Category: writing

The (Very Short) Ultimate Guide to Blogging

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 34 Comments

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of writing guides out there. But in my opinion, none surpass the simple, direct advice of The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B.White.

This classic serves up much good advice, especially in the last 20 pages in a section titled “An Approach to Style.” Nowhere have I seen more helpful advice in so few words and with such precision.

If (for shame) you don’t already have this reference in your library, I will leave it to you to explore it in depth. But I would like to provide you with eight important writing tips as they apply to blogging. Continue reading “The (Very Short) Ultimate Guide to Blogging” →

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5 Tips to Staying Consistent With Your Blog

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 23 Comments

Ever did something like this? You forget to post new content for a variety of reasons (no time, no energy, no inspiration) and after a few weeks (months) you hastily write a blog post apologizing to your readers for not posting.

Well, the truth is that waiting for the right circumstances almost always ensures that you never get anything done.

And we all know that consistency is key.

So, how do you stay consistent?

Lucky you, here are five tips that will help you out. Continue reading “5 Tips to Staying Consistent With Your Blog” →

The “Write What You Want” Paradox

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 37 Comments

Write what you want.

The advice that all successful writers/bloggers so generously offer.

The most important rule of content writing.

Write what you want. What sets your soul on fire. Write your heart out. When you want, how you want. Ignore the critic within, the haters, the naysayers.

Write with passion.

Punch the damn keys.

The rules are more like guidelines. Write what makes you happy. Write as if these were the last words you’d ever write.

To tell you a little secret: if you were to go on my blog, you’d stumble upon about 1000 or so blog posts that ignore most of the rules I teach here. Bad headlines, a quote for an intro, and just me writing with passion about life, death, and everything else in between.

And the newbie goes on and writes with passion and conviction until they stumble upon a new rule:

Write what your reader wants to read

Now, the newbie wants to be read.

Who doesn’t? But how do you balance these two rules, how to write what the reader wants to read without feeling like selling your soul? Continue reading “The “Write What You Want” Paradox” →

Are You a Consistent Blogger?

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 27 Comments

Tell me. What is your blog all about? Can you define that in a simple sentence? Why are you blogging? Can you offer a six word answer to that?

Why do you write what you write?

What is your blog’s purpose?

How often do you blog? Do you stick to the same days, hours for publishing new content? Do you invest the same amount of time, day in and day out?

I am asking you all these questions because you need to plan. You need to write down lists of the topics you will write about.

You need clarity of purpose.

You need to know what you what, what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what are you going to get out of it.

If not, you’ll feel lost and confused, and you’ll be easily disappointed and defeated by the many obstacles that will inevitably come your way.

Continue reading “Are You a Consistent Blogger?” →

Blogging is All About Adding Value to People’s Lives

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 10 Comments

Why do you blog?

Simple question, right?

But…

What you choose to answer determines how successful a blogger you’ll be. And rather than reporting news, or covering a certain topic or two, or attempting to make money, sell products, I am going to tell you that you should focus on making your readers better at what they do, whether that skill is blogging, marketing, or gardening.

Believe it or not, blogging is all about adding value to other people’s lives, and in this post I am going to explain how powerful this model truly is. Continue reading “Blogging is All About Adding Value to People’s Lives” →

How to Find The Right Words

~ Jordan Peters ~ 41 Comments

Have you ever struggled to find the right words? As if you knew in your heart what you wanted to write, but just couldn’t translate all that you felt into words? As if something always got lost between your head and your fingers?

And this is even more frustrating because how you write determines what your readers understand.

If you ever struggled to find just the right words, arrange them in the right order, and get your point across to your readers, here are a few tips for producing great content even when it feels like your brain is against you. Continue reading “How to Find The Right Words” →

This is Why Nobody Gives a Damn About Your Blog

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 132 Comments

It’s not because you’re not good enough as a blogger.

It’s not because of SEO, or because Google changed their algorithms.

It’s not because of your niche.

The real reason nobody cares about your blog is this:

You don’t care about who’s reading.

This is the best marketing tool ever.

Here’s a neat experiment I did with this blog. When I first started it, I rarely responded to comments. I’d just approve them, and like the comments.

That was it.

I did, of course, do my best to provide the best content possible. I did my best to learn as much about blogging, to provide real value to my readers.

Then, a few months ago, I decided to change things: I’d respond to every comment, even if all I’d write was a “Thank you.”

You might say this is not impressive. It’s not this life changing idea, but the results were pretty amazing. Not only did my views increase, but also my revenue increased. By quite the margin.

Simply for replying to comments.

Now, ask yourself what would happen if you were to visit the profiles of the people who comment on your content, then read and comment on their posts too.

Hmmm…

Blogging is all about building relationships. And you cannot build a relationship with someone you don’t care about.

This is the best marketing strategy ever: care.

Care enough to respond to everyone back. Care enough to think on a daily basis what it is that your readers want to read. Care enough to edit and proofread your blog posts.

Care.

Just care.

Yes, you need to sacrifice writing time for this. You’ll spend hours replying to comments, answering to e-mails, but this will mean some of your readers will become more than just followers.

They become avid fans.

This is the way you build an actual audience. This is the way it has always been.

You cannot build an audience of thousands without first caring about the one.

You need to care about each and every single one of your readers. It needs to be one person at a time.

That’s it.

Care.

And your readers will care about you as well.

Being thoughtful is such a lost skill that it will instantly set you apart.

So care. Please, just care. Expect nothing in return.

And you’ll be surprised just how much you get back in return.

How to Blog in English Even If It’s Not Your First Language

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 10 Comments

Considering the fact that I am not a native English speaker, I thought I should write about one of those topics almost no one writes about: does it matter if English is not your first language, and you still decide to blog in this language?

How do poor language skills affect your ability to share remarkable content with your readers?

Grammatical errors, misspelled words, and poorly structured sentences can make your content difficult to read.

If you also think of the fact that we have thousands of blogs on every topic imaginable, you begin to understand that the quality of your blog posts can mean the difference between a popular blog and one that does not get even a single comment.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not telling you that you should display superb writing skills in order to be a successful blogger. No.

But you must work on three basic aspects that make a big, big difference in the way your readers, especially native speakers, react to your content. Continue reading “How to Blog in English Even If It’s Not Your First Language” →