Blog Tipz

When you begin blogging, you have to admit that you were influenced by the leaders in the niche, the people that were showing off their monthly earnings with big fat checks.  I won’t mention names, as you know most of them by now.  But, what if they didn’t exist?  Would you have begun blogging or would you still be following the blogging trends of ten years ago?

First off, this post is not to attack blogging as a form of communication, profession, etc., but instead a snapshot of how blogging as a whole is a lot different from what many expect it to be.

Underrated

1. Getting a blog to the level that you want it to be is a lot harder than you think it may be, no matter the length of time you spend on it.  It may take years, in some cases.
2. Readers are not willing to accept excuses for anything.  It only takes one button to subscribe to your blog and one to unsubscribe.
3. There is more involved in blogging than simply being able to write posts and communicate with readers.  You have to know some search engine marketing skills, how to effectively manage a “business” and more.
4. There are dozens of saturated niches, so unless you are able to convey to your readers that you are different from the rest of the pack, you won’t see your blog grow.
5. Although blogging is “free”, only people that spend money on themes, advertising, and what not will see the highest results, unless, like previously mentioned, can come off as a leader in their niche.
6. Blogging is stressful.
7. Not everyone will become successful.
8. Content is hard to come by, and takes insightful ideas and creativeness to extend your blog to its full potential.
9. The whole aspect of blogging, from social networking to staying on top of events in your niche can be an obstacle to tackle.
10. Competition can lead people to make irrational decisions, leading to the downfall of their image.
11. Beginning a blog (and publishing with your real name) can result in your loss of job.
12. You are in a constant war against scrapers and people that are “selling” your content so they make a profit (spam blogs and the like).
13. Blogging allows anyone, no matter what race, religion, age, or gender to express their own opinions and view the feedback of others who may share the same interests.
14. Content Management Systems and blog platforms such as WordPress, TypePad, Movable Type, and Blogger have allowed thousands of people to capitalize from the market, and without that, there wouldn’t be the resources and tools available today.
15. Bloggers don’t get the respect (generally) that they deserve on an everyday basis.  While there is some recognition from the media to a few of the “top” bloggers, mainstream media doesn’t credit bloggers where it is due.
16. Creating and maintaining a blog can help you improve many aspects of your personal life, from the financial perspective to knowing how to effectively communicate with others.
17. Companies and individuals can read others’ opinions on their products and services, which may have led to an increase in quality of websites, and services online, and perhaps a few other traditional products.
18. Companies that institute blogs generally see a spike in their customer appreciation level, as they are able to see what the company is doing - both for products and internally - and the consumers have a more “direct and personal” line to the owner/employees at the company.

Overrated

1. Anyone can start a blog, it’s completely free provided you have a computer and Internet connection.
2. Blogging can, in fact, take less time per day to generate an income than a “typical” job.
3. Advertisers are able to target bloggers by niche and category, so there is/will always be a stream of revenue for bloggers to generate an income from.
4. Hundreds of thousands of tools and websites have been developed catering to bloggers.  These tools help simplify or extend the process of blogging to a more basic, although sometimes more complicated, format.
5. Anybody can come off to others as a professional, even if they have very little knowledge about what they are talking about.
6. There are thousands of benefits to blogging, yet they are rarely realized or utilized to have the best advantages over other professions/social networking/communication.
7. While there are still millions of active bloggers, there are thousands of people that have started their blog and just “quit”, indicating that blogging really isn’t the best way to go about making an income online.
8. Too many people start blogs with too little experience, so as a result, most people do not trust the opinions of bloggers.  On the opposite spectrum, this inhibits bloggers from growing to their full potential.
9. Within the blogosphere, there is a lack of clear understanding what makes a decent or bad blog, as everyone has their own views.  While you are entitled to your own viewpoint, this misunderstanding leads to bloggers that think they have achieved a “great blog” when in fact it can’t compare to others.
10. Services, plugins, themes, and so forth creators often charge ridiculous prices, leading the “rich” bloggers being able to capitalize on them, inhibiting the growth (somewhat) of smaller bloggers.
11. Similar to traditional media formats, blogging is a writing format where there are trends in traffic/readership/viewership, which creates “holes” in the industry, and from this, individuals are blinded by facts that should be exposed.
12. Blogging isn’t really a different form of publishing online, it is just a more simplified, easier to use, and prettier version of the web page that emerged about fifteen years ago.
13. In many cases, but not all, you must have a previous presence online or offline before you can successfully transform that credibility factor into producing the results that you desire.

Do you have any additional ways that you could state blogging as either underrated or overrated through your experience blogging or your views of the “blogosphere”?

Anybody that wants to be anybody has to be able to deliver a promise on a daily basis to his or her readers. Recently, I have discovered that more people are straying away from “blogging”, or the creation of content for a website. More and more talk is about the services that assist in the creation of a blog, or side-services that may do little for your blog but make it look pretty or add a little functionality. But, how can you improve your blog’s overall value without joining any other programs?

In a matter of fact way, all you need to do is write, write, and write!

Even if your English skills aren’t so top-notch, there is nothing to fret as your skills will develop over time. The key to this whole idea and principle is that you don’t need to spend added time in aiding your expertise about blogging - you should already be working on this on a daily basis writing and editing blog posts.

Nearly every list of ways to improve your writing skills include several ways to write more frequently, all which impact your ability to write better entries. In essence, each relate to the amount of time diverted to writing instead of doing other minuscule tasks that would have prevented you from ultimately improving your blog.

Think about this: How much of your total time blogging do you spend writing, editing, or improving present and past posts? Most likely, you’ll find that you spend more time doing the social networking activities of blogging instead of trying to effectively connect to your readers through your tips, news, ideas, and inspiration. Readers don’t care how many bookmarking buttons you’ve included in your sidebar. They would rather see a simple page with content overspreading the entire screen.

How should I go about writing more?

Whenever possible, keep a writing tablet or journal near you, so you can jot down ideas for possible posts or topics you won’t likely remember. Fill the boundaries of this, as you’ll be able to track progress from the day you begin. If you don’t have a computer available at a semi-frequent interval, you may want to consider investing in a slightly larger notebook for quickly writing post drafts, then transfer them over to your blog when you have the chance.

Begin a post by brainstorming what its topic should be. While the final post may not have any relation to your first idea, all of these ideas can eventually be used for posts in the future.

Next, form an outline of what you want to include, perhaps by using H3 tags, which don’t need to be edited out before the final product. While some bloggers prefer to write their post in order from top to bottom, others begin one section, then continue another until everything is complete. What you should know is that it doesn’t matter what methods you use to write.

Before hitting the publish button, clean up any errors that may have arisen from any previous revisions, then do a thorough editing of the post. The more editing you do, the better the final result will be in the eyes of readers. Your posts serve as a reflection of your ability to perform under stress, other people, and the overall demands that blogging presents. Words aren’t just words - they combine to form an eloquent array of language that can influence, persuade, and inform others.

Don’t Continue Feeding Your Visitors Garbage

Although the only objective of this post was to briefly describe a few ways you can expand your writing ability, think about how you can improve your blog today simply by writing more frequently. Try writing two to three posts per day and you’ll surely see your writing quality improve. (don’t exhaust yourself!)

Minimalistic blogging (in design) exists when you are able to deliver quality content that far outweighs the services, ads, and links that are placed in the sidebar.

Beginning today, step out to overwhelm your readers with insight that they can take with them once they leave your blog. Write and publish content that shows your understanding of language.