How to Become a Blogger – 10 Make or Break Guidelines

What do you want your career to be? Senior Management, an Entrepreneur maybe a CEO? These roles are where many people project their idealised goals of the future. What about becoming a Blogger? I am positive that only a select few will say they want to become a blogger and for those that want to do it there is very little guidance or information out there. I doubt there are many careers councillors who would even know where to start with the advice!

If you are one of that tiny minority that want to turn their backs on a more traditional career and become a blogger then in those post I will share with you my 10 make or break  blogging guidelines

What You Need to Know About How to Become a Blogger!

First and foremost as a blogger you will be the captain of your own ship the master of your own destiny. This also means that you are responsible for everything, and I mean everything, to do with that blog: content, analytics, design, legal issues, advertising and more. There are a myriad of areas that you need to be mindful of to push your blog forward to success and beyond. That is not to say that you can’t leverage other peoples’ skills however you are at the fulcrum, it is your name on the blog and like any good captain you should be the last off that ship if it were to go down.

Focus.

 

 

When you visit a garden centre you expect to see flower, shrubs and trees. When you go to see a financial advisor you expect to receive information on how to manage your finances. If you wanted to have a wall constructed around your garden you would call a landscape specialist. Do you see my point?

You have to focus; you have to be in a position where people who are looking for your exact speciality or skill will be able to find you. Writing about 15 different topics will simply dilute your message. Pick one and provide greater depth.

Position yourself as an Authority

There is a saying that goes “Jack of all trades, master of none!” As an individual you may have many skills and experiences but what you want is to be outstanding at one. You want to become an authority in that niche.

Take the time to work out exactly what that one thing is. If you are serious about wanting to become a blogger then you will spend the next few years researching, writing, thinking, talking about and discussing that topic.

You need to be in control of that topic, you want to be seen as the person in the know, the “go to” authority on that subject. Having fresh ideas and news about that topic will help you start to shine!

Frequency matters

Your potential readers and community members want to know what is important, what is happening NOW! Not yesterday, not a week ago and certainly not last month.

Starting a blog takes great commitment to get recognised by readers and the search engines. The more content you create, the greater the chance of getting noticed.

That is not to say that you can produce any old rubbish because you can’t. The content that you create has to deliver something unique.

Provide value.

Value is at the core of everything that you do online. If you do not provide incredible amounts of value to your readers then they will not stick around. It is as simple as that.

Start by providing exactly what you said you would, then provide further information by linking to posts, videos, eBooks or reports that could further support the users thirst for information and support your case to be seen as an authority.

Build Relationships.

Forget traditional methods of just pushing article after article out on to the readership. That was yesterday. Today is about building relationships. It’s no longer “them and us”. It is a collective “us”, the audience, the readers, the community are all part and parcel of your blogging success. If your content does not spark engagement then getting your blog noticed will be a near impossibility.

Make sure you have a good commenting system. A blog that does not give the reader the opportunity to add their opinion is not a blog. You can’t just make a statement or give an opinion and not accept feedback.

Don’t stop there! Make sure that it is obvious and easy for your readers to share your posts with their following by providing social sharing buttons, allowing them to freely spread the post high and wide throughout their social media networks.

Be contrarian.

Nobody wants to damage their reputation online. One wrong word and suddenly social media can work against you and your brand. Bear in mind that people don’t want to hear the same drone over and over and over again. I am not saying make it your point to be objective or controversial for the sake of doing so, what I am saying is if you are intelligent and you can provide a sound argument as to why your opposing opinion is valid then do so.

If you are known for going against the flow of messages and providing a different view point then people will come to you to provide a balance to 90% of the messages online.

Social media is honest, if you believe in something passionately then do you best to stay true to yourself and your readers and people will respect that honesty.

Open Your Ears.

Opening your ears is a reminder that building relationships is critical. Blogging is not about getting a megaphone and shouting from the top of your lungs who you are, what you believe in and why people should listen to you. Blogging is a two way communication. When a reader has spent 5 minutes of their own time listening to you, give them the same courtesy in return.

When they leave a comment, a question or give you a shout out then address it! Answer the question, acknowledge the shout out and most of all thank them. Being grateful is something that we can all do and whilst it carries huge value to the recipient it costs nothing, so use it!

Invest time in your writing.

You may think that knocking up a post in 10minutes or regurgitating something that you did last month is ok. Well let’s be frank here. It is not ok; in fact it is nowhere near OK. It is poor, really poor.

If you want to learn how to become a blogger the right way, reach authority status and build an engaged audience then you need to invest real time in the research and writing of your posts. If you are going to make an argument for or against then you need to make sure your argument is sound and you have done the proper research to justify your point. Publishing a post full of holes will not warm your audience to you. Yes you might get some reaction from people saying “that’s rubbish!” but you will certainly not be building your status of authority.

Mingle

Making it online is no different to what you have to do in order to make it offline. You have to get yourself out there. You have to let everyone know about you, why you do the things you are doing and what you aim to achieve.

The opportunities always go to the people in the know and the only way you can expect to get those opportunities, promotions, speaking engagements or coaching is to work hard and get to know those who are already in the industry and are achieving a level of success.

Leave comments on other blogs, write guest blogs, answer questions in forums, and contribute in social media groups. If you are serious not just about knowing how to become a blogger but becoming a successful and authoritative blogger then these are the daily activities that you must commit to or you may miss an opportunity.

There you have it 10 must have commandments on how to become a blogger. If it seems a lot like hard work then that’s because it is! If you are serious then be prepared to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty because there is no magic bullet. It simply is down to hard work, creating great content that provides astonishing value and building an even greater audience. Good luck!

If you think there is anything I missed from this list or any questions you have then please leave them in the comments box below.

And of course feel free to share!

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