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The Five Most Vital Parts Of Any Blog’s Success

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Blogging Tips For Success

When it comes to success as a blogger, the short lists work the best. Some people will insist that there are dozens of metrics and tasks that measure a blog’s success. However, all of the metrics and tasks all go back to five vital parts of a blog’s success. You can call these five vital parts the Furious Five of success as a blogger:

 

#1: Social Media Audience

Having a social media audience allows you to boost your social proof and get more blog traffic. Twitter is still a major source of this blog’s traffic, and having my large Twitter audience also boosts my credibility. It is on Twitter where I grow strong relationships with my readers. I have had dozens of conversations with some of the same readers.

Having a strong social media audience gives you a platform to promote your content on the web and good SEO at the same time. SEO is an important part of a blog’s success, but if you focus on being successful on social media, then you will have successful SEO (that’s why SEO did not make this list).

My advice for mastering social networks is to master one social network at a time. If you try to master all of the major social networks at once, you will get confused by information overload. Approaching one social network at a time will make the information easier to obtain and remember. It is better to be effective on one social network than it is to be mediocre on 10 social networks.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EXbKGh”]It is better to be effective on one social network than it is to be mediocre on 10 social networks.[/tweetthis]

#2: Email List

Your email list is another powerful source of blog traffic. It is on your email list where you can generate a large income by promoting your products and building relationships with your readers. Most of the emails you send to your subscribers should promote your latest articles.

You should only do a product pitch to your subscribers once every six weeks. However, it is also important to avoid doing a product pitch just for the sake of doing a product pitch. If you have nothing new to sell or don’t have a special deal for the old stuff, then there is no reason to promote a product to your email list. Remember that promoting your blog posts and engaging with your email subscribers builds the relationships, not product pitch after product pitch.

 

#3: Traffic

Traffic is primarily generated through social media, an email list, and SEO. You can achieve good SEO by growing your social media audience and getting the people on your email list to visit and share your blog posts. Directory sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg are great places to get additional traffic, but you should primarily focus on your social media audience, email list, and SEO.

 

#4: Products

Your products are your primary sources of income. Advertisements are not worth the time and effort (they lead people away from your blog), and in affiliate marketing, you are dependent on good commissions and other marketers/brands. By creating your own products, you will have a more stable income. If the person you are affiliated with decides to go down from a 10% commission per affiliate sale to a 5% commission per affiliate sale, then you’ll get half the initial commission per sale.

When you create your own products, you have more control over the commission you get, and the commissions tend to be higher. When I write a $2.99 Kindle book, I make 70% of the commission. However, if I was not the author and promoted the book as an Amazon Associate, I would only get a 4% commission. It would take 18 sales as an Amazon Associate to make the same revenue as the author who generates one sale for the same book. The numbers support creating your own products.

 

#5: Content

The content you provide on your blog can either attract loyal readers or scare people away. No matter how much social proof you have, that social proof can only take you so far. The restaurant with a packed parking lot has more social proof than the restaurant with no visitors. However, if the food at the popular restaurant tastes awful, customers won’t come back. Then, that social proof will gradually disappear and the restaurant will become irrelevant.

The content you provide on your blog must give your readers a reason to stick around and come back. There are numerous blogs on the web that provide valuable content. My blog is not the only digital marketing blog on the web, and your blog is not the only blog of its kind on the web either. Providing valuable content will allow you to stand out from the crowd, and as a result, get more returning visitors. The returning visitors are the ones who promote your content, join your email list, and buy your products.

 

In Conclusion

The main reason most people are not successful is because they make success more complicated than it has to be. A blog’s success is not a combination of dozens of methods working together. Instead, a blog’s success is a combination of those five vital parts. By focusing on these five methods instead of the dozens of methods that are available, you will move closer to successful blogging.

Which of these methods was your favorite? Do you have any tips on amplifying these five methods? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

Social Media Is Dead

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Technology continues to exceed our expectations and lead to new breakthroughs. A little more than a decade ago, Facebook was created, and then came the other social networks. Twitter then came into the scene, and Twitter was a big part of my growth. I then expanded my social media reach by using Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook to grow my audience even more.

It was a great run, but social media is now dead. There is a new wave of technology that is far superior to social media or SEO. It took me an entire year to learn how social media works, and it will probably take me an entire year to discover how the new big thing works.

How strong is the suspense right now? To be quite honest, I can’t write blog posts about it yet since I’m no expert at it. A writer for the New York Times already wrote about it.

How I Gained 2,000 Twitter Followers In 24 Hours [Twiends Case Study]

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Twiends Case Study

I was gaining a healthy 250-500 followers every day, but just like any Twitter expert, I wanted to explore different ways to grow my account and get more followers. For several years, I have read various articles giving praise to Twiends when users buy the Featured Slots. Tyler Cruz’s case study about Twiends is what really motivated me to take action.

However, I did not take action. That is, until a few months ago.

In December 2014, I was tired of thinking hypothetically and wanted to see what Twiends could actually do for my account. I decided to buy the 24 hour featured slot. Living up to the expectation, my Twitter audience got an extra pinch of growth. By the end of the 24 hour period, I had gained over 2,000 Twitter followers from Twiends, and that was a net gain. Several accounts that followed my account quickly unfollowed me account (some people on Twiends do that just for the seeds. Seeds are part of the point system that Twiends uses to give accounts more exposure), but gaining 2,000 legitimate Twitter followers within a 24 hour time period isn’t so bad.

In the future, I am going to experiment with buying seeds in bulk and let everyone know how that turns out. Chances are, based on the featured slot, it should turn out well. Here are a few things to note from my Tweepi case study:

 

#1: The Featured Slot Still Works! 

Tyler’s articles about Twiends are from a few years ago, and he wrote the best case studies for Twiends. Basically, I had no up to date information about how effective the featured slot is. As if the end of 2014, the featured slot is still very effective. You will probably gain close to 2,000 Twitter followers within the same period of time of you buy the featured slot.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BrFNqJ”]Learn how to get over 2,000 real #Twitter followers in less than 24 hours.[/tweetthis]

#2: When To Get The Featured Slot

There are not any guidelines from Twiends on when to buy the Featured Slot. My recommendation is to buy the Featured Slot at the start of the weekday (Monday or Tuesday) and away from the holidays. I have only done this once, and I don’t know Twiends’ traffic stats, but that is just a recommendation based on the time when most people are on the web. If I buy a Featured Slot again, I would probably buy it in the evening on a Monday so the Featured Slot would go into Tuesday.

 

#3: Is Twiends For Everyone?

In the end, you want more than just a number. It’s great to gain 2,000 Twitter followers, but if none of those followers are targeted, then what’s the point? It is for this one reason why I am hesitant to recommend Twiends to everyone who asks me for Twitter advice. Before I bought the Twiends featured slot, I came to recognize that most of the followers I got from Twiends would be targeted followers.

My thinking process started with me figuring out why people would want to use Twiends in the first place (get more Twitter followers). Many of my tweets contain information related to Twitter such as getting more followers, retweets, and mentions. I even wrote a free eBook about getting more retweets that I promote on my Twitter account. I knew that since Twiends users want more Twitter followers, then I would be the perfect fit.

You don’t have to be a Twitter expert to use Twiends. Many people would like to follow accounts that tweet motivational quotes, random facts, funny thoughts, and other interesting content. If you tweet interesting content that people would appreciate, then you should be fine.

 

#4: You Gotta Make It To Spend It

In his case study, Tyler Cruz said he gained about 200 Twitter followers every day from Twiends alone and showed a screenshot of him having 38,477 seeds. Although those numbers show Twiends can be very helpful if you buy the seeds, buying seeds can add up to a lot of money. Tyler Cruz has spent thousands of dollar on Twiends to buy seeds and featured slots. If you want to spend that type of money to grow your Twitter audience, then you need to be making the money before you spend it.

 

#5: Don’t Go Out Of Control

My recommendation is to not spend more than 5% of the revenue you generate on Twiends. Although Twiends is great at bringing in followers when you buy the seeds, Twitter followers are not the only component to success. You must have a way to turn these Twitter followers into loyal fans, blog subscribers, and eventually customers. 2,000 Twitter followers is not life changing, but if you grow your Twitter audience on top of that 2,000 follower boost, your blog could get hundreds or even thousands of daily visitors from Twitter alone.

 

In Conclusion

If you are eager to give Twiends a try, I highly recommend that you do so. I was eager and wanted to give this a try for a few years, but since it took me a long time to act, all of the excitement stayed bottled up. Then, I decided to buy a Featured Slot and was very excited with the results. My recommendation is to only continue spending money on Twiends at a consistent rate if you are happy with the results and are already making a strong income.

What are your thoughts on Twiends? Have you bought anything from Twiends recently? Please share your thoughts and stories about Twiends below.

10 Methods To Become A More Successful Blogger

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Successful Blogging

The bloggers who become successful are the bloggers who strive to improve themselves at any moment possible. These bloggers want to acquire new knowledge and skills that they believe could accelerate growth. The more effective you are at your craft, the more people will notice, pay attention, and become loyal fans.

Now you probably want to become a better blogger so you can be more successful while spreading your message to the world. Remember that no matter how good you get, you can always get better. There is no limit to how good a blogger (or anyone) can become. In order to become a better, more successful blogger, follow these 10 methods.

 

#1: Look At The Pros 

When you start on any journey, you need to have a role model to go by. This role model needs to be a leader of your niche who is thriving. I have many role models in the digital marketing niche who inspire me to constantly grow my blog and email list while creating products. Looking at the pros and reading their blog posts can also teach you various lessons about your own niche. I learned what I know about digital marketing through other people’s blog posts, books, videos, and training courses.

 

#2: Focus On Value Instead Of Quantity

Many people believe that having more blog posts means more traffic. The logic is that if every article on a blog gets one visitor every day, then it would be better to have 10,000 blog posts than just 100 blog posts. As a result, some people constantly produce blog posts thinking more about the potential traffic and maintaining consistency than the actual value.

However, the value of a blog post ultimately determines how far that blog post spreads on social media, how many of your visitors become returning visitors, and how many of your visitors buy your products. Taking the time to provide value in your blog posts will allow you to attract the visitors that matter the most—returning, targeted visitors who appreciate your content and may buy your products in the future.

 

#3: Write Every Day 

A great way to write more valuable blog posts is by writing every day. If you write every day, then writing will come natural to you. I used to struggle to produce valuable blog posts just because I was by no means a writer. Then, I started to write every day about a topic I am passionate about to this day, and my writing got better. You can’t get better at something unless you are willing to put in more practice than you are already putting in.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1zOLri1″]The best way to get better at #blogging is by writing more often.[/tweetthis]

#4: Enhance SEO

SEO is a valuable stream of blog traffic. However, it only takes a few minutes of exploration to realize that successful SEO is like going through a gigantic maze. My recommendation is to focus some of your time on SEO, but the moment it becomes an obsession, you need to stop focusing on it. In the end, valuable content matters the most because you want your blog visitors to appreciate your content.

I wrote a blog post that contains a few methods to boost your blog’s SEO and SEOMoz came out with this awesome guide. There is more information in their guide than in my blog post, but I also warn you to not go too deep into SEO right away. Only implement a few methods at a time. If you begin by implementing dozens of methods to boost your blog’s SEO at the same time, then you will become overwhelmed.

 

#5: Optimize Your Blog For Getting Subscribers

Optimizing your blog for getting subscribers is a very important step towards success. Your email list is the best way to communicate to your visitors about your recent blog posts and products. Most of the revenue successful bloggers generate is from their email lists. Your success as a blogger depends on how effectively you are building your email list. Here are some tips to get you started.

 

#6: Grow Your Social Media Audience

Your social media audience is another critical component of a blogger’s success. In fact, social media also plays a critical role in SEO, so if you feel confused about SEO, focus your time on growing your social media audience.

When you grow your social media audience, focus on one social network at a time. That way, you can focus on learning new things about one social network. You should only start to utilize a second social network once you master one social network. Mastering social networks is like mastering languages. You wouldn’t try to learn 10 new languages at the same time. Instead, you would learn each new language one at a time. The same methodology applies to mastering social networks.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1zOLri1″]Mastering different social networks is just like mastering different languages.[/tweetthis]

#7: Write Guest Posts

Guest posts serve many benefits. The first benefit of guest blogging is that as you write more guest posts, you will also become a better writer. The second benefit of guest blogging is that you build your authority on the web (the more times people see you on the web, the more your authority grows). The third benefit of guest blogging is that you can tap into a new audience and generate traffic to your blog. The fourth benefit of guest blogging is the SEO benefit (as long as the guest blog is related to your niche). Sometimes, guest blogging even leads to joint ventures with some of the top bloggers in your niche.

You never know where your guest posts are going to take you. The only way to figure out where your guest posts may take you is by giving it a try. Look for guest blogs related to your niche, see what the requirements are, and then start writing.

 

#8: Have Your Own Product

As grow your visibility and start to establish an authority on the web, you must have a revenue generating product of your own. Whether you choose to write a book or launch a training course, this product needs to generate revenue without your involvement. That way, you can make money in your sleep and then you’ll know that you are crushing it as a blogger.

Having your own product does not mean being an affiliate for someone else. You must take the time to create a product related to your niche so you can bring in a bigger profit.

 

#9: Make Your Blog Load Faster

Your blog’s speed is essential. Google takes blog speed seriously in its algorithm, and for every second it takes for your blog to load, visitors are less likely to read articles, subscribe, or stay on your blog for a long period of time. One of the easiest ways to make your blog load faster is by creating pictures on Canva instead of copying and pasting them from Google. On Canva, you choose the size of your pictures (I choose 300×300) instead of resizing a 2500×2500 picture to the size I want (a resized picture still loads as if it were the original size). Here are more tips to make your blog load faster.

 

#10: Decrease Your Blog’s Bounce Rate 

Your blog’s bounce rate is another SEO factor that Google takes into consideration when it ranks blog posts for certain keywords. The lower your blog’s bounce rate is, the better. When one visitor views multiple pages on your blog, your bounce rate is decreasing. If one visitor only views one of your blog’s pages (this can be a blog post, a page on your blog’s menu, or any other part of your blog), then your blog’s bounce rate is increasing (not good). You can verify your blog on Alexa to see your blog’s bounce rate. Alexa shows you how to do that. Once you know your bounce rate, here are several methods you can use to lower your blog’s bounce rate.

 

In Conclusion

The journey to becoming a successful blogger is a long journey, and the journey to becoming a more successful blogger is an endless journey. No matter where you are as a blogger, you can always make more revenue and become more successful. The most successful bloggers are still looking for more ways to generate more revenue. Ultimately, the key to being a successful blogger is to be a committed blogger.

Which of these methods was your favorite? Do you have any other methods for achieving success as a blogger? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

7 Warning Signs That Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working

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Bad Social Media Strategy

Social media has made it easier than ever before for someone to grow an authority around a passion. Millions of the people who have embraced social media use it to promote their businesses, spread the word about their blog posts, and lead people to product pages. These people create social media strategies in the attempt to grow their authorities on the web.

Out of all of the social media strategies that get implemented, only a few of them work. Most social media strategies do a few things wrong. In a social media strategy, if a few things get done incorrectly, the entire strategy could get sabotaged. Let’s say you are gaining 100 Twitter followers every day. If you only send one tweet every day and never promote your content, then you are not getting traffic to your blog which could lead to more revenue and authority on the web.

One of the best ways to do something right is by knowing the warning signs. If you see these warning signs in your social media strategy, then you need to adjust your strategy. If these seven warning signs are within your social media strategy, then you need to adjust that strategy:

 

#1: You Are Practically Chasing Potential Followers And Likers

This mistake is commonly referred to as begging other people to follow you or like your page and stalking them until the action gets performed. You also get very excited when you get one new follower or one new like. If your social media strategy has this warning sign, it takes too much effort to get a single follower. If you want to build an authority on any social network, it must be easy for you to get followers by the dozens, and eventually, by the hundreds every day.

On Twitter, I would be disappointed if I gained less than 200 followers on any given day. Gaining over 500 Twitter followers in one day would be a really good day for me. Don’t rejoice over gaining a single follower because that indicates slow growth. Instead, rejoice over the big milestones. Rejoice over getting dozens of daily followers, then hundreds of daily followers, and if you absolutely crush it on social media, thousands of daily followers.

 

#2: You Don’t Have An End Goal

What is the point of growing your social media audience? If you can’t answer this question, then this warning sign applies to your social media strategy. You need to identify the benefit of growing your social media presence. Sure, social proof is good, but you need a better reason to grow your social media audience.

I grow my social media audience so I can get more blog traffic, meet new people, and get more subscribers when I promote my landing pages (if you have a landing page, you should promote yours on social media too). There needs to be a purpose behind your actions other than the fact that social media is the big thing.

 

#3: You Are Not Interacting With Your Followers

Some of the best social media tips are tips for real life. One of those tips is to have a two-sided conversation with your followers. Think of how annoying it would be to listen to a one-sided conversation in real life. One person does all of the talking, and you just listen. You want to say something to the person talking, but it’s a one-sided conversation (oh well).

When people went over to social media, they forgot to properly carry over this important concept. Most social media posts are one-sided conversations in which people post what is on their minds without thinking about interacting with their followers. If someone posts a relevant response to one of your social media posts, you need to respond to that person. The strongest relationships that develop via social media start with interaction.

The [tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1wATJc9″]The strongest relationships that develop via #socialmedia start with interaction.[/tweetthis]

#4: Your Posts Are Not Getting A Lot Of Engagement

One of the reasons people go after large audiences on social media is to spread the word about what they do. In order to use social media to spread the word about what you do, your followers need to engage with your content. If your followers are not engaging with your content, then your audience size is just a number that doesn’t mean anything. 1 real follower is better than 100,000 fake ones.

If your posts are not getting a lot of engagement, then you are probably not reaching your goals for your social media strategy. You need people to share your content to have an impact on social media.

 

#5: Your Strategy Is Taking Up Too Much Time

Social media is a way to promote the pages that build relationships and bring more revenue for you. Social media is not a giant cash machine. Although you should focus part of your time on your social media strategy, you also need to focus your time on revenue generating activities. If your strategy takes up hours of your time every day, then you need to shorten it. You can eliminate certain processes and buy upgraded tools with more features (i.e. HootSuite Pro) to save time. Time is money.

 

#6: You Are Often Using Social Media To Promote Your Products

Red flag! Social media is not the place to promote your products and make the extra buck. Social media is the place to build relationships with like-minded people. You get the revenue from social media when you promote your blog, and the blog visitor either decides to buy a product he sees right away or subscribes to your blog and buys a product down the road. You can occasionally promote your products on social media, but you should only promote a product in a meaningful way. Kim Garst did that well with these tweets about her latest book.

 

#7: You Aren’t Making Yourself Different

Why would someone follow you instead of the other person in your niche? I don’t know for you exactly, but you must know why you would get people to follow you instead of someone else in your niche. You need to make yourself different from other people and present yourself in a way that encourages more people to follow you. Your bio needs to let people know why you are different in a concise manner. You can be different for the value you produce, having circumstances that most people don’t have, being something that most people are not, having a high level of credibility, or something else that makes you stand out. Standing out will help you build an authority on the web.

Not only is it important to make yourself different so you grow your audience, but if you make yourself different, your followers will remember you. Social media is a very noisy place where it is easy to be forgotten. If the people who view your social media account see you as a unique individual, then these people will remember who you are, visit your blog, and eventually buy your products.

 

In Conclusion

Chances are you know which warning signs apply to your social media strategy. At this stage of the game, there are only two choices. The first choice is to accept your social media strategy as it is, not address any of the warning signs, and not see dramatic growth. The second (better) choice is to address any of the warning signs that affect your social media strategy and stop them before those warning signs turn into your strategy’s danger. By addressing and fixing the flaws, you will move forward with your social media strategy and authority development.

Which warning signs apply to you? Do you have any additional warning signs that you would like to warn people about? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

12 Productivity Tips For Busy Bloggers

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Productivity Tips For Bloggers

Bloggers are some of the busiest people on the planet. They have to manage and produce content for social networks, blog posts, and products. They also have to obtain new knowledge by reading more articles on the web while making sure all of the technology properly works. Sometimes, an email address can no longer send and receive emails. Other times, the blog stays in maintenance mode, and it’s up to the blogger to fix those technological flaws.

Since bloggers are so busy, many of them desperately want extra time in the day. Some bloggers go beyond the call of duty and only get four hours of sleep which is not enough sleep to live on. Although you can’t add extra hours to make a 100 hour day, you can implement tactics that allow you to save time and make you less busy. Here are 12 of those tactics:

 

#1: Use The WP Editorial Calendar

The WP Editorial Calendar is a WordPress plugin that allows you to see all of your scheduled blog posts displayed on a calendar. This feature is especially helpful for bloggers who schedule a bunch of blog posts in advance. The bloggers who schedule multiple blog posts risk making the mistake of not scheduling a blog post on the right day or the right time of day. Some bloggers have accidentally published two blog posts at the same time because they scheduled the blog posts. When I was starting out, that issue happened to me a few times.

The WP Editorial Calendar solves this issue by providing a clear layout. This clear layout will make it easy for you to see when your blog posts have been scheduled by the time and day so you never schedule two blog posts for the same time and day again (if you haven’t done this at all, you’ll never do so if you have the WP Editorial Calendar).

 

#2: Write Down A Month’s Worth Of Blog Post Ideas In One Day

One of the biggest time-eaters bloggers face is staring at the screen and not knowing what idea to write about next. That is why in every month, I always dedicate one day for coming up with a month’s worth of blog posts ideas.

When I wrote two blog posts every day, this would be challenging. I would come up with 60 different, legitimate ideas for blog posts in a few hours. Now that I only publish three blog posts every week, that process is easier. I only have to come up with anywhere from 12-14 ideas depending on how many Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays there are in the month. Knowing the ideas in advance makes it easier for me to write my blog posts.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Knowing your #blog post ideas in advance makes them easier to write.[/tweetthis]

#3: Outline Your Blog Posts Before Writing Them

Another big time-eater bloggers face is knowing the blog post idea but still staring at the screen. This time, the problem is figuring out how to continue writing about a particular idea. If your blog post idea was “10 Ways To Ride A Horse,” and you left it like that, then the idea is not enough.

The bloggers who write a blog post idea without outlining the blog post still have to think of the 10 different methods to ride a horse. This thinking results in delay which can eat up a big chunk of any blogger’s time. Outlining your blog post with all 10 of the different methods to ride a horse before you start writing that blog post will allow you to save that time. Then, you will already know what you need to write about going into the writing process.

 

#4: Have Guest Bloggers Write Content For You

If you are a very busy blogger or just prefer to save a lot of time, you can have guest bloggers write the content for you. I personally do not have guest bloggers for this blog because I want this blog to only contain content that I wrote.

However, there are big name bloggers who have guest bloggers write the content for them. The great thing for bloggers who want guest bloggers to write for them is that most guest bloggers will contribute to your blog for free. To the guest blogger, your blog is a way to get a backlink, spread the word, and build authority on the web (many writers who contribute to The Huffington Post make sure people know that they contributed to The Huffington Post). If you approve the guest post, then you have an extra blog post to be scheduled in advance. If one blog post gets published on your blog every day, and you get three guest posts every week, then you only have to write four blog posts every week. Writing four blog posts is less time consuming than writing seven blog posts of the same length, and the impact this can have in the span of weeks and months is powerful.

 

#5: Only Use Technology That Is Easy To Use

Some refer to technology as a reliable companion while others describe it as a nuisance. You want to focus on using the technology that is easy to use. If you do not know how to use a piece of technology, only learn the technology that is easy to learn.

There are bloggers who focus on learning some of the most challenging technological tools and features. Some of these technological tools and features take years to learn, but not all tools lead to equal results. Some tools that take years to master will lead to better results than the tools that take a few minutes to master, but then again, the opposite is also possible.

I only challenge myself with 1-3 technological tools that seem difficult every year, and none of these challenges take more than a few days. If I was stuck for a few months trying to learn how one piece of technology worked, I would lose too much time that I could have used to produce valuable content.

 

#6: Hire People

Hire people to take care of your marketing campaigns (although they can be very beneficial, they also eat up a lot of time). If you entrust someone to your marketing campaigns, be sure to set up a system for that person to follow. If you reward the people who buy your book with a free training course, you can hire people to provide the customers with the free training course they deserve.

If your blog is not getting a lot of traffic, you may initially have to hire guest bloggers. However, as your blog builds an authority on the web, the guest bloggers will eventually come to you (I still get emails from guest bloggers even though I say I don’t take guest posts). Even if you know how to perform a tedious task, you can hire someone else to get the job done so you can save time. Time is money.

 

#7: Write Content That You Want To Write

No matter how good you are at writing content, you must choose a topic that you are passionate about. If you grudge the writing process, then you will often drift off and think about some of the things that you would prefer doing instead of writing the next blog post. Be proud of what you put up on the web! It all goes under your name.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Be proud of what you put up on the web. It all goes under your name. #blogging #socialmedia[/tweetthis]

#8: Write Your Content In The Morning

The morning is the most productive time of the day. You need to wake up early to write content so you won’t have to worry about writing the next blog post in the evening. As the day wanes down, and more distractions come into play, it will get more challenging to write blog posts at a consistent rate.

By waking up in the morning to write your blog posts, all of the distractions will not have a strong impact in your writing.

 

#9: Schedule More Blog Posts

Unfortunately for me, writing and scheduling two blog posts are two different things. I made the mistake of updating my Mac to Yosemite before it was fully usable. The result was everything on my computer going dead. I could not access the internet or any of the content I wrote. Basically, the only thing my computer could do was turn on and show me all of the icons and possibilities that I once had before the Yosemite update.

After my Mac was taken to the Apple Store the following day, I got full access to my computer again. I could write content, access the internet, and do everything else just like before. However, one file went missing, and that one file contained all of my blog posts and blog post ideas. I had about 10 finished blog posts that I never got to schedule and a dozen or so ideas that never got written bout. I couldn’t even find the document on my Mac’s Passport To sum it up, it was a bad day.

Maybe the document is somewhere deep within my computer (that would be cool because I could create a “Lost Blog Posts” series). The lesson I learned is that it is important to schedule blog posts in advance for a long period of time. I got lucky because I still had a month’s worth of content scheduled. However, if I only had blog posts scheduled for the next day, I would have been pressed into the uncomfortable condition of writing blog posts with only a few days to spare (while knowing that I already put in the work, but that work was gone).

By scheduling more blog posts, you will feel more comfort in your blogging journey. Last-minute stress will be a thing of the past. Since I schedule over a month’s worth of blog posts in advance, I never have last-minute stress when it comes to writing blog posts. That is why I am always able to create long, insightful blog posts that are over 1,000 words long (and sometimes over 2,000 words long. I knew I should have turned this blog into a membership site…)

 

#10: Write Fewer Blog Posts

The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less ideas you have to think of. For the average blogger, more time is spent thinking of what to write about than actually writing blog posts. If you write one blog post every day, then you have to think of 30 blog post ideas every month. However, if you only write on the weekdays, you would only have to think of 20-24 ideas every month depending on how many weekdays are in that month.

The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less time it takes to come up with more ideas. That means you will have more time to write the content that matters—your content.

 

#11: Don’t Bounce From Idea To Idea

One you identify the blog post idea that you want to start writing about, you must only write content for that one blog post before you write any other piece of content anywhere else. The bloggers who write multiple blog posts simultaneously have to constantly shift their thinking from one blog post to another.

If I wrote one blog post about Twitter and one blog post about Pinterest at the same time, then I would have to constantly shift from writing about my Twitter knowledge to writing about my Pinterest knowledge. Each time a shift occurs, more time is lost. That is why it is better to focus on writing one blog post at a time than it is to start writing and finishing multiple blog posts at the same time. I only tried to write two books at the same time. Neither of those books are in the marketplace, and I’m not thinking about publishing them.

 

#12: Keep It Simple

Blogging is something that typically becomes complex in a short amount of time. Many bloggers insist on giving themselves work to do in the boat loads, and they insist on spreading that work out in dozens of areas. You need to keep your blogging strategy simple in order for it to be effective. The best plans are the simple ones.

 

In Conclusion

Blogging for a full-time income is a demanding responsibility. Some bloggers may find themselves fighting to stay awake late at night to write extra blog posts, respond to comments, or do anything else for the good of their blogs.

If you know some workarounds, blogging won’t be as demanding as it is now. Granted, these workarounds are by no means get rich quick schemes or anything of that nature. However, these workarounds allow you to save valuable time. The way you use your time determines how successful you become in what you do.

Which tip was your favorite? Do you have any other tips for boosting the productivity of busy bloggers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.