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Archives for September 2007

Learn To Blow Your Horn

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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).

Risk-Taking Bloggers Make More Money

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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.

Should you hire a new writer? Is this new ad network worth your time? Will you take time out today to build links to your blog instead of writing your daily 5 articles? Is it a good idea to purchase advertising on that site or would it be smarter to keep the money and reinvest into a new design?

When faced with choices, our minds do something very interesting. You will intuitively know what the right decision is (as long as your priorities for your blog are straight), but whether you will be emotionally inclined towards it will depend on how ‘familiar’ it is. With choices that result in taking the unknown path (i.e. taking a risk), chances are that you will come up with rationalisations to avoid taking that step.

Real-world example – I have a friend who runs a very successful construction business. It takes him 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, plus another 6 hours on Sunday. That’s 78 hours per week of work, and this guy is running himself into the ground while building his business up. On one hand he’s happy with his success, but on the other hand it’s clear that he’d like to grow but cannot scale the business. Why Not? Because he hasn’t found a way to replicate himself.

This is a situation many bloggers are familiar with. After a certain point it becomes impossible for a blog to grow unless the owner leverages money for other peoples’ time instead of working on it 24 hours a day. Whether it is hiring a designer or a programmer or just to bring in new writers, it’s a risk the blogger has to take and as a result there’s a natural resistance to it.

This fear of the unknown (for that’s what it is – fear) limits you as a blogger. To paraphrase the Roman historian Tacitus (who was talking about leaders), the desire to play safe stands against every great blogger and blog. There will come a time when you will hit a plateau in your blog – and if you want to move past it, you will have to overcome your fear of the unknown, take risks and push forward to the next level.

Risk Taking 101

Some people look at guys like Tim Ferriss and Matt Furey and wonder how some people can accomplish so much in their lives – it seems inhuman until you realise that these people have an extraordinary willingness to take risks and explore the unknown. This drive doesn’t always pay off, but in most cases you end up being better off than before.

Today’s takeaway: Look at your blog and your blogging efforts and pinpoint the risks that you’ve been avoiding for the last few weeks or even months. Pick one of these risks, discuss the options with your friends and family (or people who know your business) and if it’s the right thing, do it.

And then repeat this once a day (or once a week if you’re doing ‘projects’) with your blog. You don’t have to turn into blind risk-taker, but by constantly pushing your limits and what you do with your blog you’ll not only grow your blog but you’ll also discover new opportunities in blogging and business that were never available to you before.

So, Tell Me Again, Which Links Will Count In The Future?

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SEO extraordinaire Dee Barizo discusses the topic of long-term linkbuilding and how you should focus on the sort of links that will most likely still be relevant in the future.

Following on a video posted by Rand at SEOMoz, Dee suggests that the best way to answer this question is to focus on “links which would exist even if Google wasn’t around.”

Personally, I think that there is a major flaw in this line of thinking. It assumes that there is a definite answer to the question “Which links would exist even if Google wasn’t around?”

In asking this question, we’re supposed to answer a counterfactual that *just doesn’t match reality* – Google does exist, and Google’s existence colors the environment in which links exist.

Rather than focus on the sort of links that might exist even if Google wasn’t around (which asks us to build links as if we were in some alternative universe) I think that Dee’s answer to the question “What are the sort of links that will still be relevant in the future” is best found in another post that he made entitled The Value of a Balanced Link Portfolio.

You want a simple answer to an eminently important question? Here it is: if you want links that will count in the future, then focus on building a stable, balanced portfolio. Don’t use just one single strategy.

So really you just two need things: 1) links that will still be there in the future and 2) links from a variety of sources (directories, blog comments, blog posts, article posts, run of site sidebar, etc.)

One more principle: not all links need to be niche-relevant, but at least 60% of your links should be.

So let’s sum it up. For long term linkbuilding, it’s pretty straight forwad:

1. You want links that stand a fighting chance of still being there 12 months from now
2. You want links from a variety of sources, 60-80% of which are niche-relevant.

Yo Problogger, Where You From?

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My friend David Peralty is doing something that should be lots of fun. David has started what will become THE comprehensive list of probloggers around the world.

If you make at least $100 per month, make sure to submit your name and location. David is taking submissions in the comment section of his eXtra For Every Publisher blog.

Looking forward to seeing where everyone is from!

Oh, and David has told me that it’s ok to just post your name, URL and location in the comment section of this thread and he’ll pick it up.

Are You Settling For “Good Enough” Or Pushing To Be The Best?

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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.

When 99% of your competition is going to slack off, just showing up and making the effort every day will make a world of difference to your blog’s success. And when it comes to credibility, nothing is better than establishing a habit in the lives of your readers. If you can get your readers to return, on their own, to your blog every day to read what you’ve written, your biggest job in terms of branding and reader loyalty is done. And how does this happen? When your readers see that you’re making a special effort to give them something interesting to read every day, and when what you’re blogging actually helps / fulfills a need for your readers.

2. Keep Improving

Sometimes (I’ve been guilty of this more than once) there’s a tendency in bloggers to take their foot off the gas when things start going well. For example, suppose that your blog hits the search engine rankings jackpot in October and thanks to AdSense and affiliate product sales, your blog’s revenues go from $1000/month to $5000/month. A 5x jump is nothing to laugh at, but it has the possible danger of allowing you to relax, kick back and enjoy the moment.

That is worst possible thing you can do at that point (short of shutting your blog down, that is) – remember that the results you see today from your blog are a direct consequence of your actions in the past few months. It’s the hard work you put in all those months leading up to this ‘boom’ that is showing you the profits. Similarly, what you do today will have an impact on how your blog performs in the next few months.

If you let up, your blog will go downhill again after the boom dies out, and it’ll be back to the grindstone again for you. On the other hand, if you DON’T stop to pat yourself on the back and instead keep working on improving your blog, the rewards will be even greater in a few months time.

3. Follow Through

It’s one thing to be able to practice what you preach – it’s quite another to deliver on the promises that you and your blog make. Following through doesn’t apply just to what you say to your readers on the blog (although it’s a big part of it) – your blog itself makes certain promises to your readers and it’s up to you to make sure that you follow through, with excellence, on those promises.

In a world where more and more consumers are finding that it’s easier to switch providers instead of push for product improvement, your ability to deliver on your promises will be your primary strategy in gaining an edge against your competition.

4. Accomplish More Than Expected

A constant theme throughout this article has been that as a blogger, you should be looking to do more than what is expected of you. Considering that you have a role in setting those expectations, it follows that you should be setting the minimum standard a bit high and then, every day, focus on doing better than that.

When you under-promise and over-deliver, your customers are impressed. But when you promise quality and THEN you over-deliver, you earn fans.

5. Inspire Others

Does your blogging provide inspiration to your readers? If you look at the top bloggers, a defining aspect of their time as bloggers has been their ability to inspire their readers directly because of their success in their specific field. Excellence combined with good communication skills (i.e. good blogging) is a guaranteed way to build your blog’s fan club. Most people look for external sources of inspiration when it comes to doing something in their lives – if you can be that source for your readers, not only will they be lifelong fans but they will also talk about your blog everywhere.

From “Good Enough” to “Great”

Ryan reminded me that this article was somewhat incomplete, so I’ve added suggestions on what to do when you want to push your game from being ‘good enough’ towards ‘being excellent’.

  1. Get your head in the game: If you’ve been mentally or emotionally detached from your work, it’s time to reengage. This often happens when we’re distracted by real-life stress that *shouldn’t* be there, or if we get involved in too many secondary activities and forget the core objectives of our blog(s).

    First, rededicate yourself to your job. Determine to give it an appropriate amount of time of your undivided attention. Second, figure out why you have been detached. Do you need new challenges? Are you in conflict with your boss or coworkers? Are you in a dead-end niche with no prospect of growth?

    Identify the source of the problem, and create a plan to resolve it. This will never happen unless you give your project your undivided attention.

  2. Redefine the standard: If you’re not performing at a consistently high level, reexamine your standards. Are you shooting too low? Do you cut corners? If so, hit your mental reset button, and outline more demanding expectations for yourself.

  3. Find 3 ways to improve: Nobody keeps improving without being intentional about it. Do a little research to find three things you can do to improve your blogging skills. Then, dedicate the time (and money, if necessary) to follow through on them.

What About You?

Do you settle for being good enough in your blogging, or do you push forward and give it your absolute best, every single time?

Why Blog for Someone Else?

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I’m a blogger for hire. Companies, networks and even individuals hire me to blog. Each client has different terms to his contract, but for the most part I spend much of my day blogging for others. Some bloggers look down on me, while others want to know how to get the same deal. Today I’d like to talk to you about the pros and cons of blogging for someone else.

Pros:

  • Steady Paycheck – Though I have my own well-peforming blogs, the income can be unpredictable. When I blog for others, I know I’ll be earning a monthly salary – as well as bonuses for traffic or a job well done.
  • Technical Support – One thing I like about blogging for someone else is how that person is responsible for the technical stuff. I’m challenged technically and I’d much rather let someone else handle all that stuff anyway.
  • Training – Blogging for someone else is a great way to learn the tricks of the trade while earning a paycheck. Many networks offer training, SEO and traffic building tips and advice and more.
  • Advertising and Proomotion – Other people handle the advertising and some of the promotion. That’s not to say you won’t be asked to do some promotion, and really, if you want bonuses you’ll have to pimp your blog, but the staff does handle some of it as well.
  • You have access to some great tools -People who hire bloggers do so because they want their blogs to succeed. Many of them are willing to pull out al the stops, giving you access to some nifty bells and whistles.

Cons

  • Some people are clueless – Many people are jumping on the bandwagon to hire bloggers, but have no clue about what’s involved. They totally miss the spirit of blogging. I’ve worked for people who really don’t want blogs, they’re looking for articles to stock their website. I had one “editor” who used to come in and edit my work because it was too conversational. I had another who insisted I adhered to no more or no less than a certain amount of words per post. Another, shut off the comment feature because he felt it “too distracting.” Needless to say, I didn’t last long with any of these clients.
  • The quotas – Most clients want you to blog a certain amount per day or week. It’s not always easy to make that quota, especially if it’s unrealistic.
  • Tech Support – Though you do get technical assistance, if you’re with a network you may have to wait in line. You’re at the mercy of someone else’s server failures, coding errors and other technical issues.
  • You can’t always write what you like – You might have to follow a set of guidelines.

Blogging for others indeed has it’s ups and downs. I have to say though, I’m really enjoying my job. I get to write about what I like, meet some incredible people and I’m earning more than I did as an Administrative /Editorial Assistant in New York City. I think it helps to know what you’re doing. If you know about blogging and traffic and community building, you can apply the same techniques to blogs you don’t own. You might even earn some decent traffic bonuses. Some clients cut you in on some of the advertising revenue on top of your salary too.

There’s another benefit to blogging for someone else. When I first started my own blogs, they weren’t bringing in much of an income. Building up a blogging clientele enables me to earn a living while building my own blogs. For me, the pros far outweigh the cons.

23 Simple Health Tips For Bloggers

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Last week, I asked a simple question and one which bloggers and Internet freelancers often ignore: What do you do to stay healthy?. Such a question is easy to ignore, and any discussion of the topic is easy to dismiss as irrelevant mumbo-jumbo. But I can assure you that it’s not.

I also made the case in that post that health is a topic of vital importance. Think about it. Why do you work? You work, fundamentally, to preserve and enhance your own life and the life of your family. Many of us get so obsessed with work that we forget why we do it, and in the process, neglect the very things we work for: ourselves.

As a blogger, your well-being should be something you think about. You should pay attention to the state of your body and the state of your mind. Do you find yourself feeling sluggish a lot of the time? Do you find yourself feeling depressed? These are signs that your body is giving you that are indicative of something being wrong. By taking these signs seriously, you can use them as cues for action.

The good news is that I can personally attest to the fact that respecting and committing time to the health of your own body can pay huge dividends. Your mind will be clearer. Your motivation to act and be productive will get stronger. Your ability to interact with and enjoy other people will increase.

Over the last two years I’ve been systematically trying to take my body seriously. I’ve taken its cues and made every attempt to improve my overall quality of life. Below, I’ve listed 23 tips that will help you do the same.

Twenty-Three Health Tips For Bloggers

1. Before you drink coffee in the morning, drink a glass of water (keep a steady supply of water at your desk). This will help minimize the negative fidgety-buzz that coffee can give you.

2. Start your day off with a 20 minute walk

3. Walk away from the computer at least once every two hours and take a step outside

4. Keep at least one 10-25 pound dumbell by your desk, and use it at least once a day when you notice that your in the middle of a productivity funk.

5. Eat one small meal every 2-3 hours

6. Start your day off with twenty minutes of Yoga or Pilates. I’m personally a fan of the GAIAM series.

7. If you can’t sleep, take a sleeping pill. Sleep is critical to your overall well being. Just make sure not to take sleeping pills more than 3 days in a row.

8. If you feel sluggish, get down on the floor and do some push-ups

9. If your mind feels twitchy, it’s probably because you’ve had too much coffee. Drink some water and get some fresh air.

10. If you feel depressed or sad, immediately find a friend on AIM or in a private forum to talk with. It does wonders.

11. Buy an odometer/speedometer for your bike. Then go for a bike ride around 2pm each day. It’ll give you a “second-wind” for the day. Challenge yourself to go a little bit further and a little bit faster each day.

12. If you’re in a healthy relationship, have sex at least once every 3 days. I’m dead serious about this. It can be critical to both mental and physical stability.

13. If you’re addicted to IMing, porn, RSS reading, movie watching, shoe shopping, music searching or whatever else dominates your time…. TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOURSELF and YOUR TIME … addictions of any kind are not healthy – a healthy person has full control over him or herself.

14. Once a quarter, try something new. A hobby, an online project, a daily habit. Trying something new and succeeding at it is both physically stimulating and mentally liberating.

15. Buy a dog. While a puppy may result in mental torture and sleep deprivation for a few months, the benefits are pricless. Dogs lift your spirit and can give you the incentive you need to take a walk. But please don’t buy a dog unless you are serious about giving it a walk at least twice a day.

16. Try detoxing your body for a week. When I’m feeling really bad physically, I use two principles: A) Drink nothing but water and B) Eat nothing but fruits, vegetables and nuts

17. Get some sun. Seriously. Half an hour of good skin exposure to the sun can revive the body.

18. Find an excercise partner to help stay motivated. If you can’t find an exercise partner, motivate yourself through the habit forming stage with a massively enticing reward (50 inch Samsung LCD with a PS3 anyone)?

19. Minimize your intake of processed breads and carbs. Keep a healthy stash of nuts and fruits (grapes and walnuts are a great snack) to satisfy your snack cravings.

20. Guys, challenge yourself to work on the beer gut everyday for 10 minutes and stick with it. Take that challenge as seriously as you take your latest internet project or fantasy football team. Girls, challenge yourself to work on the cellulite areas. Take that challenge as seriously as you take your latest internet project or the your desire to get your 101st handbag.

21. Don’t drink alcohol after 7pm. Not only can it prevent you from sleeping deeply, but it can also result in more carb-based weight gain. Or…you might wake up the next day with a bad headache;-)

22. Challenge yourself to save alcohol and desserts only on the weekends. Your body will feel much more stable during the week if you keep it toxic free.

23. Your mental health demands that you are working on projects that you enjoy and that elicit creativity. If you find yourself bogged down in meaningless, tedious work, start taking the steps to transition into healthy, rewarding work by carving out time each day to pursue your own interests (rather than those of your boss – even if your boss in an alter-ego of yourself;-)

4 Tips For Improving The Conversation On Your Blog

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Blogging is a one-to-many medium, but smart bloggers know who to turn it into an active group conversation between the readers and themselves. This requires the ability to communicate effectively – and it’s something that us bloggers can train ourselves to do better.

Here are four simple tips to help you improve your communication skills – this will not only help you in blogging but also in your networking efforts and life in general.

1. Simplify Your Message

Quite often what you say gets drowned out in how you say it. This happens because we tend to add extra, unnecessary information to our message.

Forget about impressing people with big words or complex sentences. They can make you look smart for a while but at the end of the day if you’re not getting the results (as a blogger this could be subscriptions, comments, product sales, etc), then all your efforts are meaningless.

Omit needless words. Keep things simple and focus on one thing at a time. Each blog post of yours has a particular purpose (that could be search engine traffic, comments, subscriptions, links, etc). Keep that purpose in mind and write accordingly.

Getting your message across means that you have to make what you’re saying absolutely clear to the other person. Don’t attach your feelings, second thoughts or justifications to your message – just be clear, be clear, be clear.

2. Talk To The Person

As bloggers we tend to have this annoying tendency to ramble on – it’s as if we like hearing ourselves talk (or reading our own words). The trouble with this approach is that when you write like this you have the wrong audience in mind. Who is your audience – your own ego or the guy sitting at home on a Thursday night looking for the banned Alicia Silverstone ad?

It is super-important to get the right picture in your mind about your intended audience BEFORE you start writing. Ask yourself who your audience is, what their needs are, how you can fulfill them and how much time you have to do this (time can be limited by a number of factors – attention span (can’t write too long a post), competition (be first with the news), etc.).

When blogging, remember that you’re talking to your audience and they have specific needs, motivations and preferences. If you don’t respect that, they won’t respect you.

3. Be Credible

People won’t believe you / trust what you say if they doubt your credibility.

There are two ways to convey credibility to your audience: First, show conviction – if you are confident and believe in what you say, it shows through your writing and attracts readers to you.

Second, back up what you say with your actions. If you are preaching a certain SEO technique or are giving weight loss tips, it makes a world of difference if your audience can see that you follow what you preach. For each blogger it will be a different story – celebrity bloggers can’t practice what they’re preaching (primarily because there’s not much preaching going on)- but in many cases you’ll have situations where you can boost your credibility and if you get the chance, make it count.

4. Seek a Response

As you blog, remember that the goal of all your blog posts is action. If you dump a bunch of information on people without leading them to the next step, you’re not doing your job. Every time you blog, give your audience something to feel (the need to improve their blogging skills), something to remember (how to be a better communicator) and something to do (the formula to become a better communicator).

If you’re successful in doing that, your blogging will improve and your audience will become more responsive to what you are asking them to do.

Takeaway

If you want to engage your readers and improve the conversation on your blog, you have to a) be clear, b) refocus your attention towards the audience and c) become credible.

Anyone can ask their readers for action (although it’s surprising how many people forget to do so) – but no one is going to listen to your subtle or obvious suggestions unless they have a reason to do so. And unless your audience understands and can relate to your message, they won’t feel inclined to respond.

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