How To Achieve World Domination, Make A Seven Figure Income, And Find Eternal Happiness Within 24 Hours Via Your Blog
That’s quite the guarantee. Do I have your attention?
Good.
I’ll bet you clicked on this link because you’re looking to improve your blog. If that’s the case, you’ve probably already found some of the heavy hitters within the industry. You’re familiar with the work of Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, and Gary Vaynerchuck. If not, go read them!
Back now?
They all found their audience and found their voice. Here’s the thing, if you ask any of them, they did not achieve their success overnight. It took patience and persistence.
There’s no shortage of blogs, white papers, eBooks, webinars and any other form of content marketing out there that you can think of, making it sound like you can wake up and suddenly be famous.
The social web removed the media gatekeepers from the equation. It didn’t give you permission to suck. You still have to be good at what you do, and land in the right place at the right time.
Writing a successful blog takes awesome content that people want to read, produced on a regular basis.
Patience and Persistence
Read all of the guides to successful blogging and Internet marketing that you can get your paws on, but here’s the one blogging secret that you have to realize above all else:
It takes work. It takes repetition. It takes waking up in the morning and realizing that the blog post you thought would generate all of the amazing traffic, job leads, and money that you’ve been looking for, tanked.
So do you walk away frustrated singing some kind of tune about the social web being a fad? No. You tweak it, rinse, and repeat.
It’s the only way. For Chris Brogan, it took eight years of blogging before he figured out how to grow his audience. It took building a business from the ground up for Gary V to make it.
To be honest, I’m not speaking from any position of great authority on this. I get some retweets, comments, and traffic, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be with my blog.
I’m working at it. I’m in the process of finding my voice as a marketing writer. I know I have the skill set and determination (patience and persistence) to make this thing work.
What I’ve Learned
I’ve now published more than 200 posts in the last couple years. Over that time, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that you’ve got to make things at least just a little bit personal. Your readers have a finite amount of time and interest, and you’ve got to differentiate yourself to give your blog true value.
Your readers need some glimmer of hope that you’re not part of the giant PR, spin, and rewriting hole that the bottom feeders of the industry stumble into.
How do you do that?
Tell your readers who you are.
Me? I’m a 33-year-old freelance journalist, sports fanatic, father-to-be who got this crazy idea a few years back that he could help businesses with his skill set. I’m working on my health, deathly afraid of snakes, and I have a strong desire to try every type of microbrew that I can get my hands on.
I’ve seen almost every classic rock band I’ve ever been infatuated with in concert, and I’m always reading a book.
How does all of that help me convey the value of good, strong content to readers and clients? Some of it is obvious, and some of it I figure out as I go. But all of it helps me connect.
You’ve got to make readers feel like they’re sitting across from you at the table, drinking a cup of coffee with you. If they don’t like you, they won’t buy. It’s that simple.
A Little More About What I’ve Learned…
Bloggers are a lot like that crazy guy who walked on a wire from window to window between the World Trade Center buildings. Go too far one way, and everything feels very “Me, Me, Me, I, I, I” and you’ve got a long way to plummet, fall and fail.
Write every post like it belongs on a Wikipedia page, and you’re going to fall off the wire in the other direction.
I started this post off talking about Godin, Brogan and Vaynerchuck. Here’s how it usually goes: They write something about what small businesses, bloggers or marketers should be doing. Then, the entire middle ranks of the blogosphere write the same flippin’ post, maybe only slightly tweaking a few details.
Give us the information and the value, but give it from your perspective. Show a little personality.
What we’re really looking for is something we haven’t read before. When you can provide that, the world will be ready and listening.
You may not achieve everything I promised in the headline (and definitely not in that time frame), but you can make the Internet a better place. Go ahead. We’re waiting to read something original.
Matt Brennan is a Chicago-area marketing writer and copy editor. He is also the author of Write Right-Sell Now.
