The only reason I started blogging because it was fun and it was something I enjoyed doing. Perhaps you are also one of those budding bloggers who is blogging for the passion, or maybe you are trying your luck in the field of blogging to earn money or to make a name for yourself or your brand. Whatever your reason is for blogging, what’s important is how well you are doing.
If you are spending two hours a day on your blog and the results are not up to the mark, it’s time for you to re-think your strategy. If you are not motivated, then you should read this blogger motivation guidewhich will surely make you feel refreshed and will help you to get your blogging mojo back.
What’s important in blogging is to always be learning something new, and to share it with others for whom it is new information. This article will provide practical insights and motivate you to leave your amateur seat and blog like a pro-blogger. So without further ado, let’s see what you can do to begin blogging like a professional blogger!
Why should you blog like a professional blogger?
One thing we should always keep in mind while doing anything is to make the most of it – do it to the best of our ability.
If you are just one out of millions of mediocre bloggers, it’s time for you to take action and move forward. In this post I’m sharing tips that I have learned in my 6-year blogging tenure and if you follow these tips, in next 30 days you will become a better blogger than you are today.
Confidence
irst, remember that people are unlikely to take advice from a non-confident person. If you are sharing information without confidence, nobody is going to believe it. Always remember that you can build credibility by not losing it.
Consider the qualities that give you trust in a person. When it comes to blogging, your physical presence is not a factor. It is your words that matter most. The question is – how can you become (and give the impression of) a confident blogger?
- Your posts and writing style: Your ability to communicate in writing is the biggest factor at play as a blogger. When I am writing a blog post, I imagine that my reader is sitting on an empty chair in front of me, and we are having a conversation. If your blogging has a conversational tone, you are more likely to leave a footprint. Notice the number of times I use the word “you” in this article. That is because this article is for you and you only. It is written for just one person, and that is the person who is reading this article – you! Another way to improve your blogging style is by using “I” instead of “we.” Sometimes writers who continually use the word “we” are showing us that they avoid taking responsibility for their work. If it’s a one man show blog, why do you need to use “we”? Open these articles in a new tab: 10 tips to improve your writing skills and 11 effective tips to boost article writing skills.
- Your blog design: I’m sure you must have been to a restaurant where your impression of the waiter was created by what he was wearing. I’m more likely to tip a waiter who is in a uniform than one who is not. When you are working online, it’s your design that is the suit, and you are the waiter. If your blog design is unpleasant and doesn’t leave a good impression, then you are not likely to get a tip, i.e., turning the one-time visitor into a subscriber. So get rid of all mumbo-jumbo from your blog, and have a neat and professional looking design that reflects your personality and that of your blog. Remember, your blog design is the first point of content, and a first impression lasts forever.
- Come out of the closet: How many popular bloggers do you know of? Check out this awesome infographic of professional bloggers, and ask yourself how many of them you are familiar with? If you know even two or three of them, ask yourself why and how do you know them? It’s because they didn’t hide in the closet like you are! All of these successful bloggers have given a face to their brand along with their name, and you can clearly see that on their blog. Isn’t it easier to connect to a person rather than a brand? It’s time for you to make some changes to your blog and to introduce us to the person behind that awesome blog! Add an author box, add few details about you in your blog’s “About” page, and add your profile to the blog’s sidebar. Make sure to add a quality photo and an intriguing bio. Tell us about yourself in a way that allows people to relate and connect with you.
- Be honest, and don’t doubt yourself: “Honesty is the best policy” is a “life rule” that we all learned in kindergarten, but with time we all learn that it is not easy to live by that rule. How many times in a day do you lie about little things? When I asked myself this question, I realized that I sometimes lie unintentionally in small and seemingly inconsequential ways. We lie because we want other’s to be happy, or we don’t want to hurt them. But lying always has a consequence. For instance, when we lie to please people, we turn ourselves into people-pleasers. Take this as a challenge, and for the next seven days trying to be completely honest. Be honest in your offline and online life, and let me know how this changes your life. I started this as an experiment myself, and within seven days I started to feel the difference. I have now been doing this for a month, and apart from two or three instances when I lied, my life has improved significantly. As a bonus, being careful not to lie taught me how to say “no,” and my confidence level has gone up ever since. Once you do this, it will also have a positive impact on your writing and your online presence. I invite you to read, how being completely honest for seven days changed my life.
Become an Authority Blogger:
No matter how much you know about a subject, your opinion is not respected until you have established yourself as an authority, and your blog as an authoritative blog.
The question is- how can you become an authoritative blogger?
If you make the changes suggested above, (leading to your increased confidence), then you are more likely to become an authoritative blogger.
Now it’s time to leverage the power of social-media and establish yourself as an authoritative person in your niche. Let’s start by updating your social media profile details, thus improving your social-media presence. Ensure that your social media profile is like your resume and that it also reflects your personality. Use the same profile image everywhere (Twitter, Instagram Quora, Facebook, Google+, Gravatar, etc…) to stand out and make it easier for people to remember you.
Always share your opinion about the hot topics in your niche or trending topics around the globe. Your opinion may not be as valuable as that of an industry expert, but it will still be more valuable than the opinions of many of the people who are following you. If you start to doubt yourself, check out this amazing video on “If you think your idea is stupid, you are an idiot“!
Put others before you:
One of the most common attributes of a successful person is that they give credit to people for their work. A shallow person will neither talk about the good work others have accomplished nor share it with others. If you are one of those people who does not like to credit others for their work, you need to take a look at this and work toward changing it.
Giving credit to those who deserve it and have earned it is another expression of your own self-confidence as well as an indication of professional respect.
Don’t just create quick connections – get into the inner circle:
You must have heard that networking is the key to success, and that it’s important to build a strong network of people around you. In truth, this is one of the most important things you can do in every aspect of your life, online or offline.
When networking, gaining respect and working to become a part of someone’s inner-circle makes a substantial difference in your connections. Some of you may have read a lot about
successful people and you may even have some in your social media network, but you are not a part of their inner-circle.
You are just one among thousands of people they have “friended” on Facebook or have met at a blogging event. Your goal should be to establish yourself as part of their inner-circle and become an important connection in their arena. This will only happen when you put some time and energy into working on building a meaningful connection.
Smart work rather than hard work :
No matter in what niche you are doing business, smart work is what moves you forward. Working hard is important, of course, but working smart is even more important.
If you are spending two hours every day writing blog posts and
not working on promotingyour work, you find yourself in the same situation a year or two down the road as you find yourself in today. Perhaps your blog will grow to a degree and you may even get more traffic and make a little more money, but you will be behind of the crowd that is moving forward at a steady pace, and you will never become all you can be in this field.
There are people who have only recently started working online and are already making million of dollars because of their smart work and great ideas. Without a good idea, no amount of work will pay off optimally.
With regard to starting to work smart, I suggest that you start by choosing the right set of
blogging tools,
work on time-management to
become more productive. Maintain a good balance between your social and personal life, because if you want to succeed, you have to be a happy person. That will only happen when you are satisfied with your life in 360* (in all aspects of your life).
Value your time and have a team
If you are a regular reader of ShoutMeLoud, I’m sure you must have heard me saying “Time is money“, and I will keep repeating it until you email me and tell me “Yes Harsh, I have learned that time is money!”.
You might have 30-40 great ideas, but implementing those ideas by yourself will take a lot of time and effort. When you have a team of people working, you are more likely to turn your good ideas into reality.
Here is a practical example: I had this idea of creating an infographic for Indian bloggers, but I couldn’t do it because collecting the data was too time-consuming a process. Sharat joined my team 14 months ago, and he is the guy who gets all the credit for making
this infographic live, and designer Abha Jain deserves credit for the design. Because I accepted their expert assistance, I was able to keep all of my other blogs active AND find more time for myself!
You must upgrade your role from blogger to infopreneur/entrepreneur. This will only happen when you have a team, and you start delegating work to others.
If you are someone who lives in a remote place, all you need to do is create a virtual team of your own. You should check out these two
articles from Srikanth, where he has shared everything you need to know about virtual assistance.
Perhaps the most important take-away from this article is this: Leave the conventional way of working, and work like an “Internetpreneur”. When you are working online you are limitless, and you can achieve anything you want.
In this article I have shared many important points which will help you to grow strong and achieve your dreams. Focus on the points which you believe will improve your blogging career and turn you into a successful professional blogger.
Feel free to let me know which of the above tips you will be working on, and how are you planning to start. If you need help with any of these points, feel free to ask me via the comments section below.
As always, if you find this article useful please consider sharing it on Facebook and Google+.
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