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Any time that you take and apply blogging advice from me, you’re trusting someone who has created a number of blogs that failed miserably. But, even though I said I wouldn’t trust someone with marriage advice who has been divorced three times (they couldn’t learn after the second one?) I think the best people to trust are those who have made mistakes, learned from them, and then went on to success.
I built a celebrity blog which I sold after a month because I couldn’t care less about how Paris Hilton spends her time. I ran a DJ blog which I later let die due to other interests and I even ran ViperChill for a year (a long time ago) without getting one single comment or feed subscriber. I’ve made most of the blogging mistakes you can think of.
Thankfully, I’ve managed to learn from them. I grew PluginID to a readership of over 4,000 subscribers in a year then sold it when it had around 6,500 and of course I’m now having a lot of success with ViperChill and really establishing myself in this industry.
If I could go back in time and give advice to my younger self so that I would have success with blogging at a much younger age, these are the types of things I would want to share.
There’s a Huge Hurdle to Overcome, and Then it Gets Easier
For most people, when they first start out with blogging, it’s hard to gain a decent sized audience. There is the odd exception of a blogger who springs onto the scene from nowhere and gains a large following, but for most people, that simply doesn’t happen.
When I was launching PluginID, I was very confident that I could make the blog a quick success because of my background in the SEO and Social Media space. Without trying to sound arrogant, I really expected to have thousands of subscribers within a few months.
Then reality hit.
I had been blogging for 7 months on that site and gained no more than 500 subscribers. 7 months of producing the best content I could, utilising Twitter, commenting on other blogs and everything else you can think of hadn’t produced results. If I didn’t love my topic, I would have probably given up by this point.
Because it was far more about helping people than how many people I helped, I just continued to do what I was doing. Surprisingly to me at the time, I found that the next few months involved some rapid and easy growth. In fact, within 2 months I had reached the 1,000 subscribers mark. That’s growing 500 subscribers three times quicker than I had previously.
3 months after that, when the blog hit its one year anniversary, I had 4,000 subscribers.
There was not some secret tactic I used to accelerate this growth. It simply becomes easier to grow a blog when there are more people reading your articles because there are more people to help you promote them. As you increase the size of your audience you increase the number of people who are going to be talking about you.
If you can just keep going until you get over the “blogging hump” then you’ll very likely see a similar snowball effect in play.
Your Blogs Success is Totally Your Responsibility
When I re-launched ViperChill, my aim was to write the best content I could and then hopefully get noticed by a huge blog that would send a lot of traffic my way. They would hopefully see how much work I was putting into this site and how I really wanted to help people, and the blog would grow thanks to their referral.
After a few months of blogging here that didn’t happen (and still hasn’t) but that’s totally fine. When reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin he states, “If your business strategy relies on one big company to notice you then you’re going to fail” and while that didn’t directly relate to me, it helped me see that I was looking outside of myself for my blog to succeed.
Everything you need to know about making your blog a success is out there for free. There are guides which help to put everything in one place for you, but they aren’t totally necessary. You may have a harder time at succeeding than other people (Leo Babauta was on the Digg homepage over 40 times which helped quickly propel him to 100k+ subscribers) but if you stick at it then you have no excuse for building a failed blog. Ironically, most people quit at the point where they’re about to experience their biggest growth.
I wrote over 40 guest posts in 2009 because I knew how powerful they were. Most of them were in excess of one thousand words and each took a long time to produce. You could do exactly the same this year, or you could just sit and look at your analytics stats all day and feel like other people have all of the luck.
If you aren’t going to get some random growth spurt from a big blogger or an article hitting the Digg homepage, carve out the results for yourself. I did.
Standing Out is Not a Bad Thing
In the workplace and especially back in school, many of us believe that standing out is a bad thing. If everyone is wearing a certain type of trainer or styling their hair in a certain way, you probably didn’t want to be the person who didn’t go with those trends. It sounds silly to us as adults, but I’m sure you can relate to this from when you were in school.
When it comes to the blogging world, though, standing out is one of the best things you can do. As long as it’s for the right reasons. I want to stand out because I put hours into each article and truly want to help people with my advice. Not because I try and cause controversy and take down big bloggers (there’s a few blogs out there that do this, but they don’t deserve a link).
You can stand out with:
- The length of your posts
- The style of your writing
- The focus of your site
- Your design
- Your posting frequency
- The value you provide to your audience
- Your levels of transparency
And many other things I could talk about here but the list would go on forever. Remember: if you’re blogging for everybody, you’re blogging for nobody.
People Don’t Care About You
Or me. At least not at first. I’m not naive enough to think that you would stick around here if I provided absolutely no marketing value, simply because of who I am or the brand that I’ve built. It makes total sense that people visit your site first and foremost for the content you provide. Isn’t that why you blog in the first place?
If I recall correctly, there was an incident that Problogger – who writes daily – had when he missed posting for one day. He received around 20 emails asking if he was OK and whether a post would be going live. These people obviously cared about Darren, but his content is the reason they keep going back to the site.
The reason I think this is a good lesson to remember is because you can get so caught up in talking about yourself that you actually forget why people come to your site in the first place: To get value in some form. This realisation will also keep you levelheaded once you do start to attain a level of blogging success as well.
I firmly believe that there were a number of people reading PluginID, and now reading ViperChill, that don’t care much for what I produce. They simply read it because they like seeing a big blog case study unfold before them. Similarly, there are a few people who wouldn’t respond to my emails or give me the time of day when my sites only had a few subscribers, but once they reached a few thousand then these people started trying to get on my radar and grab my attention.
Because of that I always try to connect with people who may not have the biggest audience but I believe in what they’re doing so for that alone I’m happy to promote them. You never know when someone who is growing his or her blog now is going to be an A-lister, so I suggest you take the same approach.
Transparency Is So Rare, It’s Remarkable
This certainly doesn’t apply to all types of blogs, but if you’re the main writer of yours and you have personal aspects to the content you produce then this can be huge. In the early days of my personal development blog, I was writing a lot of ‘how to’ type posts and while they gained a lot of traction, I didn’t really feel like I was connecting with my audience.
When I started sharing personal stories of both success and failure, I noticed that those posts would receive a lot more comments and I would get far more email feedback than usual. Who would have thought that being real was actually more interesting to people than writing as if you’re some perfect being or expert on your topic? (Yes, I’m being sarcastic).
You can inject transparency into your blog in a number of ways. As I write about marketing, for example, I wanted to share the stats of this website on a monthly basis because I know that people building websites will be looking at their own. I can’t name any blogs that give away so much information. Even though revealing this much information increases the competition for me, it also helps people see that I’m the real deal.
What if a personal finance blogger started showing their exact income and outgoings each month?
What if a health blogger posted his exact eating habits and weight fluctuations on a bi-weekly basis.
What if a make money online blogger wasn’t trying to be an expert, but just showed their progress on the journey and didn’t try to sell any products to their readers?
What if you did X, that revealed even just a little more than anyone else in your industry?
Social Proof is Crucial
As mentioned earlier, a lot of people would subscribe to my blog simply because of how many other people were subscribing to it. It makes sense that with so many blogs out there, people only want to read the ones that look like they’re actually going to be worth reading.
If I stumble across a blog on marketing with the same theme I’ve seen in 100 other places, it’s not going to get my attention. Yet, if I notice a “11,652 subscribers” feedburner chicklet before clicking the close tab, it’s far more likely to make me stick around.
I made the mistake when starting out by showing that I literally had 7 subscribers to my blog. If you notice that, why would you want to join them? I also clearly displayed comment counts even though they were on 0. Work at increasing those numbers through promotion before showing them off.
Luckily, even if you’re a very new blogger who doesn’t have many subscribers, it’s easy to show massive amounts of social proof. Naomi Dunford at Ittybiz doesn’t show her feed count (though it’s high) but instead shows the number of monthly visitors she gets in a nice graphic.
If you have a few blog posts with a lot of comments, you could install a plugin which enables you to show the number of comments your site has and show first time visitors that a lot of discussion takes place on your blog.
Alternatively, if you’ve built up a popular Facebook page or following on Twitter then you could show off those numbers to gain some trust. You won’t get many opportunities to convert the same person into a subscriber so using things like social proof is a great way to give yourself the best chance.
Just make sure you have the content to back it up when they do stick around.
For those of you who have grown successful blogs, what would you tell your younger blogging self? I’ll see you in the comments…
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Great tips Glen! Keeps things in perspective for newbie bloggers like myself and excellent motivation to stay persistent and keep going. Thanks!
You’re welcome Vinay,
Good to have you over here.
Totally agree with the ‘get over the hurdle and then it gets easier’ – especially with subscribers, visitors and comments.
One thing I would tell myself – don’t buy the latest flavor of the month product. I have many times over and I must have wasted $thousands!
Andrew
I can relate to that.
As I said in a post recently on Pat Flynn’s blog, don’t buy another one until you can afford it from the money you made online. Then you will look at things differently.
mmm, I’m not yet in the position of looking back, I have yet to prove myself.
I like your points – concentrating on your readers by giving value and being transparent are vital, and sometimes harder to do than one thinks. Guest posting is huuuge for me now – I enjoy it a lot. Combining that with spreading my original presence by enriching the web galaxy is my major goal now. Building up momentum and social proof.
Basic, but good post
Basic.
My heart is shattered on the floor
Thanks man!
Haha. If this post is basic, this is the best basic post I’ve ever read
Inspiring Glen, truly.
Hey Glen,
! Standing out from crowd is really awesome, i know pat and you always write amazing articles. Great work buddy.
Great tips. Another awesome post as usual
Thanks for sharing this great post.
Btw. I hope you have enjoyed….your. birthday
.
Thanks Dev,
Yeah it was awesome. I had a crazy 3 days
Keeping it real by keeping it transparent is a fantastic way to stick out and one reason I like this blog and some others over some of their bigger but less informative peers. People see through the falseness pretty fast.
Very true Tyler,
Great to have you over here.
I am wishing I knew these two. I’ve learned a number of these over time, and still moving forward even with a lack of feedback. It’s very tough but we must keep going to get over that hurdle.
Transparency is a table stake in my eyes, but authenticity is something to think about as well. Some transparency is pointless for you overall message, or could hurt the image. And there is only so much we can really share anyways.
I get a bit confused by parts of your message though Glenn. Why? Because you mention having all of these sites making great money and the content is outsourced to others. How often do you actual post on these other blogs? Since you’re almost a ghost owner, are you applying the transparency to those blogs? Just some thoughts there… It seems like the blogs where you’re making your big money are the ones that we don’t know about.
*don’t confuse the question with me not believing you. I trust you and I’m simply playing devils advocate and this is just to extend the conversation.
Hey Scott,
I didn’t build those blogs from scratch and run them purely from a business point of view. As I covered in this post there are lots of different ways to make money from blogs (remarkable or not). I go with both options.
I never post on them; they simply produce masses of content around a topic and get a lot of search traffic. A strategy that even the biggest blogs like Engadget and others follow.
I think I get what you’re saying then.
I just start asking questions when I read a post like this one. Sparking some challenging thoughts could mean the post is extra great.
A new visitor might read this and not know that you make your money from sites where you don’t actually post, or be transparent, or be yourself. You’re a business man running a top down system.
However, I know you’ve demonstrated some aspects from the Plugin ID blog. You build it from the ground up and sold it. So I do get that you were reflecting and coming from a place when you owned and blogged on plugin id.
Do you need this information to do what you’re doing for money right now? I know the post does not talk about the art of making money but these people are not here to impress their mom. We know they’re here because this advice will help them build their blog and cash in.
Dude
Another well thought out, intelligent post.
I slightly disagree though – I like following your stuff (Plug in ID, and now this) because you’re a young, ambitious dude who’s doing his thang – and that resonates with me. Perhaps people DO care about you when they can relate to what you’re doing. That’s what I reckon anyway.
Aside from that, several good tips here. I particularly like the ideas on transparency and standing out.
For the former, I’ve clocked that the more honest I am, the better feedback I get; and for the latter, I’ve been making some cool videos which are different to what most peeps are doing.
Yep, it takes longer – but like you, I’m much more into the idea of helping people than making a quick buck.
Anyway, great stuff – PS saw on Twitter (or somewhere) you recently had your first Mountain Dew. Congrats dude – Mountain Dew is the juice of the Gods. Powerful stuff. Boom!
Hi Carl,
People definitely care about your story; it’s what they connect to and can relate to in your content. As far you as a person though, that alone is certainly not enough to keep people coming back to your site.
Haha. I found out it has more caffeine than 2 cans of Coke so I’m not sure I’ll keep drinking it
Hey Glen,
We’ve just completed the first release of our web app which means from this weekend, I have to concentrate on the blog as this is going to be a crucial part of the site – and I’m terrified!
Blogging even in a commercial sense is quite personal and it’s tough getting over the fear of rejection if you put your heart into something and either no one likes it or worse still, no one cares!
Thanks for the advice. I’ve just finished reading the problogger book and this is like a bonus chapters section
All the best
Thanks Justin,
Let me know how your blogging journey goes. You’ll learn the most by doing it than what anybody can teach you
I can totally relate to what you are saying here, it’s taken me 7 months to reach 1000 readers and another 3 months to reach 1700.
The bigger you get the more exponential your growth becomes due to a variety of factors ranging from your presence, your social proof and the amount of individual posts you have out there all bringing in bits of traffic daily.
Race to 10k?
Hey Diggy,
Good to know the snowball didn’t just apply for me, although I didn’t think it would.
It’s on!!
Glen,
I like this post a lot. I’ve reached the point where I need to start utilizing all these social networking tools like Twitter (and made a blog post on it recently.
I agree: however you can provide social proof, it’s a great idea and will tell a new reader, ‘hey, a lot of people like what this person is saying, so why don’t I check it out’.
G’stuff here, Glen.
Thank you Moon,
I hope things are going well with your blog! Make sure you @ me when you sign up to Twitter and I’ll follow you back
Hi Glen,
I listened to your seminar on Third Tribe recently and really enjoyed hearing your perspective! I guess my blogging goals are different in that I am blogging to attract clients and improve my search ranking; I’m not blogging for other bloggers. So, I’d measure my success not based on subscriber count, but based on the number of people that are finding my site via links or search results and inquiring about my services. But inevitably, reading and commenting on blogs every day, I feel like I sometimes end up catering more to the blogger crowd than to my ideal clients, which are small businses owners who need copywriting for their website. And I’m still having a tough time figuring out how to balance personal stuff with posts that provide “value.” I want to be helpful, but I don’t want to put people to sleep.
I’ve learned a lot between my two blogs.
My first blog (which I still write) is generating roughly 20,000 visitors a month but lately it’s spiked around 700 – 800 visitors a day. The problem is there is a break in connection between the readers. I want to say it’s the niche but I think I need to be much more personal which is why I’ve begun to open up a lot more with each passing post.
On my recent project (Murlu.com) I’m taking a much more proactive approach, trying to connect with other bloggers, writing guest posts, pouring my hear into the content. I notice a huge difference between the two blogs.
Where my first one has nearly 10x the traffic, it doesn’t have nearly the same amount of interaction from the community.
In some way, it has allowed me to tell myself where to start again.
I really appreciate every post you write. I love how so many bloggers will tell you to write short posts but I know that’s not the community you’re aiming for. These long posts are so fulfilling that I don’t care about a post every day.
I try to follow the same idea. I write 2,000+ word posts quite often. It’s exhausting but instead of touching on a subject over and over again, I much rather talk about it once and be done with it – work on the next subject.
Keep up the great work Glen!
It’s funny that you mentioned transparency. I have been toying with the idea to reveal my net worth, income, and expenses, on a monthly basis. It makes a lot of sense to me. If someone is going to look for me for advice, they should know I listen to my own advice.
Hey Glen,
Thanks for another well-thought out post. Transparency is (ironically?) the one thing people often fail to see as a big factor for success. I try my best to be transparent at my blog, but it’s funny that when you’re starting out and hitting failure after failure, you are sometimes afraid to admit it. It’s not that you don’t want random strangers of the internet world to see it – you’re afraid to admit it to yourself.
The truth of the matter is (which you obviously know), highlighting your failures will make the successes so much more powerful when you have a chance to highlight those. The ability to say “Look – a year ago I was at A and today I’m at Z” is powerful, when you’ve allowed people to witness the journey.
Thanks again for the great content.
Blogging is like any other business that is yours.. your success or failure is your own.
I look at blogging as a rocket taking off.. alot hard work in the begining, but once you start getting noticed and get the ball rolling it becomes easier.
Other thing I would add.. is you will meet the nicest people and of course the rudest aholes..lol
Awesome post Glen, great information for a new blogger like myself.
Also, this is me right here: “What if a make money online blogger wasn’t trying to be an expert, but just showed their progress on the journey and didn’t try to sell any products to their readers?”
Phew….. I will sleep better tonight knowing hope is still alive and kicking. Here is to the First 100! Great post. Be well.
Really Great Post Glen!
What I saw that helped viperchill grow so much is your uniqueness, you are very unique with this blog (I wish you more success).
Being unique helps a lot, social proof is also great. Like you said you went to 1000 subscribers with a lot less effort than 500 subscribers, the more you grow, the more easy it is for you to grow. Many people want to associate with success, which is why social proof is very important.
BTW: I discovered you are not building a mailing list, any reason for this?
Thanks a lot,
-Onibalusi
Great advice Glen! On the note of finding 30 blogs w/i your niche using the same theme, a lot can be said for having a custom theme. To this point, you can also see many benefits from finding a theme that fits your content. Though the blog I run exists in a niche that will likely never see more than 1500 visitors a day and is small-scale by many standards, after switching my theme for the 5th time, I doubled traffic because I had finally found a theme that was able to frame my content.
Blogging is very challenging. I make a living from owning web properties like you do glen, but growing my blog has been an incredibly difficult project. Most of my traffic bounces. No one actually gives my site a chance and reads my posts. I’m not sure if it is because of the name or the site design or what. But it is frustrating becasue I put a lot of heart into creating something unique and different, to separate it from the cliche material that dominates the search engines. Currently, I am not seeing any results really. All my posts (over 100) are 1200 words plus with a lot of personality and detail, and I only get 120-200 visitors a day.
Its a mixed bag, I get complimented on my writinig weekly, and I get emails thanking me and asking me for private coaching, but most of my traffic sucks. They just bounce. I hope to get over this blogging hump you talk about so I can experience some rewards for all my hard work and dedication with this site because I really care about it.
Thanks for including that point about generating more audience interaction by sharing personal information and perspectives. That’s exactly what makes your blog more credible to me than those of some other bloggers working this same general space, but I hadn’t really articulated that internally before. My blogging strategy is a little different (I’m a musician), but I’m definitely going to work harder to build my own story into my posts.
Glen, Glen, Glen….Freaking love your stuff brother. Thanks for the tremendous effort and energy you give us all with each post.
Loved this post Glen! I really liked the reminder to be transparent, sincere, and offer value.
I know that you have said it before and even alluded to it, but I would add that you will have to put in a lot of hard work and consistently before you will get results. I look at my own projects and think, okay I need to do X and Y before I can ever expect to see the desired results. Overnight success is great, but not something you can plan on!
I like the reminder that most people quit when it is actually about to start getting easier. I am a runner and climber and see this all the time! Push through a bit more and it is surprising how much easier things can get!
Thanks for the post!
yo Glen. been following you all around the net,
hehe, thanks to your influence, I now have ventured into the IM world.
i wanna tell you your writing is both super creative and organized at the same time.
since art form and rationalization often do not work well with other!
but tell me, why are you not using a tag in this post?
Glen, I really connected with what you said about people not wanting to deal with you when you’re not an A-lister. So many people in the businesses of writing and drama (and indeed, the blogging world) are exactly as you said. I think that we should show a little more humanity in these circles. Of course, I know that this sort of behaviour extends to all walks of life. I know about writing and drama, so I can speak from first-hand experience. We have to remember that no one is born a winner. We grow into what we are. Too many people forget their humble roots.
I really like this blog post people it reminds me of a great quote from an uncle or maybe it was a book I don’t know I am sure he stole it from somewhere LOL.
“Wise man don’t learn from their mistakes, but from the mistakes of others”
I remember that always, why go through something that has been proven to fail already right. I appreciate you investing your time bro to put this together I am sure it will help us a ton.
Haha — nice quote.
You’re welcome
I made the same mistakes before. I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself, and I started working hard with producing content, marketing, and socializing. This is the combo that brings success to a blog. That plus not getting too big headed that you are unable to interact with your readers by responding to comments. You will find that the first handful of blogs you comment on are the ones who’s owners you make lasting relationships with. They share the wealth by taking part in your blog and helping promote it.
Glenn, I truly do enjoy your posts. I can usually find a way to apply your information to my own experiences and that’s what keeps me coming back. I’ve changed the focus of my blog, in search of fun (I get tired of the word passion), more times than I care to admit. Many people, over the years, have told me that “work” cannot be fun. I disagree on every level. Work that is not fun is a sad state of being. In the past, people were likely to have to do a job that they hated, but as far as I can see, we live in a different age. All the media forms are available and it is easier than ever to expand a group in to a community. Due to that ease the only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves.
However, as you stated, it takes time and the road is littered with mistakes.
It all comes down to one word for me…
Tenacity.
Thanks for the inspiration Glenn.
Great lesson and word Josh, thanks!
It’s great to have your support.
You’re officially my favorite blogger. Nobody, with all due respect to some of the greats out there, puts out nearly this level of informative content on a regular basis. Just reading your popular posts in the sidebar is enough to learn more than everything else I have read combined across many blogs. The message I get from you is take risks. Well, here is a risk for you:
I have a brand new blog that is being built right now and is not ready to be revealed. However, what if I implement all of the advice that you give on ViperChill (to the degree that it is possible) and we turn it into a case study of what can happen when people spill their guts into their blog, follow sound advice, and take a chance. Could make for a very interesting post.
Note: The link in this comment goes to my real estate site which is not in any way related to my new project. Also, the real estate site is not nearly as focused on the blog as the new project will be. I am extremely excited. Let me know if the idea interests you.
Dan
Hi Dan,
It’s great to hear that; thanks for the support. I did a similar kind of case study recently with my friend Diggy and he showed the results he received after implementing my changes: http://www.viperchill.com/blog-overnight-success/
I just read the post. What I have in mind would be quite different. I would actually report the specific steps I took, make reference to your posts that taught me that particular strategy, and report my stats. I think this could be a great project for both of us.
Hey Glenn, I recently subscribed to your website after your post of 21 Lessons was forwarded to me by email from a family member since I recently turned 21. I subscribed to your website without even knowing the main theme of your blog, I just really loved the amount of insight you have. After visiting your website for the second time I now know what you actually write about and I feel really lucky to have come across your website, because I recently started a blog and I find your posts to be very helpful and inspiring. I always wanted a blog but I thought I was not capable of having one and being good at it, but I was wrong because so far it is going very well. and I will continue to improve with the help of your posts. So thanks for putting the time and passion in to what you do Glenn.
Hey Mindy,
That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Best of luck with your site and I hope to see you here again.
Hi Glen,
Thanks for the interesting post.
Indeed, I’m constantly learning about this and I find one of your points quite interesting. If you have a blog that is small, very small, how are you going to show any “social proof”? I guess the real key to some of that is finding ways to actually promote the blog.
I’m also curious – how do you go about connecting to other blogs and writing guest posts? Possibly having other bloggers write a guest post on your blog?
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
I wrote a huge post on that which might help: http://www.viperchill.com/guest-blogging/
Hey Glen,
Excellent post again!! The content just keeps coming and coming. Where do you get your inspiration from Glen?
I have my first guest post in a long while this week as I have been out of the game for two years at least. If I could look back and give myself any tips for the future, it would be “don’t stop what you are doing keep cracking on mate”. Unfortunately I did stop but hey thats the past and here comes the future!
Cheers,
Dan
Thanks Daniel,
Still lots more to come. My inspiration is usually found while in the shower
Great tip.
[...] traits but feel like you’re still floundering, read Glen@ViperChill’s reflections on things he wished he knew about blogging four years ago. They’re very straightforward and might disappoint some of you who are [...]
I’m glad I read this. Glad to know I’m doing things right.
I’m in the midst of the whole “blogger slump” period so, putting things in perspective for one who’s still growing, let’s me know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
There have been a few people who mentioned that so I’m glad I put that in there. Just keep pushing through that hurdle
Great article as always. I totally agree that it’s best to listen to people who have committed mistakes and then learned and found success eventually. One should really choose who to listen too.
Thanks Andrew, glad you liked this one.
I love the way the comments section on your blog can sometimes be almost as informative as the posts! I agree with Andrew that you have to be careful who you listen to but its tricky when you are starting out because you lack the point of reference to know who’s worthwhile and who isn’t.
I suppose that’s where the feedburner stats counter/social proof comes in handy.
Thanks for another great post Glen. Keep up the good work.
Neil
Great stuff! I’m new to this blogging world and still trying to figure out how I can provide great content for my readers. Also, I have noticed that my readers number has been up and down. So I guess i’m not doing the right way or my content sucks. Anyone wants to give some suggestions on my first ever blog ?
Good advice Glen. I am just learning and starting my blog, One month in and I only have 25 subscribers but I saw my alexa rank go from 12,000,000 to 290,000 so I am getting there. Now time to get the word out and keep plugging away. I think not giving up is a key. People expect things to happen overnight and they rarely do.
At that rate Mike you should be in the top 100 Alexa shortly
I imagine it’s going to hit a brick wall shortly.
I’m just settling in.
wow,really well written. got to know things dont work in a jiffy . You have failed a lot of time and maybe im going through that moment in my blogging life. one day i might be just like you , who knows?
Hi Glen,
Someone asked me the other day if I was any closer to getting my blog off the ground… I replied with one of those ‘Yeah; Nah’ Comments! Content has always been my block and I thought to myself that I just need to find that one passion to hone in on and then I am away! Trouble is with that, I am very passionate about many things ranging from all things artistic and with a background in marketing in Healthcare (which doesn’t float my boat anymore).
I will keep you posted on my progress as I take leaves out of several peoples’ books who have all had the experiences and mistakes that I don’t want to make! Thanks for the information herein, I will use it and appreciate the shortcuts provided…
Regards,
J*
Thanks Glen, we’re nearly at the 6 month point with our blog, I still learn loads of new things about blogging every day from reading blog’s like yours, and I’m looking forward to crossing that huge hurdle soon!
When I read that you “couldn’t care less about how Paris Hilton spends her time” I knew I’d enjoy this post…
Came here from technshare.com.
There’s a lot here to respond to, but I’ll pick out a couple of points.
The social aspect is massive. I’ve found that when my blog is the place to be, I’m getting quite a lot of new commentators every post. But it tends to go through phases where my regulars aren’t visiting, for no apparent reason, and then suddenly the new visitor numbers drop.
I’ve had mixed results with guest posting. On the one hand, I sometimes gain a few readers if my guest post is good, but on the other hand, I’ve found that regular readers are often “not that bothered” about following up my guest posts elsewhere, or about reading guest posts on my site.
One thing I have learnt in two years blogging is that it is all about maintaining a constant web presence. Without that you get nowhere. Nobody reads a blog without any agenda. Well, few seem to, if you know what I mean. You have to be visiting, commenting, posting regularly and responding to your visitors.
Blogging is a powerful marketing tool and if you’re a lousy blogger, you might as well expect a tumbleweed roll across your website. There are tons of ways to attract people to read your blogs and the tips posted here are winners. I especially love to ‘stand out’. You know, be unique. Don’t be just one of the sheep. A great blogger is one that is smart, witty and humorous. I’m sure you’re on your way, if not already there.
This is really a great post Glen. I had just started blogging and I wish I had started earlier. But now that I have started I won’t stop.
Great post and keep up the good work
Hey Glen,
I just wanted to say thanks for sharing these tips. All are very useful. Sometimes I wonder how big that hurdle is but, I realize it’s my responsibility. I am going back to reading the blogging blueprint (you wrote) – always to get back to the basics.
Have a great weekend…Mike
Glen, I’m a big fan of yours from Nigeria. Since the day I first got in contact with your posts at Pluginid, I’ve been addicted to every of your works. How could somebody of your age have achieved this much? This inspires me alot.
Relating to what you said about being transparent-that hit me. I also believe the best way to help your readers and really connect with them is to be down-right real with them. Let them know you are just a normal guy who has just got things in perspective.
As a personal development blogger, I’m going back to my blog to share my character,success and failure.
Thanks for been there for us, Glen.
Seun.
Glen. thank you for all you write.
The giving-up and getting-over-the-hump aspects resonate deeply; over 2 years doing/learning/figuring/tweaking/learning the nuances of creating an effective blog and still limping along.
A bit of a relief to know I’m in good company with the time it takes to write posts! Tho not nearly as lengthy as yours, it takes me hours to write 500 words. (product reviews) Tried outsourcing, used a good writer but the voice just wasn’t mine. Ended up re-writing which took more time!
Just wanted to say thanks for all you share. When you’re ready to MENTOR…hope to be on your short list.
Thanks mucho.
Rebe in Costa Rica
Hi Glen,
This is really inspiring & that is great for someone like me who has not been doing this for very long. The idea that things get easier after a while due to a type of perpetual motion that you have to create in the beginning is very similar to other business types that I have been involved in.
Thanks for the honesty & what you included in the “People Don’t Care About You” section. More people should probably hear that. It really helps to understand that you and you alone are responsible for your successes and failures!
Have a great day!
Thank you for sharing your experiences with blogging. I’m a first time visitor building my own blog. I especially like the ‘get gritty’ tone of your post. So many people seek out quick how to guides for increasing their size, when the real answer is hard work, content, some inventiveness, and of course, a dash of Seth Godin’s wisdom.
I really appreciate the way you explained clearly that everything is really free out there provided you know how to utilise it… great post
Thanks for the post glen! Got a few ideas on where I can improve my sites from this!
Good day Glen. when you say that
- nofollow tags boosts rankings…
does that mean every “site internal links” in your site are nofollow?
is it true for even the pages (links to pages) in a Sitemap page?
for example, like yours; at http://www.viperchill.com/base
Hi Glen- I have a quick question. Does the Feedburner chiclet drop subscribers the way that Feedburner does; or does it maintain the highest subscriber count?
Hi Paul,
Yes the chicklet matches what Feedburner tells you, but it’s about 3 hours behind. The stats peaked at 6,866 a couple of days ago so I count that as the true number. Stats are usually the highest the day after a post.
glen, what do you think of a site built only to sell affiliate products? any future of that kind of site?
Hey Glen. Got a question.
The niche of my blog (URL on my name) is such that the quantity of posts matters more. I currently post once every day. What do you say: should I update it 2-3 times a week and then promote those posts more, or update it everyday and promote those less.
Thanks
Karan
How do I hide the number of comments that my posts have?
Victor
Hey Glen! First off, this is my favorite blog on the internet. Bar none. It used to be seomoz, but now that I’ve read yours I know what real transparency is and it is obvious that they were hiding this that they were making a profit from. Anyway, I really hope you get this because I know you don’t want people emailing you with questions. As you can see, My blog is on blogger. I hate blogger and I want to change to wordpress like everyone else but I’m not sure what host to use. You mentioned $5 a month in one of your posts. What host do you use for all of your blogs? If you use different ones, which is the best?
Cheers.
As you said, show efficient numbers is vital. The first strategy gives me more. Really tks, and I like your heading style.
Authenticity is KEY!
I really liked how you laid that out. You called it “transparency”, but it’s the same thing. In all the videos and posts on my site I make sure not to try to be something I’m not.
In all my videos/posts I just focus on being me, and talking about things I’m passionate about….Not only do people seem to like it, but I love it, and don’t feel like a phony at the end of the day. haha
Anyway, great article.
Cheers
I totally agree with you.
Writing guest posts is a relly powerful way to increase the number of visotors. High quality posts will definitely attract more attention and will eventually generate traffic. Traffic tranlsated to links means link power which is what lies in the end of the tunnel.
Glen,
Awesome post again. I haven’t been to your site in months and am happy that I’ve gotten back in the swing of things and checked it out. You bring the realness in every post.
Thanks man
I’m at the starting line and it’s great to read your posts – they give me inspiration to keep on, keeping on. Somedays I stumble around not sure how adsense works or if I am being impatient with my sites in expecting money to roll in. So far I’ve made $1.41 – so I guess it can only get better! Happy days!
Thanks for the wonderful tips Glen!
Coming from your end, these are indeed so true to life unlike dry and drab links that one often encounters on web.
Thanks for the tips. You and your blog and indeed remarkable!
I’d be inclined to agree with you one this subject. Which is not something I typically do! I love reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
I attempted to submit a statement previously, but it hasn’t shown up. I feel your spam filter may well be broken?
Very interesting post… Thanks a lot for the share… More power…
Really inspirational stuff for newbie’s like me just starting out. Appreciate the honestly Glen and it is nice to see someone keep pushing and working hard and see it all payoff.
Thx.
Izzy