I’ve been blogging since 1999. I didn’t figure out how to be good at blogging until almost 9 years later. Here are a few things I picked up along the way.
1. List posts are not evil. They’re not the solution either, but it’s an easy shorthand for communicating information. I used to be a purist about such things… no more.
2. Network laterally. The people I became closest with, as a blogger, were the people who started at the same time as me. We moved up the ranks together. We’ve seen stuff, man. Listen, as much as you want Darren Rowse from Problogger to be your BFF, the truth is, he can’t help you. It’s the people on your level, dealing with the same things as you that will be your greatest allies.
3. There is no such thing as a king-maker. Even a link from the NY Times won’t make your blog popular. It won’t sell your product and it won’t influence people –unless, you have the goods to do it without them. If you’re already bringing it, then a little push can be a game changer. However, everyone I know made it the old-fashioned way — through hard work and time.
4. Don’t let emotions cloud your thinking. People who accuse successful brands of being “lucky” (as opposed to deserving their success) are suffering from a case of sour grapes. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap of thinking you can’t make it because some magical lucky star hasn’t fallen in your path. The people who make it do so because they are better than you. You might not like what they’re good at (say marketing as opposed to writing) but they still have talent of some sort. Respect it, get your head down and move on.
5. Consistency is over-rated. Writing five posts a week is stupid if you write crap. End of story. In the beginning, I would feel so much pressure to get something out there that I’d stick a pic or video up. Big mistake. Strong content always wins, even if it’s once a month. Trust me, no one is wondering why you haven’t updated. They only remember your site when there’s new content. Better make it good.
6. Not all traffic is the same. I always ask people, “Would you rather sell 100 units of your product or have 100,000 people buy nothing?” A site with massive traffic but zero conversion is a sign that you’re not reaching your core audience. Of course, if your only goal is high numbers, regardless of relevancy, influence or conversion, then rock on. But for the rest of us, we have some other goal for blogging, whether it’s building a community or speaking gigs or money or selling some product or getting a book deal. If you want those things, you need an audience that is interested in what you do — not just a wave of people who visit once and never return.
7. Don’t check your stats more than once a month. Seriously, I know that just made you suck in wind and hold your stomach. You’ll be okay. The truth is, we check stats for daily affirmation, but really it’s a very unreliable indicator of success. Certain posts will do better than others. If you write for your stats, you’ll end up with a very different site than if you write for a long term goal. You’ll have vapor content — things that do well initially but fizzle out. You should check stats, but don’t let them rule your life.
8. Twitter, Facebook, commenting on blogs etc are not your job. Sometimes, as a blogger, we get really caught up in a bunch of stuff that’s not really part of being a blogger. We promote first, write second. I think the people who do the best are spending more time thinking about their content strategy than they are about getting more followers on the latest social media tool. Of course you have to do both: a blog without promotion is like a tree falling in the woods… no one hears it. But if your day is leaning more towards social media than heads down writing, something is amiss.
9. Big Fat Events are important. If you want to take your blog to the next level, eventually you have to run an event. You might do a contest or a meetup or a give folks a free ebook, but eventually, you either show up to the dance or you don’t. I’m not sure why this is… I ran a writing event in 2008 and had no idea it would do anything for me personally. Suddenly I was recognized as a resource for that niche and things began to change. If you look around to your peers and beyond, you’ll see the same trend. Stepping out as a leader means people believe you’re one. From there you can grow even further. (Caveat: unless your event is a Big Fat Bomb, which is worse than not doing anything at all).
10. We don’t do this for the money. Honestly. I have turned down more things in my online career than I have accepted. I had to draw lines. My instincts may not be the same as yours, but eventually everyone carves out a set of boundaries they live by. In some ways, in order to grow, you have to limit your focus. It’s the only way.
Great tips! Couldn’t agree more about networking laterally – you have to connect with people in a similar place and seek opportunities together.
And on the quality traffic – I hear people boasting about external sites generating big traffic for your blog, and there’s some truth to that, but if they’re not quality visits, ie high bounce rates, limited time, they’re not actually helping.
Looking forward to more tips!
Sound advice, Christine. Thanks for the tips. I just recently realized #2 on your list. Also, regarding traffic, I think when you first start out you need a decent amount of traffic in order to find that core audience that sticks. Readers need to be able to find your site in the first place. But I completely agree that mass numbers doesn’t mean you are actually successful.
Thank you for some great tips and advice! I consider myself a BB (baby blogger)! I just started and am learning as I go. It takes a lot of work and dedication! I started my blog before my RTW trip so I can get the swing of things and so when I am on the road it will be easier to blog!
Awesome tips, Christine–this is really helpful! I’m guilty of checking my analytics way too frequently. I think you made a good point here, and I’m going to try to back off from doing that so frequently. I also really appreciate what you said about consistency being overrated. I have read Problogger and all of those other blog-advice sites that recommend sticking to a set schedule and not over- or under-posting. Some weeks I’m scrambling for content and other weeks I have more than I know what to do with, but I’ve tried to post on a pretty consistent schedule (2-3x a week) regardless in order to manage expectations. But I’m relieved to hear that you think it’s really not that necessary. I might try mixing things up a bit. Phew!
Fantastic tips – thanks! Like the others who have commented, I check my stats way too much. And congrats guys on getting the business up and running!
Christy-
Yes, I think we’re saying similar things. I will clarify a bit though… I think folks should try to cast as large of a net as possible, but there is always the idea of quality. For instance, you might get a ton of traffic by pursuing Digg or Reddit, but will those people convert to readers? Would it be better to get a tiny fraction of the same numbers by targeting travel blog readers (for instance, by commenting on other travel blogs). The total traffic in the first case could be 10,000 over a month. The total traffic in the second case might be 1,000 in the same period. However, since you’re converting more people in the second instance (by targeting people interested in what you do) you might end up with more subscribers in the long run.
So basically, yes traffic is good. But targeted traffic is better.
Emily,
Glad to provide some relief! I will add though that if you can be kick-ass and consistent, then do that. Because that is always the best. But if you have to choose between kick-ass content or being consistent, I will also vote for kick-ass.
Great tips. I’ve had my blog since 2006 and had a really nice audience back then, but lost interest when some things in life happened I had to take care of. Now I’m starting over and am putting myself back on the map… so I feel like a baby blogger all over again! Jaime is going to be my buddy as we move up the ranks!
Great article. I’m not sure how I won’t check stats daily . . . but I’ll try! How do you know when it’s time to have a Big Fat Event?
Diana-
That’s a great question. I think it’s probably when a) see you an opportunity, something that really gets you excited (when I did my first writing event it was an idea that I had to jump start my own writing and I went from from idea to event in 4 days) and b) you feel confident that you can count on a handful of your fellow bloggers to support you.
If you’re not sure, it’s never a bad idea to just email a dozen or so bloggers you know (typically the same sized blogs as yours) to see what they think of the idea, before you launch it. I’ve done that in the past and it’s helped me gauge interest.
As your blog gets bigger, you’ll notice plateaus in growth and sometimes you can use an event (like I did with my 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World series) to jump up to the next level.
Hey Christine, you have pointed some really great tips here. Sadly in my part of the world, not much of this is actually useful to most bloggers as it’s all about the money here. (well for most of them).\
I also like ” 8. Twitter, Facebook, commenting on blogs etc are not your job. Sometimes, as a blogger, we get really caught up in a bunch of stuff that’s not really part of being a blogger.” This is so true! Glad that other people see this too
Keep up the great work you’re doing and all the best!
Regards,
David
As a wannabe travel writer I have been following Nomadic Matt for some time. He obviously has put in the hard work to become very well known. (I wish him well in his new venture.)
I have avoided all offers for ads or sharing content, as my short term goal is to, basically, practice my writing skills until National Geographic Traveler comes knocking on my door, which is my long term goal. (Yes, I know that involves “real” writing, query letters, rejections, clips, etc.)
I think a common theme in your great tips is that if your writing is lousy, why worry about the rest of the stuff. I guess the flip side is that if you can make money with poor content…well, I guess that might work for some.
A complimentary comment on one of my blogs…priceless.
Awesome advice Christine. Great to see you and Matt will be working together, looks like an exciting partnership.
I agree that list post are not evil. They are good from time to time and always generate big traffic for my site. People like lists!
When I started my blog in March 2009 I was guilty of pumping out nonstop content. Now its 2-3 times a week with guest posts weekly.
Not at all the post I was expecting when I saw the title (thought it was going to be technical stuff) but you are dead on! Strong work. And, you are right, my BFF bloggers started the same time I did!
Great tips, Christine! I’m going to have to keep all of these in the back of my mind.
I, too, am a bit of a baby blogger, though I’m slowly clawing my way up the ranks. It definitely has been tough, though!
I started blogging simply for myself. But, upon discovering the awesome travel blogging community out there, I’ve now shifted my focus a bit. I still blog for myself, but I also keep like-minded travelers in mind when brainstorming post ideas.
Number 5 really hit home for me. I decided a while back that I wanted to post something every day. This was, perhaps to put it bluntly, dumb. It’s so difficult to have a full-time job and still find time to produce strong content every day. So, I’ve started supplementing my own posts with weekly guest posts, blogging and news roundups, and weekly traveler interviews. These segments have become some of the more popular things on my site every week, so I’m really glad I decided to branch out.
For me, I don’t mind that blogging has become sort of a second job. I love doing it. And I suppose that’s all that really matters in the end. The traffic and networking are just icing on the cake.
I love your straight-shooting advice & writing style. That is all.
Hi Christine – I love this advice and I find the idea of networking laterally intriguing. I have many travel blogging friends at various levels of success and stages of the game. I agree that finding other bloggers similar to me has been beneficial – but so too has been asking advice from more seasoned bloggers and helping out newcomers along the way. The best way to learn is to listen and to teach.
Good advice Christine. There is such a tendency when starting out to try to do it all. So, it’s good to be reminded to try to focus on the important things and not get distracted by the noise. Hope you’re travels and filming are going well.
Hey Guys, congrats on the new biz. I am now on the road and spending some good R and R in Mexico. Thanks for all of your advice on blogging and travel. It has made a big difference to my growth…
Great tips. Thanks. I run a video diary blog of my life in France. Travel videos aren’t very conducive to commenting or encouraging people to participate in the community so I struggle with that. I get decent traffic and high PRs but don’t really seem to have a participating community and I haven’t figured out how to do that yet even after 2 years. Anyway, congrats on such great successes and a wonderful lifestyle.
Not only is Twitter, Facebook commenting on blogs (like I’m doing now) not my job, it can also make you feel inadequate and make it that much harder to get started. Thanks for the advice. You two are such an inspiration. Wishing you continued success
Cynthia-
I think photos and videos struggle with the community aspect. Even within my own site, you can see a big drop off on the number of comments on my photo/video sections verses my main blog. In the case of video it’s often easier to get people to share rather than comment. You might want to make a Facebook like and Twitter count buttons the major call-to-action on your video posts. That way you’re showing new visitors that other people enjoyed your content (social proof is important) while encouraging more interaction.
thanks for the tips Christine. We will certainly take these to heart as we just started blogging at wearesolesisters.com. Although we gotta admit, we’ll have a hard time following #7. We can’t stop checking our stats like crazy! But we will practice self control, moving forward. Becoming an authority on asubject matter should take precedence over popularity.
Thanks for being an inspiration!