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I just drank 2 cups of oatmeal.
Drinkable oatmeal.
We have weird snacks here in Ubud, Bali. Don’t get me started on Thai snacks. Or Cambodian snacks. I’ve dined on Stereo cookies in Sihanoukville, Cambodia (like Oreos). I’ve feasted on hot dog buns filled with strawberry cream and raisins in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Kelli gags at my snack selection.
I’m just sampling what the world has to offer. Confectionary-wise.
What in the hell does weird, sweet snack consumption have to do with blogging tips?
Nothing. And everything.
The relation may be a stretch or it may be a direction correlation. I could relate my weird, sweet snack lead in to:
How good blogging requires story telling aka recounting your day
How good blogging requires you to go out on a limb aka not give a rat’s ass what people will say about you making bold moves
How good blogging requires you to hook readers instantly (through your intro)
How good blogging can be fueled by bizarre, sometimes unorthodox, sweet treats purchased from some of the most exotic spots on earth
I’m going with a different angle here. I just ate breakfast in Ubud, Bali. How many bloggers can say that? How many bloggers can say they spent $7.80 (USD) to buy a full supply of groceries yesterday? How many bloggers can say they’ve traveled the world for the past 43 months, living in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and Savusavu, Fiji, and Pak Nam Pran, Thailand, among other spots?
I am free. If you follow each tip below you’ll be free to travel the world indefinitely, too. If you want to drink 2 cups of oatmeal in Bali or if you want to eat bizarre sweet Thai snacks in Phuket you can do it.
You won’t have to return to your home town – ever – after grubbing on these snacks. You can island hop from tropical paradise to tropical paradise, forever, as a professional blogger.
If you want to see me gab about the #1 blogging tip ever – I compete with screaming chickens, so it’ll make for a fun video – watch this video from Ubud, Bali.
You can retire to a life of freedom. You can engineer a freeing, digital nomad lifestyle.
The tips below are the secret. The freedom is waiting. Seize it.
99% or more of bloggers ignore good, proven, practical blogging tips. 99% or more of bloggers….
….fear being uncomfortable more than they want to be free.
Take myself. My prior life, meaning my pre-island hopping days, was designed by a series of confining, imprisoning, comfortable choices. I subsequently chose a different path after being disgusted with my life. I chose to make freeing, life-affirming, uncomfortable decisions. I never looked back.
You read this post because on the exterior, you want blogging tips. Deep down, you want much, much more. You want freedom.
So without further adieu……
Know Why
Know why you’re blogging.
I am listening to roosters crowing in Ubud, Bali. The pigs grunt. The dogs bark. The herons swoop in. The rice field workers are heading to work. I am enjoying Balinese tea.
I am free.
I want to take you with me.
I want you to blog from paradise too.
I know clearly why I am blogging: freedom. I intend to share that freedom with you. Imagine logging in to your backoffice from Bali today? Or from Fiji? Or from Thailand? Phuket or Koh Lanta, anybody? You can do it. If you want to be free. Act on the urge. Know why. I know why. I know being free is more important than fearing uncomfortable situations. I intend to be free and intend for you to be free.
This is the ultimate of blogging tips. The tips below mean jack shit. If you don’t follow this tip. That’s why this tip is #1. Numero uno. The ultimate tip of ultimate tips, knowing why, because if you know why, you will blog from paradise. You’ll make it. You’ll blog from wherever you want on earth as a full time blogger because you’ll reach the ultimate tipping point; you’ll want to be free more than you fear doing uncomfortable things. Once you change that tipping point you’ll succeed. You’ll drive traffic and increase your blog income.
Know why.
Get Clear
Get clear. I scrapped my old blog to create this blog. How?
I got clear on my audience. I got clear on why I was doing what I was doing.
Getting clear is simple. I enjoyed the process. I felt free getting clear.
5 months ago in Fiji I chose to write about my life. My life was retiring to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. I went from security officer to Sanur, Bali. I was a dock worker who went to Danang, Vietnam. I was a pier guard who went to Phuket, Thailand. I embodied this life, so why not write about it? After going down my life path I chose to share my story with you.
Getting clear meant picking a domain name and tag line. Emphasis on “clear.”
Bali god. Damn he’s jacked.
I went with: Blogging from Paradise as a domain name. I went with: Retire to a Life of Island Hopping through Smart Blogging. This was fairly clear to me, or ridiculously obviously clear I should say. How obvious can you be? Seeing a guy blogging from paradise is easy as is envisioning yourself retiring to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. Gaining this level of clarity demanded that I release unclear ideas and feelings around my blogging life.
The prior sentence was code for “deleting my old blog.” My old blog and all 3400 posts I published to that blog. As you may imagine, the deletion was a wee bit uncomfortable. But I had to remove what I was unclear on to get clear on my new direction. Evidence of my lack of being unclear is my current day level of clarity. Before you get clear on moving in one direction be ruthless with any lack of clarity related to your blog. If you feel iffy or not 100% clear on the direction and topic of your blog, or if you’re blogging for some low energy, sullied intent, other than freeing yourself and others, trash it.
Get fully clear.
Create Products
Create delicious products.
I have created 10 products and darnit, when I published my own products people felt my authority. Blogging became easier for me because I became a pro. Pros publish eBooks, and courses, and video series, because successes in any niche online or offline offer a range of products to serve their audience and to stand out from the crowd.
I’ve seen some bloggers claim not to have the time to create products (I hope this isn’t you).
You don’t have the time NOT to create products.
Publish eBooks, video courses or other products to distance yourself from the crowd. Be a pro. Be an authority. Publish products.
Bloggers blog. I get that. So publish your posts once every week or so. Be in depth about your blogs. Connect with pros. Do all of that good stuff. Then, develop your authority. I publish eBooks to inspire my audience with a product. My readers can download my eBooks to use as study manuals. New bloggers find me on Amazon or through Selz. Products establish authority. People trust product creators – if the products are helpful – more than bloggers who don’t create products in most cases.
Creating a blogging product is like getting your blogging PhD. Like, you made it. After my first eBook went live I felt like a professional blogger, even more so than I did before. I earned my stripes. I learned a topic inside-out so I could accumulate enough experience and knowledge to create an eBook specifically related to the topic. I know this. Readers know this too, meaning they know that I know my stuff.
Sure you open income streams and gain more blog traffic and grow your list through creating products but more than anything you’ll be trusted versus the blogger who doesn’t create products. Trusted bloggers retire to become full time, pro bloggers. Or trusted pro, full time bloggers become hyper successful, inspirational bloggers.
Create your own product. Retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging.
Pick 1 Topic
I blog from paradise. I help you retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. Posts here center on 1 topic. Each post reveals blogging tips with a taste of paradise. Essentially, my blog is about smart blogging. Or smart blogging insights. I added the paradise bit because it’s a delicious dream.
At November’s end Kelli and I will journey from Bali to New Jersey. We’ll stick around for the month through the holidays. Then we’ll be off. We’ll even do a neat house sit in New York City in December to do the internet lifestyle thing to the hilt. Hey, it’s still island hopping.
Anyway, I’ve spent from mid January to late November of 2014 living in:
Chiang Mai, Thailand (2 months)
Pak Nam Pran, Thailand (1 month)
Koh Lanta, Thailand (1 month)
Phuket, Thailand (1 month)
Savusavu, Fiji (4 months)
Ubud, Bali (1 month)
Since I’m in paradise you bet your sweet bippee I’ll blog about blogging from paradise. That’s the topic. That’s my sell, or my unique selling proposition (more on that later), but more than anything, it’s what I do and it’s what you can expect from me. I won’t confuse you. I’ll inspire you to do 1 thing here on Blogging from Paradise. No mental cross currents. No confusion.
We only do island hopping in these parts.
By the way, before we move on, I have *1 topic* I want to share with you. (get it, “1 topic”?)
I’d love to see more customer reviews on Amazon – and my blog – for my eBook, Blogging from Paradise: How to Retire to a Life of Island Hopping through Smart Blogging.
More reviews means we inspire more folks to blog from paradise, and more than that, damn is it good karma for you to help a blogging brother out. It literally takes 2 to 5 minutes – or 10 if you’re creating something epic – and it’ll help so many people, me included.
Post your reviews here:
Blogging from Paradise Review (Amazon)
Blogging from Paradise Review (blog post)
Tell Your Story
I am a guy who knew how to check espn.com and my email 5 years ago. I am a guy who – current day – has been endorsed twice by Chris Brogan and who’ll be speaking at NYU about blogging tips for aspiring digital nomads in a few weeks. That’s my story. From pier guard to Penang, Malaysia.
Telling your story:
Connects you to your audience
Inspires readers to trust you
Inspires clients to become return clients
Inspires clients to hire you in the first place
Makes you stand out from the hundreds of millions of blogs online
Is fun
Is your ultimate unique selling proposition (yeah more on that later, keep your shirt on)
I know you have an exciting story to tell. Maybe you’re a college student tackling a neat major. I was a meteorology major. Yeah, a weather guy. That’s pretty neat. So work that angle into your blog. Tell your life story. Maybe you were a former model. I was. I was a part time model. Neat story. So work that angle into your blog. Maybe you were or are a security guard. I was. Work that angle into your blog.
Maybe you’re a busy working mom raising 4 kids. Work that angle into your blog. Your story is your story. Nobody can own it. Only you can. Don’t fear telling your story. Everybody who is meant to care, cares, because authenticity and creativity attracts like-minded people to you.
Who Cares?
I hear your limiting belief right now. All the way from the Ring of Fire, here in Bali. Nobody cares about your story. You have no story. Bullshit. If you challenge your mental laziness and apathy, you’ll lock yourself in a room for the next 60 minutes to find 30 story lines from your life. You’ll find them. Then, you’ll draw parallels from your experiences.
Maybe your college major taught you how to increase blog traffic. Who knows? You do. I’ve worked the model/meteorology/pier guard angle into Blogging from Paradise. Hasn’t hurt me, folks. As a matter of my fact story freed me. My story inspired Chris Brogan to tweet me and it also inspired Yaro Starak to endorse me and it also inspired an NYU professor to reach out to me for my speaking engagement. Nobody on earth is like me, and I play that fact to the hilt. My story makes me human, and vulnerable, and more than that, everybody loves a good story.
Stories sell billions and billions and billions of dollars. Movies, TV shows, books, eBooks and plays do sick sales. People love stories. Always have, always will, and they’ll love your story too when you tell your story from an authentic, genuine space.
Tell your story.
Pass the Domain Name and Tag Line Visualization Test
You think in pictures. Make your domain and tagline easy to see. Do your reader’s leg work. People are lazy. If you can’t see a concept easily while thinking through the concept, you’re gone.
My old blog domain was not clear. It didn’t pass the visualization test.
My Blogging from Paradise domain is easy to see. I can see a guy blogging from paradise. I can see a guy who has retired to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. Can you do the same with your blog? If not, time for a new domain and tagline because people hop on board of causes they can clearly see, visualize and understand.
Your homework is this: look at your domain. Then, ask 10 friends – blogging or otherwise – to look at your domain. Make sure to ask non-web savvy folks – the type of folks who “go on the interweb” – because they administer truth serum better than anybody. They’re the ultimate experts because they see things clearly, in the light of truth. Anyway, ask each person if they can easily imagine or visualize your domain name. Then, ask the same question for your tagline.
If 9 out of 10 can easily imagine your domain name – 10 out of 10, optimally – you’ve picked a winning domain name. Ditto on your tagline. If 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 folks can see it, in mind, you have picked a winner (remove mind from gutter).
If folks can’t easily see your domain name you have 2 options:
Keep it, and struggle to make $20 per month through your blog
Trash your blog, and pick an easy to see domain name, to prepare yourself to retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging
#2 has been so much more fun from me, as a guy who experienced the former, some 3 years ago, and the latter, over the past 43 months of my current world traveling, pro blogging campaign.
Make sure your domain name and tagline passes the visualization test.
Unique Selling Proposition
How many bloggers do you know who lived for 4 months in a water front home on the island of Vanua Levu, Fiji? Probably not 1 other blogger on the face of the earth has done this. I know travel bloggers who spend a month or 2 in Fiji, but not 4 months. I know travel bloggers who may spend 2 or 3 months on the main island in Fiji but not on Vanua Levu. Savusavu – our town for 4 months – is referred to as the “Hidden Paradise of Fiji.”
If the locals refer to Savusavu as “paradise”, you know it’s freakin’ paradise. It gets no better than Vanua Levu, and Savusavu.
That is my unique selling proposition.
I am a blogging tips blogger who lives exclusively in paradise. I am a blogging tips blogger who spent 4 months living in a beach front home, 50 meters above the water, on a jungle cliff.
I am living in Bali now. For a month.
That’s what makes me stand out. As you see I play this USP to the hilt. I plaster my USP all over my blog and chat about it often. Why wouldn’t I? I am special. So are you.
I help you retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. I have seen no other blogger – or eBook author – make that promise. That is my unique selling proposition.
Successful bloggers offer a unique selling proposition. 1 idea makes successes stand out from the crowded herd. How can you find your USP? Easy. Get clear on your blog. Pick 1 topic. Drill down a few levels until you find a unique selling proposition. Once you tell your story – to yourself – finding your USP becomes easy.
I was a security guard turned professional blogging island hopper. You may be a stay at home mom who becomes a professional techie blogger. Or you’re a college student who is becoming quirky fashion blogger from the Midwest. You get the picture. Keep drilling down deeper and deeper to mine different aspects of your personality.
Example
I could have drilled down to these aspects of my personality before I went in the direction of Blogging from Paradise:
former meteorology student
former model
basketball nut
shy and sensitive type (Okay that’s me from 5 years ago)
bodybuilder (again, me a few years back)
We all have some stuff we do, or hobbies, or personality traits which expand nicely into a unique selling proposition. I went with traveling and blogging, you can go with virtually anything. Start with picking a topic which vibes with you. Know why you want to blog. Align with that topic and drill down deeper and deeper into your personality and into strict niches to find a unique selling proposition nobody else on earth can claim.
Offer a Service
Offering a service is similar to offering a product. People trust professionals. Professional bloggers offer services like:
blog coaching
freelance writing
Pro bloggers stand out by assisting bloggers through some valued service.
The points here are similar to the points shared up top, arguing for offering your own product, so in the name of not being repetitive we’ll move on to the next tip.
Post an Opt In Form above the Fold
If you want to grow an email list place an opt in form above the fold. If you want to offer RSS by email place an opt in form above the fold.
Check out my form. Simple, clean and concise, and yes, above the fold it is. I am big on building bonds. I give readers the option of either bookmarking my blog or receiving email updates. Either or, I’m building strong, positive relationships with my readerships.
Some readers don’t scroll below the fold for any number of reasons. Make it easy for you to convenience your readers. Or make it easy for your readers to receive updates by email. Post opt in forms above the fold to create bonds with your audience.
I’ve seen bloggers post opt in forms below header banners. Smart. I’ve also seen bloggers post opt in forms below the fold. Not smart. Why? If you want to make it easy for a reader to get your latest updates how does making them blind to your opt in form make it easier for them? Below the fold content or forms can’t be seen by visitors.
Think convenience. Keep your opt in form prominent.
Post Funny Images – or Eye-Popping Images – to Your Blog
Check out this funny image. I made it meself.
All it took was:
flying to Bali
buying a rice paddy coolie hat
being silly
taking a selfie
editing the photo with a funny little caption relevant to the blog post
You may not be traveling to Bali soon but you can take photos or find photos for editing. Personalizing images rocks. Readers eat up eye candy – aka pictures with text – for what reason, I know not, but I know that funny images with commentary are like crack to most readers.
Blogging tips can be presentation tips too. Presenting an eye-popping image draws in blog readers. Example; my travel photos. Scroll down my sidebar for the selfie version. Then scroll through my old posts to find jaw-dropping images of nature at its finest.
Not bad, eh?
Sites like The Daily Mail are among the most visited on earth because of big, eye-catching images.
Go big, or go home. Go funny or eye-popping, or go home.
It Must Align Top Down
One recurring theme pops up during my meetings with my blog coaching clients: top-down alignment. If you observe my blog you’ll notice that my domain name, my header banner, my top menu, my page names, my blog titles, my blog images, my blog posts, my sidebar elements and everything else on my blog aligns.
Either you align or confuse. Either you align each aspect of your blog or you confuse your readers.
I read a blog yesterday. Solid blog but poor alignment. The blogger shared tips to help you prosper online. On scrolling down I saw a Google Adsense widget. Great. The widget generated an ad for buying images for 1 cent. Buying images for 1 cent has nothing to do with prospering online. At best, buying images for 1 cent is a ridiculous stretch from prospering online. I was confused, so I left. If you can’t align each element of your blog you’re in trouble.
Align everything top down. Observe everything in the light of truth.
I’d never post anything on my blog NOT related to Blogging from Paradise. I’d never post anything on my blog NOT related to retiring to a life of island hopping through smart blogging. Google Adsense is garbage, in that Adsense generally dilutes your brand.
Don’t add anything to your blog that doesn’t align fully with your domain name and tagline. See my sidebar: travel images, eBook, endorsements, and Hootsuite Pro. All elements are fully aligned with my blog and brand.
Add a Search Bar
Just so viewers can search for content and:
to lower your bounce rate
to build your traffic
to show off your content store
to give readers something extra to chew on
to help good matches become long time readers
to boost traffic through older posts
to make your blog more convenient for your readers
I’m working on this mammoth-sized post now. In a bit I’ll hop onto Google for a few searches. Maybe I’ll query basketball-related keywords or maybe I’ll look up information related to Bali. Either way, I’m searching for some keyword or key phrase in particular to get what I want.
Imagine if Google were a long, endless stream of search results based on no order or logic? This would be like a library with no filing system, or, a library which offered a monstrously-huge mass of books, tossed into a pile…..or, this would be like your blog, without a search bar.
Give your readers a reason to stick around, and give them an easy way to get specifically what they want. Post a search bar to your blog.
Write for Yourself First and Last….
Wow. I had to include this piece of advice from Adii Pienaar at BufferApp. The man gets it. Write for yourself. Write what makes you sing. Write from a place of enjoyment and passion to attract people who enjoy and who feel passionate about your work.
Most bloggers get it all wrong. Most bloggers worry about what their audience says or does in response to their posts, and since most bloggers are not 100% altruistic – like, 3 people on earth, are – the end result of trying to create something with your reader’s feedback weighing heavily on your mind creates a poopy-smelling stinker.
Much garbage litters the blog-o-sphere because bloggers allow feedback to dominate their writing style. How can you write from your heart if you try to write from your reader’s hearts? Use feedback to change course, slightly, or slowly, *only if the feedback feels awesome to you.* If the feedback doesn’t feel awesome, get clear on why you’re blogging and get clear on the direction of your blog and in time, you’ll learn the secret of many brilliant bloggers; these folks write for themselves, and their audience finds them.
….But Take People with You too
The great paradox. I write for me but I intend to take you with me. I can write to please myself yet I carry the intent to free you. I want to help you blog from paradise but I write from my heart. What a delicious combo, right? If this idea sounds confusing you’re probably lacking clarity….or you *are* lacking clarity if this idea confuses you. No worries. Get clear on why you’re writing. As you get crystal clear on your reason for blogging you’ll see what writing for yourself, yet, intending to bring folks along for the ride, means.
Writing for yourself frees you from outcomes and detaches you from expectations, so that you have no expectations after publishing a post. This brilliant space is where like .00001% of the world’s population resides. In the moment. In the present. Not tied to any outcome, not trying to make people happy, not trying to inspire people.
Oh no….when you have no expectations and when you surrender fully you’ll cultivate talents from within you had no clue in hell that you possessed.
Size Matters….Usually
I know successful bloggers who publish 600 word posts. I know successful bloggers who publish 2,000 word posts. I know successful bloggers who publish 6,000 word posts. One size fits some.
If you can’t seem to build your audience, go long or don’t go at all.
Longer posts tend to rank higher in search engines. Longer posts usually impress the socks off of influential bloggers. Longer posts tend to build your brand effectively.
Longer, valuable posts make folks take notice. If you can cover a topic in 600 words you can do so in 6,000. Any idea contrary is head trash. Gotta own that head trash if you want to blog from paradise.
I vividly recall writing 600 word posts. I vividly recall writing 6,000 word posts. I vividly recall writing 300 word posts. What was the difference? I expounded on the 300 words to make it 600 words and I expounded on the 600 words to make it 6,000 words. I chose to write pillar style posts – starting last week – and I did the 2,500 word bit up until 2 months ago. Imagine how you can impress the best blogger in your niche. Do guys like Darren Rowse and Neil Patel and Zac Johnson go gaga over 600 word posts? Not usually. Need to show them something. Does this tri go gaga over 2,000 or 6,000 word, valuable posts? Usually, yes.
Take a look at me. I just lived in Fiji for 4 months. In a bay side home. In Fiji. I’m living in Bali now. My endorsements are sweet. I’ll be speaking at NYU in under 2 weeks. I have carved out a lifestyle few on earth live because I:
…do things few people on earth do.
A handful of blogging tips bloggers write 6,000 words or more daily. A handful of authors have published 10 eBooks in 4 months. I’ve done both while island hopping. I have attracted legions of fans a few critics and others who are in between fans and critics; they can’t decide if I’m brilliant, or washed up. Anyway, writing in-depth, targeted posts helped me create the life few people live.
When you’re reading my blog understand this: in order to impress world-renowned people you’ll need to create world-renowned content. World-renowned content, by human standards, usually weighs in at 3,000 words, or longer. Sure you can write shorter posts and get by, but people who blog from paradise don’t try to get by. We….I mean….*I*….the blogging from paradise guy, the blogging tips blogger, who blogs from the world’s most exotic tropical locales, who’s writing these words from beside the rice fields in Ubud, Bali…..did remarkable things to arrive to this awesome space, and writing valuable, in-depth, pillar posts is one thing I’ve done to stand out from the blogging crowd.
Read this helpful post from Chitraparna Sinha. She argues for long form content and I agree with her: Long Form Content Marketing Breakdown
You don’t have to publish pillar style posts, but it sure don’t hurt if you want to establish your expertise.
Build a Community
Do you notice the beehive of activity here on Blogging from Paradise? I have a community. A real, living, breathing presence of people who believes in me and some want to retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging.
We are one. We all move in unison. We support each other, believe in each other, promote each other and we improve the quality of each other’s lives. It’s a neat thing.
Blog communities:
increase your blog traffic
boost your trust factor
expand your presence
build your brand
test your clarity and belief in self
promote you
increase your blog income
provide you with reviews
provide you with testimonials
I built my community through building other blogger’s communities. Easy right?
Here’s how to build a blog community:
post in depth comments on relevant, authority blogs
promote other bloggers
communicate with bloggers through email
make friends with bloggers
engage bloggers
It’s simple really. Help your fellow blogger build their community and other bloggers will do the same for you. Just make sure to hang with targeted folks, meaning, chill with like-minded bloggers to build a thriving, supportive community.
Communities grow your blog quicker than you grow your blog. Rewind. Replay. Repeat that statement. Re-read it too. Embrace that idea. Fall in love with the idea. Use this blogging tip to employ the principle of leveraging. Make your life easier.
Use Criticism Unless it’s Useless
I love my eBooks. I love my blog. My clarity attracts to me like-minded lovers of the Blogging from Paradise brand. Some folks residing on a different wavelength – who are testing the waters and who lack clarity – may criticize my blog, eBooks and brand. If they don’t like what me and my community love, their criticism is useless to me. Not my fans anyway.
Some bloggers, hell, it’s like they’re trying to sell brownies outside of a Weight Watchers convention. Not your target audience. I feel clear and largely wonderful about what I do so if someone offers not so wonderful advice, regarding anything to do with my blog, it is not useful to me.
The Exception: if a close, trusted friend, who likes virtually most if not all the stuff I put out, offers loving feedback, I listen. I trust them. I am clear. They are clear. So their criticism may offer some merit.
My Experience
I’ve noted something interesting. Some of my readers like a bit of what I do, and dislike a bit, and are quick to critique my work. *Some* are. I feel clear about what I do. I feel wonderful about my posts and eBooks. So do some really famous, successful people, who’ve made millions and millions online and offline.
You know my endorsers. So, anyway, if a few of my readers – or a few visitors – dislike some of what I do, or feel, I treat the feedback like water rolling off of a duck’s back. I am full already. I am whole and complete. No need to improve on that.
The only reason why you need feedback is if you are unclear on your direction.
The only reason why you’d need criticism, or why you’d need to heed it, is if you feel the need to improve.
The only reason why you’d filter criticism carefully from your audience is if you lack clarity in what you do.
I am clear on my direction. So as different forms of feedback pop up through comments, I do one thing: I ask myself….”Does this add or detract from the clarity of my Blogging from Paradise intent.”
99.99999% of the time, criticism detracts from my clarity because the criticism is merely the projection of an unclear mind, a person explaining/displaying their lack of clarity in the form of a critique, of me. So I let it go.
Yeah, that’s called “having posture.” More than anything it’s the product of my clarity. If you’re sitting at a meal and feel stuffed, you’re done. If someone tries to stuff an Italian pasty down your throat, you’ll say “No.” You’re full, whole and complete. Think about that concept the next time you even dream of entertaining criticism.
Comment
Comment on authority blogs. Write 2 to 5 paragraph, mindful, helpful comments to build bonds with bloggers and to increase your exposure. I like commenting. Commenting’s been good to me. Sharing my opinion opened doors for me. Commenting will do the same for you.
Blog commenting is a mini guest post. If you do it right. Engaging influential bloggers opens doors for you.
On a simple level, speaking to people exposes you to new audiences. On a deeper level, building friendships with people bumps up your trust factor.
Blog commenting is not posting 1 or 2 sentences in response to blog posts. At least not most of the time. Blog commenting is posting in-depth, mindful, helpful comments to build relationships with your fellow blogger.
My email inbox is full these days. Or, chock full of engagement requests. Not just for interviews, guest post opportunities and potential business ventures. People just want to chat with me. Blog commenting is the straw that stirs the email-inbox-filling drink. Blog commenting is a simple, easy way to form bonds.
Share your thoughts intelligently. Thank your blogging buddy. Be honest. Be thoughtful. If you disagree with the post find 5 things you like about the post. Accentuate what you like and add a line or 2 about your differing viewpoint. Make friends not enemies.
Me and Blog Commenting and the Positive Thing
Some of my blog commenters are free to add negative or plain opposed viewpoints to my take, in a less than tactful way. Other commenters offer a contrarian view from a polite, jolly space. All approaches and comments are welcome. Yet how are you endearing yourself to my community – and how are you brand-building – if you disagree most of the time, or if you’re rude? Hey, no skin off my back if someone disagrees. But have you thought about who you want to connect with? Blogger-wise and audience-wise?
Think this one through; if you’re not agreeing with bloggers 70% of the time or more you lack clarity and your comments won’t attract business and readers to you, because most of the blogger’s audience won’t agree with you much of the time, and, their readers won’t care about you, nor will the blogger gravitate toward you.
Make friends with influential, power-broker, like-minded bloggers through the comments field, to reap the greatest benefits through blog commenting.
Comment – mindfully, making an impact – on these blogs:
Problogger
Blogging Tips
Goins, Writer
Maybe this Isn’t a Tip But…..
….the most compassionate thing you can do is to kick someone’s ass.
I am a blogging coach. I am a blogger. I am a freelance writer. I am an author. I am a traveler, and fiancé, and I wear many hats on this journey we call life. But anyway, I have smoothly transitioned from being a “nice guy who’s afraid to compassionately whip people around a bit for their good” to a “nice guy who’ll administer a high energy, helpful, positive tongue lashing.”
I did the “lying bit to avoid hurting folks” for about 4 years. Then I did the “annoyed at so and so bit because of XYZ” bit for a minute. Then I did the “I’ll offer blogging tips to help you replicate my lifestyle but I’ll be direct, clear and to the point” type bit. I liked the last option/style most because my job is to take you with me. I want to free you. I have seen so many potentially star bloggers awash in mediocrity, with no audience or community to speak of. I see super inspired, well-intentioned bloggers who can’t get clear on their reason why, or their target audience, or who won’t network intelligently to expand their reach.
I am being honest, clear, polite and direct with my blogging community. I like it. I feel compassionate, and in truth, being direct and clear is the most compassionate thing you can do if you want to free your audience.
I want to take you with me.
I want to take you to paradise.
So, I’ll be clear in stating the steps you should take to arrive.
No beating around the bush. Just love, thoughtfulness and clarity in all of my dealings.
Write, Write, Write
Write daily. Write 100 words or 6,000 words or more. Writing makes you a better blogger. Writing makes you a more inspired blogger. Writing inspires your voice to arise, from within, as your voice is always there….you need only let it out, to speak.
Roosters are crowing. Pigs are grunting. The Balinese folks in my hood are tending to the farm. Peeps are working the rice fields outside of my window. I am living in Ubud, Bali. I spent the prior 4 months in Savusavu, Fiji. I spent the prior 6 months in Thailand, splitting time between Chiang Mai, Pak Nam Pran, Bangkok, Koh Lanta and Phuket.
Writing daily is the #1 activity that made this life happen. I had to know why I was blogging and got clear on my blog and did the networking bit but, if you want to blog from paradise, write. Free yourself by writing. Do you want to know how to increase blog traffic? Write. Are you thirsty to grow a community? Write. Write, write and write some more, to make your blogging dreams come true.
Stats Don’t Mean Shit
I have never looked at my metrics for Blogging from Paradise and I never will. I don’t look at my social shares. Before you disagree with this statement, have you:
been invited to speak at NYU?
Been endorsed twice by a business advisor for Google and Microsoft?
Just wrapped up a 4 month holiday in Savusavu, Fiji
Lived in Thailand for 22 months?
Traveled the world for 43 months?
If you have, awesome. You can disagree with me and explain why your method of checking stats trumps my method of not checking stats. But if you haven’t racked up each of those accomplishments, guess what?
Believe the guy living by the rice paddies in Bali if you want to blog from paradise.
You better believe stats don’t mean shit if you want to be one of the .000001% of people on this earth who are free to live wherever they want, whenever they want to, like Kelli and I.
Can you kinda get why someone who lives a life virtually *NOBODY ELSE lives* would do stuff that virtually *NOBODY ELSE does*?
I know a wildly successful self help coach. I found out recently that she hasn’t checked her Google Plus account in months. She gets a few RTs. No real social media presence. Yet, she is hyper successful, prospering, happy, and proves once again that stats don’t mean shit. In essence, stats are worthless because stats are numbers on a screen.
Numbers on a screen don’t give you money. Nor do numbers on a screen become rabid brand fans. Numbers on a screen don’t hire you, nor do numbers on a screen offer you guest posting opportunities, or interview opportunities.
People give you money, people buy your products, people hire you, people promote you, and become rabid fans, and form joint ventures with you. Focus on people not numbers. People mean everything and stats don’t mean shit.
Guys, look at my life. Look at my blessed accomplishments. Look at my endorsements. If you admire what I’ve done – and wouldn’t mind doing something similar – detach from stats, and follow every other tip too.
You will find an absolute wealth of knowledge on other blogging blogs which I advise you to read. Darren Rowse, Jeff Goins and Zac Johnson are leaders. Learn from them. I’m sharing my wisdom for the island hopping blogging set. So again, if you vibe with my life and wouldn’t mind waking up in Bali next month, or 6 months from now, soak up and use these tips to retire to a life of island hopping through smart blogging.
Your Turn
What blogging tips can you add to this list? Practical? General?
What blogging tips that I’ve mentioned are you most struggling with?
Are you writing daily?
What are you doing to build a community?
Call to Action
I am free to island hop. Fiji to Bali. Does it get better than that?
If you want to explore a more freeing way of living contact me about my blog coaching services.
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