Do you think you know all there is to know about blogging?
Maybe you’ve read from various experts, and you feel or know you’ve gathered enough knowledge about blogging. You’ve probably started a blog or planning to start one soonest.
Just before you start that blog, it wouldn’t hurt to read another piece on the things I think you probably don’t know about blogging.
Maybe you’ve started the blog already. What I discuss in this write-up can provide an additional guide on what you’re probably doing wrong, or what you’re not doing at all.
I wouldn’t say your assumption is wrong, mainly because there are pools of information online about blogging, setting up a blog, growing it, and monetizing it.
It’s effortless to drown in the pool of information and end up doing everything, which most of the time will result in misplaced priorities and poor outcomes.
Amidst all the information you’ve read, you would observe that there is a basic principle of what blogging is all about, a pattern on how to build a successful blog and become an expert.
I wouldn’t tell you to clear that information out of your head, because they are as valuable as what I am about to share with you.
I wouldn’t waste your precious time going over the basics right now; rather, I would enlighten you about the not-so-popular tips that make up an excellent blog. These things are always neglected, and priority is given to the “popular tips.”
The not-so-popular tips are like the internal organ of the human body (kidney, lungs, heart, e.t.c).
These organs are not visible from the outside, but their roles in the functioning of the body cannot be overemphasized.
Even when the hand is not functioning well, it does not pose a life risk threat to such an individual.
Just a quick question though, Have you ever seen a healthy fellow without a functioning kidney?
What I am about to share with you are the things I wish I knew before starting my blogging career, maybe I would have been a better blogger, and perhaps I would have made more impact in the blogosphere than I am right now.
My aim is to save you from the “maybe” part. I have compiled a list of the not-so-popular tips a blogger should know; it would go a long way in guiding a blogger in their blogging journey.
It’s like having an answer to the exam before taking it. Hence bloggers would not be taken by surprise when they eventually encounter some of the issues I would discuss in this write-up.
Now, let’s set the ball rolling.
When I was starting, I was very confused about what to write; I don’t know if I am supposed to start a blog based on my passion or what is lucrative at that particular point in time. Then, “weight loss” was the talk of the web.
Every day I read blog posts on how people were making hundreds of dollars daily from selling weight loss products.
I was very confused; I was in between choices; however, I had to choose if I was to start a blog, so here is what I did.
1. You Can Be An Expert In Anything
I became an expert in a lucrative niche. I knew nothing about weight loss, as a matter of fact; I lived in a country where people don’t care about their weight.
It means that I don’t have practical experience of what it means to be obese and how to deal with weight issues.
I read as many blog posts as I can on the topic. The problem, however, was that everybody is trying to sell a particular product, and most of the popular blogs in this niche are not providing any solution for weight loss.
I saw this as an opportunity and capitalized on it. I created an objective for my weight loss blog (I would shed more light on it later on).
The blogs that I bookmarked were not sharing content that would widen my knowledge about the topic, so I bought the best seller books on weight loss from Amazon.
Read these books, and took notes as I was reading, these notes are what would later become a post on my blog.
The idea is very simple and straightforward; find a topic that is lucrative and study as much as you can on it.
If you intend to blog about what you’re passionate about, you’re probably in the wrong place, and I would advise that you stop reading this right now because it wouldn’t be of benefit to you.
People wake up every day; they go to work and make a living.
Take a plumber; for instance, they fix toilets and kitchen sinks, which are always filled with dirt; nobody enjoys seeing dirt all the time. In fact, nobody enjoys making a living from clearing trash.
But we do what we have to do in other to make a living. The idea is to find something interesting about what we do for a living, something that brings in the paycheck and channels our passion toward it.
This same rule applies to the blog. In my case, I wanted to make money from blogging, and weight loss was very lucrative. Not that I care about other people’s weight, but I can earn good money from it if I start caring about it.
So I started caring. I discovered that big people (overweight) feel bad about it and tend to isolate themselves from society; they feel neglected and are always lonely.
I started a blog that encourages fat people to embrace their physique and make the best of it, even when they’re working actively to lose some pounds in weight.
I am passionate about bringing the best out of people, and I have successfully incorporated that into a lucrative idea.
It is vital to take note that, my primary objective was not to bring the best out of fat people, but rather make money from selling weight loss products.
But I find a way of channeling my passion into the lucrative market.
As a blogger, you can do the same, too; you can take a look at the lucrative niche and channel your passion into the niche. It’s like killing two birds with a single stone at the same time.
2. Content Creation
What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
You must have heard (read) that content is the king in the blogosphere; I wouldn’t waste time in establishing the basis of how important quality content is for a blog.
Let’s analyze your blog and content from a common perspective.
It’s a store and goods analysis. As a blogger, your blog can be likened to a store. Usually, a store must contain goods that are to be sold, and the reason why people visit a store is that they are interested in a particular material in the store.
In your case, your blog post is the goods you’re selling to your visitors. The idea is to make the goods (contents) as attractive as possible.
When they find it attractive, they would not just buy, they would recommend the store to their friend (sharing), and would always come back every once in a while to check out your new goods (subscribe).
Often, bloggers treat their content as a means to an end. But from my experience and a couple of other successful bloggers, the content should be the end itself, not a means to an end.
If the customers (visitors) don’t find your content attractive (informative), they will leave your blog.
When creating your content, the sole objective is to make your blog post the last post they would ever read on that topic.
That should be the main objective of every blog post on your blog. If your visitors would be clicking on any other links, it should be a link to your affiliate products, or other topics that interest them on your blog.
Creating blog content that hits this objective takes time and extensive research.
I had issues with writing when I started blogging, my greatest challenge was distraction, and it would take me tons of pages before arriving at my point.
I discovered this is very bad for the business because I would have successfully bore my reader out before they get to the end of the article.
I had to find a way around it, so I read tons of blog posts on how to be a better writer and how to create an engaging blog post without confusing your readers.
The purpose of this post is not to enlighten you on how to become a better writer, so I won’t discuss the nitty-gritty of better writing here.
Outsourcing is another viable option. But the best practice is to master the art of writing, and before you know it, you would be writing thousands of words in a day.
REMEMBER: You can become an expert in anything.
3. It Is a Business
In the late 1990s and early 2000, blogging was not very popular; in fact, search engines would crawl your website every hour to ensure they have fresh content from your blog.
As of 2015, over a decade into the success of the World Wide Web, I can say that the entire operation has changed.
“Today, blogging is not a hobby anymore; to be successful, you must handle it as a business.”
For every business, you’re expected to have aims and objectives; goals, and a plan of actualizing the goals.
This model should be used in running your blog too. It’s a good way of keeping you accountable for every minute, and every cent you spend in growing your blog.
You’re expected to invest both your time and financial resources in a business.
The same model also applies to a blog. Obviously, you can’t do everything all by yourself; the designing, the writing, promotion, branding etc. Just like every other business, you should delegate responsibilities, either by outsourcing or hiring a virtual assistant.
The money may not be coming in yet, but it’s an investment. For every investment, you would put in your money and wait for some time before the profit starts coming in.
4. You Can Do Everything
But you can do the things that matter and make the best of it.
I said earlier that it’s very easy to get distracted amidst the pool of information available on the web.
Today you read an expert opinion on “How important social media is for bloggers,” he concluded that you should leverage the power of the social network in promoting your blog.
A few weeks later, you stumbled upon another expert opinion on why the importance of social media is overrated; he concludes that you should spend little time promoting your blog through social networks.
This information contradict each other, yet both bloggers seem successful, they are expert.
This is where lesson four and the final lesson come in. You can’t follow every piece of advice, not necessarily because the advice is bad, but because it’s not healthy to consume everything you lay your eyes upon.
In other to stay focused, you need to choose a path and follow it religiously until you discover it’s not working for you. It’s like testing various methods for some time.
For instance, I have read tons of blog posts, listened to webinars on how to start a successful blog; most of the things I heard (read) are great ideas. However, I discovered they’re somewhat generic.
Sometime last year, I stumbled upon Jon Morrow’s idea on how to create a blog; I decided to use his concept in creating an authority blog.
The idea is to follow the guide religiously for six (6) months; if the outcome is not as expected, I will look for a way to enhance it or scout for another model that would work.
You can’t bite a piece of everything, because your mouth would be full before you know it.
Choose a model, stick to it, and access yourself as you progress.
Conclusion
Only the successful bloggers would share the story of how they overcome the first six months of hurdles of their blogging career.
There are many things I would love to share with you on how to grow a blog, and I am taking my time to write a quality (killer) post that would change the way you run your blog when you see these contents, you would be damn sure it worth waiting for.
Until then, take your time in reading this short guide and apply them to your blog as the case may be.
This is a guest post sent from a successful Anonymous blogger.
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