Yesterday I talked about how bloggers should be more generous; how they should learn to give more instead of just asking for favors.

Before you can be all 'giving' though, you need to know exactly what you're going to 'give'. Doing favors blindly doesn't make any practical sense - ideally you want to make a meaningful contribution to someone else's life, and to figure out what matters to people in your social circle, you have to listen first.

As bloggers our job is to talk - we talk to our readers, we talk to advertisers, we talk to our employees, we talk smack with competitors - it's pretty much a full-time talking job, blogging.

However, in all this talking we need to find the time to shut up and listen to the people around us - to learn what they want, to learn from their suggestions, criticisms and support, and to spot ideas in what they do and say. Listening to others (and more importantly, to the right people) gives you the kind of knowledge few people can hope to attain, and with that comes the ability to do make a genuine difference in your own life and that of others.

So who should you listen to? Here are a few ideas:

Your Readers: Blogging is about relationships (we keep saying this over and over again), and if you're not in tune with what your readers want, you won't be able to serve them properly and you will, sooner or later, end up loosing them.

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I was going to title this one "The Secret to Earning $10k/month from blogging in just 6 months", but that might have been a bit too much :)

If you want to make $10,000 / month from blogging in 6 months, here is a quick formula for you:

1) Figure out how you can make this a reality (freelance work, build a site to sell it, affiliate marketing, using PPC to sell your own ebook, blogging for hire, create your own site, etc) and create a detailed, step-by-step plan for it.

2) Go for it, now. Don't stop for anything, even for this article to end - just start executing that plan right now.

They say that "good things come to those who wait" - and while I value patience, it has its place and it is often a convenient rationalisation for people who are afraid to take risks. There are times when you have to grab the bull by the horns and attack an opportunity with full strength.

In simple terms...you can't wait for opportunities to knock on your door. You have to put yourself out there, put your blog out there, and make sure that you're first in line when any opportunity comes up. You'll take risks. You'll make mistakes. But you'll be much better off at the end of it than when you started, which is where you would have stayed stuck if you hadn't moved in the first place.

For your blog, this means positioning it to benefit from trends in your niche. For example, for my football blog, I tend to get plenty of search engine traffic for matches as well as for any key incident that happens (celebrity gossip, in-game violence, etc). There are two reasons for this - one, I'm covering these events (taking initiative) and two, my blog ranks high in search engines naturally so that helps individual pages rank highly as well.

If you think about it, all progress on your blog is a function of you taking initiative and going out seeking opportunities instead of sitting at home waiting for them.

That $10k isn't going to come to you if you wait for it (unless your blog earns that much in a month, in which case add a couple of zeros at the end of the number and start over) - you have to get up, get out and work for it, and quite often that means being in the right place to take advantages of the opportunities that arise.

I've talked about this more in my "tips for building a kick-ass blog" article, but I'd like to expand on the idea a bit more.

The basic idea is that you cannot grow as fast by yourself as you can with the help of others (leverage other peoples' resources). There are two ways you can get the help of others - ask them (nicely, of course), or get them to volunteer to help you. Asking (especially if you're paying for it) works wonders, but right now I want to focus on the second option - having people help you of their own accord.

How do you do this as a blogger?

By helping other people - your readers, fellow bloggers, your contacts, your advertisers and your employees. In terms of your relationships, this means going out of your way to help others, doing them favors when asked, and being there for friends when they need your help. You'll have to give first before you can expect anything and for someone who's impatient for results (like me), it would help to remember that this isn't just you giving the store away, it's you investing your resources in your future. Investments, when done in the right place and the right time, can bring about fantastic returns down the line, and so it is with people.

In terms of your blog, this means giving first (providing value to your readers) and giving a lot (don't assume that you can 'ask' them for something after just one week's of good blogging). And what are you 'asking them'? Their trust, their loyalty and their support. You won't ask for it explicitly, but once you've given a lot to your readers you will notice that your readers will start giving back - in terms of comments, praise, feedback, mentions on other blogs and forums, respect, and if you're selling something, money too.

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If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.

You've heard many bloggers talk about how you should 'focus' on a few key projects. Trouble is, not everyone intuitively knows exactly how to turn that 'focus' knob up to 100%, and even if you know how to do that, what do you focus on?

The two keys to having a clear focus in your blogging are 'priorities' and 'concentration'. If you have priorities but no concentration (like me), you'll know what to do but never get anything done because you'll get distracted all the time. On the other hand, if you have concentration but no clear grasp of your priorities, you will be excellent in something but won't make much progress (because you'll be focusing on the wrong things).

It's clear then that we need a strategy for focusing our time and energy. I would recommend using the following model:

Focus 70% on Strengths

Take stock of your strengths as an entrepreneur and blogger (make sure you ask your friends and co-workers for input as well). Are you good at monetizing your blogs? Do you have a knack for creating social bait (linkbait)? Are you a good designer?

The first step is knowing what you're good at. The second step is to ensure that a major portion of your working time is spent focusing on these activities - this is what you're good at, so make sure you profit the most from it.

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Self-Promotion is something most of us are uncomfortable with - and it's not just the prospect of 'selling' that turns us off, in reality its insecurity (cleverly dressed as modesty) that holds us back.

Whether by nature or by society, we are programmed to sell ourselves short. A few months back I was talking to an old college friend and we started talking about careers. In retrospect, his current job was nowhere near as interesting or lucrative as what I'm doing now as a blogger, but when we talked about it, he was confident to the point that I envied him at the spot and felt slightly foolish mumbling something about owning a football news blog and being a online marketing / blogging consultant.

That incident has stuck with me since then, and while I've stopped selling myself short I've realised that it not only does it pay to show initiative, it pays in spades to talk yourself up as the best thing since sliced bread. It's not just an exercise in making your name known or speaking up - if you can do it with confidence without coming off as arrogant, it is the most powerful advertising technique directly available to you (referrals and endorsements are better, but first impressions and the actual sales pitch matter a lot).

As a blogger - whether you want to promote your own services or you're promoting your blog - you have to learn to blow your own horn. No one else will be doing that for you, so celebrate your success (small or big), talk up your achievements and put yourself firmly in the minds of your readers (and anyone else who wants to listen).

Yesterday I talked about competence and excellence - it's a theme you'll be hearing a lot in the next dozen or so articles from me. The basic idea is that "good enough" is never satisfactory - to be successful and to keep moving forward, you have to give it your best shot every single time.

Sometimes you might find it difficult to show up with your "A" game - however, if something is difficult it isn't an excuse for not making it happen. If you find it difficult it just means that you either need to find a shortcut (work smarter) or dig deep and push through (work harder).

Today I want to talk about something related to competence - risk-taking.

Part of the philosophy of giving a project your 100% every day is that you are always pushing for improvements. At one time or the other, this push will require you to take risks, and it is at this point in time that you will feel the most resistance, when you will find it most difficult to 'bring your A-game' to the table.

Risk-taking is an integral fact of business and blogging. Every day we're faced with choices that require us to leave the comfort of the familiar and venture into the unknown.

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If you're a good writer (and a good communicator), you should be able to talk the talk when it comes to blogging about a particular subject.

But can you walk the walk? For a blogger dealing with subjects that involve practical application (self help, any skills-based area (SEO, web design, wood-working, photography, fitness, self defense, etc), competence in your chosen field goes a long way in establishing your credibility.

For example, suppose we're talking about a lady teaching self-defense techniques through her blog. Now short of actually seeing her in a live, unscripted situation, how would you judge her competence in the field that she is teaching? There are several ways to do this (and I'll discuss 5 key steps of doing so in a bit), but the most obvious has to be to show evidence that she practices what she preaches and is successful because of it (social validation works even if the person selling you the idea is showing that it works for them).

This lady should accompany every blog post about a technique or pointer with a video demonstrating how that works. If this was someone doing SEO you'd ask him to show proof that he can actually rank websites highly using his 'suggested methods', and if this was someone talking about digital photography you'd want to see snaps taken by them. Proof in action.

What if you don't have a blog on something that uses practical application? In that case you must show your competence in knowing your field of interest and show your expertise in different ways.

Let flesh this out and look at a 5-step model for demonstrating competence in your chosen field - whether you're a car blogger, a copywriter or a web designer, being "good enough" is NOT good enough. To truly succeed, you must aim to excel, and with that excellence comes natural credibility that oozes through your blogging.

1. Show Up Every Day

Are you still waiting for opportunities to come knocking at your door? There's a saying: "All good things come to him who waits." Unfortunately all that's left by that time is leftovers from people who got there first and took initiative.

In blogging terms, don't just do what is expected of you (by your readers, by the niche, by people who are giving you advice about blogging) but go one step further. Be there working on your blog every day, and instead of taking the option to slack off once or twice a week, show up with your "game" on.

Whether you're blogging or promoting your blog, it's not enough to just go through the motions - give it your best shot; give it 100% every time.

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Today I'd like to ask you two questions:

One - What is your most important goal for your blog?

Two - How committed are you to that goal?

The thing is, we make a lot of promises - but it's the easiest thing in the world to say something, and the hardest to make it happen.

I think it's important to establish what you want to achieve, and what you're willing to do to achieve it, from the start. Sometimes your actions won't match your words, so you may talk about wanting to do one thing (write linkbait) and end up doing the other (write about your cat). By taking out time to analyse your own words and actions, you can understand:

a) what you're doing
b) why you're doing it
c) whether your commitments are realistic or even desirable
d) what you really want to do

The first time you'll do this, it should cause a major paradigm shift in your blogging focus. When I talked about character yesterday I mentioned that part of your blog's character was staying true to your purpose and being in it for the long haul instead of short-term distractions.

It's strong commitment to your blog's purpose that helps you maintain that part of its personality, its character.

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How can you have charisma? Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are making them feel good about you - Dan Reliand

Most people think of charisma as something mystical, almost undefinable. They think it's a quality that comes at birth or not at all. But that's not true. Charisma, plainly stated, is the ability to draw people to you. And like other character traits, it can be developed.

And as I've discussed earlier, your blog (and you) have a certain personality, a brand that can be nurtured, cultivated and molded into anything that you want it to be. Because the personality of a blogger can be one of the biggest 'crowd-pullers' for the blog, it's important that you get it right.

To create a blog that attracts others, you need to integrate the following points into your blog's philosophy:

1. Be Passionate and Positive

Who would you rather spend time with - someone who is grumpy, bitter and depressed, or someone that is cheerful, positive and passionate?

Blogs are the same - most people get turned off from whiners and are attracted to those who have a positive approach towards life (I wouldn't say optimistic - there's a difference in having self-belief and in distorting reality). Or, as they say, when you set yourself on fire (passion), people love to come and watch you burn.

Being positive is more than just avoiding the urge to criticise - it's a conscious attempt to focus on how things can be made better instead of focusing on what's wrong, it's the drive to focus on the good rather than on the bad. You cannot be blind to a fault or a mistake, but you can choose what you spend your time on - pointing out what's wrong or showing people how to fix it.

And just about every successful blogger I know speaks with passion and conviction - it's not an add-on trait, this is perhaps the single-most important ingredient to blogging success (and success in life).

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Your blog has its own personality, regardless of whether you actively cultivate it or allow it to develop haphazardly. Your readers are attracted to your blog for a reason, and its personality plays a pivotal role in attracting visitors and converting them into regular readers.

When your blog slowly converts passerbys into regular readers, a relationship of trust develops between your blog and them. It is this trust that forms the basis of how your blog deals with its readers and as such the blogger (you) must do what it takes to establish and maintain that trust.

This is where your blog's character comes in.

Let's discuss for a minute what I DON'T mean by character:

• I'm not talking about being morally right (immoral content goes, as long as that's what the blog is designed for).
• I'm not talking about reporting only the facts (rumours work, as long as that's what...you get the idea).
• This has nothing to do with the blogger (well, maybe a bit) - quite often the blog takes on a completely different personality from the blogger, and if that sells, that's fine too. You don't HAVE to be your blog, and your blog doesn't HAVE to be you.

So what am I talking about?

Character in a blog means:

• Delivering on what you promise (integrity and reliability are cornerstones for building trust).
• Doing what you do to the best of your ability (effort and quality will be your secret weapons for converting visitors).
• Staying true to your purpose in face of adversity or success (don't allow short-term results to distract you from long-term objectives).

You may not have the most popular blog, or the best looking, or the most profitable. All those things are important, and we've talked about how to achieve all these things at Performancing. You don't build a successful blog by copying the top bloggers on what they're doing right now - you look at what they did at the start, what type of 'foundational work' they did to reach this level.

Getting the foundations of your blog and removing the cracks in it should be your first and foremost responsibility - everything else flows from that.