ProBlogger: Beginner Week: My 43 DOs and 25 DON’Ts of Blogging

---

Beginner Week: My 43 DOs and 25 DON’Ts of Blogging Posted: 04 Mar 2014 08:44 AM PST Eleven and a half years ago when I hit publish on my first ever blog post, I had little idea what I was doing and what was going to unfold for me over the coming decade. As I prepared for a recent mini ProBlogger event event in Perth, I created a little list of some of the 'dos and don'ts' of blogging that I wish I'd known back in 2002 when I started. As it's Beginner Week here on ProBlogger, I thought it might be appropriate to share them here on the blog today: Note: these are MY dos and don'ts, and reflect my own style of blogging. I am not putting them forward as 'rules' that apply to all. I'd love to see your dos and don'ts in comments below. My 43 DOs of Blogging Do create a blog that is meaningful to you Do set yourself some goals and objectives for your blog Do 'write' something every day (note that I didn't say 'publish') Do as much as you can to get in your readers shoes and understand who they are Do use surveys and polls to help you understand your reader Do create content that meets your readers’ needs, answers their questions, and solves their problems Do write in an engaging voice Do start an email newsletter Do pay attention to the design of your blog – first impressions count! Do communicate clearly what your blog is about into your design Do spend time 'off' your blog engaging in the places where your potential readers gather Do go to the effort of registering your own domain Do create visual content Do model the kind of community that you want your blog to have Do install analytics and track the results of what you do Do find some blogging buddies who you can bounce ideas off and have mutual support with Do make sure you have 'real life' friends too – they'll ground you Do become hyper-aware of problems (yours and other people’s), and obsessed with solving them Do create something to sell from your blog Do think beyond what you'll write today – develop an editorial calendar Do set aside time to learn the skills you lack Do set aside time to brainstorm topics to write about Do read other people's blogs – you'll learn a lot from them Do share your opinion – it is what often differentiates you Do share stories – your own and other people's Do back up your blog! Do blog with passion Do look for 'win/win/win' relationships with brands where you, the brand and your reader benefit Do show your personality – be yourself Do pay attention to what is energising you and do more of it Do pay attention to what is energising your readers and do more of it Do spend time refining and perfecting post headlines Do think about what 'action' you're calling readers to take in your content Do make peace with the fact that there will always be more that you can do Do learn how to prioritise and focus upon activities that take you closer to your goals Do pay attention to your archives – update and promote them regularly Do push through bloggers block Do spend time analysing what types of content are being 'shared' in your niche – publish this kind of content semi-regularly Do use social proof Do take breaks from blogging – weekends and vacations are important! Do ask your readers a lot of questions and listen to what they say Do treat your blog as a business today… if you want it to be one tomorrow Do create content that Informs, Inspires and Interacts My 25 DON’Ts of Blogging Don’t be afraid to hit publish Don’t feel you have to publish something every day Don’t publish when angry (or drunk) Don’t become a comment spammer on other people's blogs Don’t publish just for the sake of publishing content Don’t use other people's stuff without permission and credit Don’t focus so much about the readers you don't have – have a big impact upon the ones you do have Don’t stretch yourself too thin (too many posts, too much SM) – do what you do really well Don’t become too promotional Don’t hit publish without one last proof read Don’t write purely for search engines Don’t sell out Don’t engage in every type of social media – analyse where your readers are and do those mediums well Don't look for a 'blueprint' for successful blogging – forge your own path Don’t publish large chunks of text – break it up and make it scannable Don’t hide your mistakes – be transparent Don’t feed the trolls – be polite, kind, and firm Don’t let the negative things people say about you sink in – it'll pull you down Don’t let the hyped praise people give you sink in – it'll over-inflate your ego Don’t expect to get rich quick Don’t compare yourself to others – compare yourself to you when you started Don’t spend all your time 'learning' about blogging at the expense of actually blogging Don’t think there's just one way to monetize your blog Don’t become so obsessed with blogging that you forget to have a real life Don’t give up too quickly – building a blog takes time Of course I’m scraping the surface in this list but I hope for those of you starting out it gives you a few starting points. Also keep in mind that these are not ‘rules’ and that the do’s don’t guarantee success and the ‘don’ts’ don’t guarantee failure. In fact I’ve written many of the don’ts as a result of my own mistakes but things turned out ok in the end for me despite those failures. If you’d like to go deeper on some of these themes check out the recording and slides of my webinar – 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Blogging. Also don’t forget we are having a 50% off sale on the ProBlogger Guide to Your First Week of Blogging during Beginner Week. Simply enter the code BEGINNERWEEK at the checkout. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Beginner Week: My 43 DOs and 25 DON’Ts of Blogging

You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

---

Ronn Torossian: 3 reasons no one reads your post (and how to change that) Posted: 03 Mar 2014 06:45 AM PST for ShoeMoney.com Ronn Torossian reveals 3 reasons no one read your post and explains how to change that Ronn Torossian is the founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations and a noted PR guru with offices in NYC and Los Angeles. You worked hard, researched well and edited pristinely. In fact, you checked that baby twice and were CERTAIN it was an epic entry into the web pantheon of excellent blogdom. Five minutes after you post it, you click over eagerly. One snarky comment from your brother or your college roommate. Otherwise, bupkis. No worries, you think, it's only been a couple minutes. I'll come back. An hour later you click over and still nothing. In fact, you think you may have seen a tumbleweed bounce across the screen. What gives! That was some seriously awesome content! Well, here are three reasons why no one read your post…and how you can keep that from happening again. #1 – Wrong Timing Chances are, if the entire population of the Interwebs is jawing about one particular topic, and you bust out with mad wisdom regarding something totally unrelated, you will hear nothing but a great sucking sound where your clicks should be. There may be nothing inherently wrong with your piece, but – and hopefully this is not news to you – the web is search-based. People are looking for what they are looking for. Step one in getting clicks and reads and buy-ins is this: "Know what people are looking for." Even Ronn Torossian cannot write you a stellar enough release to overcome no initial interest. So do your homework. Find out what people are after, grab a niche to dominate and get posting, my friends. #2 – Bad headline Search engine results give you a headline and not much else. If your headline doesn't stand out, you will get stepped over. Think about it. We've all done it. You see a list of search results and breeze right by a couple looking for the one that grabs you the most. Guess what, intrepid Internet entrepreneur, everyone else is doing that too. Seriously. Everyone. So give the masses what they want – attention-grabbing headlines. Then, once you have their attention, deliver the good and get them hooked on the content you bring to the table. Speaking of content… #3 – Confused content Double facepalm inducing frustration. That's the only way to politely describe the feeling you get when you land on a page and it is NOTHING like what you expected. The headline doesn't match the content and…even worse…the content doesn't seem to match the content. The points don't correlate and the logic (if there is any) doesn't flow. Worse, you can't apply any of it. And this last is key. To be good, your content must be useful. You need to give people something they can use right now. After all, they put a certain series of words in a search engine LOOKING for something specific. They NEED your help…give it to them already. Stick with relevant, actionable content. Don't get cute. And, if your content is hyper specific, do your reader a favor. Link to other more general stories or content related to that topic. That way, they can read your content and see if, perhaps, there is more information to help them with their specific issue elsewhere. Internet marketing may be a science, but it is not rocket surgery. Give good out and you will get good back. Fail to do so and you risk crickets. Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

You are subscribed to email updates from ShoeMoney To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610