I know you’re expecting part 2 of my jumping on the Social Bandwagon series, but I’m trying to convince my good buddy Ryan Critchett to agree to do a podcast with me about how to get leads using Twitter 
. Today I thought I’d talk about something else. First off, I apologise for the fact that it’s been over two weeks since my last post – I’ve been super busy!
Anyway, today I thought I’d talk about going back to square one with a blog. At the beginning of July I stopped blogging on BeliefandAction.com. Many people questioned this because I had been posting regularly, done a number of interviews and was starting to build quite a successful blog (or so I believe!).
However, I decided to change to this blog at the beginning of September.
Was it easy? No it wasn’t. Believe it or not, I’m still getting 500 unique visitors to the site every month!
I’ve been blogging for about ten months now, and have learnt some really valuable lessons about blogging. I have shared them with you below:
1. Are you passionate about the topic? I lost my passion in personal development and gained passion in business and blogging; and that’s why I moved here! If you can’t think of several topics to write about off the top of your head, it’s probably not the right area for you. Your readers will sense your passion (or lack thereof) in your blog posts. Belief and Action didn’t correlate with what I was blogging about, so I moved!
2. You get out what you put in. Now this is essential. If you aren’t prepared to spend time commenting on other blogs, engaging on Social and building long-term relationships with others, you’ll really struggle to grow your blog. Also make sure that you take your time writing posts and reply to every single comment on your blog.
3. Keep momentum flowing – make it a part of your life. A very successful family friend said this to me: “Whenever you want to become successful at something, you’ve got to make it part of your life.” If blogging becomes an ingrained habit, you will find it much easier to take your blog from strength to strength. Being completely honest, the momentum I lost when I was away from the computer for two and a half weeks in July has not yet been regained.
4. Manage your time effectively. This can go two ways. Either you can spend far too much time blogging and socialising at the expense of other important work and tasks (been there!), or you can not spend enough time on your blog and in the community, maybe because you’re too busy (erm, yes I can certainly relate to this!). I think that it’s important to set a bit of a structure in the place from day one. The real question is, how much time can you afford to spend on your blog each week? Other important questions include: How often do you want to post? A predictable posting schedule is important for yourself, your readers and let’s not forget that Google loves it too! How much time can you spend commenting on other blogs and/or arranging guest posts? I believe that these are very important questions to ask. If my super-busy buddy Marcus Sheridan finds time to post at least twice a week, then heck, none of us have any excuse not to either! It’s important to remember that different things work for different people depending on time and personal preferences etc.
5. It’s not rocket science. Trust me, there’s nothing complex about blogging. I think some people are a bit daunted by how apparently complicated it is. Well, let me tell you something now – it isn’t hard at all! If you’re unsure where to start you can easily set up a free blog on Tumblr or Blogger and go from there. Plus, there’ll surely be loads of kind people in the blogosphere who are willing to give you a helping hand. Focussing on writing quality content and building relationships is a very solid foundation for any blog.
6. Why do you blog? Maybe I should have put this at the beginning, but here it is! Establishing and building a successful blog is a huge time investment, so be sure to think about this before you start blogging. What is the point of your blog? What do you want to achieve? Maybe you just blog because you’ve got something interesting to say and love interacting with other people, like the awesome Bill Dorman (who also happens to be one of the funniest guys in the blogosphere!). If you want to promote your products and/or services, bear this in mind when you build your blog.
7. Respect. Respect your readers with the content you put up. Respect their time by focussing on high quality posts and adding value to your readers. Respect them by not pushing your products and/or services in their face. Respect them by replying to every comment. Respect yourself by writing about topics you are passionate and knowledgeable about.
Your turn. What did you think of the list? How much have you learnt since you started blogging? If you haven’t blogged before and want to start, what is stopping you?
8 comments
Bill Dorman
November 30, 2011 at 1:02 pm (UTC 0)
That Dorman, he’s such a funny guy………..:).
Thanks for the mention; because my business model is a little different I can devote the time to a personal blog. As I mentioned in the post, I view the ‘social’ in social media like a Chamber of Commerce event. I will wade in and meet many different people and I will just see where it goes from there. Because my blog is not my primary driver of business, I can spend time on relationship building.
I think your essentials are pretty spot on; the one thing I would add is don’t feel like you are jumping in at the 20 meter line of a 100 meter dash (which a lot of people do and get burnt out). Don’t be afraid to go slow and steady until you get your direction.
Bill Dorman recently posted..3 totally awesome names in social
Robert@The Biz Blogger
November 30, 2011 at 2:09 pm (UTC 0)
Yeah he is!
No problem on the mention. Exactly. After all, relationships and community is the most important part of blogging. It explains why you have such a great blog, and I think that most of your regular readers love the fact that you’re not trying to sell them anything.
That’s extremely true Bill, too many people ‘burn out’ relatively early on. Its certainly a marathon not a sprint.
Thanks for stopping by as usual bud! Hope all is well with you.
Robert@The Biz Blogger recently posted..Back to Square One – 7 Essential blogging lessons
Man Ray@SEO Reseller
December 6, 2011 at 9:18 am (UTC 0)
Number 3′s very important. There are bloggers out there who suddenly lose the passion of cooking something up halfway, so you better make sure that you’re still up for the challenge. I’ll be taking note of these tips that you shared here!
Ashvini
December 7, 2011 at 1:57 pm (UTC 0)
Some Great tips here from you Robert.
I am sure that you have done the right thing as your reasons speak for themselves. In my opinion, you can have two blogs now. Keeping the old one intact and adding to it a fewer number of times while fully working on the new one. Just my two cents. I think you will get more ideas now for both of them.
Best of luck for new blog. I have bookmarked it .
Ashvini recently posted..How to deal with the naysayers in a positive way?
Robert
December 7, 2011 at 2:19 pm (UTC 0)
Thanks Ashvini.
Yes that’s true. You can certainly have two blogs. Thank you for your continuing support and well wishes.
I’m going to head over to your blog soon, haven’t been there for a while!
Speak soon,
Robert
Robert recently posted..Back to Square One – 7 Essential blogging lessons
Alan | Life's Too Good
December 14, 2011 at 1:03 am (UTC 0)
Hey Robert,
I actually came here via your old URL but want to say congratulations on the switch. I totally get it that you need to have passion for what you’re doing and it’s great that you actually changed when you did – better than sticking with it for longer then getting fed up and giving up completely.
What amazes me is how much there is to learn – I’m really looking to build relationships and get to know other blogggers but I have so many bookmarked articles, to do lists, podcasts to listen to, videos, ebooks not to mention all of the things I’ve just started doing and need to maintain or grow… sometimmes I get a little lost but it’s all very exciting!!
Anyways, what I really wanted to say is congrats on the new direction – you have just re-focused where many others may have just stopped … which is what true success is all about…
Alan | Life’s Too Good recently posted..4 Tips To Make Exercising Fun
Robert
December 18, 2011 at 9:07 pm (UTC 0)
Hey Alan,
Thanks for stopping by, and especially for coming over and commenting from my old blog
I was never going to give up but I just felt that the topics that I blogged about on BeliefandAction.com were not very aligned to ‘personal development’ per se.
Yes, there is always a great deal to learn! It’s easy to get ‘lost’ in the blogosphere, I recommend steady growth when you start out – focus on building a handful of real relationships rather than dozens of meaningless and unsustainable ones. It takes us all a while to find a happy medium between growth, networking and not using up too much of our valuable time.
Thank you for your kind words Alan!
PS I saw the other comments, sorry for taking a few days to approve your comment and reply. Hope to see you here again soon! Good luck with your journey. Feel free to contact me if you need any help.
Robert recently posted..Back to Square One – 7 Essential blogging lessons
Alan@Life's Too Good the Free Life Coaching, Health, Wealth and Business Coaching site
December 18, 2011 at 10:56 pm (UTC 0)
Thanks Robert,
“It takes us all a while to find a happy medium between growth, networking and not using up too much of our valuable time.”
you can say that again!!!
(but I think I might be on the right track to finding that happy medium – then again even though I wasn’t spending my time as wisely a few months ago I was even happy maximum cos it’s all good learning
)
take care & best wishes,
Alan
Alan@Life’s Too Good the Free Life Coaching, Health, Wealth and Business Coaching site recently posted..Be Mindful: 12 Inspiring Articles You Can Read Today To Help You Start Practicing Mindfulness