Be Professional - 5 Vital Elements Of Successful Blogging
There’s no doubt about it, blogging is a powerful medium. Even Apple in the past week, have felt the power of a blog. But in many smaller ways, blogging has changed the lives of many. A few of whom I really respect are;
Darren Rowse - Problogger.net
Wendy Piersall - EMomsAtHome.com
Nate Whitehill - NateWhitehill.com
Why have they been successful?
There are many reasons as to why one becomes a successful blogger, or blogging changes their lives. It may be that they possess a level of popularity or celebrity status already. Others are experts in their field, and some may have become successful because they got in a few years ago, and have built up a high readership over many years of persistant writing.
However, there is one attribute which may be found in every successful blogger — Professionalism.
The inspiration for this post, actually came from reading Nate’s recent post, which I’ve linked to above. As he related how blogging has changed his life, and has opened up new doors of possibilities for him, I found myself thinking, “I’m not surprised.”
But why am I not surprised? Why Nate, and not the thousands of others that are blogging? I believe it lies in his professionalism. My first visit to Nate’s blog was well over a month ago, and right from then, there was an air of professionalism in his writing that was refreshing.
But what makes your writing give an air of professionalism? Here are five vital elements that every blogger, who desires to be successful, should keep in mind.
1. A good grasp of language, and grammar
This is vital folks. If ur goin 2 rite lik dis, then you’ll lose most, if not all, of your credibility. Also, If you don’t know the difference in your were, where, and we’re, etc, and offer no punctuation; again, you’re not going to set the world alight, and your posts will be rarely linked to.
Spelling: get it right! We all make mistakes now and again, but there is no excuse for constant spelling mistakes. If you’re anyway doubtful, type how you think the word is spelt into your Google Toolbar, and usually the correct spelling will appear in the drop down list. Either that, or write in a word processor with a spell checker.
2. Staying on topic
This should possibly even be at number one, not because I’m writing a ‘Top 5′, but just to stress its importance. I could point you to a couple of bloggers that are very skilled and knowledgeable in certain fields. However, rather than keeping to their expertise, they mix their posts with tacky nonsense. Don’t do it.
If you’re an expert, make sure at least 90% of your posts stay on topic. If you don’t, you’ll not be seen for the expert you really are, and advertisers and future employers, won’t take you seriously because there is too much ‘garbage’ surrounding your gems. Even if it means you only write three times a week, it’s worth it. If you want to write a light, fun post, you can still keep it on topic.
3. Be tactfully friendly and helpful
If you’re a blogger, building a network of friends, and developing a community around your blog is imperative to success. Here’s an example of how to make a friend in the blogosphere.
Just this week, I received an email from Corey Thompson. Now I had no idea who Corey was, but he knew that my search bar wasn’t ‘friendly’. That is, when you clicked on it, the “Search this site” text remained in place, meaning the user had to delete it before searching. He sent me an email to say he could send me the code to change it. Although I was able to change it myself, Corey earned himself respect from me, because of his willingness to freely help another blogger.
As well as offering help, you should support others by commenting, and linking to them. But all this has been talked about before. What I want to add is, a warning. A warning I think is also vital in order to keep the professionalism in your blog. Don’t go over the top in discribing your emotional feelings towards another blogger, or visitor.
Some bloggers have found good friends through their blogs, which is great. I hope I do too. However, just because you think someone else is great, don’t flatter them constantly with loving remarks. If you want to stay professional, don’t call anyone “babe”, “pet”, “honey”, “chick”, or anything remotely connected to being a pet name. If you really feel you must let someone know how much you like them, by referring to them in such a manner, send it in an email. The rest of us don’t want to read it, and it reeks of unprofessionalism.
4. Be humble and modest
One of the things my dad taught me when I was younger was, no matter how good you are, there is (or will be) always someone better. Seriously, even if you are the best in the business, one must always be aware of their need to improve and develop. Successful bloggers, are humble bloggers.
But they’re also modest too. People might thrive on reading all about your earnings. But the fact of the matter is, it’s unprofessional in many ways. This is especially true when there’s a sense of bragging involved. Yeah, you might get big readers coming to see what last months revenue was, but unless it’s presented very tactfully, potential advertisers, employers, and other professionals, will not appreciate it.
5. The X-Factor
So, you have all the above in place, and more. You write well, build relationships, exercise humility, offer expert advice, and you’re still not successful. What are you lacking? The X-Factor!
Some might say it’s luck, others might say it’s all about the right connections. Others still might argue that it comes down to persistance. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. It’s probably a mixture of the above.
Whatever the case, if you’re not enjoying it, simply because you’re after success, and you’re not experiencing any, I’d say stop. If you love what you do regardless, happy days!
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Comments
18 Responses to “Be Professional - 5 Vital Elements Of Successful Blogging”
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Wow that was an EXCELLENT post and I very much appreciate your comments. Thank you! You raise some great points and one that I have been thinking about a lot lately is that disclosing earnings is unprofessional.
I think people should constantly be aware of the audience they are writing for - if it just kids and teens - of course they will want to read about earnings. However, if one is writing for professional business people - they should try to stay away from bragging and gloating about successes. Once again, great post and thank you very much for the kind words!
Nate - No problem! Thanks for the inspiration.
Yeah, monitoring your audience is vital, and of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. However, for most of us, these points should be applicable.
I saw this title in my feed reader and almost skipped it since I see posts like this so often. However, this one defintely stood out of the rest… great article! I can’t agree more.
I think that sheer bloody-mindedness could get a look in here. Having a plan and sticking to it no matter what. ie:
Spend one hour per day reading feeds
Spend one hour per day commenting on blogs
Produce at least one GOOD post per day, as well as the odd fluffy filler
etc. etc
Thanks for the mention, Armen. This was a well thought out article. Although others have covered this subject before, I don’t think that I’ve read such a succinct post on this subject. Thank you for sharing. I see you also have the header under control now. Great stuff.
Jake - I hope you learned your lesson my friend
Stu - I’m not quite sure I get you. If you mean sticking to a set plan is part of what it takes to be professional, then I’d agree. If definately would help in most cases.
Corey - I appreciate the encouraging words. Yeah, I got the header sorted. The code I was using for the subscription icons were messing up the header so I couldn’t make the title clickable.
As others have mentioned, this is a topic one sees pretty often in the feed list, but you did a very nice job with it. I think one of the main things that those newbies among us (myself included) have a tendency to underestimate is the level of effort blogging requires. Perhaps a strong work ethic is part of that X-factor you mention.
This is an excellent write-up, Armen.
I can see all five traits are evident in your articles so for that I applaud you.
Nic - Thanks! Yeah, blogging takes up a nice chunk of your week; especially if you’re trying to write original, well thought posts.
David - Thanks, and I very much appreciate the compliments, the thoughts are mutual.
thanks for your kind words - great post too!
Darren - No problem! Thanks for the encouraging words.
Wow! Armen, I don’t know what to say. The quality of this post is more than good. Can I say excellent ? Keep it up Armen.
I visit your blog via my Mybloglog readers. Thanks you for stopping by my site.
Best wishes,
Myo Kyaw Htun
p.s: I saw a layout problem in your blog. This is sidebar which is on bottom of your site while I’m visiting every single post.
Myo - Thanks for the encouraging words. I hope you return. Telling me there was an issue with my site, made me go and change the whole design - it’s your fault I wasted a few hours on Monday.
Armen, but today, I saw you’ve changed to new theme.
Some themes have sidebar problem because theme creators who created those themes, they never check with different browsers and never check with different computers too. For example, they think that if a sidebar is 200 pixels, content should be 600 pixels when layout is 800 pixels. If it is going on, layout problem always occurs in some browsers.
Now is ok, Armen. Well done!
Thanks Myo!
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Very good points you raise, it is all about the blog’s niche. If it is some kind of newbie’s guide to earing money online posting of your earning will boost your vsitors right at the minute.
People are curious on others’ earnings by nature.
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