Prague
After publishing this post I will spend a few hours promoting it effectively.
Walking the extra blogging mile lets Blogging From Paradise be seen.
During less clear times for me, promoting a post involved spending a few seconds tapping sharing buttons for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Was I lazy?
No.
Did I ignore walking the extra blogging mile?
Yes.
Here in Prague one could consider it to be a walking city. Anyone can explore wide swaths of the urban center courtesy of brisk walks around town.
Do you want to experience Prague to its fullest?
Walking the extra mile is the way to do it.
Put in the work for the sweetest experience.
Why Skip the Extra Blogging Mile?
You and I know that in terms of offline ventures.
But some bloggers skip the extra blogging miles and wonder why failure bedevils them.
How can you succeed if you skip all the details necessary to become successful? The extra blogging mile contains the steps required to drive targeted traffic and to boost your blogging income.
Extra Mile for Promoting Blog Posts
As a practical example, when I only shared a post once to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn almost no one saw the post outside of my email list.
Since only my list subscribers read the post I gained little traction online. I also ignored a massive chunk of humanity keenly interested in blogging and traveling with my casual promoting strategy.
Let’s visit the current day incarnation of Blogging From Paradise on the promotional front.
After publishing a blog post I share the post once on Twitter and schedule 1-2 updates for the next 1-2 days pointing to the blog post. I then share the post on Facebook and schedule out 1-2 days. After sharing it on LinkedIn and Pinning in to a decent volume of Pinterest boards I record and upload a short video reel stressing the chief point of the post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Tik Tok. I proceed to update Reels to a volume of blogging tips Groups on Facebook and blogging tips LinkedIn Groups.
The next step is to share the post with a short introduction and featured image on Medium, Reddit, Quora, Youtube (as a post) and LinkedIn (as an article).
Do you see the difference in dropping 3 links and bailing versus spending an hour or so promoting the link in a hefty number of spots?
This is going the extra blogging mile.
Being Seen Requires Being Thorough
Being seen across a wide range of highly targeted channels is what it takes to become a successful blogger.
Of course, being seen across a wide range of highly targeted channels means spending 1-2 hours solely on promoting blog posts effectively.
Few bloggers do this which is why few bloggers succeed.
The few who patiently follow these steps gain the exposure necessary to thrive.
Embrace Discomfort
Deciding to walk the extra blogging mile involves feeling discomfort.
The ego mind desires to sprint ahead greedily, desperately or in a state of wild delusion versus slowing down to patiently add all details and take all steps necessary to walk the extra mile and to get the job done the right way.
Prepare yourself to sit with discomfort.
Convince yourself that doing the job effectively means doing the job the right way.
Doing the job ineffectively is almost like not doing the job at all.
Think about it; who sees a single tweet, Facebook update and LinkedIn update amid the tsunami-like wave of updates published to each network every second?
Why did I even bother promoting the post via these three strategies at all? In essence, doing the promotional job this ineffectively was like not doing the job at all because no one saw my posts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
However, putting in the blogging leg work gave Blogging From Paradise far greater exposure across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, YouTube, Medium, Quora and Reddit. More people saw my blog because I decided to walk the extra blogging mile.
Freedom Awaits Bloggers Who Walk this Path
Freedom awaits bloggers who walk the extra mile based on outlasting bloggers who skip this leg work.
Organically, you will be seen as less focused bloggers seem to drop off of the cyber earth. When most bloggers disappear from a vast range of sites your links appear even more prominently via these sites.
Success and freedom will find you.
But you better commit to walking the extra blogging mile for the long haul to accelerate your blogging success exponentially.
Nothing happens overnight in the blogging world.
Be Detail-Focused
Consider the process of writing and publishing a blog post.
Going the extra mile means publishing long form posts spanning 1200 words or longer. Create each post around a keyword, key phrase or at the very least some pressing idea discussed in your blogging niche.
Add headers, bullet point lists and paragraphs to publish easy to read blog content.
Link in and out to valued resources.
Following each step requires careful planning.
Adhering to this strategy demands mindfulness.
Being detail-focused requires doing mental gymnastics but this is the way of the blogging extra mile.
Never Take Blogging Shortcuts
Some bloggers desire to win the race without walking a single step.
Never take blogging shortcuts because you cannot win the race if you do not walk.
Attempting to hand your full blogging workload to ai or various technology leads to failure because if you take no blogging steps yourself you cannot compete with bloggers who walk the extra mile.
Video: What About AI Generated Articles and Blogging? Is It Really a Shortcut?
For a practical example, consider how many bloggers send automated DMs on Twitter. Tweeters ignore almost all of these automated updates as a form of spam. This shortcut leads to nowhere.
Meanwhile, bloggers who go the extra mile by personalizing kind DMs to thank followers become memorable, drive traffic and boost blogging profits.
Why?
The mindful, kind, generous bloggers decided to take steps.
The less mindful bloggers who automated generic DMs took no steps.
Who wins the race when one blogger walks and the other blogger refuses to walk?
Why, the blogger who walks, of course.
Do you see why you need not necessarily walk fast, jog, run or sprint to succeed?
Doing simple, generous things mindfully and patiently propels you ahead of bloggers who engage in complex, self-centered, less mindful, impatient strategies.
Bloggers who appreciate my personalized DMs remember me amid the many bloggers who automate DMs fully. Remembering me fondly draws bloggers to Blogging From Paradise. Forgetting bloggers who fully automate DMs means no traffic for the less mindful crowd, even if said bloggers publish 100’s of automated DM’s daily.
Practical Tips for Putting in Detailed Blogging Work
A few ideas:
- keep in mind why you blog; tie the reason to fun and freedom
- study professional bloggers closely to observe how their detail-oriented nature leads to their success
- focus on doing your blogging job exceedingly well versus just trying to get the blogging work done
The last bullet point is a stickler.
Most want to get work done without considering the:
- quality
- depth
- effectiveness
of the blogging work.
For example, I noticed someone in my blogging network mention GetResponse recently.
A light bulb went off in my head: I wrote and placed a guest post for this blog a number of years ago.
Querying “Ryan Biddulph” on the website yielded no search results. Odd.
However, querying “blogging” yielded this title which I immediately recalled as being my own:
Blogging Is More than Just Writing Blog Posts
I noted how my backlink and name had disappeared from the article. But going the extra blogging mile helps me to see beyond backlinks to building credibility, establishing clout and at the very least pointing readers to my name and link via the Disqus comments section.
I shared the guest post on social media and linked to it here because thinking abundantly goes hand in hand with going the extra mile as a blogger.
Being truly helpful is the name of the blogging game.
Going a bit beyond the average blogging effort organically allows you to be truly helpful.
Conclusion
Blogging largely feels fun when you walk the extra blogging mile because a job well done boosts your confidence.
Be patient. Add all necessary details. Be thorough.
Believe it or not, success and failure are not necessarily light years apart as far as effort, strategy and tactics.
Tiny details make a big difference in the blogging game.
But you need to walk the extra blogging mile to get the job done the right way.
