Let’s be honest for a moment. There’s no substitute for hard work, dedication, time, energy, and passion, and those of you who want a shortcut will be disappointed by this guide.
Of course, there are some things that you must do in order to be successful as a blogger.
So, yeah, let’s get down to business.
Continue reading “The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Blogging”
Does commenting on other blogs bring traffic?
Yes. Kinda.
Can it be used as an effective strategy?
No.
And yes.
It depends on how you do it.
Some people do it horrendously wrong.
Let’s take a look. Continue reading “Commenting on Other Blogs: What Works, What Doesn’t”
Let’s face it: most people can’t write their way out of a paper bag. Further, most bloggers are boring, most journalists are so heavily edited that any personality they’ve added to a story has long since been weaned out by the editorial process.
I want to let you in on a secret, though: it’s not really that people are boring, but that too many have been taught that you shouldn’t write the same way you talk. I blame our educational system, actually, with those 5th grade teachers who drilled us on adverbs, pronouns and the minutia of grammar, coupled with too many boring, tedious academic books that we all suffered through while in college.
Instead, I suggest to you that the best way to write clear, coherent, engaging and enjoyable content is to write the way you speak, to recognize your spoken voice and pour it out onto the virtual page of your computer screen and weblog. Continue reading “Write Like Yourself”
Some bloggers suffer from what I like to call verbal narcissism. Only it’s in writing. Anyway…
To avoid this awful fate, you probably try to keep your posts short, sometimes writing series of blog posts. After all, you don’t want to scare away readers by dumping too much information on them all at once, right?
Makes sense, but what’s weird is it doesn’t work that way.
Many popular posts here are around 1,000 words. But other times, short posts pack the most punch. It’s almost as if the length of a post matters not when it comes to how successful a post becomes.
But how could that be?
First published more than 70 years ago, Dale Carnegie’s guide on people skills entitled “How to Win Friends and Influence People” contains wisdom that is mostly true to this very day, because human nature, for better or worse, does not change much over time.
And even in this brave new world of the Internet and social media, we can still look to age-old truths in deciphering a code to grow an audience (win friends) and successfully engage readers via our blogs (influence people).
Here are eight of these truths … Continue reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People (As a Blogger)”
Do you want to be a successful blogger? Do ideas for posts randomly pop into your head whenever, wherever? Do you think about ways to improve your blog?
How to write more? Better? Faster?
Do you study what the most successful bloggers have done to get to where they are right now?
You are not alone. I do this too. It’s one of my passions. To see what makes the difference. What works, what doesn’t, and to understand the why. Because of this, I can write cute posts like this one.
Here are the seven best habits to have as a blogger.
Continue reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers”
Ever since blogging became mainstream people have been debating about a blog post’s perfect length. A lot of bloggers may read one or two articles about this, and try to follow the rules – never revisiting the issue for as long as they blog. This can be a mistake.
For a definitive answer, the following are three things to consider when you’re trying to decide how long your blog posts should be. Continue reading “How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be?”
Does your blog suck?
How do you even know? You write posts, you’re excited about writing them, you publish them, and then… well, some folks do say they like them, but you’re not getting the kind of results you were hoping for.
But does this mean your blog sucks?
Does this mean your content is not good enough?
Or do you just have to be a bit more patient? Continue reading “Does Your Blog Suck?”
When I was six years old I decided that I wanted to become the richest man in the history of the world. I kept imagining what it would be like: to be powerful, to acquire such vast wealth that I could do anything I wanted. How I’d own houses and apartments in the most interesting of cities, how I’d conquer the world one business deal at a time.
As I grew older I realized that I did not want it. I mean, I did want it, but I wasn’t willing to pay the price. It did not want the journey. I just wanted to be teleported to the destination.
The same goes for blogging. Some people think it’s cool to blog. To write some words on a computer or smartphone, and then have a bunch of other people read and cherish said words.
But they do not want to pay the price. To enjoy the journey. The long and lonely walk towards their destination.
They do not know what to blog about, they do not know what their blog is all about. Quite frankly, most of them do not know what they’re all about. Continue reading “What’s Your Blog Really About?”
Sometimes I like to pretend I’m a photographer. Mostly with other people’s cameras. And the results are oftentimes… not as bad as you’d expect.
I do not research the subject, I do not take classes, I do not read about photography, I do not actively aim to become better.
Yet, somehow, I am becoming better with each photograph I take.
And I wondered why.
Wouldn’t you? Continue reading “How to Be a Boss at Blogging When You Have 0 Followers”
