10 Things I Learned After 7 Years of Blogging

Darren Rowse is a blogging master.  Today he posted his 5000 post on his blog, ProBlogger.net.  He began blogging in the year 2004.  The same year the “Out of the Fog, Into the Light” (this blog) started.  Well, actually, I began this blog in 2002. Blogging was new then and my provider was green as well. 

In 2004, I decided to step up to the plate and become more professional.  This was when I moved the blog to TypePad.  I also decided not to reload the previous two year’s worth of posts.  Instead, I reviewed each post, there were 380 then, and either updated them and add into future posts or tossed them. 

Here, in celebration of my unknown number of posts but 1,184,812 lifetime page views I’d like to add to Darren’s post.  In his post, he summarizes some of the lessons he learned in building his blog.  I thought the his list was okay but would not have necessarily been my top ones. 

First, I’ll summarize his list and then I’ll discuss my lessons.

Darren’s list:

1. Anticipate Growing Trends
2. Solve Problems and Meet Needs
3. Write for You
4. Blog Over the Long Term and Blog Regularly
5. Be Interactive
6. Be Personal
7. Go Where People are Already Gathering
8. Build Your Brand
9. Spot and Follow Opportunities
10. Develop Partnerships
11. Know Your Goals and Stay Focused (talking about vision and goals)
12. Work Hard
13. Be Lucky

In number 11 he focuses on goals and vision only.  That’s okay but I think he left out having a plan and strategy.  So I would add these.

Work hard.  Ick!  What ever happened to “work smarter, not harder” philosophy.  If I found blogging hard, I wouldn’t have lasted this long.  I hate hard work.  I do love to write so it’s work to me.  If you consider writing work, then I suggest having another communication plan or hire it out.  You’ve got to like like even if just a little otherwise stick to a guest or collaborative blog.

Number 13 Be Lucky.  This isn’t in my beliefs.  I believe in the universal laws and also you need to make your luck.  My substitute would be to work with the Law of Attraction in the whole process.

Number 3 Write For You.  Yes and no.  I think if you just write for yourself, you will be the only one reading it.  Then again, this may be your vision, however, I don’t think so.  Generally, personal bloggers write because they want to be heard.  They want to send out more vibrations into the world.  Their cup is full and running over and they want to share it.  They want to help others achieve, be their best.  They want to be at their best.  Well, at least I do, and most of the circle of bloggers I travel with feel this way.  Maybe Darren was trying to say this in his own way.

The hardest part of blogging for me is setting up a strategy and plan and sticking to it.  I’m a big failure with sticking to it so I needed to arrange a balance -- some planning and some freedom.  The percentage of each varies by what else I’m doing in my life.

As far as the strategy.  You really need one.  I didn’t have one the first few years and can look back and see a lot of missed opportunities.  With a flexible plan, you’ll catch more of these.  Be kind to yourself, what you see today isn’t what you’ll see tomorrow because you’re constantly changing.  That’s the wonderful part.  You’ll grow with every post -- guaranteed.  Just add review time to look over past posts to read in between the lines, see further than you did before, and then take it into the future.

Having a plan and strategy are the top lessons I learned.  Maybe you’re like me . . . creating a plan or strategy alone sucks.  I highly suggest finding a buddy.  Find someone who is needs to work on their plan and strategy and spend a few hours brainstorming and giving helpful suggestions.  Two or three hours is all you probably need.  In one call, you focus on them.  In the second, they focus on you.  But doing this you both can be 100% there for the person the focus is on.  Separate the calls by a day, no more than two.  Then allow the creativity rest for a week so it can gel.  Then return a week or two later and share the outcome.

Here’s my list in what I consider a priority order.

1. Have a vision and goals, but place most of the emphasis on creating a plan within your time availability and then a strategy for following through with the plan.  To have the law of attraction within the whole process.
2. Find a fellow blogging buddy in every planning portion.  Use different buddies each time to keep a fresh perspective.  Do a buddy review every three six months.
3. Find and use ONE blogger mentor at a time.  Darren Rowse was mine for a few months.  I’ve had seven since I began my blog.  You don’t need to pay for this except in time.  Choose a successful blogger, analyze everything s/he does.  If they’ve written something on blogging count it as part of the mentoring process.  Always choose one you perceive to at least three steps ahead of you, not one that is ten steps ahead of you.  You need to be able to reach an end.  Just choose ONE and focus.  Don’t spread yourself thin, you’ll get overwhelmed and give up.
4. Know you first and your audience second.  Know why you are doing this – your personal goals and vision if different, and many times they are – they require more thinking to find them.  Never be embarrassed about having them either.  Balance needs to play into this.  Define what your mixture will be.
5. Blog over the long term.  I disagree.  Blogs are a means of communication.  Topics die out.  Even professions die out with trends.  I believe a blog is similar to running a business.  You need to have an exit strategy and exit plan.  Not necessarily by date but when certain things happen.  Age could be one.  You move on to something else, etc.
6. Be personal.  Be careful with your definition of personal.  I would prefer this item to say, have a good personality.  I learned this during my radio years.  Personality or charisma is a major attraction.  Decide in your plan and strategy what parts you are going to let out.  I’ll be honest, when I read a blog that’s telling me what their dog ate for breakfast, I’m gone and almost never return.  Then again, this may be your thing.
7. Build you brand.  Well, personality is part of your brand.  It will also represent your company if you have one.  There’s different strokes for different folks on this one.  It depends on whether you have a personal blog or a business blog.
8. Develop partnerships.  This I really agree with.  I found this hard.  But I did come up with a strategy over the years that works for me.  Add this into your plan on how you want to do this and where the boundaries are going to be.  Now I choose one person, find out who they are, if they have written a book, I buy and read it.  I add comments on their blog.  Hmm, it almost makes me sound like a stalker.  Okay, I’m stopping.  This isn’t the impression I want to give.  Anyway, my plan works for me. 
9. Long or short – or a combination in some way.  I have a tendency to write long naturally.  What’s your natural way?  I suggest alternating them.  Add this information into your plan/strategy.
10. The last and just as important as all the rest has to do with time.  Define your time commitment, then multiple it by three – the other two is your learning curve time.  Adjust and make sure it’s real with your vision, goals, plan and strategy.    Whenever your time changes, you’re plan and strategy will need adjusting.

Ten is a good number to stop at.  Of course, I do have a lot more lessons I’ve learned.  But these are my top ones.

To read Darren’s 5000 blog post, click here.

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If you write a post on your blog building on this one, please send me an e-mail I’d love to read it.

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