Three lessons you need to learn as a beginner in blogging

Don’t get me wrong, you get to express your opinions and ideas and stories plenty as a blogger, but only when and in the ways your expression helps your ideal reader.

Your readership determines when and how that expression is appropriate, otherwise, you’re running a diary, not a blog. You’re not making money from a diary. Trust me.

Blogging is like a business, which means your readers’ needs in guidance, motivation, and education takes priority over your need to express. If you have a rough day and decide “I’m going to blog about this” — that’s why you’re not getting any readers when you promote the post. (Yes I already know you’re not getting readers). This is because your readers aren’t here to be your shoulder to lean on or cheerleaders for your successes and challenges. They’ll do that if they love you, but ultimately they’re here to gain something from your content.

So you should be serving them, not yourself, in order to gain their loyalty. Your mindset has to be more aligned with: “What kind of day is my ideal readers having? What can I write about that will help them?” Then your readers will love you, share your work, and your blog will grow.

Your mindset has to be more aligned with: “What kind of day is my ideal readers having? What can I write about that will help them?” Then your readers will love you, share your work, and your blog will grow.

 If you’re waiting to get enough traffic to gain advertiser interest — think again. Selling ad space generally covers the blog’s marketing and upkeep expenses, and might pay a bill or two. But it’s not the bread and butter of any blog that’s not on the Gawker Empire or Huffington Post level of exposure.

This empire has huge teams of people that make them as big as they are. You’re one person, so your objective needs to shift from what the media is showing you. Making money and being financially free while blogging is totally doable, you just have to do it a little differently if your blog isn’t an empire.

Use your blog to sell services or products. If you really just want to spend your life writing your heart out I recommend becoming an affiliate marketer of a select 3 or 4 products in your niche and selling them. Just provide your readers with valuable content and input the links in organically appropriate locations. When you really get the hang of it and become addicted to sales success (you will, if you stick with it), you’ll start creating sales funnels and pushing the products harder.

When you’re ready for that your first step is to create a value ladder. Have a couple of low priced products you sell to warm your readership up and get them to trust your endorsements, then move them up the value ladder systematically so that they’re spending a little more each time. The top product should be a high-ticket item that you make big commission from. This is where your financial freedom lies.

But it’s not the bread and butter of any blog that’s not on the Gawker Empire or Huffington Post level of exposure. These empires have huge teams of people that make them as big as they are. You’re one person, so your objective needs to shift from what the media is showing you. Making money and being financially free while blogging is totally doable, you just have to do it a little differently if your blog isn’t an empire.

Use your blog to sell services or products. If you really just want to spend your life writing your heart out I recommend becoming an affiliate marketer of a select 3 or 4 products in your niche and selling them. Just provide your readers with valuable content and input the links in organically appropriate locations. When you really get the hang of it and become addicted to sales success (you will, if you stick with it), you’ll start creating sales funnels and pushing the products harder.

When you’re ready for that your first step is to create a value ladder. Have a couple of low priced products you sell to warm your readership up and get them to trust your endorsements, then move them up the value ladder systematically so that they’re spending a little more each time.

The top product should be a high-ticket item that you make big commission from. This is where your financial freedom lies.

Write as much as you need to create a quality post. No more, no less. When collaborating with other blogs and writing guest posts don’t even ask about a word count. Don’t talk about it. It isn’t real.

No one actually cares about those numbers. They don’t mean anything, not to your readers, not to your connections’ readers, and not to your connections. There are trends, there are statistics, but none of them override the necessity to create a top quality post.

Therefore creating value is your only focus. If you set a “600 words” precedent you’re hindering your ability to avoid fluff and/or thoroughly explain your topic.

If someone else (likely a novice on content creation or an ill-informed “expert”) brings the word count topic in your direction for a post you’ve written, kindly tell them why all of the information you provided is necessary, and why it’s enough. Give them a heads up that changing the post will reduce quality, and move forward from there.

Becoming a successful blogger is a journey, and it won’t happen quickly, but it will happen. There are so many other lessons to learn, so my last bonus tips is to keep being eager to learn.

Choose your “gurus”, your mentors. Pay attention to those who are succeeding in the ways you desire to succeed, and follow that path with your own unique content and flair. You’ll get there if you keep at it.