Path2Hack,s advice to new Bloggers:
Recently, my Friend asked my advice on starting a blog. What I told her is very different from what I would have said a year ago. Many experienced bloggers might disagree with me, but I thought I would share my advice here.
When you first start blogging, there can be a lot of pressure on your shoulders.
You’ve probably read a variety of posts on what you should be doing and how you should be doing it to get started. And, more likely than not, most of these posts will have confused you, as they all say different things.
While there are certainly things you should be doing when you begin blogging, there are also a number of things you don’t need to do. Here are 7 of the most common pieces of advice that you don’t necessarily need to follow.
There is no point is spending hours creating content when nobody’s looking anyway. And sometimes that’s not a bad thing either.
Remember, in the initial days you are testing the waters and you are bound to make mistakes. There is no need for the whole world to know.
Spend more time educating yourself about all aspects of blogging; design, content, promotion, marketing, SEO, etc.
Spend one third of your time creating content. Spend the rest of the time learning about what it takes to sustain a successful blog, developing meaningful connections with fellow bloggers and writing guest posts.
- COMMENT ON BLOG TO DRIVE TRAFFIC
Comment away, but comment for the right reason.
If you have this notion at the back of your mind that you are commenting to drive people to your own blog, then you are writing for the wrong person – the other reader. You need to be commenting for the author of the post.
Comment when you have something valuable to add.
Comment even when you just feel like saying ‘awesome post’.
You might have read that bloggers don’t like receiving comments that just say things like that. I don’t know about others, but I sure do. I dig them.
Go ahead and say that if you want to, only don’t always expect to have a long response from the blogger.
Leave a comment when you want to let the blogger know that you enjoy their posts and you think of them as a friend, perhaps a mentor. If you are being genuine (and bloggers can always sense that), they will love you for that.
If you are new, this is what you believe, right?
If you have been at it for a while, you know this is simply not true, at least not any more.
In the beginning there were a few talented bloggers, but now there are many. Before there was a low supply of excellent writers, now it is huge. And it is becoming impossible to stand out with your content alone.
It is when you have allies in the blogging world who help spread your content that people sit up and take notice. Once you have reached that stage, you can relax and focus on your content only. Then it will be the right time.
- ADD YOUR BLOG TO ONLINE PORTAL
People find blogs through “Word of Blog”, not by searching through millions of blogs listed in catalogues.
I admit I submitted mine to a few when I started out. I have yet to see any traffic from these places.
This is how I find blogs:
- I look at the blogroll of the blogs I am interested in.
- I find it through the links on the blog.
- I follow a guest poster’s links to their own blogs.
- I look at the retweets of bloggers I follow closely, and always find great blogs through that.
- I very occasionally find blogs through comments.
- FOLLOWA LIST BLOG TO STAY INSPIRED
There are many A list Wannabe bloggers who mimic the influencers. There is one big difference though; they keep telling you how they got from 19 subscribers to 6000 subscribers in 6 months.
Firstly, it’s hard to believe. Most probably these so called A-list bloggers are not counting from when they first started blogging. They are not taking into account the time taken to learn everything and form connections with other bloggers.
Do that, and all will be well.
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