Nearly all marketers abandon blogging when life gets hectic.
This, however, is a huge mistake. Your blog is the most effective marketing tool you have. It helps you:
* To quickly improve your writing skills;
* To grow your lists;
* To develop a meaningful, lasting, relationship with your lists;
* To continually promote yourself to a dedicated audience.
Here are my tips for staying on track:
1. Focus on the Content
To fully and quickly promote yourself, you need to: write and promote blog posts, build links, promote on Twitter, create Facebook fan pages, experiment with PPC ads and RSS feeds, create eBooks and the list goes on.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Trying to do everything above would be possible, and it would promote your blog, but you also would burn out quickly. It is no wonder so many people feel overwhelmed when they see such a list.
Don’t fret though. Simply focus on the core activity: writing content.
If you have time for only one task, use it to write content. Continue to build a body of posts, even if you don’t publish them all at the same time. I find when I’m in writing mode I can churn out articles and blog posts quickly. Then, when I have a little more time on my hands because I have some stock blog posts written, I’ll then use that time to promote my best posts. Simple.
If you write great content and promote it even slightly, your blog will grow naturally. Search engines will index the pages and you won’t lose your marbles.
2. KEY POINT: Have Fun With It
This is essential and it’s one of the reasons why I always say you should, ideally, choose a niche or topic you have a passion for.
You need to have fun with your blog. If blogging becomes a chore, you’ll lose the motivation to keep it alive it very quickly. If you choose a topic solely to make money, you’ll find it painful to write the content, no matter what.
Some people say they’ll do anything it takes to make it work but at the slightest obstacle they throw in the towel. Don’t let this be you!
While it’s good to provide technical/instructional content, it’s generally very bland and boring to read. Think about ways to enliven your blogs, such as including personal stories. Pay attention. This is a winning tactic that builds relationships and keeps readers engaged and, more importantly, buying.
3. Set Milestones
What gets measured gets done. That is why milestones are important.
They allow you to track the progress of your blog and, once you see things are improving, you’ll become motivated to keep working on the blog. Examples of milestones you could set:
* To reach 1,000 daily page views.
* To reach 1,000 RSS subscribers.
* To write a post that will receive 20 comments.
It’s funny how much you can achieve in a relatively short period of time when you set goals. Let me give you a current example:
Diane and I recently set a goal to cruise around Cape Horn at the Southern tip of Chile, South America. We built a list of all the places we wanted to visit while in South America: Peru, Chile, Falkland Islands, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Having set out the structure, we then added the detail and the list of things to do grew and grew.
Several travel agents told us it couldn’t be scheduled. Even specialist tour operators couldn’t arrange it, (seems they like an easy life), mainly because we wanted first class or business class flights.
Not taking “no” for an answer, we split the tasks between us and set a goal to have it all booked by Sept. 1. On the evening of Sept. 2, 2012 we had everything booked just as we wanted it. We depart on Jan. 20, 2013 for a fantastic five-week holiday in South America, including a 14-night cruise around the Cape from Santiago in Chile to Buenos Aires in Argentina.
This demonstrates two things: how setting goals gives you the desire to get things done and how telling a personal story aids in keeping your reader engaged, as I mentioned in point two.
4. Monetize It
Like it or not, money is a very strong motivator. It is something we will need a lot of for our next cruise holiday because we travel first-class and use top hotels.
Warning: Don’t expect to get rich overnight. It takes time and persistence but you will get there.
Remember, once you get started and stick to your schedule, it becomes a cycle – one where you write more and better content to make more money. The more money you make, the more motivated you become to write more and better content.
Lastly, everyone can blog. It’s easy to do and it should form an absolute cornerstone to your online marketing efforts.
Don Hastie invites you to watch his free online-training webinar on making money online so you can quit your day job someday soon. This is a proven process, used by the top group of Internet marketers that provides, money, freedom and time. To watch the free online webinar training, and to see hundreds of other free tips, strategies and advice visit: http://www.internetproductsreviewed.com
