How to Blog Successfully

Why should I start a blog?

Let me reformulate a little bit. Why do people start a blog? Well, there are a lot of possible answers. Actually, there are as many answers as … bloggers.

However, we can try to extract some of the most common answers people give to this important question.

I have something to say

People start to blog because they have something to say about a subject matter and they want to express their thoughts, agreements, disagreements or just opinions about a particular topic. Maybe they want to make a difference.

I want money

Another reason is … money. This is a powerful reason. People know money can be made by blogging and want a little bit of the treasure for themselves. We know there are bloggers that earn big money blogging and we want to do the same.

It is important to know that blogging is not for everyone and the number of successful bloggers is little. However, there is a lot of potential to make money from your blog.

Hard work, smart work and patience will definitely create an income stream and there are plenty activities that can generate income.

I am or want to be an expert

Another reason is to become an expert in a particular field. Actually, it is not only to become an expert but to be known as such, to establish yourself as an expert. If you are really knowledgeable in a field, you can use a blog to expand your presence and increase the awareness of your brand (or of you as a brand).

I love to help people

Maybe you are a generous, caring person who love people and want to help them overcome their obstacles in a particular field. With a blog you have the chance to share your experience to other people. You have been there, done that, you walked the walk and now it’s time to offer your knowledge and expertise to those in need.

Do you feel like a blogger?

It is very important to know if blogging is for you. Many people start furiously and fail miserably after just a few months. Before starting a blog you should really consider if blogging is really your thing. Here are a few questions to help you find out.

What do you feel about writing?

Let me reformulate this: How much do you like to write? Do you feel pleasure when you write or not? Some people hate writing. It is not a shame. Writing must come NATURALLY to you otherwise it will be tough to resist.

You cannot build a successful blog, update it frequently, engage your readers, make comments and promote without a minimum writing pleasure. It won’t work. Just do something else.

How much do you like to express your thoughts?

We all have opinions, ideas, thoughts but many people don’t like to share them or to express them in writing. It’s a natural feeling and it happens so many times. Do you like to communicate your thoughts and express your feelings to other people? Yes? Blogging might be exactly for you. No? Sorry. Blogging is not your thing.

Do you like to research?

Research is critical for the success of your blog. Today, most research is done on the internet so Do you like to spend time surfing the huge WWW?

Are you comfortable spending, at least, 2-3 hours a day researching for different topics? Yes? Go on and start your blog. No? Ask somebody else to do it or just quit.

Are you the learning type?

To put it simply: Do you like to learn? Blogging means to constantly learn new things: new technologies, strategies, tactics, concepts, ideas etc. Blogs, blogging, internet and technology are constantly changing so you need to keep up. You need to learn new things every week and maybe every day. Are you willing to do that?

Are you a good communicator?

You have to evaluate your communication skills a little bit. Are you willing to engage in conversation? Are you willing to make comments and reply to other people’s comments? How do you feel when you are criticized? Can you handle it? Yes? Go and do it. No? Stop and do something different.

Do you like the topic of your blog?

This question may sound strange but there are so many people who start a blog about a topic they don’t really like. Why? Simply because they know or somebody told them this topic is a hot niche to make money from. So they start to write and talk about things they don’t like and quickly become bored and quit. With no passion about the subject there is no way to resist more than a few months.

What does it take to make a quality blog?

Valuable content

A successful blog offers a lot of valuable content to its readers. As a matter of fact, this is the key to succeed: to add value to the life of your readers. Interesting, useful posts will make them want to return for more. Do you have something to say?

Two-way communication

A one-way blog where the blogger just expresses his or her thoughts and opinions but has no interest in what other people have to say is doomed. You have to engage in conversation with your readers, to respond to comments and be conversational.

You are the one an only

A blog must reflect the personality of the blogger so do not fear to put things in your own particular way. In fact this is exactly what you have to do. Express your thoughts and opinions in your own, unique way. You is you and there is nothing more youer than you.

This is exactly what people are looking for: a real, unique person who expresses his or her knowledge, expertise, thoughts and opinions in a very personal way. A person who talks about his or her experiences, successes, failures and offers a personal path to follow. Do this and (believe me) people will like you and follow you.

Visual appearance

In the present world visual appearance is paramount. You HAVE to fill your blog with beautiful pictures and videos if you want to attract readers. Content is king but the way you put it can be equally important.

Everywhere you look you see people who are trying to make their blogs more and more beautiful. This is a powerful way to attract readers and keep them.

You must update

In order to be powerful a blog must be not only visually attractive but also fresh. You need to update it frequently bringing more and more information to the table. This will keep you readers hungry for more. They will return over and over again to see what’s new. Do not fail them. Update frequently. Decide how much you will post and how frequently. One post a week is not enough. 2-3 posts a week is much better. 1 post a day is excellent, if you can keep up.

Blog commenting

Blog commenting is one of the most powerful driving traffic techniques. Find 3-4 really important blogs within your niche, go there and start to make thoughtful and useful comments on different topics. Always respond to other people’s comments. This is how you can send people to your blog, engage in conversation and build a community around your blog.

Linking is powerful

You have to include links in your blog and in your blogposts. Links will help your readers find more information on a particular topic. Also a link will help you increase your rankings in the search engines. Aim for powerful links not for many links and use the power of internal links to your advantage. Trackbacks are a particular type of links that point to your blog and are very powerful not only for search engines but for driving more traffic to your blog. Aim for as many trackbacks as possible.

What to do in the beginning?

I will not insist on the elementary steps: choose a niche, buy hosting and a domain, install your blog, install and configuring your theme, upload plugins etc. What really interests me is what you do next. The most important step in the beginning is creating content. How?

1. The crucial element: questions

It doesn’t matter what your domain, niche, topic is. You have to start by asking questions. Go to huge sites like Google, Ezinearticles, Squidoo, Quora, Technorati etc. Find your niche and start to dig in. Imagine or identify the most important questions. Ask them. Do searches. Note the important questions as they appear.

Make a list with as many questions as you can. Study the list and identify 3-4 questions that really interest you. Make a list from the most interesting to the least interesting question. Choose the one that sparks the most interest in you.

From now on you will focus only on this particular question. Try to break it. Try to derive as many other questions from this one. These derived questions will help you create the content for your blog. Make a list that begins with your most important questions and includes the questions you derived from it.

2. Find answers to your questions

Now, it’s research time. You need to find answers to your questions. Write down all the answers you can find in a file and save it on your desktop. Research and read. Constantly.

3. Create the posts

Now that you have the questions and the answers you can start to write. Take each topic, formulate the question and carefully write your answer in a concise and personal manner. Do not rewrite. Create your own version of the answer. Add as much information as you can. Then take the next topic and write the answer. This is how you will make your content.

Dangerous mistakes to avoid

Posting like there is no tomorrow

Some people make all kind of calculations. They say, for example, that you need to write at least 2 blog posts a day in order to attract the attention of the search engines (they have found this somewhere or somebody told them) so they have to write at least 3-4 posts a day in order to succeed fast and be rich.

They start posting like hell on their blog. After a week, maybe two weeks, they are exhausted and Google has still no idea about their existence. Another two weeks and they decide blogging is not for them. Who’s to blame?

Instead of blogging huge amounts of content and fail, try to determine how much can you really write and what’s the posting frequency you are comfortable with. You will need to make a few attempts but soon you will know how much and how often you can post. Then just stick to your personal frequency and … succeed.

The news guy

Do not try to be the first who bring up the news. You will soon compete with powerful news sites and you have no chance to win. Instead of always being the one who brings the news, try to increase the diversity of your blog.

Increase the number of ideas that are relevant to your content. Talk about the obstacles you encounter and how do you plan to overcome them.

I am all-seeing, all-powerful and I’m everywhere

As a matter of fact you must not be everywhere. You will piss off a lot of people and make enemies. Don’t try to post on every important blog you can find, or every social media you hear of. Instead you need to make priorities. What social networks will you use? It’s better to choose only 3-4 big social networks, make a hierarchy and start with the one that you fell the most important for what you want to achieve

Be careful about the so-called experts

There is a lot of hype out there, on the net. There are a lot of gurus willing to show you the fastest and simplest blogging strategy that will make you money in no time. Always avoid those guys. Their strategies won’t help you. On the contrary they will kill your blog.

It is better to start by your own and learn what works and what doesn’t work even if it takes a little bit of time, than to follow the first guy with the big money solution in his hand. It is big money indeed, but for him, not for you.