Misfat Al Abriyeen, Oman
Observing professional bloggers gives you clues for becoming a pro blogger yourself. Mimicking their blogging habits positions you to thrive.
Study pros to learn their ways. Watch their habits. Pay attention to their rituals. Observe their mindset.
Pro bloggers exhibit certain patterns.
Watch professional bloggers in action. Spotting patterns clues you in to how pro bloggers behave. Pros go pro for a good reason. But following their habits feels uncomfortable for most amateur bloggers.
Imagine if you fear not replying to everyone for some fear of criticism, rejection or flat out losing readers. Making freeing but uncomfortable decisions lets you lay the foundation for your professional blogging career during your amateur blogger days.
Beware surrounding yourself with struggling bloggers. Bloggers who struggle tend to influence you with poor blogging habits. Following their lead prepares you to fail. Following their habits positions you to struggle. Move higher in blogging circles. Surround yourself with pro bloggers to study their blogging habits.
Embody these habits to become a professional blogger.
1: Reply only if Necessary
Reply only to folks on social media and through email if necessary. Do not reply to messages wasting your time, attention and energy.
Ignore spam emails. Do not reply to bloggers demanding you place $5 sponsored posts on your blog. Never respond to critics who question you because no blogger needs to explain themselves to unclear people who do not understand themselves.
Save your attention, energy and time for critical business-building activities. Reply to people only when necessary. Let go everyone else to develop the habit of being discerning.
Replying only to serious individuals feels uncomfortable for most because guilt arises during releases. Imagine sitting with the feeling of ignoring desperate individuals who email you 5 times begging you to place their sponsored post for $10. Guilt arises. Anger surfaces. Few enjoy feeling fear. Most bloggers resist the fear, preferring to reply out of guilt versus letting go these non-serious individuals.
Do as pros do. Reply to high energy individuals. Let go everyone else. Save your attention and energy for creating and connecting with people who collectively co-promote your success.
2: Go the Extra Mile
Go the extra blogging mile. Edge out of your comfort zone to go above and beyond.
Pros do the extra stuff to stand out from the blogging crowd. Personalize interactions. Stay up late to publish a post if you have no time to publish the post the following day. Professionals walk the extra mile amateurs fear walking. Pros do what amateurs feel way too uncomfortable to do. Amateurs remain amateur. Pros go pro by going the extra mile.
Take the extra steps almost all bloggers skip. Reach outside of your comfort zone. Publish an in-depth, 2000 word blog post versus churning out a 600 word post to satiate a publishing schedule. Add internal and external links to enrich the user experience. Embed images to publish an eye-catching post. Do what failing bloggers ignore to distance yourself from the blogging herd.
Doha, Qatar
Pros put in the extra time, energy and work to position themselves to go pro well before going pro. Learn this lesson from pros; be patient, persistent and develop a vision to do the job the right way now by going the extra mile.
Care about your blog. Get clear on why you blog. Tie the reason to fun and freedom. Put in the extra work because you feel passionate about what you do.
Create a higher quality video. Record a 30 minute podcast chock full of value versus a 5 minute offering. Invest in a premium theme versus using a cheap-looking free theme. Reply to everyone who retweets your tweets. Read and respond to all people who comment on your blog. Invest in a high quality camera to capture eye-popping images. SEO-optimize blog posts. Address fellow bloggers by name any time you publish comments on blogs.
Take the extra step as pros do to experience great blogging success over the long haul.
3: Have Posture
Have posture. Be confident.
Be as generous with yourself as you are with readers by charging premium rates for your products and services. Do not barter or bargain with budgeting brokers, bloggers or businesses asking you to lower your rates. Be patient during posturing periods to develop full confidence and clarity in yourself and in your blog.
Being posturing for years gives you rock solid clarity in what you offer to your readers. Give endorsements or testimonials only if fellow bloggers earn your backing. Follow your intuition; do what your heart guides you to do, even if most pro bloggers walk a conventional blogging path. Develop posture to build a thriving blogging business.
Professional bloggers exude confidence. Pros develop posture to prosper accordingly. Whereas struggling bloggers charge peanuts, pros charge top dollar to give off the perception of offering high quality products and services.
Wade through uncomfortable emotions consistent with building posture. I deeply feared increasing my blogging posture. Fearing rejection, criticism and loss seemed to feel agonizing in moments. But I had to gain posture in order to move higher in blogging circles.
No one goes pro who lacks posture. Gain posture.
4: Get Clear on Self-Promoting
Pros feel fully clear on promoting themselves, their products and their services.
Feel fears arising any time you self-promote to clear these doubting energies. Pros promote themselves like they breathe, understand the value of their premium offering and realizing part of running a business is explaining how your business benefits people. Be as pros be. Get comfortable with self-promoting.
How do you expect people to believe in your business if you do not believe in your business? Did you ever feel uncomfortable receiving a paycheck from a 9-5 job as an employee? Why would you feel uncomfortable promoting your business to increase your blogging profits?
Promote yourself freely to get clear on your offerings. Drop links to your courses. Embed your eBooks into blog posts. Root out fears related to self-promoting. Face shame. Hug embarrassment. Address any awkward feeling triggered by promoting self because these fears need to go for you to become a professional blogger. No blogger succeeds being burdened by fears strongly linked to sharing their business opportunity with others.
Facing, feeling and clearing self-promotional fears feels unpleasant. But wading through a few uncomfortable moments seems worth becoming a clear, confident professional blogger. Feel the fear. Promote yourself anyway. Let go fear-anchors holding back your blogging success.
Go pro by believing in yourself, in your products and in your services.
Clear fears by promoting yourself freely.
Give readers the opportunity to become customers and clients.
5: Maintain a Long Term Approach to Blogging
Professional bloggers have a vision that stabilizes their energy for a long, sometimes uncomfortable blogging journey. Maintain a long term approach to blogging to lay the proper foundation for your blogging campaign. Pros think in terms of years – not weeks – to blog generously, patiently and persistently.
Blogging the right way requires you to make patience and persistence your blogging buzzwords. Writing and publishing blog posts, networking generously and monetizing your blog for a sustained period of time challenges even the most detached, fun-loving bloggers from time to time.
Follow pros to adopt a long-term approach to blogging. Prepare yourself to give years to blogging in order to experience the fun and freedom of being a professional blogger.
Ortahisar, Cappadocia, Turkey
Established professional bloggers explain how no one experiences overnight success. Pros create a vision to work patiently for years.
Lengthen your blogging time frame in terms of becoming successful. Stop trying to get rich quickly. Let go any urge to chase quick success by taking blogging short cuts. Blogging short cuts do not exist.
Let go employee level thinking. Employees tend to work mainly for a weekly paycheck. Bringing this mindset to blogging breeds impatience, panicking and eventual quitting. Blogging income arrives after working for free for quite a long time to adequately increase your:
- skills
- exposure
- credibility
Be patient. Get lost in the process of helping people. Lengthen your goal time frames to blog like a pro.
Conclusion
Being a professional blogger depends on emulating pros for a while before you go full time.
Observe pros closely. Learn from the best bloggers. Success leaves clues.
Become a professional blogger by doing as pros do.
Your Turn
What lessons have you learned from professional bloggers?
How can you embody these lessons?
What lessons can you add to the list?
