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Blogging
i, the author of StrongLifts.com. As Darren precise it in its interview, "StrongLifts.com is a good example of a blog that is focusing upon a niche topic and growing a readership quickly over the last 12 months". I highly recommend reading this interview with all you attention, but for the benefits of this article I'll just put you in context.
In short, Stronglifts.com is a blog about how to build muscle and lose fat through strength training. Thus, this blog is very focusing on a particular topic. The blog went online May 1st 2007. It reaches 1000 RSS in November 2007. 5000 in January 2008. 10 000 at the beginning of May 2008 and as of today it count more than 15 000 subscribers!
Since I really believe I can learn from other bloggers' experiences, I read the interview several times to get the best of it and make a list of lessons I could learn from it. I would like to share this list with you; I already get benefits from it, I guess it could be the same for you!
1. Blog About What You Are Expert In.
If you want to successful and publish quality content, you must be aware of what you are blogging about. Blogging is all about sharing and creating relationship. If you write about something you are expert in, if you write about one of your passions, you'll be and stay more motivated over time. Your blog must be an extension of who you are!
2. Determine Your Winning Social Media Network.
Every social media network won't work well in every niche! Take the time to experiment which one deliver you more traffic. Make a list of networks were your articles rank well and focus on them.
3. Don't Underestimate The Strength of Forums.
Forums are great places to interact with targeted audience. They are terrific to help you build your authority and to help other persons on the same niche as you. It's also great places to build relationship and create some inbound links to your blog with a relevant signature.
4. Convert Your Traffic Into RSS Instead of Money.
Converting traffic into money is great, but it's something that won't last forever if you don't base your business model on a strong foundation. Thus, you better convert your traffic into readership and build a strong relation with your audience. After, and only after, you should think about how you build your monetization model. Focus on something that will last!
5. Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.
Mehdi said he tried almost every online tip on how to make your RSS count to increase. He said that none of these worked for StrongLifts.com but he continued to observe and experiment. One day, Mehdi found a relevant way to reach his goal. No matter what you want for you blog, experiment and find the best way to do it! Every niche has different audience. Consequently, you'll need to find the way that best fit for you and your blog.
6. Track Your Visitors And Analyze the Results.
Tracking your blog for visitors and content is essential! If you want to be successful you have to know who you visitor are? Where they come from? What do they read? Where do they leave? These are only few questions you may answer with a tracking system. This information is critical if you want to build your strategies on a good base.
7. Precisely Determine Who Your Audience Is.
If you don't know who you audience is, how could you know what will fill their needs? Building a wide and strong readership require to know who your audience is. It will help you to produce and distribute the proper content. It will help you to build an efficient marketing strategy and promote your blog where your audience is!
8. Offer Something For Free.
Mehdi offers a free eBook to every visitor. This eBook is a way for him to help people going further in their training goal and, thus, demonstrate his authority. Helping people by giving them free stuff will predictably attract new and more visitors. Mehdi offers an eBook , but you may want to offer something else like a useful tool or anything that could be valuable for your readers.
9. Focus On Gaining Experience, Authority And Readership.
If you want to build a popular and lasting blog, you'll need to focus on gaining experience, building your authority and growing your readership. These 3 elements last in time. You'll always keep the benefits with you as something highly valuable.
10. Always Learn Lessons From Your Mistakes.
Gaining experience is, most of all, learning from our mistakes. In fact, doing mistakes is inevitable. Whatever you will do and whatever the results are, the most essential is to learn from it. Doing mistakes is an incredible way to learn; and hopefully learn fast enough to avoid repeating the same thing! Build your attitude on positive thinking and continuous learning!
11. Sharpen Your Determination.
There is no success without determination! If you want to be successful you must be determine to reach your goal and your dream! Determination is a mindset and an attitude you must sharpen everyday! As I previously said, blogging is not easy. Being determine and persistent are essential ingredients to reach your ultimate goal of success!
12. Be An Example Of What Your Say.
Is there a better way to convince somebody to do something than doing it our self? I guess not. In fact, everybody starts with the premise that you will do the best for yourself. If you succeed to sell yourself as an example to follow, you'll gain authority and respect from your readers. This will then add value to everything you will write or recommend.
13. Help Your Audience Generously.
Helping your audience will allow you to build strong relationships. Moreover, it will let you gain new experiences and better understanding of what your audience really need. Your generosity will always pay back. You don't know when and how, but the natural law of return will always give you what you deserve!
14. Publish High Quality Content.
This is not a secret for anyone. Publishing high quality content is essential to attract visitors and convert them into loyal readers. The value and the creativity of your content will, among other things, determine your authority. Of course, this will be base on the perception and subjectivity of your visitors, but in general quality content is almost the same for people from the same niche.
15. Guest Post On Popular and Valuable Blogs.
Guest blogging is known as a very efficient way to increase visibility. In order to optimize the effect, Mehdi recommend to make a list of blogs with a high amount of readers and who often get on Digg / Del.icio.us / StumbleUpon front page.
16. Be Audacious: Don't Ask For Permission to Guest Post.
Medhi also recommend being audacious and sending directly your article to the first blog on your list. If the blog owner accepts to publish it, you are on your way. However, if he refuses try to send it to the second blog, and so on. If you get 5 negative responses, you may question the relevance and/or the quality of your article.
17. Write a Relevant and Valuable eBook For Your Audience.
Writing an eBook for your audience is a great way to put together your best tips and tricks. The goal should be to gather together a bunch of essential information that will fill the main needs of your audience. Just to help you about the content, here are some questions: what are the most common problems for people on your niche? Are there known techniques or strategies to avoid them? What are the common mistakes or pitfalls? Write your eBook with your audience in mind. You won't read your own eBook , your audience will!
18. Before Starting Your Blog, Observe And Read A Lot.
Mehdi recommend to everyone to observe blogs and bloggers and to read a lot before starting a blog. We often tend to underestimate the effort needed to maintain a blog. Thus, getting as much information as possible before starting is essential for the new blogger.
19. Believe In You and On Your Success.
As for the determination and the persistence, believing in yourself and on your success is critical to succeed. Some people may tell you that you won't do it or that it's too difficult. Whatever the reason behind those negative thoughts, stand tall and believe in you! You are unique. Where somebody failed, you may succeed! The strength of your beliefs will determine your success!
20. Don't Blog For The Money.
If your only interest for blogging is the money, you will most likely be disappointed! Blogging is a lot of work and it requires a real passion to write about something month after month and year after year. Mehdi said: "if you are looking for an easy way out of your day job or if you're looking for easy money: don't do it, because you have the wrong mindset and will fail". Again, blogging is all about sharing and building relationship. The money is the cherry on the sundae!
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