New Blogger Talk And Tips

Being new to blogging,sometimes or most of the times we just can't help but feeling envy towards the Top Bloggers.Why not?They have about 20,000 readers subscribing to their blog,but we only have 20,we sometimes don't have people commenting on our post,the best we get is 1 comment,but they get 20 to 50 comments easily though sometimes we feel our post are much better than theirs.We struggle to even make 1 post,but they can easily make 3 post daily and the biggest envy will surely be because we make our first $100 after 3 month,but they make $10,000 to $30,000 every month.

In our envy,we sometimes forget that they actually are not much better than us when they also first started blogging.They struggle like we do,have nothing to show after their first 3 month,some even feel frustrated and thinking whether they make the right decision,but they did the right thing by sticking to it and now we the new ones are looking up to them with envy and also for inspiration.

There is nothing wrong to envy them but we must also learn from them,what is it that we can actually learn by looking at this top bloggers?

Keep on going and one day you will become the envy of others for a change.

Here is something that I believe we all should look at and maybe try for the benefits of our blog and also for ourselves.

Do you have anything to add through your own experience that we all can share?Please leave a comment if you do.

This is one of the most biggest concern among bloggers.You start a blog,write a post,but there are no people reading it.You can find topics about traffic in any forums you join.There are ways that we can do to promote our blogs like submitting it to blog directories,joining blogging community,use social networking sites to promote it to other members,join forums,comment on other blogs and a lot of different ways that we can think of just to get people to our blogs.But still,even if they do come,that is the only time they came.

Maybe we are getting the wrong kind of traffic?Maybe there is something wrong with our blogs?Lets see,do we forget about this 3 major ingredient which can help our blog,not in getting sudden rush of traffic,but a more targeted traffic,that will eventually become our loyal readers.What are the 3 ingredients?

Now that we know the 3 important ingredients,it is time to put it into practice and hopefully we will see an increase to our traffic in not a very long time.After we achieve this,is there anything else to do?There sure is,don't be easily satisfied.We can always optimized our effort.If we can create good content,optimize our knowledge to make a better or even great content.If we manage to get good amount of traffic through SEO,optimize it by making it better or do other things that can help add more traffic.Join conference,network with other bloggers,create a group among bloggers in your niche.

As I've said a number of times before,blogging is a learning process.If we are willing to learn and put to practice what we have learnt,learning from mistakes we made,we always have a better and bigger chance of being a successful blogger.

I want to start a discussion here and I hope it will get good response from all of you,my valuable readers.I read in Daily Blog Tips how Daniel discuss about this,but it is more open where it isn't just about blogging,but about getting it right and being successful on the Internet.Chris Garret did a survey among his readers recently,and one of the results is that 87% of almost 1,000 bloggers who participate have a university degree,but Chris himself left school at the age of 15.

My personal view is that it depends actually not on the education background that you have but more towards this 3 things.

I once read a book by one Internet Marketer.He wrote,people always say that knowledge is power,but to him it is wrong.Applied Knowledge is Power..and I agree with him.Having knowledge but not doing anything with it means nothing,but learning about something and then applying that knowledge to be become successful,that is true power.It doesn't promise instant success or a guarantee of success,but it does increase your chances of becoming successful.

What do you think?

I read last week what Chris Garret wrote in his blog about how taking a break can be good for a blogger.Actually it is not only Chris,Darren and other bloggers have also wrote about taking a break from blogging can do wonders for your blogging life and will help keep you motivated.I have also wrote about this before and I'm posting it again with some bit of new things here and there.

Before this it is a bit difficult to just leave and go for a vacation,or maybe just go to my mothers house and not worry about not updating my blog.I have no laptops,so I won't be able to do anything if I left the house.Sure there are a lot of Internet cafes here,but most of it cater to those interested in playing online games,so imagine the noise and all the people cramped into one small area.Then also the issue of slow connection.But now I can go out and enjoy myself since Blogger introduce Schedule Post.I will schedule my post depending on how long I will be going,so no more worries of not updating and my readers can rest assured that they will always get fresh content every 2 days,as usual.

Spending time away from your daily blogging schedule sure can freshen you up and keep you motivated to carry on blogging.Blogging can sometime be stressful if you push yourself to hard,that is why some do it as a hobby,but to someone like me,it is not a hobby,and not a profession,but something that I want to do,something that I like to do.It is not stressful,but sometimes you do face days that you just don't have any idea what you wanted to blog about,because we are only human,and there are many things that can have an effect on our daily life,and our blogging ability.That is why I suggest you always bring a notebook and pen where ever you go,make notes if you suddenly get an idea of what you want to post.You can write and schedule your post since you have what you want to write about,and you can write it in advance so that there will be no pressure of needing to update your blog.

How To Stay Motivated.

That is why I like weekends.I can spend time away from blogging and make me fresh to start blogging again.Taking your time away can sure be good to your blogging life,because like working 9 to 5 or any other job,we must take time away to make us fresh.Take our mind away from things that are routine.If we keep on going without stopping,we will be burnout,because we are not machine or robots.Our mind have a limitation,and need a rest so it can function as well as it possibly can.That is why we need a good night sleep,to rest our mind,and start fresh when we woke up.Resting on weekends can relax your body after sitting in front of your PC or Laptops for hours everyday,so you will be fresh.It is good for your health too,since health has become one of the major issue concerning blogging.

Other Ideas?

OK..sometimes we do feel like not blogging.If I were to face this situation,I just simply rest,and not push myself to blog,thinking on what to post,because I know,if I do these,I can't produce anything,or even if I manage to,I don't think it will be worth publishing.

If I just feel a little lazy,or have an idea what to post but don't have the drive to write it,I just leave the house,go down and have a coffee at the cafe near by,or maybe I take a bus and go to the nearest mall,spend sometime there.

If I'm in no mood to go anywhere,I just take a short nap,or play the games I like(I just love to play football games on my PC!).

You can also cook,do household chores like sweeping the floor,doing the laundry or ironing your shirt.Just anything that can take your mind off blogging or take you away from your PC or laptops for a while.

Does It Works?

It certainly do for me,and from what I read in other posting,and in forums,most of them agree,taking times off can do wonders to freshen you up and keeping you motivated.

When is the last time you take a break?

Once you have start blogging,it is not just about writing post and updating your blog.You will be tweaking your blog,play around with your template to make it look better and different,you will start doing things to expose your blog,visiting other blogs,commenting,moderate comments on your blog,giving response to the comments,maybe emails you received.Learn new things,add new widget..etc..etc.

Now more and more blogger are involved with Blog Community,Social Media and Social Networking,seems that more and more things are need to be done.How do you use all that available time?It is good to spend time on all those things,but always remember,the real reason you are doing it is to make friends,to expose your blog,to network with other blogger,to expose your blog.The main thing is to expose your blog,but what is there to expose if you spend way too much time on these things that you don't have enough time to do research for your blog content,you sacrifice your blog content and posting so you can do your networking thing.

Your blog is alive and will keep on being alive if you update it regularly with good quality content.The most important time to be spent on are on researching for your blog post,making a regular posting and by doing your research,you will be able to provide informative and meaningful articles for your readers.

Don't over indulge your self with things related to your blogging life but spent real quality time on building and making your blog better,especially with fresh,quality content.

Who would want to miss out on using social media and social networking sites since it has prove to be a popular site and can help boost your presence on the Internet.

You can submit your post to Digg,Stumbleupon,Mixx,Reddit and if it is good,your readers will submit it there and will get a vote.If you are lucky it will get to the front page and this will bring drove of traffic to your blog!Your readers can follow you on Twitter and now there is Plurk,you can make friends and add more readers by joining Facebook or MySpace or both.

Is it worth it?For most thing,I like to see the good and the bad,because normally there will be a little bit of both.Not everything is all good and not everything is all bad.

Good.

As with everything else that blogger love to participate in,there are certain rules that must be follow to get the real benefit from joining such a site,like forums and now social media and social networking sites so does blogging community like MyBlogLog and Blog Catalog.

Don't use social media and social networking site just for your personal gain.Build your reputation and your blog credibility there and you will gain long term success.Do you really think 1 or 2 burst of traffic to your blog is enough to make it popular?It will fizzle the way the traffic to it fizzle too,but if you build your credibility and popularity,your readers will increase at a steadier pace and will stay way much longer.

Forums,Blog Community,Social Media and Social Networking sites,all these are tools to help you and your blog gain popularity,but there are certain ways to use a tool,use it wisely,you will get what you want,using it wrongly,it will do you more harm than good.

A blog is where you write about whatever you like,you know,you love and letting others maybe learn form you through what you wrote,the experience or knowledge that you share.But what can you actually learn from your own blog?

These 3 things are things that are always available to you,it is up to you how to use it,to learn from it to make your blog better.

We all have our own reason why we start a blog.You can see some the reason here.

We use the tools that we have to start blogging,mostly PC but more and more are using laptops nowadays,especially with easy Internet connectivity in cafes,malls.Some even have other luxury by using other gadgets in helping them to blog like their mobile phones,and can afford to buy certain tools or software that will help enhance their blogging experience and capability.

Most are part time bloggers,who have daily jobs and blog during their spare time,but many have become full time bloggers since they have earn enough from blogging making them able to quit their daily jobs.

I start blogging because I'm broke and jobless,and yes,I'm doing it full time and have been doing it for the past 3 month.Do I get any income from it?not yet,not even enough to pay my bills or rent.What are the tools I use?My old PC that I bought 5 years ago,an Intel Celeron 1.7,that I feel lucky I didn't sell,the only thing that I still have with me,and it has help me a lot,given me a chance to try my luck at blogging.

That is why I'm blogging using a free platform,I can't afford to buy my own domain or get my own hosting.

Blogging is not about what you have to achieve what you want,it is about your willingness to achieve what you want.I'm down and out with my life,but I still got something that I can use to turn it around,so I used it,I try everything,looking for jobs,goes for interviews,but being 40 and competing with much younger and more qualified person,you just don't have the edge.But blogging is open to everybody,it doesn't promise anything,but there are people who have succeed.

I see blogs been abandoned,blogs which have nothing much about the content,yet full of ads,because the believe of monetizing blogs,but going about it the wrong way.I'm in a difficult situation,but that doesn't mean I have to look for shortcuts.I'm willing to work my way up,try my luck in monetizing my blog,not by people clicking on ads,but I want to build my blog with content,maybe it is not such a good or quality content,but at least some original content,and with it I want to build my readership.

You must have strong self belief,willing to work hard,don't give excuse and give it your best,it doesn't promise you success,but at least you know you try your best.If I can do it with limited resources,what is stopping you from doing better?

My mom always told me,when you learn something new,at first it will be hard,but with practice and patience,you will learn and be good at doing it.She likes to give an example in riding a bicycle,it is hard to do it the first time you try,controlling the handle and the paddle while balancing your body all at the same time,but once you get it right,it will be fun and easy.Even when you don't do it for sometime,once you want to ride again,you know what to do,and you will always be able to ride.

But when you know how to ride,your eagerness sometimes overcome you,and you ride it without thinking to much about the danger,you ride too fast and you fall,you pick yourself up and learn from your mistake.Blogging is so much like that,when you first start,everything seems so hard,you have to crack your head thinking what to write,how to expose your blog to get decent traffic to your blog,what to add to your blog to make it look interesting or different from other blogs,all at the same time,but once you get the hang of it,it seems to be easier,then you start to make mistake,you are going too fast,you wrote 5 to 6 post daily,do whatever necessary to get traffic,not thinking what kind of traffic it is,then something happen,you face a writers block,you can't even think of one article to post to your blog,it goes on for 2-3 days,by the time you start writing again,some of your readers have left you.You pick yourself up and learn from your mistake.You post 1 article every 2 days,but you do it consistently,so your readers know that is the frequency of your posting,you will post something in between if there is something interesting,but still you keep your blog updated regularly and consistently.

I make that mistake when I first started,I want to post daily,but then I realized,I don't have it in me to do it,but instead of taking time off,I start posting every two days,and with it I have some time to do other things apart from blogging,and some things related to blogging,like doing research for my next post,preparing notes so it will be easy when I want to write and reading just to keep myself updated with the latest happenings in the blogging world and on the Internet.

Some tips I like to share from my very short experience in blogging.

Do you do your posting depending on which ever time you have to do it?Do you have any certain daily schedule that you follow or you just do things depending on your mood,on your available time?Do you have any certain priority things that top your daily list of things to do?Do you even have a Things To Do Today notes attach anywhere near your workstation or you don't even know what it is?

Being organized is an important factor that you might want to consider if you want to be a successful blogger simply because..

My daily "Things To Do" arrangement are like this.

How you spend and organized your time depends on whether you are blogging part time or full time,but still it is important to keep thing organized with a schedule that you have to learn to follow.Learn to have a pen and a small notebook as a companion where ever you go,you never know when the idea will suddenly come,I've wrote about this before and you can read it here.

When you have some ideas,write it in point forms,this way you can easily have points for about 15-20 posts.You can elaborate while you write your post.It won't be easy,but once you get used to it,you will find it exciting.Being prepared and organized will definitely bring your blogging experience to a new level,you will feel more relax,your ideas will come more easily because it has taken the stress out of your blogging life.

What ever niche you choose to blog about,I'm sure there are others who have chosen the same niche or will choose that niche too,and the one who have started blogging longer than you might have been successful with their blog,and the one who started at maybe the same time as yours or later might probably be in the same situation that you are in right now,still struggling in getting some decent traffic,maybe 10 or 20 people have subscribe while you wish it could have been more,still tweaking your blog to make it look better,always thinking is it a good idea to start with a free blogging platform or you should register your own domain and get your own hosting.

First of all,what you really need when you want to start blogging is self confidence,you must get rid of all the negative thinking if you want to start blogging.Once you have got that out of the way,you have to think on what you want to blog about,personal things,making money,blogging tips,technology,gadgets,pets,travel,life,beauty are among the thing you can blog about,but be sure to choose something that you really know rather than something that you feel is popular.I've seen a few blogs that have very random content from cricket,gadgets to Britney Spears all in one blog!How would people relate to you if you keep on writing about things that you just pick from anywhere and posted it in your blog,because it is popular and you hope it will help build your page rank or maybe you will end up in the top search engine results.

Once you have choose your blog topic,you have to choose which platform to use,if you have good income,get your own domain and hosting,it will certainly be good for your credibility because people do look up at blogs that are not using free hosting,but for me,this is all that I can afford at this time,so I will stick with Blogger for now.After that you can start blogging,and remember to post regularly with good quality and hopefully original content so your blog will be popular in 6 to 12 month time,or if you are lucky,you can achieve it within 3 month!With the long period of getting your blog popular,you surely need a lot of patience,and only this can help you achieve what you want,what your goal is,there are no shortcuts and you have to learn about SEO,you must if you want your blog on the top rank of search results.

So basically you need about 5 things to start blogging.

There are other things you need to do like joining forums,leaving comments on other blogs,submit your blog to blog directories,network with other bloggers,linking with others but those 5 things are things you MUST do and have to make sure you will achieve success,with those other things acting as supplement in achieving your target,your goals.Most of the bloggers that I see put importance to comments and linking in trying to expose their blog and gaining popularity,but sadly they don't exactly have a blog with good topic,most of it are random post which they get from other sites.

Do you want to waste your time on something less important or do you prefer to let your content do the talking?Choose carefully because your blog existence depend on it.

There are certainly thousand of blogs covering the topics of blogging tips.I even subscribe to the most famous one like Problogger,Dailyblogtips and Bloggingtips.So am I being a copycat?

Yes if I take what that have written in other blog tips blog and copy it in my blog,no because each blog have a different approach,different writing styles even if it does touch on the same topic and giving out almost the same tips.

Why I write about this?I read in Blogging Tips about a comment from one of their reader saying that Blogging Tips is just rehashing what other blog about blog tips have covered,but the irony is that particular reader have just started his own blog about blog tips!

Kevin Muldoon explained in great length on what he thinks about that comment,and some of the things that he mentioned does interest me and that is what I'm going to share with all of you.When you wanted to start your blog,you will have to decide which topic it will cover,and looking at all possible popular topics,there is none that is possibly have not been done by others before you,so when you enter that niche,you will be competing with other older blogs,you cannot run from this,even if you start a personal blog,there are lots of other personal blogs,so the only difference is it will be about your life,your experience,but chances are,there will be others that have the same look about life,almost the same experience,so it won't really make your blog any different isn't it?

Blog tips and making money tips are among the most popular blog,so what will make your blog different,how are you going to compete with thousands of other blog,and against the more establish one?How could you write something that others have not written?You can't,but this should not stop you from starting your own blog if you really like blogging and you love to share about blogging tips or making money tips.

I have a blog about making money,which covered topics about tips,being careful in making money programs,and I never felt intimidated by other older or more successful blogs because to me each blog has its own chances of being successful,being accepted by readers,as long as you can write good quality post,do all you can to expose it,do the right SEO,never give up easily,you have every chance of getting where you want to be.The same goes to this blog,I do what I like to do,write what I want to write,it is up to the readers to decide,and each blog success is determined by the readers.There is no guarantee that a very successful blog today will still be successful next year,or next two years,and there is no one who can say that you won't make it because you are new,writing about stuff that others have written and you are doomed because you are new.

There are 120,000 new blogs created everyday,so you still have your chances of people reading your blogging tips even if only half of that number are people new to blogging.Just do what you want to do,you can't choose to start a blog and writing something that others have never thought of writing,there will be competition in which ever niche you choose,being competitive will make you more alert,more creative and will push you harder to strive to be among the best,which I believe what everyone is aiming for.

If you write something that have been written by other well known blogger,people will say that you are not being original,but what if those well known blogger wrote about stuff that you have written first,will their readers have the guts to tell it to them?or will they be big enough to credit you as the one with the original idea?A more well known and establish blogger have the advantage of being seen as the first to report every breaking news stories,giving great tips,writing great articles,just because their blog are more widely exposed and read,but not because what they wrote is extremely brilliant.Some new and smaller blogs actually have better and well written content,only less people read it,so not many people actually get to share it.

Be a persistent blogger,keep on doing what you like,don't bother about what other people say or think.Look at Google for example,even though not many people like them,but the hard fact that we have to agree that it has become the major player on the Internet.MSN and Yahoo have been in business longer than them,yet they still join in,do things differently,and they now have the biggest share of searches among the top search engines.It is not because of them doing dirty business,but MSN and Yahoo are doing things the same old fashioned way,Google do things differently,injecting new method.It is not about who is new,who is more establish,it is about who can give something different,do things differently in a more fun way.

Being new doesn't mean you are a copycat,unless you do things the same way as all the others have done before you.You must Dare To Be Different.

There must be a reason you start your blog.You want to share your thoughts,experience or views with others.You learn how to blog,how to promote it,getting traffic,getting subscribers.Instead of just a hobby,it becomes a passion,to some it even become a profession.So what are the things that can help you become a successful blogger,even if you're doing it out of passion or as a profession.I read about this topic in Blogging Tips,written by Andy MacDonald.He shares some very interesting tips and I added some too.

I saw someone posted this question in a forum.It get lots of replies from other forum members,most of them saying blogging is easy,the hard part is getting traffic to your blog.I'm not an expert about blogging,nor have I been blogging long enough to know everything there is to know about blogging,but I would like to share some of my opinion and experience regarding this.

I never consider blogging to be easy,even if I have a personal blog.Starting one is certainly easy,but to maintain it,updating it regularly with good content,exposing it are not,but even though it is not easy,I feel it is fun to do,because you always learn new things,blogging to me is an on going learning process,you will make mistake along the way,but it is for your benefit if you learn from your mistakes.You get to know other bloggers,build your own bogging network with fellow bloggers,learn from them,they will learn something from you,sharing new things.The most satisfying results after the effort,the time you spend on your blog is the readers you have,how your blog have developed over the years.You will get the satisfaction if you have set a target,and you finally achieve it.Blogging is not easy,you need to work hard,have lots of patience,but if you really love doing it,it will be fun and rewarding.

When you start your blog,there are lots of other bloggers who are at the same level as you,just starting off,because of this,it is hard to really place some value on your self,your blog.You just have to keep on working your way through,doing all the possible thing,the right thing to keep you on the right track.By progressing on the right track,in the right time will make you and your blog last longer.

Most of us start from nothing,from scratch,so there is no certain advantage to anyone really except for what you choose to blog about,but how come some make it and some don't?It depends on the step you make,the path you choose.Some bloggers push them self to make their blog better,getting traffic to their blog that they spend so much time on their blog than anything else.There are times when they realize they are going too fast,so they slow things a bit,but some bloggers just give it all up or start to ignore their blogs because they are not getting the results that they hoped for after spending all those time,making all those effort.

Blogging needs patience and persistence.It takes time to build your blog,getting traffic to it and with patience and persistence,your blog can be popular,you can be popular,but when you achieve this,there will be people who just hated you because you are popular,your blog are popular.Just ignore this type of people,you have done so much,gone through so much to be where you are,don't let this stop you from getting to the top.

After all that have been said,it is actually up to you to decide who do you want to be,what do you want to achieve,what kind of blog do you want to have.

I choose my own path..Yes..I have 3 blog including this,but I don't do what other bloggers do.Some bloggers choose to earn some money by joining PayPerPost,or SocialSpark,and then wonder why they suddenly get lower page rank.That is why I'm not doing it.Some bloggers want to make money using their blog by placing a lot of ads on their blog,but have no real content,and complain they don't get lots of traffic.People look for blogs to find something interesting to read,not to look at ads.I only have AdSense on my blog,and no ads yet on my personal blog.Bloggers really love to exchange links,but sometimes they don't really understand what kind of links that is actually useful for them,so they just exchange links with any possible bloggers who wanted to.I put other bloggers links that I find really interesting on my blog,and I never ask them to do the same for me.I always believe in myself,trust my instinct and even though what I'm doing,actually what I'm not doing may look odd,but that is just me.I follow my own path,and maybe leave a trail for others to follow.

We all have our own fear.Fear of height,fear of failure,fear of being rejected,fear of flying to name a few.What does fear have to do with blogging?I think a lot.Some bloggers fear of failure,fear of not getting noticed,fear of not getting traffic,fear nobody will read the blog,fear the blog is not as best as other blogs,fear of writing the wrong thing..fear,fear and more fear until it makes you want to quit,or maybe not even start even though the urge is strong.

My greatest fear when I wanted to start is not about failure,not getting traffic or my blog will not be as good as someone else blog(This is because I've seen so many blogs,some I even consider very poorly done that I keep telling myself I can surely do better than this!).No..my greatest fear is not doing it the right way.Sure,there are no certain rules or guideline that you have to follow that says you're doing it right,and no,no blog police will give away summons if you don't.Some seasoned bloggers say do it this way,some say don't do that!Because of feeling unsure what the right thing is,I only started blogging in April this year instead of January as I have planned.

So what did I do from January to March?I did my research on blogging.I surf the Net looking at as many blogs as possible,finding out which blog is in the top list,look at this blog and see how this top and seasoned bloggers do it.I download free ebooks about blogging and reading it religiously(I normally read 1 book everyday and sometimes up to 3 or 4 depending on the number of pages),all this to look for the right way to blog.

After that three month,I came to a conclusion that it all boils down to this three things.

Blogging is actually an ongoing learning experience,you'll learn new things everyday,learn new way to enhance your blog,keeping it up to date.Blogs started with only written content,then you can add photo's,later on audio's and now you can even add video's to your blog.There is always new technology to enhance your blogging experience so we will never know what next that is in store for us,but whatever the changes been made to further add the excitement of blogging,bringing it to another level,never ever forget about those three core element that a blog should have.

Sharing your view on this will be very much appreciated.Leave a comment and share your thoughts.Have a great weekend and Happy Blogging.