So how many “Top 10 Things” or “7 Best Tips” type blogs do you find that pull on negativity from the blogosphere, flip the script to a half glass full scenario, then decide to fill it on up for an A+ ending? I’ll answer that: ZERO… until now!
Why should you hate blogging? Well if you haven’t really considered what blogging is, you’ll be unpleasantly pleased to know that blogging can change your life. That means breaking out of a comfort zone. Guess what? That’s thing number 1 you should hate about blogging. Here’s the list, enjoy it while you can because you’ll soon be swimming when the glass overflows (that means I plan to get positive somewhere along the way haha):
Already said that, but it needs to be in the list. Why should you hate this? It’s pretty obvious: as humans we tend to enjoy being comfortable. Comfort is where we find solitude, routine, and establish expectation. However…
Let me ask you, is your current routine giving you what you want out of life? If not you should realize that your comfort zone might feel like it’s comfortable, but really that’s an excuse to keep living as you are. Breaking out of a comfort zone means finding something you’ve never done, never thought about doing, think is impossible, gives you the “heebiejeebiez”, or just downright seems like it’s gonna suck… and then doing it anyways.
Life is a constant progression, and even though it may be uncomfortable at first there is one thing I’ve learned about humans: they tend to adapt to ANY circumstance, no matter what.
So, what can breaking the cycle do to help you? I’ll give you some examples and you can exercise your unique brain power to expand on them…
Here’s another exercise. I want you to write down everything about your life, your business, maybe blogging, or internet marketing that you think is negative right now. If you aren’t making money, getting the desired traffic, feel like you don’t have any knowledge. List it all down as much as you can. Then, go through that list and create an exact opposing scenario.
For example, if you aren’t making any money or you make less than what you want write that down like this “I am not making any money”. Then on the second list write down “I make over $10,450 every month and love doing this.”
Do that for your entire list, then when you’re done read over them. Which list makes you feel better? Trash the one that makes you feel bad and realize that is your current comfort zone. You need to get out of it.
Writing is a hang up for many people. It’s definitely one of the things people hate about blogging. I used to hate it, I’m not going to lie… that is until I found my voice. Your voice on the internet is really no different than your voice in the real world. It’s how you communicate with words on paper rather than speaking them.
Sometimes I find myself talking as I type. Sometimes I find myself typing so fast I become bombarded with red squigglies (<- happened again) under every word. What I’ve found is that thinking too much, worrying how to express a thought, or fumbling over in your mind how to word a sentence is the wrong way to do things.
Don’t worry so much about your choice of words, your style of writing, or your way of connecting dots. Just do it and put as much of your real life personal touch into it. Of course you need to understand grammar is basic necessity, I’m not saying to write every post with no periods in it just because you’re a fast talker. I’m a fast talker and I actually like periods to give me time to breathe!
Rather, focus on actually writing consistently. I started a journal because I hated writing. Weird, right? I hated the journal at first but eventually I grew to adapt to it and finally I grew to like it. I turned a newly formed journal habit and paired that with my internet marketing knowledge and now I’m pumping out quality blog posts [http://web.archive.org/web/20110512223853/http://bloggeritus.com/3-keys-to-superb-blog-content]. Point here is don’t worry, don’t wait, and don’t conform to what’s not unique about you. Your voice is your best weapon online in a world where originality shines.
Haha I bet you love building backlinks, don’t you? We are told that backlinks are gold for a blog, because SEO is the most important thing…. ERRRnt! (Imagine buzzer noise)
Search engine optimization should be thought of more as
“search engine if it happens to happen so be it, it happened and I’m thankful it did but since people like my blog so much I don’t really care”
Your best marketing strategy is to write great content first with PEOPLE in mind not Google, and get that content in front of people by doing what a blog is meant to do: communicating.
I’m talking about building relationships, commenting on other blogs (not for backlinks, but for networking), writing guest posts, and doing what you can to siphon the bit of blogosphere inhabitants to your humble domain where they will benefit, decide to stay, and most importantly will spread the word.
Your SEO will come from other bloggers and sites linking back to you WILLINGLY because you went the other way and wrote great PEOPLE CONTENT not GOOGLE CONTENT.
The internet, blogging, and really making money online comes down to what actually makes up the internet: people. Don’t think otherwise, don’t do what’s so popularly taught, and focus on what will grow your business long term. Only reason why SEO is so commonly talked about is because it makes people money to teach simply due to the fact that it is so popular!
Popular does not necessarily equal most efficient, I promise you that! SEO should be a natural occurrence of the great blog you will create.
Ok, I’ve knocked three down, some of the things bloggers hate the most about starting this business… Time to add some water to the glass for the next few topics. Here goes…
Or.. I should as, do you know what a commitment really is? I’ll tell you just in case we have opposing definitions. A commitment is nothing more than a decision you’ve made that is rooted by inspiration.
For example, I committed myself to a profitable online business. At first I just decided I wanted to make money online… but then as life got more vicious between my old job and school I starting feeling a bit anxious.
My new boss sucked. She used and abused me like I was the restaurant b**** and didn’t show an ounce of appreciation.
I was currently going to school for business management and had a plan *cough* haha yeah right *cough* of actually becoming a manager for the company. That was my “backup” plan in case things didn’t work out for me… which they wouldn’t have if things stayed the same.
See, through all of this I worked online but it hadn’t fully clicked. I dreamed of a full time internet income because that is what I really wanted, but at that point had only decided I was going to do it.
Then it happened. I got slapped in the face. I got punched in the gut. Whatever you wanna call it.. maybe an epiphany. I realized I was going no where but down a road of pure SUCKINESS, and that’s when I decided that I needed inspiration.
Wanna know what I did? I opened myself up to a Spiritual lifestyle. Now I’m not saying YOU have to do that, but I found a quick heavy dose of inspiration, confidence, and general well being in my new lease on life. I quickly quit my job cold turkey, closed the route of any possible return, and found myself staring down the barrel of do or die. Literally. My wife would have killed me if I didn’t make things work.
And thus, commitment was born. Inspiration + Decision = Commitment = Get Things Done No Matter What!
I only say potatoes and gravy because I live in the south and was raised on country food, so naturally I like potatoes with gravy. You can insert anything you gain enjoyment from there in place of what I like to get the point.
Your blogging adventure is not going to be easy. If it were the world would be rampant with blogging millionaires. Rather, it is difficult, takes extreme planning, passion, commitment, and guidance. Following bloggers that know what they are doing, learning from their actions, and then implementing what you figure out is paramount to making things work.
You can’t let the obstacles of blogging or any other kind of internet business get you down. You’ve got to picture yourself as a war tank, pummeling down any barrier in your way.
That’s easier said than done. When life seems to sap your energy, drive, motivation… you immediately feel like everything is hopeless and that nothing will work. Guess what? Even the most successful people have been there before. It’s part of being human. What you do about it is no different than when you’re forced to go to work sick… you apply Nike’s infamous motto and
Yeah yeah, I make it sound easy, but really that’s all there is to it. When I began my marketing business building niche sites for Amazon products, and writing various reports/articles as an anonymous ghostwriter I found myself ramming walls head first. I felt like giving up, but then I remembered how committed I was. I felt the inspiration.
And sometimes I didn’t feel that inspiration. What I did was plug myself in anyways and do the best I could. Each time I found myself feeling down and would just get to work, I noticed that it got easier every single time. Then the results of my consistent effort paid off and that downer feeling came by less and less!
Blogging is a gift. Not only to you in the long run, but to those who you put it in front of that are touched by it. A blog not only touches people with the words, messages, content, thoughts, and ideas, but also in the sense of what’s capable for everyday people.
There are successful bloggers all around the globe that come from ALL KINDS of different walks of life. Nothing sets these people apart from YOU except for the effort they’ve poured into what they do. If you put forth a lot of effort and don’t have results, stick with it and make sure you are testing your plans to see if you’re productivity is even beneficial for what you want out of it.
You can sit around all day and add post after post to a blog but won’t hit any monetary goals if you don’t have traffic. That’s just a simple fact. Point is, if you are productive, be productive in the right areas. If you aren’t productive, then you should know why it isn’t working out for you.
There are set rules, guidelines, and things to do that make a blog or any other internet business profitable. You have to apply yourself to doing them and following up on what you do to ensure you’re doing what’s right.
So, if you want to give the gift of a good blog, create one that’s beneficial to others, never stop building it, and then find a way to put it in front of them. See yourself as being inspired, become an inspiration, pull out from your comfort zones, and stick to what works and things will work for you in return.
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