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How to Become a Blogging Expert Overnight
Posted by Jo-Anne Vandermeulen on March 17, 2010
"Oh So Wise!"
With age comes wisdom…but, not when we’re talking about blogging.
It doesn’t take years to become an expert blogger. You can *conquer all obstacles* and become a professional as early as…tomorrow. Yes, I said tomorrow. To become a blogging expert, all you need to do is:
- Define Your Niche – Mental blocks will be unheard of. Never will you tire for what you’re passionate about. Mental juices will flow. The articles will ring true—with an honest voice. The reader will devour your post.
- Carefully Proof-Read - Checking for the usual punctuation and grammar is a given. Beginners can ask someone to look over their article. Swapping articles—having a critique partner is an excellent idea.
- Content Must Give - Producing valuable content will attract new readers and have viewers coming back for more.
Now you’re ready to attract a LARGE NUMBER OF READERS, but the competition is fierce. Tons of blogs are out in the Internet.
FACT: “The Internet is a vast wasteland of thoughts and ideas. According to Technorati, someone creates a new blog every 1.4 seconds. If blogging was a crime, and in some cases it very much should be, it would be the number one source of criminal activity in the land.” >Adam Brown, FreeLanceSwitch Site, 01/07/09<
A lot of these blogs are filled with valuable content….so how does a blogger stand out from the rest?
Before pushing the submit button, to have your post published, ask yourself these questions:
1.) Who are my readers? My words and expressions are going to be different depending on my audience. A title for a majority ‘male’ audience will likely be different than if targeted for a ‘female’ audience.
For example:
Male – Sex, Battle
Female – Love, Solve
*Can you think of other words that are used depending on the gender use?
Even think about the audience’s age. If I’m writing for my daughters, my style will be a lot different than if I’m posting for a senior-age audience.
*Check the Feedburner, stats, and now Facebook Fan Pages even gives the author a complete profile of whether their audience is male or female, ages, geographical locations, and the number of views over the week.
If I’m not happy with the facts, then it’s time to change my vocabulary and style.
2.) Am I writing for my viewers or am I hung-up on the Search Engine stats? Check the title— Every now and then I’ll write an eye catching title rather than words only termed with key phrases.
LOL…I’m still getting comments from the post titled – “Who Likes To Get Naked?” (http://bit.ly/4X9esf). I’m pretty sure the search engines didn’t pick this title up, but I sure attracted the readers.
Whereas, the title: “8 Tips To Successful Blogging” (http://bit.ly/ctSvGb ) was successfully picked up by the webcrawlers but would have easily been skimmed by those uninterested in improving their blogging skills.
3.)What is the main purpose for my blog? I must be honest with myself, and clear to my audience. I create the title and article to reflect my purpose. Whether I’ve decided my posts are for interaction, to help or inspire others, build friendships, or sell products, I have to keep my promise by staying on task and resolving the questions before the end of each article.
You can *conquer all obstacles* and become an expert blogger, but you have to follow some guidelines that have proven successful when publishing posts. There are many blogs that supply tips and techniques to assist bloggers to become stronger. Research and read what has worked for other experts. Toss that fear out the window, write the posts, and then check the stats…you never know…a new vocabulary and style of writing may be a better way to go…and the answer as to how YOU CAN BECOME AN EXPERT BLOGGER OVERNIGHT.
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marycoxpace said
Well-written post! Thank you. I especially liked your note on quality content. I blogged on the topic of religious freedom for a while, but changed the subject to personal reflections of God’s hand on my life. I was hesitant to make the change, but soon discovered that people want to spend minutes at a blog without compromise. One that convicts, convinces, and provokes others to move to a next level in thinking and living.
Thanks for your dynamite article!
Mary
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen said
You’re very welcome, Mary. Sounds like we are on the same wave-length.
God bless you and your ministry;
Jo
Monica J. Foster said
I am known as the Life Beyond Limits Coach & Speaker focusing on motivating people with disabilities to build the lives they’ve always dreamed of beyond any real or perceived limitations. Many appreciate my life experience as a woman on wheels by birth and more recently as a female amputee. That being said, I am about to dip my toe in the waters of blogging, but I don’t want the blog to become a diary about me.
I want to give my readers what they most want in tips and advice on living their disability-tinged lives beyond limits, but many of the sage tips and advice come from things that have happened to me or come across my own mind as a woman with disabilities. How can I not make this a platform to talk all about me, and yet share about my life in a way that teaches and motivates others?
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen said
Hi Monica;
I hear you, and understand where you’re coming from. We blog or write about our niche or area of expertise. It is no surprise to write about what is happening to us personally or use examples within the articles. My advice is:
1.) Write about what you want to teach or motivate *Practical Tips About Living With a Disability*. Think of a brand. Actually, you answered your own question, I’m just clarifying everything you just said.
2.) Use your experience to add to your articles. Viewers love to hear the ‘real’ side of an author.
3.) With practice, you’re writing will become a mixture of formal or factual information blended with informal or conversational style (your experiences). Very soon, you will find a comfortable flow and your readers will gobble-up everything you have to give them.
These 3 points will give you what you want—a teaching and a motivation for your readers.
Please let me know how things go. Would enjoy reading some of your posts.
Monica J. Foster said
Thanks Jo-Anne! Appreciate you giving me a perspective outside my own thought process on how to not make my blog so much “The Monica Show,” (the way it was when I was on bed rest and giving survival tips)but truly sharing some anecdotes from my life that can be expanded into a life beyond limits tip/lesson that can reach more of my niche readers.
I’ll keep you posted. My site and blog are in reconstruction phase.
In appreciation,
Monica
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen said
You’re very welcome. You WILL BE an inspiration for others. Bless you.
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Jamie Richardson said
I write primarily about parenting. My problem is that I have lots of passions within that niche… ADHD, sanity for moms, cooking for kids, hands-on ideas to get kids involved, reviewing books and products, etc. And my best writing is generally on the humorous side. My problem is:
1. I don’t want to paint myself into too much of a corner in the market. If I write an ADHD blog, for example, that is not really building a “parenting” platform.
2. I don’t want to blog so much about a particular subject that I do not have fresh ideas for the book I’m working on. How do you know what is “blog worthy” while you are building a platform and what should be saved for a book?
3. I also have fiction ambitions. I’m not sure how THAT fits into any of this. I guess I’m just too ambitious for my own good.
I’m in the middle of reading your “Premium Promotional Tips” on my Kindle. Glad to have found this page too. Thanks for the info, and keep it coming!
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen said
LOL…you sound like me, Jamie…lol. As you can probably tell from my posts, I tend to mix the topic. I go from Blogging – Targeting an audience – Bringing massive exposure – Driving traffic…etc. I feel this is good as it does bring a nice mixture of followers. Some bloggers really focus on one, but (like you) I have a wide variety of interests or niches.
If you want more traffic and feel you should hone in on one, you should check out your analytics and find out which posts are seeing the most traffic.
My fiction is exposed through a different blog. It is listed on this one as a tag…but I really keep that one separate.
Thanks for reading my book…:). Always enjoy hearing from my readers. If you want…please write a couple of sentences about the book and submit it into the reviews on Amazon or B&N. Would really appreciate that…:).
Have a wonderful day…blessings.
>Hugs<
Jo
Jamie Richardson said
I have used Examiner as my blog because they do all the advertising, etc… but I can’t see the details of who is reading what by doing that. I get a daily hit count, but that is it.
Is it time to start a WordPress blog you think?
I will head on over to Amazon and BN now to do the review. Thanks for the reply!
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen said
I don’t know anything about the user platform, Examiner. I would recommend either wordpress or blogger. Both have their adv & disadv. For those reading this, and are beginners, I’d recommend blogger over wordpress….more user friendly.
*Wordpress has the Google Analytics already included. Blogger, you have to register for Google Analytics. I actually prefer the Google Analytics. Everything I’ve included here is FREE. Just read the instructions and click through.
Before you switch over…and if you’re happy with Examiner, and you’d like to see who and where your traffic is coming from, go into Google Analytics. You should be able to register your Examiner blog there. You’ll have to complete the chain by embedding their html that they give you into your blog. They’ll tell you how to do this. Do you have Feedburner? If not, register for this. Read all about it. Really helps you.
Also, like my book states, register your site at Google, MSN & Yahoo…the top search engines. This way, others will be able to find you easier.
Thanks for posting the review for my book, “Premium Promotional Tips for Writers”. Even submitting reviews is a great way to direct traffic your way. A win-win…and I like that…:).
Have an AWESOME day…:).
>Hugs<
Jo
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