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ProBlogger: Don’t Blog this Year Without the Most Important Thing of All

ProBlogger: Don’t Blog this Year Without the Most Important Thing of All

Link to @ProBlogger

Don’t Blog this Year Without the Most Important Thing of All

Posted: 07 Jan 2015 06:25 AM PST

On Valentine’s Day last year, Darren reminded us all that blogging won’t get you far if you’re not legitimately passionate about it. What you’ll have is a site you’re only half-hearted about and you won’t be able to sustain that for very long – nor will your readers come to enjoy and respect your work. If you’ve got passion, then you can channel it into the best blog you can create 


Recently on Twitter I was asked for some tips on what sets ‘great’ blogs apart from the rest.

With millions of bloggers creating blog posts every day – how do you stand out?

It’s a big question, and the reality is that there are many ingredients to building a successful blog.

A variety of words came to mind as I struggled to come up with my 140-character guide to ‘standing out’.

I started to list them:

  • Credibility
  • Share Your Opinion
  • Great Writing
  • Ability to Connect
  • Understanding Readers
  • Injecting Personality

As I brainstormed, I realised 140 characters was not going to cut it:

  • Great blog design
  • Tell Stories
  • Use Great Visuals
  • Network with other bloggers
  • Be prolific
  • Be funny
  • Be smart
  • Be first
  • Write great headlines

I started to think of the blogs I love and what makes them stand out:

  • Be Useful
  • Be Entertaining
  • Take note of your readers
  • Have a different spin on things
  • Be Original

The list continued to grow and with it my heart sank a little.

“There’s no one way to stand out…”

But then I had two realizations:

Firstly – I love that there’s no one way to stand out! There are no rules. There is no blueprint – and that’s what is so simultaneously exciting and frustrating about blogging.

That’s why I love what I do. Constant experimentation, learning, testing and trying new things.

The second thing I realised is that there actually was a common feature about all of the blogs that came to mind as ‘stand out’ blogs.

Passion

There are plenty of bloggers that do the things in the lists above. There are bloggers sharing opinions, writing well, with a heart to connect, with great personalities…. bloggers who are smart, funny, prolific, original, entertaining and bundles of wonderful!

But something that seems present and that shines through in the blogs that I read and love is passion.

They are created by people with passion for the topics being covered, passion for the process of creating content, passion for their readers, passion for learning, and passion for pushing the boundaries of thinking and creating.

They love… they enthuse… they delight in what they do. By doing so they somehow draw others into their passion too, which is where the real magic seems to happen.

This isn’t to say that passion is the only ingredient needed for success – but maybe… just perhaps… it’s what binds it all together and helps a blog just click.

Are you passionate about your blog?

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
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Don’t Blog this Year Without the Most Important Thing of All

Check Out This Collaborative Blog Platform - DailyBlogTips

Check Out This Collaborative Blog Platform - DailyBlogTips


Check Out This Collaborative Blog Platform

Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:10 AM PST

Recently I came across a website called Presstream, and I thought the concept was quite interesting. It’s basically a collaborative blog platform.

It’s a platform because they provide you the software and the hosting. You need to signup, and your chosen username will also be your domain. For instance, if you pick ‘music123′ as a username, your blog will be hosted at music123.presstream.com.

The platform is designed to be easy to use, so even beginners are welcome. You can choose among three types of posts: normal posts, audio and video posts. Comments are available, as are social sharing buttons and widgets. Here’s a screenshot of one of their sites:

presstream2

The basic version is completely free, but if you upgrade your posts will be showcased on the homepage of the site, as well as inside topic pages. And this is why I called it a collaborative blog platform. In a sense you’ll be helping fellow bloggers on the platform if your posts attract a lot of visitors, and vice versa.

I think this concept is quite interesting. Many bloggers give up because of a lack of traffic and a lack of interaction with other people. Collaborative platforms might help with both of these problems.

presstream1

At this point the focus of the site is to help users grow their social media presence and share their content with a wider audience, so check it out if this is one of your current goals.

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