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10 Tips to Boost Your Blog's Loyal Readership

March 1, 2010 By 13 Comments

Building a group of loyal followers to your blog is probably one of the most difficult aspects of blogging. You might be pulling plenty of one-time readers, or have a small group of loyal blog watchers, but how do you build that into a bevy of diehard fanatics? Many bloggers ponder that question as they publish posts that draw but a handful of comments, or review their daily statistics with hopeful expectations that are quickly dashed by the cruel hand of blogging reality. To help you keep a quality core of loyal readers returning to your blog, here are some tips you might find helpful.

1. Build A Community

Building a community is often easier said than done, but if you can draw likeminded and loyal readers to your blog (friends, family, co-workers, etc.) you can start a strong core of followers. Similar to the six-degrees of separation game, simply by word of mouth and friends knowing friends, this small core can often grow into a much larger group of loyal readers.

2. Invite Input

By inviting your readers’ input to various posts, you can make them feel as if their opinions are important. Not only can this build loyalty among your readers, but you might find some quite useful contributions and ideas along the way that can further your blog and posts.

3. Give Feedback

Inviting input from your readers only goes so far though. If followers continue to post comments that aren’t responded to, eventually even the most loyal of readers might hit the road in search of someone who is listening. Keep your readers feeling as if they are part of the group and that their thoughts are meaningful by providing feedback to their comments and queries.

4. Avoid Junk

There are few worse things to encounter on a blog site than a bunch of clutter and useless information. Scrolling down a page that seems to stretch endlessly through a string of posts and video clips can get old quick. By archiving old posts, keeping your clutter to a minimum, making your posts informative, and taking it easy on the videos and graphics that slow the loading of your blog’s page, you can keep loyal readers from ditching your site in favor of greener pastures.

5. Keep It Easy On The Eyes

Sure, sometimes we have a lot to say and want to get our ideas conveyed properly. However, excessively long posts can deter readers. Short posts, bolded points and topic headings, and bullet points or lists can make your blog and your ideas easier to understand to your followers.

6. Contests And Giveaways

It often doesn’t take much in the way of freebies to entice people to visit your blog. Holding weekly contests, free giveaways, and making use of similar promotional ideas can be a great way to build loyalty among your readership.

7. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

While this isn’t to say you should go posting pictures of half-nude models all over your blog, finding a picture of yourself that shows you in the best light possible might not hurt in building loyalty among your followers. Using a handsome picture of yourself that doesn’t include a spouse or child (unless it’s pertinent to the subject matter of your blog) can appeal to followers. Sure, while a personal relationship with you and one of your followers isn’t likely, how many men and women are disappointed when their favorite actor or actress gets married? The human mind works in funny ways and people thinking that you are handsome, single and available may appeal to certain readers and increase their loyalty.

8. Play The Field

When a reader invites you to check out their blog site, by doing so and responding to their invitation, you may gain their loyalty in the process. Visiting other blogs can also open up other avenues of advertising and increased traffic. You never know what networking through other blogs might bring you when it comes to loyal readership.

9. Create A Series

If you’ve written a post that turns out to be highly successful, it might be worth considering a follow up post or two along the same lines. If those posts hit with equal success, you might have stumbled across an idea that you could turn into a series of posts that will hook your readership and bring them back on a regular basis.

10. Leave Them Hanging

Sometimes a little suspense can go a long way in bringing an audience back for more. You don’t want to show your hand right off the bat. Pace yourself and your posts so that your readers want more. If you give them all the answers right away, why would they need to come back?

About the Author

Tom is a designer and writer based in the UK who works with a supplier of Epson printer ink, toner and printing accessories. You can stay up to date with his latest posts about design and art on their blog, CreativeCloud.

Image: by Steve Keys

Filed Under: Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

The Secret To Success – A One Step Process

February 18, 2010 By 13 Comments

Right in line with the article yesterday on my Zero Tolerance Policy, I wanted to go into a little bit more depth about getting past the excuses and getting into what it really takes to be successful. Michael Dunlop from and IncomeDiary.com and I were talking during a recorded interview over the weekend (will be published on RobbSutton.com) about what it is that makes some bloggers successful and others not at all. While there are a lot of contributing factors to successful blogging, there are several different themes that run throughout the blogging industry that are absolute truths.

What is the secret to success in blogging? Well…you won’t be too surprised because it is the secret to success in just about everything. Taking action! I can not tell you how many bloggers I talk to on a regular basis that want success in blogging, but they are too busy reading instead of doing. Don’t get me wrong, taking advice from those that have been there before you has a ton of value, but there are a lot of bloggers that get stuck in that rut. All they do is take the advice in the form of free eBook, eCourses and seminars to do absolutely nothing!

That’s right…they spend all of their time and money learning instead of doing. I don’t know if it is fear of failure or the inability to get the car started and start driving, but these serial learners do nothing but talk about their next big idea instead of actually trying it out for themselves.

The Secret To Success In Blogging And In Business

The secret to success in blogging and in business in general is taking action. There are times you are going to fail miserably flat on your face, but at least you tried! Now you can take that knowledge and apply it to your next success. If you spend all of your time worry about whether or not you are going to make it…you never will. If you are waiting on that next informational product or course to make your blog successful….guess what…only you can actually make your blog successful.

You need to sit down and take a serious look at how you spend your time. Are you spending the majority of your time learning or doing? Learning has its place and it is a valuable part of the process, but it is on the only part of the process.

Are you going to be part of the 10% that actually takes action and sees success? Or are you going to be part of the 90% that has the knowledge and does nothing with it? That choice is up to you…and only you can make it happen.

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

I Bridge The Gap and You Can Too

February 11, 2010 By 19 Comments

Earlier this week, I was on the phone with arguably the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. We were talking about plans for 2010 and getting in product reviews on Bike198.com. After a little bit of conversation on where the industry is headed and what they would like to see more exposure on, the head of marketing told me to go on their website, pick out what I wanted to review and email him the list. So…I did what he said and returned a list that I figured I would probably receive 50% of. It is always good to give the company some options on what to send. The email I received back about 2 hours later was a nice surprise. Not only were they sending me everything I had listed…but here are a couple more things we want you to take a look at as well… Oh yeah…by the way…it is all shipping tomorrow.

I made the joke to a friend of mine, “It is going to look like XYZ company threw up in my garage!”. There is nothing quite like the feeling of getting in high 5 figures worth of product from one company, in one run, with more scheduled for the same year. I remember when I was saving pennies to get this stuff and now I am getting it on my front doorstep for free. What do I have to do in exchange? I have to use the product and review it with 100% honesty for my readers…

I Bridge The Gap and You Can Too

Why do companies do this with bloggers? Why do they send product for review with the knowledge that they have no control over what you say?

I bridge the gap between companies and consumers in a non-threatening way that does not include a hard sell. Typically, a company has very limited options when it comes to getting their product in front of the eyes of potential consumers. They either have to advertise like crazy (which people are already suspect about) or they have to spend their time, resources and money to actively seek out the potential client base.

In steps the blogger. We have an attentive audience that trusts our opinion due to consistent content quality over time. Our readers may not agree with everything we say, but they do stick around to soak up all that is good about our sites. We deliver honest product reviews independent of manufacturer input, so our weight in the retail market has more punch than an ad in a magazine. Furthermore, we do things like drive around with a $500 bike rack on our truck 24/7 that is getting reviewed that also puts it in front of the eyes of people in the real world.

A blogger is the logical step for companies to take when looking for ways to get trusted exposure on the web. That is why it is worth the investment. We are an honest intermediary that produces real results without having to be a glorified advertisement. In return, we get to try some of the latest gear in our niche without having to pay for it. What can be better than getting in stuff for free that you used to have to wait months to save up for?

In all reality, these products are not free. They are semi-payment for services rendered. Take a look at the simplest form of advertising on the web, Adwords. By doing a simple keyword search you can find what companies are paying per click for targeted traffic in their niche. Now…multiple that out to thousands of clicks that you are going to generate over time on your blog. See how the cost starts to add up quickly? With Adwords, you are not even guaranteed you are reaching the right people as you have little control over where your ads are published. Instead, you invest product in a blogger to get the word out there for you, so now you know you are reaching the right audience.

Bridging the gap between companies and the general public through the use of product reviews is something that newspapers and magazines have been doing for a long time. As blogging becomes even more mainstream, it is becoming the go to option for companies looking to increase their spread on the web. Are you capitalizing on this with your blog?

If you want to know the step by step on how I accomplish this and how you can too…check out Ramped Reviews.

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Is Trust Getting Harder To Earn?

February 9, 2010 By 11 Comments

Having success in blogging is all about gaining the trust of your readers. That is something we all know as we move forward looking for increased subscriber numbers, comments and other metrics that are a by product of successful blogging. Without that trust, you are not converting casual lurkers into active members of your community. Therefor, gaining that trust of individuals that you want to stick around can be a difficult thing to accomplish. Without this trust that you are going to deliver the goods on a regular basis and enrich the lives of your readers, you are really just pissing in the wind as you continue to struggle with making anything out of your blog. So…as you move forward in this journey, how can you gain the trust of new readers and keep the trust of your existing?

Is Trust Getting Harder To Earn Online?

Online trust is a funny animal. With blogging gaining steam in mainstream media to the point that even my mom understands what it means to be a blogger, there are more and more individuals looking to have a side hobby or business online with a blog. What does this mean of the blogger looking to make an income online and gain the trust of thousands of readers by delivering great content? There is a lot more noise online today than there used to be.

Everyone and their mom (literally) has a blog these days. Many of these blogs are here today, gone tomorrow blogs, but they still add to the clutter that we find online. The struggle then is to gain the trust of potential subscribers when they are bombarded with more content than they can really handle on a daily basis.

How many times have you searched Google online for an answer to your question, only to jump from page to page with no real answer in sight? There is a lot of noise and it is your job to combat that.

I think trust is a harder thing to earn online these days due to the mass quantity of blog posts hitting the net on a daily basis. It is going to be harder for you to achieve that success and rise above the rest. What does this mean to you? You have to work harder to get above the noise, but benefits are even bigger. With more noise, there is a much larger audience. So when you do rise above the rest, you have a much bigger success story than if there was no noise at all. Kind of a double edge sword effect there.

A Personal Trust Story To Illustrate A Point

Hans - Male Brindle BoxerWhen I think about building trust online, I always relate it to my male Boxer Hans. It will make sense in a second so stick with me.

We rescued Hans from Atlanta Boxer Rescue so we could have another Boxer to keep our female company. She was getting a little too spoiled as the only child…so she needed a brother. When we first rescued Hans (picture of the first night to the right), he was really sweet but a little stand off’ish. This was understandable as he had been bounced around from house to house and this was after ABR got him on his “last day” at the pound. This guy had seen a lot of different homes in the last year, so his trust level was pretty low.

When we first got him in, he didn’t like it when you messed with his feet. He would almost snap at you if you played with his ears and he got pretty upset if you ever left. Basically, Hans had seen so many different things over the course of his life that his trust level was pretty low. He was happy and loved people, but on his terms and he was guarded. Luckily…he got along with Hemi (our female) beautifully right off the bat, so that was good.

Over time, we worked with Hans gradually getting him over his trust issues by providing consistency. I would move him around a little bit at first and then start to get a little bit more pushy to show that I don’t want to hurt him…I just need to be able to move him around from time to time. Jenn started working with him on his ears and…eventually…he could care less if we just pull the crap out of them.

Now…what used to be a guarded dog is a 70+ pound lap dog that can’t ever be close enough. What did we do to gain this trust? We provided consistent results over time. Through this consistency, Hans was able to let his guard down and become one of the family.

How Can You Earn This Same Trust With Your Readers?

While Hans is just a dog and your readers might be much more complicated, the actions you take to earn the trust of your readers and show them that you are not just another spec in the noise is much the same. Here are some tips to convert the Hans that is browsing your blog…

Provide Consistent Quality

Content is still king, so consistent quality in your offerings on your blog are going to still be the biggest converting factor. When you publish an article, are you publishing one to stick to a schedule or provide real value? Every time a new reader lands on your page, they are going to do one of two things. They are going to scan and leave or dig deeper into your blogs content to figure out if they want to visit your site again. What are your new readers going to find in their digging? Consistent, quality content or a mess with several nice article in between?

Quality Content Over Time

You are posting quality content, but your blog has only been live a week. You are going to have to continue to post up this quality content even when no one is reading. Try to prevent the urge to splash as much content with blog articles as you can on the screen and go for quality instead. People trust blogs that have been around a long time and have that consistency, so you are going to have to build up those same archives on your own blog to show that you are not going away any time soon.

Keep Their Trust By Providing Value

Just like with Hans, just because they are in your house…that does not mean they are going to trust you automatically. Diversify your offerings on your blog to provide valuable resources that fill the needs of your readers. Trust is largely earned by giving more than you receive, so these resources will gain more trust and provide a nice asset in your blogging. These can take the form of resource static pages, ebooks, ecourses, membership sites, etc.

Social Proof

If  you have been doing the whole blogging thing awhile, you have gained some social proof in the form of comments, subscriber counts and other metrics. Converting new readers is much easier if you can show that new potential subscriber that a large quantity of people trust you enough to interact as well. It is a follow the herd mentality, but it works.

Be Original

This is one of the most important aspects of successful blogging and gaining that crucial trust online. You have to be original. You do not want to be the next (fill in the blank here)…you want other people to want to be the next you. Forget regurgitating what someone else is saying and start being original. No one wants to trust someone that is copying another winning formula…they will just go to the originator instead of you.

Gain That Trust And Keep It

Once you gain the trust that it is so hard to gain online, protect and keep it. Just because you have converted that casual lurker, that does not mean they are going to just blindly follow. It is your job to show them that their trust has not gone misguided by continuing your promise to provide quality.

If you want success online…that is the key…

So what do you think…is trust harder to gain online these days?

Trust image by thorinside

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , ,

Blogging Tip: How To Make Your Blog Page Load Speed Faster

January 26, 2010 By 11 Comments

I am going to let you guys in on a little pet peeve of mine…slow loading blogs! It never fails…I end up going to check out someone’s blog and they have fantastic content…but…that page takes so long to load that it is annoying to even try to navigate what they are trying to say! It really isn’t the bloggers fault honestly as 95% of bloggers have zero background experience in website coding or content production. They are just a blogger that wants to get their voice heard. So…as you move forward in your blogging, how can you make sure that your page is loading fast enough to keep the readers coming back for more?

Blogging Tips: How To Make Your Blog Load Faster

When you go to start speeding up your blog, there are certain things you need to look at in order to make most efficient use of your time.

Image Sizes – Getting Efficient With Uploads

I go to a lot of blogs that are incredibly inefficient at displaying images in their blog posts and on their pages. For web use, the max you should be loading onto your site is 800 pixels wide and no more than 100k in file size. Anything more is overkill for web use and your readers will not even be able to tell a difference in image quality. When you load up a blog post with multiple 300k or larger images, the page takes forever to load on slower internet connections. The longer people have to wait…the less likely they are going to come back. Keep your images in check and you can drastically speed up your page load speed.

The TimThumb script that creates the thumbnail images on homepages and other areas of your blog (99% of blog themes use this…so if you have thumbnails…you probably are too) generates the thumbnail with each pageview. What does this mean for blogs with large file sizes? The script is processing those large file sizes with each pageview! You will drastically cut down your load speeds on homepages by keeping your file sizes in check.

Also, self host all of your images and do not use Flickr or some other 3rd party site to display images in your blog posts. The more your site has to reach out to a secondary server to load items on your page…the slower it is. Even just the FlickrRSS plugin I use in the sidebar of this blog slows things down. Always host as much as you possibly can in your own file system.

Widgets, Widgets and More Widgets

When I go to a lot of blogs (especially newer ones), I see a ton of widgets. The latest and greatest of every Alexa ranking, Facebook and multiple other widgets are all trying to load at the same time. Furthermore, they are taking up valuable screen real-estate so they are just cluttering up where you call home. With each widget, there is a script and content to load, so the more widgets you have…the longer it takes each pageview to load.

I keep a general rule of thought when it comes to widgets and features on a blog. If 70% of your readers will not need it…you probably do not need to display it. If you are putting up widgets that are only going to apply to 10% of your readers, you are wasting time and screen real-estate on something you do not need. Take them down and reduce the clutter.

Plugins – Have To Have Everything All The Time

There are new plugins that hit the scene on a daily basis. Every single one of them is the latest and greatest that will bring you more functionality than you will ever imagine. Guess what? You do not need almost all of them. I see bloggers get all excited about new plugins to the point they just have to install them and try it out! Along the same theory of widgets (many times these go hand in hand), only use what you absolutely need.

With each plugin, you are adding database tables, code and functionality that has to load with every pageview of your site. The more plugins you have…the slower your blog will load. Try to resist the urge to download every plugin you think you might need and stick to what works for your blog. Any plugin that is not getting used or does not bring functionality to the majority of your readers, deactivate and delete. You do not need it that badly.

Picking A Efficient Theme

There are a ton of good free themes on the market, but…in my experience…the premium themes are coded better and that results in faster load times. By getting a high quality theme from the start (and not hacking it up with too many plugins and widgets), you can insure that you load times will be on par with what is expected in the industry.

Need help picking out a blog theme? Check out this post.

Caching

Server level caching can drastically increase your page load speed. Even just installing a plugin like W3 Total Cache can help your readers enjoy your content faster. If you really want to get fast, contact your web host and see what server level caching options they over. Over at Sliqua, we get wicked fast with some memcaching techniques.

Final Thoughts On Page Speed

As internet connections continue to get faster, page load speed becomes less of an issue…for those with faster download speeds. However, your site is only as fast as the slowest connection trying to read your content. The more efficient you make your blog by paying attention to a couple of tips, the faster your content will load on slow connections as well has fast ones. As things continue to get faster, so do the expectations of your readers.

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Social Responsibilities Of Growing A Blog – Giving Back

January 19, 2010 By 9 Comments

The topic of this article really came about through a conversation between Brandon Cox and I during an email string about guest blogging post ideas. When this came up on the list of possibilities…I knew it couldn’t go without being published on RobbSutton.com as I feel this is a vital part of blogging that should not be ignored. Giving back is just as important…if not more so…than success.

There is the old saying…”the more you give…the more you will receive”. As much as that is true in our personal relationships and life interactions, it is even more relevant in the professional world as the more you put out in a positive manner, the more you will receive in return. Over the course of my professional life, I have seen a lot. One of the things that strikes me as odd most often (and I still see it all of the time) is a life cycle that some successful entrepreneurs go through.

They start out with nothing. As a man (or woman) with nothing but an idea, you are willing to give away the farm in pursuit of your dreams. You are willing to help out whoever you can in the hope they will help you grow your business and your dream as well. This giving atmosphere breads drastic change…and as a result…success is achieved for all of the involved parties. Along the road of success, something changes for this entrepreneur. They get greedy. The shift from giving to taking is a drastic one…and now…they are looking for what they can get out of each and every situation over what they can put in. In the beginning, nothing changes. Success still comes and people are still willing to help. As time moves forward, outsiders become aware of what is happening and draw back. The help leaves and the selfish entrepreneur is left to fend for himself. Success dwindles and the ego rises. In the end…failure comes and the entrepreneur can’t figure out why. (you see this in employees as well…usually ends up in being fired)

How Can I Apply This Story To My Blog?

The story is really a simple one. If you stop giving back…you will stop receiving. As bloggers and aspiring entrepreneurs…we have a social responsibility to give back more than we receive. If you want to see sustained success over time, this is a necessary part of your business model you need to take a serious look over. Even your small, just getting started blog is growing due to the spread of your small readership. As things get bigger, word of mouth and the strength of your brand is resting on the shoulders of those that support you.

It is not that you are so incredibly amazing that everyone wants to kiss your ass, it is how you have presented value and giving back over time. When you stop giving back to your readers, they will stop giving back to you in the form of links, spreading the word, commenting on articles, downloading ebooks, buying ebooks, etc. When you step into the selfish nature that comes with a growing ego, you are starting the beginning of your end.

How Can I Continue Giving Back?

As a blogger, you can continue to give back in a multitude of ways. Here are a couple that I keep on tap.

  • Give things away! (ebooks, content, help, etc.)
  • Attend blogging meetups and conferences.
  • Help another blogger get their blog started (remember when someone helped you?)
  • Provide consistent quality content.
  • Never forget you are never bigger than one of your readers.
  • Contests and giveaways that are easy to enter for your readers (good for traffic too).
  • Run charity contests where the proceeds go to a charity of your choice.
  • Linking to other blogs.

See the trend? By paying it forward…you are insuring your success over time.

As you look at your blogging and the business aspect, watch for the trends in your own attitude and lifestyle as you start to see success. Do not overlook the importance of your social responsibility to continue giving back as much as was freely given to you.

Image by Travis Jon Allison

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

The Goal Of A Blog Post Is Conversation

January 18, 2010 By 16 Comments

We who blog are constantly writing new content to publish to the masses. It takes a lot of work and energy to produce a great article and one of our greatest frustrations is the short life cycle of a post.

You spend time doing research, brainstorming, link collecting, drafting, writing, and promoting an article only to watch the crowd move on to other great content tomorrow. That’s the nature of the internet.

One way to remove this frustration of the fast-flowing nature of content is to focus more on the conversation generated by a post after it’s published. And I’m not simply talking about getting people to comment on the article – that’s only the beginning.

One of my own big beliefs about marketing is that “news spreads faster through a crowd than to a crowd.” In other words, we’ve managed to tune out mass media messages and advertising, but we still place great trust in the suggestions of our friends.

Applying this to a blog post means that the conversation surrounding your content needs to move away from the post itself.

Getting people to notice your content enough to comment on it is a great first step and probably the indicator of whether it’s a good conversation piece to begin with, but the real gold is when it moves from one Twitter user to another or across a network of Facebook friends, or rises to the front page of Digg. In other words, the goal is to see people talking about your content even if you and your site are not directly involved in the conversation.

If you get them talking about an article, they may just begin talking about you, the author. And then they’ll talk about your blog, your brand, your product, etc. So the conversation grows.

The negative side of marketing your content with conversation is that you can’t control it. In fact, if you try to force conversations to happen, you’ll alienate your audience. What you can do is stimulate conversation.

Let me leave you with some brief tips on how to persuasively encourage conversation surrounding your best ideas:

  • Go beyond the basics. Which is more likely to go viral – “how to have a great blog” (which has been done a million times) or “three brand new ideas for bringing in more traffic.”
  • Be controversial. Just don’t be stupid. Don’t alienate people, engage them.
  • Be thought-provoking. Most people won’t read your article, they’ll skim it, unless you force them to think about something. Surprise them.
  • Ask a question. What do you think? What’s your take on this? What’s your best idea about this subject?
  • Promote your post creatively. Instead of “new blog post:” how about “Hey, any opinions on this?”
  • Give something valuable – something people will want to bookmark, share, and reference.

The goal isn’t to get someone to read what you’ve written – it’s to get them to read it, and then share it. That’s why we call it the “web.” Now, what do you have to say about this post?

Brandon Cox is a Pastor, Web Designer, and Blogger. He’s Editor of Fuel Your Blogging and We Blog Better. You can also catch him on Twitter or Facebook.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content Tagged With: , , , ,

Video Podcast: How To Increase Blogging and Life Productivity

January 15, 2010 By 12 Comments

Last night, I was talking to Kelly Diels and we got onto the subject of what I have had going on the past year and my plans for 2010. She asked me a question that I hadn’t really thought about seriously…but was doing automatically.

When you are looking at how you spend your time and how you want to grow you blog, there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done when you want to. Time is our only constraint in life…so we have to figure out how to use it efficiently.

When things started shooting towards the stars with my blogging (and I thank those lucky stars every day), I really had to change the way I was living to accomplish my goals. The following video podcast are my thoughts on basic time management and how things changed in my life. It also touches on relationships and how we need to handle them as we grow our blogs.

It’s not too long…just over 5 minutes. This video was shot with my MacBook Pro built-in iSight camera and iMovie ’10. I didn’t use my expensive editing software and cameras (I have a background in post production) to show that you do not need a full out editing suite to video blog effectively.

Word of warning: I look much younger than I am! I hear that comment every time I post a video! Also, this was a quick cut together…one take…just throw it up there. This is me on a Friday morning! I am going to try to get in more of these types of posts…so look for more in the future from RobbSutton.com.

Blogging and Life Productivity – RobbSutton.com from Robb Sutton on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, My Life Tagged With: , , ,

The #1 Killer of Bloggers – Self Doubt

January 13, 2010 By 7 Comments

What is the #1 killer of bloggers and their blogs? Is it heart disease? Smoking? Cancer? Car wrecks? No…it is not believing in yourself  and falling prey to self doubt. Self doubt is actually believing you are not capable of achieving your goals, dreams and aspirations. Giving into the feelings of low self worth to the point that you believe the voices in your head telling you that you are not able to do it…people are not going to like it…you should do it like that other guy…why would anyone want to read what I have to say…the stats are not where I want them to be right now…I should just quit…not like I am really losing anything anyway…it is probably better off…it is just too hard…

Your mind wanders. It is a natural part of being human. The problem arises when self doubt starts to take over and you get into a spiral of negative thinking that eventually leads to lack of productivity and eventual surrender. 99% of blogs that do not make it is not because of lack of talent or willingness to succeed. 99% of blogs that fail…fail because they give up too early (typically right before it starts getting really good) and give into the thoughts in their head…the guy down the street…the family member that doesn’t understand.

Overcoming Self Doubt In The Pursuit Of Success

The world is filled with people that will want to bring you down. It will always be easier to be a critic than create…and the critic is always louder than the creator. It is your job to rise above the noise and believe in yourself and your capabilities. No one is going to jump down from the heavens and give you the confidence needed to make it in this world. If you really want to make it big…stop being another statistic…and start writing your own rules in life…you are going to have to find that confidence from within. You are going to have to believe that you are good enough…strong enough…and capable of making your dreams a reality.

If you give in and make your naysayers right…you are the only one that loses. Celebrate your small successes along the road. Every success is another step forward in your pursuit. Fight off the feelings of self doubt by focusing on the positive. Every blogger, entrepreneur and successful life connoisseur started with an idea. They did not start with success…

As you go through the day, think of ways to bring positive light to your achievements. Continue to grow your dreams by focusing on those achievements and lay out the steps for the next. Everyday is not going to be perfect. There are going to be roadblocks along the way, but through believing in yourself and ridding your life of the thoughts that bring you down…you have a fighting chance at hitting your goals and achieving the life you want to live.

All around you…you can see those that give in. They let the world determine their worth. They give into self doubt. That is not going to be you.

Image by rbbaird

Filed Under: Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , , ,

Find Your Blogging Voice: End the Quest Today

January 6, 2010 By 19 Comments

If you are anything like me, writing with a voice did not come easy at all! During my beginning stages in blogging, I really struggled with writing with my voice instead of a bland, boring, research paper diction that was putting me to sleep as I was typing. Much of blogging and growing a successful blog is tuning your writing into who you really are and something that readers can connect with. In the blogging world, this is called your “blogging voice” as you have probably already heard referenced more than a thousand times.

So…how do we find our blogging voice that is going to connect with readers on such a personal level that they can not…not subscribe…comment and interact with our pages on the screen? For many new and experienced bloggers, this is a stressful question in the quest for bringing our personalities and thoughts out into words.

How To Find Your Blogging Voice

Blog…Blog and Blog Some More – Blogging is no different than any other discipline. By practicing blogging, you will get better at your craft over time. Do not let fear and anxiety keep you from publishing articles and experimenting with writing styles. As you continue to write, you are going to find that it becomes easier and easier to get the words out of your head and onto the screen. After awhile, you will start to notice a trend in your writing style without even really realizing it. It is a beautiful thing and it only comes through actually participating in the process…

Write As You Talk – You can always go back and edit, chop up or scrap a whole idea before hitting that publish button, so take your first draft as a mind dump. If you write as you talk, more of your personality will get out through your words and then you can go back and proofread to fix any glaring mistakes. You are not going to get crucified for several little mistakes here and there if you are connecting with readers by bringing your personality into your writing.

Stop Stressing About It! – Stressing about your writing will just make you lock up even further. Your best content is going to come at moments of happiness and when you are actually enjoying what you are doing. If you are sitting in front of a screen with the small dash blinking stressing about what you have to write that day, get up…walk around…have a cup of coffee (or any other preferred beverage, but I don’t recommend publishing articles while you are loaded) and come back…sit down…and write with a heart-rate that is considered normal. The more you try to push your voice and your writing…the more stressed and upset you are going to become and that will come out in your writing.

Self Reflection – When I first started taking blogging really seriously, I sat back for a second and thought about who I really am. I’m not going to lie…it was really weird. How often do we ever sit back, think about who we are and how we interact with people? Almost never right? Well…after spending some time looking inside, I found out more about myself than I thought I actually knew! It was crazy, but it also gave me some insight into how I wanted to write and how I wanted to interact with people on my blog. Sometimes, we get so caught in the rat race of the days events that we forget to look into our souls and learn about ourselves. It drastically changed how I blogged and for the better.

Do you see an underlying theme here? Basically, if you want to find your blogging voice, you need to practice and relax. The rest will fall into place and you will find yourself in a rhythm that you can call your own. Blogging is about that connection and no one wants to connect with a stressed out mess.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,
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