The Simplest Thing You Can Do to Get Your Blog to be a Success
Do you want your blog to be successful? Sure you do. The problem is when you first start your blog, it can be awkward. We struggle with getting our words out there, but we can also be afraid that people won’t like what we have to say, or even how we say it. Often we settle for a watered down, politically correct, beige version of what is really in our head.
Want your blog to succeed? Don’t dilute your thoughts. Want throngs of adoring fans hanging on your every word? Be who you are. Simply, unabashedly, shamelessly, authentically, 100% you.
Why will this work? People connect to people, real people. They identify with those people that they either are similar to, or they want to be like.
I’ve seen many blogs who’s writer is spending too much time trying to fit in. I’ve spent my time doing the same thing. What you wind up with is nothing less than completely unspectacular. Take the risk, accept that you are not perfect, stand up and say what you really think. You will be wrong sometimes, and that’s ok. People will respect your courage, they will respect your opinion, or your point of view.
The post of mine that are the most popular are the ones that I put it all on the line. When I show my vulnerabilities, people get that. They see it in themselves and identify with me.
I’m not saying you should lay out every little detail of your life but share your battles, your losses, and your realizations. Share your passions. After a time you will get to a point where you have spent so much emotion on a post you are now nervous about hitting the publish button. That’s good. That’s where you want to be.
Get personal. Share those personal moments of joy or sorrow, or of any turning point, and how it relates to the point of your blog.
Instincts are everything. If you are passionate about a topic but nervous to speak up about it, chances are you have a unique view on it and people will want to hear it.
Don’t be different. Different scares people. People won’t spend their money on different. They will, however, pay a premium for unique. Larry Winget
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This is exactly what I needed today, Brian.
As you know, I’m in the initial week of building my first-ever, authentically-me, including-my-really-real name website. Once I got past the “It’s conceited to name a site after yourself.” hang up, I began thinking about what I wanted my site to reflect — about me, about my life, about my professional strengths, about the stuff you can’t pay me enough to do, about my passions, and about the stuff that just irritates the fire out of me.
The catchy blog titles and URLs that I’ve created previously seemed too specific and narrow when I wanted to talk about something new — do I really want to create a whole new site every time I see something shiny? So I decided that I wanted a site with my name on it. If it’s an online extension of Gina, let’s just call it that.
Then I started vacillating a bit.
You’re right. If all we are going to present online are the safe, socially vetted, middle-of-the-road pablum that leaves everyone feeling like they just ate a large bowl of cold grits — filling but hardly delicious — well what’s the point of saying anything at all?
Remind me I said this when the first flame war gets started in my comments and I panic and want to delete the whole thing. =D
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A flame war, Gina, says that you have done what you set out to do, be provocative. Welcome those flame wars. They’re like finding the gold at the end of the treasure map.
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People may not respect you. They may think your completely wrong. They may tell you to your face.
That’s ok. It’s ok that you’re wrong – as long as you can get right. It will be ok if no one loves you – as long as they trust you. And if they don’t respect you, that’s ok too. Respect is earned. Or not. It depends as much on your character as theirs.
Stan
Recently on my blog: Cismigiu Park: Stirbei Voda: Bucharest: Riots #fanart #water http://iawtp.me/f39t
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Agreeing with stan @farnya genuine is where its at, and even when you are wrong, people do begin to trust you when they see that you can change.
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Spot on, both of you. Stand up, say what you believe, let your peers vet it, learn. It’s a simple process, but you first must have the huevos to be your self, and state what you truly believe.
Thanks guys, awesome perspective.
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I’m so afraid of alienating my esoteric fan base. By being my awesome vulgar self… to the point that I had to get a second “personal” twitter account so that I did not turn off my fellow social workers wifh my potty mouth or radical views. Social workers, especially my fan base, seem to not connect with me.
See my blog and please offer me any comments that may help my probrem.
Thanks!
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You raise an interesting point. I looked at your blog and you do have a very niche group you are talking to, and there may very well be the potential to alienate your co-workers. On the other hand, you do not need to be vulgar to be provocative.
You seem, though, to have found a bit of a solution in the forming of two twitter accounts. That is something many people have done, one business account, and one personal account. Personally, I was doing that for a while, but eventually decided to let it all fly out of just my one account. If people didn’t want to work with me because of my views, I probably didn’t want to work with them either. But that is my solution and may not be right for you. Maybe you could start your personal blog? Obviously, you have a side you want let out. I have a friend who writes her raciest stuff under a pen name. She makes a living as a sex blogger and sex toy tester (Really, she gets paid to try out new vibrators and write about it). Her family would have some serious issues and in the city she lives in she really doesn’t want to run the risk of getting noticed. She writes under a pen name and no one ever sees her face.
There are a whole range of solutions out there. Look around, you may find just what you are looking for.
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