The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Bloggers

If you are going to be successful in the blogging world or really at anything then you need to learn to play to your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. This sounds easy but in reality it can be incredibly difficult. You need to be very honest with yourself and identify what you are good at and where you need development.

This is something that most people cannot do, we aren’t realistic about our weaknesses and therefore we do very little to develop them. Once you have identified your strengths and weaknesses then you develop a plan to fix them. Simple right? Not really.

Self Development

I am a big fan of personal development books. I read a lot of them and I give out a lot of them to my team members who work for me at my day job. I think if you are open minded and willing to be honest with yourself then you can develop yourself much further than you ever thought possible.

These books allow me to stretch the way I think. They give me an hour or two of deep thinking about my strengths and weaknesses and how I can develop myself into something better than I was before. Boy do I have a long way to go…just ask my wife.

Role Models

One of my favorite books is The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Steven Covey. I am sure a lot of you have read it but this is not a rehash of that book. What that book taught me is that the best way to improve your results is find someone who is very successful and emulate the best of what they do.

If you want to learn how to play basketball would you emulate Michael Jordan or your neighbor Bob? If you want to become a great writer would you emulate Stephen King or would you take advice from your sister Nancy? You get the idea I am sure.

I observe what makes other bloggers successful and try to emulate it for myself. If you are going to have role models then you at least want to model yourself after successful people.

These are the 7 habits that I have noticed to be common amongst many of the more successful bloggers out there.

Seven Habits

Blog Consistently - A regular update schedule keeps me coming back. Nothing will turn me off personally more than a blog that goes dark for a week at a time, then posts a flurry of posts, then goes dark. People look to their feed readers for engaging content that is produced regularly. Pick a posting schedule that you can consistently follow and stick to it. Your readers will love it.

Passionate - To be successful at anything, you need to have a passion for your topic. You are making a big mistake if you think you can “fake it til you make it.” Your readers will see that this isn’t your thing, that you have no passion for the subject. You are far better off to blog about something that you know and love rather than something you think you can make money from. It will show in your writing.

Interact - The more successful bloggers interact regularly with their readers. I have seen a number of times where the comments section is far more engaging than the actual post. Use the comment section, respond to emails and reward your regular visitors and/or commenters. The Link Love plug in and a Top Commentator plug in are two recommended ways of doing that.

Link Love - Link out to your fellow bloggers often. The blogosphere is awash with bloggers who are so worried about too many links, SEO this and SEO that. Write for your readers and if you know of good content that they might like then link them to it. You not only help provide even more great content for your own readers but the blogger that you link to will be most appreciative and is likely to return in kind.

I have seen far too many sites who won’t link to other blogs in their niche because their fragile little egos are afraid they might lose readers. I’ve got news for you, if you do lose them then your content wasn’t that good anyways. Link out….it’s good for you, just like Quaker Oatmeal.

Build Your Brand - A conservative estimate is that their are more than 100 million blogs on the internet right now. How in the world do you think you can build a brand with that kind of competition? Easy…be different. Be memorable. Have a theme that is unique and a site that will make people remember it. If they come across you in a stumble bar then they will know they’ve been here before.

100 million is a BIG number, but I am willing to bet that 98% of them are free templates that look just like everyone else using that free template. Spend a few dollars and get a unique and customized theme that will make you different than everyone else.

Appearance of your site means a LOT. You’ve heard forever that content is King…well I am here to tell you that your content won’t mean a thing if you nobody ever bothers to read your site. I don’t even give an ugly blog a 2nd glance….I don’t do it intentionally and I don’t think I am a blog snob but I do make a judgement as to what value I can expect based on the initial appearance of the site. Shallow? Maybe but it’s reality.

Produce Great Content - Successful bloggers MUST be able to produce content that is compelling and that has value. If you satisfy a need for your readers then they will continue coming back to you. Your job is to determine that need and then tailor your content around it.

Don’t underestimate the value of marketing your content. A number of bloggers produce content that is very similar however a select few seem to reap all the rewards. They aren’t better writers, but they are far better marketers than most.

Picture your favorite blog…chances are it has a hook.

• John Chow - Income reports and what he eats.
• ShoeMoney is the big adsense check guy.
• Dosh Dosh has the little anime pictures.
• John Cow is the Moo guy. He has surpassed Chow in my opinion with the brand recognition piece anyways.

Learn to be a great MARKETER and your content will seem that much better.

Read Prolifically - Successful bloggers read and take part in other blogs. The best way to stay current with what is going on in the blog world is to actively take part in the blog world. Fill your reader up with the best content you can find. This will not only stimulate your own thought process but you may find a fellow blogger that you can partner with or develop a collaboration of sorts. The bigger your network then the more leverage you have over your results.

Conclusion

The road to personal development starts with being honest with yourself. What are your shortcomings…what are you working on to become a better blogger?

I need to become a better marketer and work on producing better content. I will be the first to admit that I am still new to blogging but I have grown to love it and hate that I didn’t make the commitment earlier but that’s life.

That’s my challenge….what are you working on to make yourself better?