How to Be a Successful Blogger
Cyndi Allison
Why Blog?
There are many
reasons to start and maintain a blog. You might want to keep a running permanent
electronic log of your activities, reach out to others, make a “difference,” or
maybe your employer has requested that you blog as part of your work duties.
Your specific
approach will vary depending on your purpose for blogging, and “success” will
vary depending on what you hope to accomplish with your blog. A small following
of family and friends may be rewarding for one blogger while a larger, less-intimate
audience may be the goal for another blogger.
Blogging for
fame and money presents a real challenge and would generally be a poor reason
for putting the time and effort into creating and building a blog. While you
may find many books and articles about getting rich and famous blogging, such “bottom
line” intentions usually do not lead to success. Very few blogs gain
substantial audiences and fewer still are financially viable other than perhaps
pocket change. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably simply making money
selling you on an unrealistic game plan and providing tips that only result in
short term audience and income gains. Many of these “get rich and famous quick”
blogs are quickly abandoned and become “lost” in cyberspace.
With that
being said, I can tell you that blogging can be very rewarding and certainly
worthwhile.
I started my
blog, Barbecue Master, in 2006. My goal was to share recipes, tips, and reviews
related to grilling and barbecue which is something I really enjoy. My Dad
taught me how to grill when I was a pre-teen, and I’ve grilled/smoked for many
years. I fielded many questions from family and friends about how to get
started, how to grill specific foods, and recommendations for grills and
barbecue products. It was easier to put the information in one spot online and
send links rather than typing up the answers over and over. So, I began my blog
with a very specific purpose and audience in mind. My blog would help others
while saving time on my end.
Over the
years, my blog has gained recognition and awards. My visitor numbers run over
100,000 per month in season (grilling/smoking is typically a warm weather
sport). Even in the off season, it would be rare that I’d drop below
30,000/month. When you put “Barbecue Master” in a search engine, my blog
typically is the top result, and several online sites have rated my blog among
the top outdoor cooking blogs online. I’ve even made “best of” lists for
general cooking blogs (a much broader category with much more competition).
Success,
beyond my initial goal of helping family/friends, did not occur overnight. My
numbers were very low in the beginning (perhaps 10 visitors per month), and it
took four years to make the Google AdSense minimal payout of $100. Even now, I
only hit the pay threshold during the prime spring/summer months.
Don’t let the
low monetary rewards scare you off if you do hope to make some profit from
blogging. I could certainly monetize Barbecue Master with sponsors and
advertising. Actually I do one text advertisement with a text link at the
bottom of the blog currently to the tune of $40/month. It would certainly be
possible to spend more time on blog placement sales if income ranked high on my
“reasons to blog” list. It’s not that I dislike money; however, the spirit of
my blog was and continues to be to offer honest and sincere help to others. Blasting
readers with advertisements would not be in keeping with my original purpose
and goals.
In my case, I
count my blessings in many other ways with owning a popular blog. And, yes,
some of the blessings include monetary compensation. Barbecue Master
establishes me as an expert in the field and the barbecue community. Going high
profile with the blog has resulted in several good paying magazine assignments
and corporate blogging with Kmart, Sears, and McCormick. In addition, I’m offered
lots of products in exchange for honest blog reviews, and I’ve been hosted to
visit and blog about product lines and barbecue events/competitions. A trip to
New York City covered by Weber to see new product offerings will always be one
of my favorite memories. They flew me out, covered my room in the Doubletree,
and had a chauffeur pick me up and take me to the boathouse in Central Park
with a VIP pass to see the new grills and sample gourmet foods made by company
chefs.
My sister has
young children, and she has a blog about traveling North Carolina with kids. As
a single parent, money is tight. She is not making much profit from her blog,
but she has been given passes and backstage access in some cases for various
attractions across the state. She and the girls to get to do many things that
they likely would not be able to do if not for the blog and free coverage for
companies looking for non-traditional ways to get the word out about travel
options in the Tarheel state.
Do note that
blogging should never be about asking for “free stuff” (and my approach has
been to let others contact me if they want coverage). In fact, there are laws that pertain to abuse
of blogging platforms which I’ll cover later. If, however, you have a passion
for your blog topic/purpose, work hard, and build an audience, there are extra
benefits which may not be initially anticipated.
Every blogging
experience is different, and I’m sure other bloggers could list a whole host of
benefits to blogging ranging from having an artistic outlet and a way to blow
off steam to making new friends with similar interests and networking in a
specific field.
If you are
starting a blog or have a blog and are looking for ways to be more successful,
then I’d suggest that the very first task would be to identify reasons for
spending the time and effort to build a space online. If you’re not sure what
you’re doing and why, then it’s not likely that blog visitors will understand
either. You can’t reach people if you don’t know why you’re reaching out to
them. Your blog will just look like more online spam (a splog), and you’ll
likely get tired of talking to yourself pretty quickly.
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