I applaud you.
Having a voice is a big deal these days.
Many people are scared to speak their minds for fear of ruffling the feathers of their environment.
Either that, or they have such a strong desire to fit in that they suppress their own personality to make room for the cookie-cutter template of modern society.
But that’s not you.
You’ve chosen to have a voice displayed through the words on your new blog. Again, I applaud you for that.
I worry about you, though.
You see, the blogosphere has its own set of unwritten (and ill-advised) rules and regulations.
The funny thing about that is it’s full of individuals who have their own minds and the freedom to be as unique as they’d like.
Yet, we still end up with clones.
Why?
Because 99% of new bloggers want to be the blogger they idolize.
Now, you have 17,392 wannabe Probloggers (Darren Rowse) with the same blog design, the same articles, the same writing style, and the same tactics.
The only thing different is their success; or lack thereof.
I can’t let this happen to you. Unfortunately, the decision is not mine to make.
It’s yours.
You have to decide on a few key things in order to paint the picture that is your blogging destiny.
Why Are You Doing This?
Hands down, the most important part of blogging is understanding why you are doing it.
You see, blogging can take on many forms.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a place where you tell everyone the things that are on your mind.
Your blog can be a place to help others, making the blog topic focus on things that are on your readers’ minds.
Either way, you have to know why you’re writing.
What you say, how you say it, how often you publish, what kind of engagement you foster, what products or services you offer; it all depends on why you are blogging.
If you don’t know why you’re blogging, no one will be able to teach you how to blog.
What if it Doesn’t Work?
If your blog doesn’t take off to be the next best thing, will you still write?
It’s important to know this from the beginning because your blog will not take off like a rocket ship. It just won’t.
Will you still be able to sit down at your computer and hammer away at those innocent keys if you know that almost no one will read it?
This question is important because I can almost guarantee you that you’ll have about 6 months of nothingness on your blog before people even start to take you seriously.
During that time, you’ll feel like “it doesn’t work.” When you reach this point, will you continue or will you quit?
Most will quit, not realizing that this is a normal part of building a blog.
In What Areas Will You Need Help?
First of all, completely erase the idea that you are superman or superwoman.
You can’t do this alone and please don’t try to.
With that being said, it is important to understand where you need help.
It’s just as important to understand where you don’t need any help.
Recently, I wrote a post titled Why Most New Bloggers Idolize the Wrong Experts and Practically Ask for Failure.
In that article, I wrote about new bloggers following the wrong experts for the wrong reasons.
If you’re a great writer, you have a keen eye for quality web design, and you understand how to engage an audience, do you really need someone to teach you every detail of blogging?
Maybe your weak points are your perseverance and dedication.
The typical blog coach doesn’t always talk to you about self-improvement. So, why would you spend every day and night learning from someone that isn’t teaching you how to progress in your suffering areas?
New bloggers do it all the time, unfortunately.
They follow the guy that makes the most money, not realizing that they are completely ignoring the areas they need help in the most.
Understanding What it Means to Blog
I can tell you first hand that blogging can become repetitive.
Once your blog is up and running, it’s too easy to write and publish content.
You can do that over and over again.
And?
Sure, you’re a blogger and you’re blogging. That’s it, though.
Chances are if you’re reading this article, you’re not blogging just to blog. You have some kind of personal, financial, or professional goal.
You can quickly find yourself publishing content just to publish content if your goals aren’t clearly defined.
You can sit in this phase for months or even years if you don’t know what you’re doing it for.
When you make the decision to blog, you need to set goals for your blog and all things related. As David Risley of DavidRisley.com points out, blogs won’t earn you money.
You won’t get paid for publishing content to your own blog.
Instead, blog posts will earn you the attention of others. What are you going to do with that attention?
Answering that question is what will push you past the repetitive content-publishing phase.
Otherwise, the “Publish” button will become your best friend and that’s as far as things will go.
In Closing
I hope you didn’t expect this article to be full of answers to your millions of questions about blogging.
I choose not to answer the majority of those questions because you already know the answers to most of them. Either that or the questions aren’t relevant in the first place.
You know what it is that made you want to start blogging.
What you need to do now is lay out your goals as a blogger; figure out what areas you need help in the most, and find that help; resist the temptation to emulate the guy that makes the most money, unless your goal is to hide him in your basement and take his place financially; and start working on your craft.
Every big name blogger has a style of their own. It’s a combination of who they are as individuals, and what they’ve learned throughout the course of their blogging career.
You’re already you. Be sure to stay that way as you work to build your archives.
Only then will you claim your space among the best in the blogosphere. Otherwise, you’ll always trail behind those you mimic, just like everyone else standing beside you.
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