors pitched me because I popped up on the radar screen of contributors from each business. I popped up on the radar screen of these contributors because I appear to be in tens of thousands of spots in my blogging niche. I appear in this many spots because I published 5,000 plus pieces of simple, easy to understand content.
This guest post may not knock your socks off but my clear, powerful message expands my presence more and increases the chances that I pop up on the radar screen of major media outlets, influencers or other powerful entities.
I hit singles for a decade by publishing basic, helpful content. I retired to a life of island hopping by keeping things simple, patient and persistent.
Blog Simply for a Long Time Versus Spectacularly
for a Short Time
Blog simply for thousands of hours to go pro.
Trying to blog spectacularly for a short time leads to struggles, failure and quitting because short-term bloggers gain no real skills, exposure or credibility. Unskilled bloggers with no real exposure and no genuine credibility struggle, fail and quit 100% of the time.
Listen to reader problems. Publish posts to solve the problems. Do this for years. Network generously for years. Open multiple income streams. Succeed.
Keep it simple for a long time to become a professional blogger.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I own:
- a carry on
- a Chromebook
- a laptop
- shorts, t-shirts, sweats, socks and 2 pairs of sneakers; about 1 week before I need to do laundry
- a phone
Read my blog. Watch one of my videos. Read one of my eBooks. What you see is what you get. I do not act. Nor do I create a carefully crafted online persona. I do my best to be 100% authentic in all I do. I do not try to impress people; I have virtually no physical possessions save my clothes, carry on and minimal business equipment investments. No house. No car.
I am who I am.
Reach the next level of blogging.
Being genuine to the absolute core has helped me reach the next level of blogging. I feel grateful to have been featured on Fox News, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Virgin and Positively Positive but each feature merely reflected back my commitment to blogging and more importantly, my clarity in being as genuine as humanly possible.
Even established pros have a tough time being fully genuine because most try to convey a specific brand image non-resonant with who they are as a human being. Although this dissonance is OK, you can never reach the highest level of any venture unless you are virtually 100% clear on what you do. Being 100% genuine is the only way to be 100% clear on what you do.
I have met enough bloggers in person who profess that I am exactly offline how I am online. In the next breath, pros often explain how they have experienced a few awkward encounters where offline human beings behaved quite differently than carefully crafted, online blogger personas. I experienced this once or twice at offline events with a few well-known bloggers but my dear blogging buddies online always proved to be genuine when I meet them offline.
Stop Acting; Stop Trying
Some bloggers put on an act quite unlike their true personality. Other bloggers try to be a specific blogger quite unlike their true nature. People sense this split and largely stay away in most cases. In rare cases, online personas attract huge followings as a budding celebrity but every single one of these personas crashes and burns over the long haul.
Simply observe a high percentage of YouTube personalities; these actors make serious bank and generate clout but slam into a litany of problems because no happy, clear human operates primarily from an inauthentic stance.
Stop acting. Stop trying to be a blogger different than your genuine, true nature.
Be you. Blog you.
The world accepts bloggers who accept themselves. The world loves bloggers who love themselves. Note how loving and accepting yourself is different than being in love with yourself. Being in love with yourself sprouts from low self esteem and a blanket rejection of self. Only broken individuals who secretly hate themselves pump themselves up with some contrived online persona arrogantly full of braggadocio.
Loving and accepting yourself means hugging yourself as you truly are. My wardrobe consists of t-shirts, shorts and sweats because my true nature knows clothes, status and other ego-driven things are completely worthless, useless wastes of time and energy as far as using these things to impress human beings. I am not completely void of vanity but care little of impressing people because I accept myself.
Taking this general self-accepting attitude helped me reach the next level of blogging success because my self-acceptance, honest nature and authentic approach allows me to shine a bit more brightly than other pros who appear to be faking it a little bit, focusing a too much on trying too hard to be someone else while I am at peace with being me, blogging who I really am and allowing my authentic nature to permeate every aspect of my blogging campaign.
Be you.
Allow your true nature to bleed through your blog, brand and online business.
Reach the next level of blogging success.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
Outreach seems confusing sometimes.
Bloggers offer advice for networking the right way. But the same bloggers cold pitch fellow bloggers guest post opportunities and link exchanges.
Who do you trust?
What does it really mean to network the right way?
I want to give you a short, sweet guide for networking effectively, intelligently and compassionately.
Help People
Generously help people.
Ideas:
- retweet blog posts
- share blog posts on Facebook
- comment genuinely on blogs from your niche
- mention bloggers on your blog
Helping people is the quickest way to get connected. Blogger outreach pros generously help people persistently. Connected bloggers reach out with a kind, giving hand. Fellow bloggers appreciate your generosity. Bloggers gravitate toward generous bloggers because everyone loves people who give freely.
Cut the Strings of Expectation
Release expectations. Ask for nothing in return.
Help bloggers. Cut the strings.
Be disciplined in not asking anything of bloggers you help as the friendship forms organically. Allow bloggers to get to know you, like you and trust you. Let the process unfold gracefully.
Help bloggers, ask for nothing and let these folks see that you are interested in them versus being interested in what they can do for you.
Allow Father Time to Bond You
Time serves as the most critical element in the networking game because time allows bonds to grow organically.
I recall chatting with a fellow blogger for an extended period of time. Neither party wanted anything from each other. We simply helped one another, cut the strings of expectation and allowed our bond to grow seamlessly. Time bonded us. Now we are good buddies because we allowed time to connect us the right way.
Be patient. Relax. Help people freely. Release any expectations. Do not ask bloggers to do anything for you in return for the help you offered bloggers. Take your time. Fall in love with serving people. Father Time ensures generous actions plus detachment makes you a big time, connected blogger.
Common Networking Errors
Look out for these blogger outreach mistakes:
- cold pitching bloggers; emailing strangers asking for guest post opportunities, link exchanges and free advertising on their blogs
- rushing the outreach process; retweeting 3 blog posts over 1 week before asking for a testimonial from a trusted, pro blogger
- asking for endorsements before you have endorse-able skills; an increasing number of new or intermediate bloggers routinely ask me for endorsements but none have endorse-able skills yet
- attempting to manipulate bloggers by asking them to your 100 blogger round up mainly to get a retweet, Facebook Share or list email mention to their large, loyal tribe
Most bloggers network the wrong way because fear makes you do stuff you do not want to do. Perhaps everything seems to be moving along way too slowly with your blogging efforts. Panic arises in your being. Instead of generously, patiently helping top pros in your niche from a detached approach you desperately cold email 50 pro bloggers today asking for a free guest posting opportunity. 49 pro bloggers ignore your email. 1 pro blogger reads your pitch but rejects your offer based on the quality of your writing.
Face, feel and release your fears. Blog from a loving, generous, trusting energy.
Write diligently. Publish posts frequently. Network the right way.
Blogger outreach is less about reaching out and more about helping out. Serve fellow bloggers. Cut the strings of expectation. Earn trust. Prove your genuine interest in fellow human beings.
Do blogger outreach the right way.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
5:04 PM.
My ego wants to take a break.
My heart told me to write this post.
I have been a professional blogger for a decade. Hands down, listening to your heart over your head feels incredibly uncomfortable sometimes because professional bloggers are not enlightened beings.
I deeply enjoy helping people. But I also love to kick back, relax and to be comfortable too.
How do you find the proper mix between generous service and a little bit of self-service? Nobody knows. But your heart knows.
I do not advise working 16 hour blogging days. I do not recommend publishing one blog post monthly before putting your feet up until next month. Find the point between rendering oodles of generous service and a tiny bit of self-service to find your professional blogging sweet spot. Or find this point to position yourself to become a professional blogger.
How do you find this critical point? Listen to your heart over your ego. How do you listen to your heart over your ego? Prepare to practice the freeing but highly uncomfortable practice of knowing thyself. Ouch.
Know Thyself
Observe yourself in the light of truth. Own your frame of mind. Become aware of when you think and act from a dominant energy of fear versus thinking and acting from a dominant energy of love. Face, feel and release fears to blog predominantly from love. Rinse, wash, repeat. Fear is selfish. Love is selfless. Move more toward love to be a generous servant.
Observe my real world example.
10 minutes ago, a thought-feeling crossed my mind:
“I already published 2 guest posts and 3 blog posts today. I networked genuinely too. I feel tired after hiking a mountain for 2 hours. That’s enough. Break time.”
Knowing myself and observing my mind as it really was, I noticed my ego’s tabulation of blogging work completed, hike executed and general feeling of doing enough was a self-serving, common limiting belief I need to be aware of. I watched the feelings of fear, discomfort and agitation arise. Ego wants to nap. Ego wants to eat sweets. Ego wants to help itself.
Through this ego shouting I heard a small, still voice suggest I write this post for Cori and you rocking readers. The gentle voice told me it’d require 20 minutes of my time and a scant amount of my energy to write and submit the blog post. I listened to this voice because this voice is my heart. But dealing with my ego’s whining felt uncomfortable.
I wrote the post. I submitted the post. I did not push myself to do it (ego) but I allowed myself to be guided to do it (heart) through the simple but uncomfortable act of knowing myself by observing my mind as it really was.
Pros Are Human Beings
Pros find this lesson uncomfortable to learn and honor because pros are human beings subject to fear, selfishness and self-centeredness. I deeply love helping people. I do my best to be a generous servant. But since I am not an altruistic, enlightened blogging being I wrestle with my ego and its selfish motives begging me to hold back versus letting go and giving even more freely.
Note; the lesson I am teaching does not involve working hard, pushing yourself and forcing yourself to blog because all motives fueling these actions are fears of the ego, not love from the heart. I mean to share how observing your mind as it really is lets you know yourself. Knowing yourself lets you face, feel and release fears so you can blog generously from the heart.
Generous bloggers grounded in trust of both self and the blogging process eventually go pro.
by Ryan Biddulph | Blogging, Guest Posts |
This is a guest post by Ryan Biddulph. He shares smart blogging tips at Blogging From Paradise.
I wrote and published 4000 plus blog posts on Blogging From Paradise.
I wrote and placed 10,000 plus guest posts on various blogs in my niche.
I commented on 100,000 plus various blogs in my niche.
Right now, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn could shut down my accounts. I could care less. Why? I would still be in 114,000 plus spots. I also spend little attention and energy building my business through social media because me and my trusted friends do not own social media sites.
But imagine if I did virtually all of my creating and connecting through social media? Being shut down would mean the end of my business. I do not own social media sites. I am the product. Social media site owners own my social media image, likeness and content. Trying to build a thriving business solely through social media is like trying to build a mansion on quicksand.
What solution works best for building a sustainable business online?
Buy your domain and hosting. Blog on WordPress.org to own your online real estate.
Own Your Cyber Real Estate
Review the numbers above.
I own 4000 plus web pages via Blogging From Paradise. My blogging buddies own 10,000 plus web pages where I guest post. Thousands of bloggers own the 100,000 plus web pages where I published genuine comments. Unless bloggers quit or sell their blogs I will be seen in roughly 114,000 plus spots with or without social media in my blogging arsenal.
Owners create on real estate owners own. Owners create on real estate their buddies own. Think like an owner. Spend most of your time and energy creating and connecting on real estate you and your blogging buddies own to build a sustainable, stable online business.
Minus a tiny bit of ownership or quitting flux, my eBook links, course links, audio book links, paperback links and advertising opportunities remain permanently on sites me and my blogging buddies own. I may know a small percentage of bloggers who own blogs where I published my 100,000 plus comments but most appear to be paying their domain and hosting bills for the past 3, 5 to 10 years.
Lay a rock solid foundation for your online business. Buy your domain and hosting. Blog on WordPress.org to own your cyber real estate. Link to your:
- courses
- eBooks
- coaching services
- consulting services
- freelancing services
- audio books
- paperbacks
- advertising opportunities
via your blog through pages you publish on your blog. Create a lasting online business asset by setting up your online business through content you publish on your blog. Link to your blog through guest posts and genuine blog comments. Grow your online business through the principle of leveraging.
Social Media Changes with the Wind
Facebook allowed for massive organic growth years ago. Business owners boosted their profits by simply sharing content and engaging generously on the platform. But Facebook moved to a pay to play type model to grow your business. Facebook quickly shifted to a paid advertising model if you wanted to even sniff at boosting your profits. Imagine if you depended heavily on free advertising to make coin through Facebook? Wave your online business profits generated through Facebook goodbye.
But Facebook proves even more fickle – and deadly to business owners – by changing rules, regulations and interpretations of said rules as time progresses. I know one of blogger whose 35,000 Like Facebook Page got shut down with no rhyme, reason or explanation. He was smart. He owns his domain, invests money in hosting and owns his email list. But picture if he spent 10,000 hours over the past 12 years creating and connecting through Facebook to build his online business. Overnight, the 10,000 hours worth of status updates, videos, comments and business-profits-driving content disappears forever.
Never build your online business only through social media.
Buy your domain and hosting. Blog on WordPress.org to own your cyber real estate.
Build your online business on a rock solid, stable foundation.
For more tips on how to succeed as a blogger read;
6 Reasons Why Bloggers Succeed
