A Blogger’s Blue Print – Chapter 1

Comment!

Search for and visit sites and forums with topics that you are interested in. Read the posts, and make thoughtful, sincere comments. Of course put your name and site address in the comment form. This "puts you out there," gets you exposure and drives traffic to your site. The better the comment, the more traffic. It's a win win. You're adding valuable content to another's site, learning more information about your topic and in return getting a link back(more link juice) and at least some more direct traffic. Join Disqus. Giving your comments a social edge. This will make your commenting more effective, socialized, and it will archive them, putting you out there even more. Read all of the other comments. Any interesting ones? Visit their website and check them out. You may find an additional source of information and inspiration. Good Karma to have them perhaps visit you. *An added benefit: If your comment is bringing up an additional angle and happens to be a particularly long comment, you have the makings of an automatic new blog post to boot. The more blog posts you have equals incrementally more Page Rank which inevitably leads to more traffic.

Blog Posting

What are you really, really interested in, especially at this moment? Don't worry about SEO, or will it make money. That's editorial stuff that you can come back to later, but first you've got to get the lyrical part of your soul out first before you bring the editorial part in (copywriting, SEO, monetization strategies, etc.) You put those latter things first and it might work, but you won't be happy, and it won't be worth it. Let's start with small baby steps first. What is the one thing you would like to do right now for the next hour, next two hours, whole morning or afternoon? Sure there's things you need to do, and you make a list or read a book about getting organized and you do them, but in a relaxed way. The things you need to do, however small or insignificant they seem, can make terrific blog posts. You can turn problems into opportunities. For instance, let's say you have a problem. (The more specific the better) You've searched and searched Google and found no easy or direct solution, but since it must be done, you do manage to find a way to figure it out, and you can explain it more clearly and simply than others. Bingo! You've just found an opportunity to help others, and you are also solving your own problem in a more creative, productive way. People will relate to you more than the experts who know what to do, but speak a lingo no one understands, or for whatever reason want to toy and withhold the information. And that builds trust as well. "Make a virtue out of necessity," as Shakespeare said. So yes, the things you need to do, you must do, and the more of a challenge they are, the more of an opportunity they can be to find a better way and for you to express that better way to the world. But back to what you want to do. After the needs have been met, surely you can find a couple hours a day for yourself? Like golf? Shoot some video of yourself during your next round. Who knows, you might just hit a hole in one! Thank that shot caught on video might not make the rounds on Youtube? New media shouldn't be a distraction. It should be a new way of expressing yourself, and it can be a psychological tool really. Think about it. Got a guilt complex about doing the things you want to do? New media gives you a channel, a focus, to make doing what you like, important. It's a long tail that will make that little complex crumble. and that's a great mixture. Relax. Take some breaths. What one little thing, and I don't care what it is (shopping? ladies there are a lot of men out there starving for an education on how to shop well!) lowers your blood pressure for a few hours, relaxes you (cooking, reading, working out, meditating, hunting or fishing?) These topics have audiences out there just begging for a fresh voice that will educate, entertain, and inspire them. And doing the things you love to do will inspire you too. The Google bots are being tuned for fresher, newer, different takes on the every day things we do in life. Really, Google and the other services of their ilke are working on the Search & Engine part of the equation. The Optimization comes out of your natural exuberance. All that silicon is just begging for a real, natural, spontaneous experience, and the deepest part of you is too. It gives us all a chance to inspire and be inspired, to fulfill and be fulfilled. So the best step is to step away from that computer (unless its computers your really interested in) and do what really inspires you. Theirs an audience for that, but find the thing that you most want to do even if there wasn't.