Photo by Dave Wilson Photography

“Look at me! Look at me! I’m over here! Come and join me.”

Is this you? Do you constantly push your blog to your followers? Do you constantly shout at others for attention to stand out above the crowd? Do you scream for affection, for affiliation, for an audience? You probably do. Most of the blogosphere does.

When blogging was first invented, it was used as a medium for every day Joe’s and Joanne’s to share their thoughts, their feelings, their news and their mews. Back then, it wasn’t a seven figure number trying to make a seven figure living. It was a select few, trying to earn nothing, but try new.

Now, though, blogging has developed from the Web log that it initially started as and coined its name from, and turned in to a multi-million dollar industry, full of ‘marketing experts’, ‘affiliate junkies’ and aspiring International authors. We find ourselves amongst a great universe of competition. A vast mist of self-promotion and egotism.

Are we writers, or are we marketers?

With competition comes an aspiration to stand out above the masses; to shout the loudest, to stand the tallest, to run the fastest. It’s this aspiration, fuelled by a dream of self employment, flexibility, stability, fame and fortune, that has created a large part of the blogosphere we see today.

Today, most bloggers have swapped their ideals of elegant writing and life logs, for a more measured and structured approach of marketing and analysing. It’s rare to stumble upon a blogger who considers his or her writing to be creative more than constructive, passionate more than poignant, open more than closed, and testing more than teaching. It’s rare to come across a blogger who still considers the writing and creative style flowing from their finger tips to be as important as the very topic they discuss, or a blogger who considers the prose to be more powerful than the next social media network at which they wish to deafen the crowd with news of their latest article. It’s rare to come across a blogger who refers to their writing as art, rather than article, as prose rather than post.

Find new readers without losing your voice

It’s time to move away from the shouting. To move away from the ego. To move away from the attitude of writing and then pushing people to read. As bloggers, we should be shunning the hard sale in favour of the soft sale. We should be focusing on the relationships we build with our current readers and forming relationships with new readers.

Shouting from the rooftops only makes you look desperate. Deafening your audience forces them away from your voice. And the few that don’t mind your disparity and are already sufficiently death from the shouting of everybody else in the blogosphere will sneak through to your latest post, but they won’t stay. They’re not loyal readers. They’re one-article-stands. They’re through the door and out the other side before you’ve had time to notice they were there. Sure, they’ll wear out your carpet as they walk through but they won’t clean up when they spill their coffee. They don’t care. They’re just one-article-stands, never to be seen again, until ten months down the line when your shouting brings them back to wear out your new carpet.

The cleaners, the chasers, the referrers, the friends

One-article-stands are fun when you’re young, but eventually we all have to settle down. To build something stable, something long-term, rewarding and profitable, we need to shun the one-article-stands and focus our energy on those that clean up their coffee, that chase us rather than making us chase them, that refer us to their network, and that become friends. We need to focus our energy on writing for those that are true, that are respected for their respect, that give more than they take, and those that listen as much as they speak.

Today, I’ll share my suggestions for building relationships with those who are as committed as you, as respectful and engaging as you and with those that naturally whisper your work to their audience. In my own little corner of the blogosphere, I’ve turned down the volume, both from within and from those around me. I’ve removed the rooftop shouting in favour of a quiet whisper and I’ve rejected the affiliates who write in favour of the writers who affiliate. Today I’ll show you how to do this too, to build a huge list of loyal readers, contributors and friends.

The Relationships that make your followers listen

Image by Intersection Consulting

Trust and authority are what entice followers to click your links. Trust and authority are what entice readers to subscribe, and trust and authority are what entice subscribers to share your work with others. But trust and authority can only be gained by building relationships.

Building relationships online has fortunately come second nature to me, but for many it is a difficult and often daunting task. Communicating online is entirely different to the real world. It’s much larger on many levels. Often, your network of ten friends in the real world is magnified to a network of thousands online via social media platforms such as Twitter and Google+. Suddenly, you find yourself thrust upon a moving plate of relationships and communications, struggling to find those who genuinely want to engage amongst those that just want to shout.

But not only do we have to struggle to see through the mass of polluted people in social networks to build new relationships, we have to find the time and method to maintain and strengthen existing relationships with our current subscribers. Blogging isn’t about getting a herd through the gate and in to the pen. It’s about getting a fine selection of readers in to your home, where you can massage their thoughts and push their opinions. It’s about building long-lasting, strong, two-way relationships with people who genuinely want to listen to your advice and opinion. Once they’re a number in your list of subscribers, they become more important, not less, than those on your Twitter feed. It’s easier to keep a customer than it is to find a new one, so don’t forget about them once they’re through the door. It’s your job as the host to ensure you maintain healthy relationships with them all. But just how do you form new and strengthen old relationships without shouting and driving them away?

Blog commenting

It sounds simple, but many bloggers both new and old forget the real reason behind commenting on blogs. Bloggers often make the mistake of assuming commenting on blogs is nothing but a traffic generator. Short term, sure, you will receive visitors. But what about the longer term impact of continuous commenting on a blog? Think about the comments you receive. Think about somebody who has commented on your blog recently. Was it their first comment, or do they comment on a regular basis? Chances are, the first commenter that comes to mind is somebody that has been active amongst your community for a while and comments on all or most of your posts. They come to mind first because they’ve established a relationship with you.

Commenting on blogs is a fantastic short term way of gaining visitors, but selecting a small portion of blogs to continuously target with comments over time is a far better way to gain visitors, respect, and build relationships long term.

Email Fellow Bloggers

Let’s face it, all of us are bloggers, and a lot of us blog in the same or similar niche. That makes us competitors. Or does it? In may seem counter-intuitive to start a blog in a niche where others are already established, but it’s far easier to market a blog in a niche that already has an audience and a base of writers. Unlike entering a new niche, you already have a list of blogs at which you can comment, you can guest write, and you can build relationships with, and chances are they already have an audience caught up in one social media circle ready for you to jump in to the mix.

So while we’re all after the same prize, it also pays for us to help each other. Building a blog in a crowded niche isn’t just about building relationships with readers. It’s about building relationships with other bloggers too, because it’s the other bloggers that will promote your work to their own readers and let you interact with their own audience.

With this in mind, it pays to help others. Be a generous blogger by emailing a fellow writer if you spot a broken link or image on their Web site. Email them if you read their work and enjoy it. If they inspire you, tell them. If you mention them in one of your own posts, tell them. The more you help others, the more they will help you, regardless of whether or not you’re both after the same prize.

Networking Events

Local and international blogger networking events happen throughout the year in pretty much most cities across the world. From BlogWorld to a local Tweetup, face to face meets are a fantastic way to form new relationships and find loyal readers. If somebody has met you face to face, they instantly have a larger relationship with you than anybody you may have met via Twitter, and it’s for that reason that those readers you’ve met offline tend to stay as readers for longer than those you meet online.

Speaking at networking events is an effective way to stand out above the crowd and take in-person networking a step further. You’ll often find that event organisers are struggling to find speakers, so even if you don’t have much experience, they’re likely to be willing to listen to your pitch. Capture your audience, and you’ll easily translate them in to readers.

Thank New Commentators

Image by Flickmor

This is a simple technique I’ve used since my first days as a blogger. Remember to say thank you. When somebody comments on your blog for the first time, remember to thank them. I usually email them a personal response, and I try to stand out by offering them some further advice based on what they said in their comment. Sometimes I’ll refer them to another of my posts which may help them, or even refer them to another blog that may help them. Whatever I do, I try to help them beyond my post, because they went beyond reading my post by commenting, something only a small percentage of my and your readers will ever do.

I like to compare commentators to a single women. If she’s taken your number with a smile, she’s done so because she’s interested and wants to take things further. All you have to do is show her why she should. It’s the same with a new commentator on your blog. They’ve commented because they’re interested and like your work. It’s now your job to show them why they should subscribe. Standing out above the crowd to show them you care about the effort they just made to comment is a relatively effortless way to help convince them to become a subscriber.

It can be made even easier by using the ‘Thank Me Later‘ WordPress plugin, which automatically sends a thank you email to your commentators. I prefer the person touch of sending the email myself, but if you don’t have the time then this plugin may suffice.

Social media

I’ve put this last in the list because this is so often the most effective but also the one that is used in all the wrong ways. Social media, that is Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to name the top three, lend themselves to conversation, and it’s conversation that creates relationships. But it’s also conversation that can ruin relationships.

Social media tools let you find like minded people, they let you have group conversations, they allow you to select who you talk to and who you don’t, and they’re open 24 hours a day. Used well, they’re like the perfect networking event… without the formality. But, and here’s the big but… Like a lot of networking events, they still have idiots. The shouters. The noisy man in the centre of the room who is waving his arms. The one that is throwing business cards at people who didn’t ask for them. The one that thinks he knows more than anybody else and has nothing else to learn. Unfortunately, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and every other social network out there are full of them. They translate from the real world arm waver and business card thrower in to the CAPS LOCK user who throws links to his latest blog posts every five minutes. They’re anything but a whisperer, and nothing less than a reader killer. I hate them, you hate them. Or you may even be one of them. Either way, they exist, and while they may be pulling in a lot of visitors to their blog posts, I can guarantee they’re not pulling in many commentators or many subscribers, and they’re probably losing more long term social networking followers than they are gaining. These people are great are finding short term coffee-spillers, but not so great at finding long term relationship builders.

But why do we want long term relationships?

It’s simple, and it comes down to the goal of 99% of bloggers. Long term relationships make you money. They feed your family. They pay your mortgage. They bring you an audience. And they build your authority amongst your niche. Long term readers become long term subscribers, who in turn become long term customers and advocates of your products.

Like I said earlier, it’s easier to keep old readers than it is to find new ones, and luckily for us, it’s easier to monetize your blog with old ones than it is with new ones.

Whisper and they’ll move closer

Most bloggers want to stand above the crowd. Most bloggers scream for attention, affection and affiliation. And that’s why most bloggers fail to develop successful blogs. And I say let them. Don’t join them. Screaming for attention isn’t the way to build your blog, because all you do is fall flat on your face in the middle of a sea of others doing the same. Whispering your way to affection and attention is the way to build long term, engaging and profitable readers. Whisper your way through Twitter, through Facebook, through commenting and engaging with others, because the more you whisper, the closer they will move to hear what you have to say.

If you liked this post, please share your affection by whispering this post to your Twitter followers and fellow bloggers, or write a comment below.

How often do you post links to your blog posts? Do you actively try to build upon your relationships with your current readers, or just focus on finding new readers? How often do you chat with your subscribers in other circles outside of your blog? Let us know in the comments below.

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Photo by Marcel Germain

I was just like you. I blogged for years and made little money. Pennies, not pounds. Cents, not dollars. I enjoyed what I did. I loved the gentle tap of the fingers. I loved the feeling of a new post going live. But I didn’t love the struggle to develop new ideas. The struggle to start a new post. The struggle to survive as a blogger in an ever growing and distant abyss of excellence.

I sat at my desk each day staring in to space while others worked around me. They didn’t like their job. Neither did I. I dreamt about leaving this world of grey. Grey suits. Grey desks. Grey air. Grey life.

Some days I’d write. Other days I’d stare with fright. Sometimes I’d feel motivated and passionate, and other days I felt illiterate.

I cared about my dreams. I wanted out of my dark apartment and I wanted out of the 9 to 5. I wanted out of this black and grey that had encased me. This was my dream…. An impossible dream.

‘Impossible’ isn’t Possible

It was late 2009 when I had a conversation with a friend. He was still in hospital but able to talk. Four weeks before he’d been on his death bed, in an induced coma at the hands of the intensive care nurses. He’d been hit by a lorry. Both legs and two ribs were broke, and his left lung punctured. The paramedics revived him once on the roadside, and the nurses once in the hospital.

He was told he’d never walk again. He was told he’d never drive again. He was told he’d need to be cared for 24 hours a day. He told them only he knew his body, and he knew what he’d do.

My friend nearly died, but that wasn’t the most amazing part of his story.

The Realisation – The Hope

I sat with him four weeks after the accident and I listened. He told me he would walk again. He told me he would drive again. He told me he will not be cared for, but will care for others.

He told me that not only will he walk again, he will run again. And he told me that not only will be run again, he will climb the highest peaks on every continent within five years. Including Everest.

His outlook on life changed. Life was too short to sit still. Life was too short to be stuck amongst the black and grey.

I listened to my friend talk, and I listened to the powerful determination in his voice. I didn’t say a word. I just nodded as he inspired me with the language escaping from the depths of his heart. And then he said something that changed my life. One paragraph, one emotion, one life changed in an instant.

“Don’t ever sit still. Don’t ever relax. Be busy every day, all day. Make every breath count. Run that marathon. Climb that mountain. Thank that friend. Visit that destination. Leave that job. Make that business succeed. Use every pump of that heart for good. Make every squeeze of that lung count. Do what you were born to do… live! Do it now, for tomorrow you may be dead!”

And so that’s what I did. I walked away from the hospital that day with a renewed love of life. A renewed energy and strength to do what I truly wanted to do.

That night, I went home and wrote a blog post. My story. My admission. My emotions poured out on a plate of public display. I also wrote my letter of resignation and addressed it to my boss.

I handed my boss my notice the next day, and walked away from the job just two weeks later. I had little money, little support, and even less sleep for the next three months. But I had my friends words in my head, and that’s all I needed.

Through sleepless nights and fear, through tears and knocks of confidence, I continued to write blog posts and articles for offline media. I wrote constantly for three months, and for the entire three months I endured the negativity of those around me. “What are you doing?” they asked. “You’re not going to earn money doing this!” they said. Oh, how they were wrong!

Three months, four days and five hours after I left my job (yes, I was counting!), my big break came. A guest post I wrote for a high profile blog sparked a huge amount of social media interest. The story within the post was then picked up by the mainstream media.

My story was published around the world, and my brand was solidified. I soon started receiving paid writing offers, and within three weeks of receiving the media coverage I had earned nearly $4,500.

Paradise!

Today, I live on an island in the Pacific. My apartment overlooks the ocean, I have no debt, and I’m earning an average of $20,000 a month, combining a mixture of affiliate marketing, writing and Web design. The friend that started me on this course is currently sat beside me as I write this. He’s staying with me for three weeks to recover after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. He’s well on course to climb all the highest peaks in the world, just like he said he would.

I Was Once Like You…

I was once like you… I believed everything I read. I’m still like you, because this story isn’t true.

I’m not a millionaire. I don’t live on a remote island. And my friend didn’t get run over by a lorry. You can read more about my actual life elsewhere.

Don’t believe everything you read on a blog. It’s far too easy to lie.

The fact is, stories work incredibly well for capturing the attention of readers. They play on readers emotions. They relate to their own lives. And they have the ability to build suspense and surprise. Don’t believe everything you read in the blogosphere, but do use stories to capture the imagination of your readers.

Please share this post on Twitter, and let others realise the power of stories. Do you use stories on your blog? Do you enjoy reading stories from others? Let us know in the comments!

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Photo by Rishibando

This is a guest post Pamelia Brown of AssociatesDegree.com.

Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” What was he talking about?

You have this great idea for your blog, but you’re unable to get it up and running. The little voice inside your head tells you this idea is going to make you the big bucks. You can finally pay off those daunting college loans. Edison implies in his quote: there are tons of smart people in this world, most of them with some pretty great ideas. You may or may not be one of them, but that doesn’t matter. In the end, your work ethic and consistency is what will get you ahead.

So, are you having trouble focusing? First, you need to figure out what the root of the problem is. You could be apprehensive about getting down to business, you could naturally be a bit lazy, or you could just be procrastinating because you CAN. If you are working from home, that could be a huge part of the problem. I have provided some easy tips to help you stay on task while at home!

Cut the Communication Chord

I am a full-time blogger working primarily from home, and I used to have trouble concentrating on my assignments. I would get a text or a phone call from a friend, and I would be able to talk or discuss irrelevant issues for hours. Once I would finally hang up, I had the intention of doing hours of work. Next thing I knew (two minutes later), it would be 5 pm. I would tell myself, “There’s always tomorrow.” Wrong. It became an unhealthy pattern, and procrastination doesn’t pay the bills.

I started turning my personal cell phone off at 9 am. I made my husband block my Facebook account and my personal email account. It’s amazing how much work you can get done if you prevent yourself from accessing those social media sites. Try limiting your time, and block out phone calls or text messages. If you must communicate with your friends, make your phone calls during your lunch break. Make sure that lunch break is EARNED.

Procrastinate in a Meaningful Way

If you must procrastinate, spend a few minutes doing something meaningful. Clean up your work desk, or organize your files and folders on your computer. Set a few minutes a day to do this. It is much easier to do your work in a clean environment! You can also organize your emails. Which ones should be prioritized?

Keep in Touch with Your Co-Workers

While working from home, it is easy to feel isolated and out of touch with your actual assignments. If you work for a remote internet company or have staff working from home as well, keep discussions going on a daily basis. What work needs to get done? How are your coworkers progressing on assignments? You may even be able to get some ideas on how to stay on task!

Your Time is Valuable: Time Your Work

You may want to set a schedule, which details how long you will spend on each task for the day. Use Google calendars or an actual alarm clock on your computer or work desk. If you allot a certain amount of time for tasks, you are more likely to feel the necessary pressure to actually get them done.

How do you keep yourself focused when blogging? Do you write from home, the office or a public space like a coffee shop? Do you often find yourself procrastinating? Let us know in the comments!

This guest contribution was submitted by Pamelia Brown, who specializes in writing about associates degree. Questions and comments can be sent to: pamelia.brown @ gmail.com.

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Photo by See-ming Lee

I discussed yesterday about how important your reputation is in order to build a successful blog, so today I want to discuss actual methods to build that reputation.

Guest Posts

I still remember when guest posting started to become popular amongst the blogging crowd. The first person I saw who truly took advantage of guest posting was a young lady called Jane May. She came on the blogging scene very quickly and back in 2007 wrote some of the first guest posts on John Chow’s blog. She wrote a series of excellent blog posts and quickly became a popular name with John’s audience. Soon thereafter, she sold her own blog for what I’m sure was a very nice figure.

I do sometimes wonder whether Jane was a fictional women made up by a more experienced blogger in order to sell (she had the looks, the personality, the writing, and the motivation). The way she just disappeared from the blogosphere forever when she sold her blog after building some fantastic relationships was strange to say the least, and a little disappointing for somebody like me who had become fond of her writing style and considered her a good online friend. But regardless of her departure, her use of guest posts to bring her to a position of authority within the blogosphere is one I still admire to this day.

Building a Relationship with Somebody Else’s Audience

Jane’s method of posting a lengthy series over several weeks on one single blog is even more useful now than it was back then when she did it. Guest posting is very common these days, and that means people are less likely to click through to your blog than in previous times and it’s likely to be harder to form a relationship with these people. And for guest posting to truly work as a quality promotional technique and to build your reputation, forming relationships is what you need to do. There are two ways to do this:

1. Write a series of posts in quick succession on one blog, targeting the same audience.
2. Write posts for a variety of blogs in quick succession, who you know have an overlapping audience.

There are advantages to both methods. With the first method, you can often strike a deal with the blog author so you can control exactly when your posts are released to ensure maximum effect, and you guarantee that your audience is the same each time, therefore hitting the same people with your brand over and over.

But the second method, when managed well, can often prove even more lucrative. While you’re not going to be able to hit exactly the same audience on multiple blogs, you’ll find that much of the audience of one blog also reads another blog. Or that same audience might even read two other blogs, or even a few more. Write guest posts for all these blogs and publish them within a short space of time (the same day if you can!), and you’ll instantly stand out to those people who read all or several of those blogs. Your name will seem like it’s everywhere, and that’s exactly what you want when you’re trying to build your reputation and your online brand.

I’ve written at length about how guest posting can be a great promotional technique. Seriously, use that next great post you were going to post on your blog in a more creative way by sending it to a high profile blog to be published as a guest post, and then do this once a week. You’ll be amazed at the results!

Network With High Profile Bloggers

There are very few industries in the world where anybody, anywhere, no matter how little experience they have can easily network with some of the most high profile in the niche. You could be in your first hour of being a blogger, but all you have to do to speak to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger is create a Twitter account. It’s easy, it’s fun, it’s valuable when you’re learning, and it builds your reputation.

Here are three ways to network with high profile bloggers and build your reputation in the process.

Interview Bloggers

Most bloggers, even the highest profile, will almost always accept an interview offer. Send them your questions, get the answers, and publish the interview on your blog. The very fact that you were able to communicate directly with a high profile blogger will impress your own readers and it’ll start the basis of forming a relationship with the right people in the right places.

Social Media

It’s so easy to network with the right people using social media. Add them on Twitter, on Facebook, on StumbleUpon and any other social media Web sites you use. Then chat to them. They’re humans, just like the rest of us. If they happen to give you some useful advice during your conversations, use it to spark a blog post where you can tell all your readers about your conversation and what you learned. Passing on the knowledge you have gained is what blogging is all about.

Face-to-Face Events

There’s no shortage of face to face events for bloggers to get involved in. There are thousands every year, from professional conferences to Tweetups to blogger coffee mornings, you shouldn’t have any issue engaging with like-minded (and often more experienced) individuals in a face to face environment.

Release an e-Product

We’re all aware that e-products are becoming more popular. Whether they’re offered for free or for a fee, they’re a fantastic way to build your reputation. They show you’re dedicated to blogging, willing to put in the time and effort to build a product, and position you as an authority voice on a topic.

Help Somebody Specific

I wouldn’t say it’s easy to help a large group in one go like we do with our blog posts, but it’s certainly something we all do as bloggers. To stand out and build your reputation, it’s time to help people individually. It doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming, it just has to matter to the person you’re helping.

I tend to do this quite a lot, just because I like doing it. In the past, I’ve gone out of my way to help a teenager who found my blog and became a regular commentator. She was truly passionate and interested in blogging. She had never blogged before, had never had an audience, never created a Web site, and never had any help. And that last point was key. I almost held her hand, gave her advice every time she asked, promoted her blog whenever I could, and generally went out of my way to see a budding blogger with great enthusiasm and passion do something she enjoyed.

Never.Stop.Blogging. Ever!

I realise I’m the biggest hypocrite alive by talking about this point. If you want to build your reputation as a blogger, you can’t stop blogging. You can’t stop for six months and start again and expect your reputation to be what it was six months earlier. It’s just not going to happen. I’ve been blogging for nine years and I genuinely believe my lack of consistency and my tendency for being a perfectionist are what have truly stopped me from becoming a larger authority blogger. I have my own small following who will always stick with me and enjoy what I have to say, but that could have been so much bigger had I not taken the three or four extended breaks during the past nine years.

Be consistent, and be consistently good. You can’t build your reputation without doing this!

Be Authentic, Have Morals, Be You!

You may be the most consistent, you may write some good things, and you may release an e-product, but unless you show your personality, be engaging, and open yourself up to engagement, you’re going to struggle to build your reputation.

Have morals when writing. Don’t just promote something because the affiliate rate is good. Promote it because you have tried and tested it and found it to be good. Be the good guy amongst the many bad guys, and you’ll win the best audience. Be the one who engages and cares, and you’ll build an audience that engages and cares too.

Becoming an Authority Blogger is Impossible Without a Solid Reputation

Remember, you could write the best content, but if you’re not engaging your audience, you’re not solidifying your brand, you’re not paying your knowledge forward, and you’re not being consistent in your writing schedule, you’re not going to build your reputation, and you’re not going to build your blog.

How do you build your reputation? Do you struggle with posting consistency? How do you engage with high profile bloggers? Let us know in the comments!

Further Reading:
9 Practical Tips for Building Your Website Authority

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Photo by Madeira

A funny thing happened tonight. As I sat here contemplating my next move within the blogosphere, I suddenly found my light. My light to follow to lead me to success. To lead me to great things. To lead me to what I want in life.

But before that light appeared, as I sat here contemplating my next move, I realised within myself there was actually no move for me to make. At least not until I knew where I was going. I realised, very suddenly as though a light had been shone inside, that I didn’t know where I was going. I was lost on a road, with a map in front of me, but no idea where to turn. A map can only lead you where you want to be if you know where that place is.

Finding a Purpose to Your Blog

You’ve heard it all before. “Your blog needs a goal”. “You must know what you want to achieve”. “You must set yourself milestones and targets and blah blah blah blah blah…”. You’ve heard it all before. But the problem is, most people don’t listen. I didn’t listen. I’m a man. I wouldn’t be a man if I listened (Don’t go there ladies. ). So I’m here today to make you listen. I’m going to ram it down your throats so hard it’ll bounce back up and hit your brain. I do that not to be clever, I do that because it’s the only way your blog will succeed. Because you can’t possibly ‘succeed’ if you haven’t defined your own ‘success’.

I ask people all the time what their goal for their blog is. I just asked it again on Twitter, and not one person responded to tell me they have a specific, measurable, achievable, life-changing, ultimate goal for their blog. There are always plenty of people who tell me they have goals for the next week or next month or next year. But it’s rare I come across somebody who has a final goal. A goal, that once achieved, will be ultimate and final.

Far too often when discussing goals for blogs I hear the phrase “I’m working on it.” That phrase makes me cringe. Don’t work on it. Do it! Step back from your Twitter account. Step back from your latest article or seminar in the latest ‘Cool-If-You’re-Part-Of-It’ Internet marketing course. Step back from the cyber world and in to reality for just a minute. I promise your Twitter buddies and seminars and info-products and ebooks will all still be there when you return. Just for a minute, step back in to reality, and contemplate your goal. Not your goals for 2010. Not your goals for February. But the one goal, that once achieved, allows you to slouch in your chair, breath out a long, hard, sigh of contempt, and speak the words “My blog is now a success.”

“I want to make a living from blogging…”

When I pose the question of final goals to bloggers, most of them have no answer. The thought of something ‘final’ related to their blog is scary for them. But some people do have an answer. Unfortunately, the answer is usually this…. “I want to make a living from blogging”.

(Bare with me while I walk out of the room, bang my head against a wall, scream, and then calmly walk back to my desk. Arrrrrgh!)

Goals must be measurable. I can’t stress this enough. ‘Making a living’ is not measurable. How much money a month is ‘making a living’? It’s only be defining this that you start to get a meaningful, measurable goal. And at what point in time do you want to achieve this so called ‘goal’ by? Are you prepared to work until two days before you die to achieve this goal? Apparently you are, because you haven’t set any timescale. You’ll be happy to work for 50 years to achieve this goal, then pass away peacefully as an old man, knowing in your heart you did achieve what you set out to achieve, if only two days before old age crept up behind you.

Should a Blog Ever End?

I lot of the difficulty in setting a ‘final, ultimate goal’ lies in that word ‘final’. A final, ultimate goal suggests there has to be an end to your blog. A day, a time, a place when your blog comes to a close. And in some ways, I think that is true. There does have to be a time when it comes to a close. Maybe it will be as simple as when you hit X subscribers and you decide to sell your blog. Or maybe it will be something more complicated, like when you pass away, or when you decide to hand it over to your children. Whatever the method, there will be a day when your blog isn’t your blog anymore. A frightening thought, isn’t it?!

So What’s Your Goal?

So I’d like to pose a question to you, and I want you to think long and hard about your answer. What is your ultimate goal for your blog? What do you want to achieve that will ultimately allow you to say “My blog is a success”? What is it that is going to provide you with the motivation to blog and interact with your community of readers and friends when you’re having a bad day? What’s the one thing that is going to provide a sense of focus to your blogging efforts?

Step back from the cyber world and in to reality. Your Twitter buddies and seminars and info-products and ebooks will all still be there when you return. Because remember, a blog without a purpose, without a measurable, achievable goal, is like a map in the hands of somebody with no destination. You can walk forever, but you’ll never get where you want to be unless you know where that place lies.

Do you have an ultimate goal for your blog? How do you know when you’re blog will be a success? Let us know in the comments!

This is my second post in a series discussing my cornerstones of blogging. Previous posts in this series include Kids, Girls, Zip Wires, Soldiers & Self Belief! The Story that Will Transform Your Blog…. Look out for more posts in this series later this week. I’ll slowly progress up the scale, until we hit what I believe to be a cornerstone so important, you can’t build a successful blog without it. Subscribe today if you haven’t already done so.

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1. Kids, Girls, Zip Wires, Soldiers & Self Belief! The Story that Will Transform Your Blog… Photo by The U.S. Army July 1998. I was 10...