Incheon, Korea
I came across a blog post recently for beginner bloggers.
The title mentioned 50 tips for bloggers.
Being generous with blogging knowledge positions you to gain credibility and exposure.
I deeply appreciate generous bloggers who give away the farm.
But put yourself in the shoes of new bloggers.
Visualize yourself in the shoes of any person new to anything.
Would you want a post consisting of 50 tips at the beginning of any venture? Do 50 tips best serve you now? Or do 10 tips best guide you at this new, exciting but intimidating point of your blogging journey?
Shit……does 1 step work best for you now?
1 step or tip feels far more realistic than 50 tips. Beefing things up a little bit to satiate long form content, perhaps 10 tips for beginner bloggers works best.
Do you want to overwhelm new bloggers? Give ’em 50 tips to learn or 25 steps to take.
Do you want to actually inspire them to take action by informing them of blogging fundamentals?
Give them a small handful of tips and steps to follow.
Get clear on your blogging goal. Inspire new bloggers to take successful action. Inform bloggers about how to blog successfully. Be a guide not source of overwhelm. Be a leader not an intimidating authority figure.
Be your ideal reader, in your mind’s eye, even for a few moments.
Picture blogging from their perspective. See your titles from their vantagepoint.
Put Yourself in Your Reader’s Shoes
After coming across the “50 tips” post for new bloggers I instantly thought and felt like a new blogger.
Do beginner bloggers want 50 tips for guidance? Do new bloggers want 10 tips for guidance?
Do you believe that presenting 50 blogging tips for newbies seems to be practical, actionable and beneficial?
Does starting far smaller with 10 to 12 tips sound practical for beginner bloggers?
15 years ago as a new blogger, 10 tips worked. Why would I desire 50 tips? Who wants 50 tips as a newbie at anything? Can you practically use 50 tips now? Does it seem practical for new bloggers to spend a hefty chunk of time sifting through 50 tips to get to the few resonant tips?
Think like your readers not like a blogger.
Thinking like your readers positions you to succeed.
Thinking like a blogger makes you robotic.
Robotic Blogging
Bloggers tend to follow blogging tips advice robotically without even thinking through the advice.
For example, some pro blogger advised that adding 30 or 40 or 50 tips to a blog post, titling the post with 30 or 40 or 50 tips and writing a pillar-style post ranks said post on page 1 of Google.
But even if the post ranks at position 1 of Google does the post actually benefit beginner bloggers? Can new bloggers read, understand and use the post now from a practical perspective? Can newbies put the advice into action now to begin driving blog traffic?
Bloggers usually follow widely-held blogging advice robotically without stopping to think, to ask the prior paragraph’s questions and to wait for genuine answers.
This is why most bloggers quit; the masses do things to manipulate things to get traffic and money without mindfully considering how they can be truly helpful for actual human beings.
Why in the Hades would I ever publish a post detailing 45 blogging tips for any blogger? As a 15 year blogging veteran I want nothing to do with 30 tips because simple, not complex and bloated, wins.
Do you want to share 50 blogging tips? Create and sell an online blogging course with 5 modules divided into 10 steps each.
Practically help human beings through blog posts.
Leave Google out of it until adding a few SEO-optimizing details at the conclusion of your blog post creating process.
Leave Google Out of It Until the End
Imagine ranking the 50 tips post on page 1 of Google.
Out of 100 beginner bloggers who see it how many will feel overwhelmed versus inspired and informed by the title?
Wait for an honest answer.
Did you write the post for a thing in Google or for an excited, hopeful and scared, doubtful human being new to blogging?
Spend some time with little kids. Imaging telling little ones new to anything:
“Follow these 50 tips to do so and so….”
Getting little kids to follow ONE tip is a Herculean task wrapped within a miracle.
Adults new to blogging are far more similar to little kids than you think. Everyone baby steps through new endeavors. Guidance flows in singular steps not 30, 40 or 50 steps.
Stop Trying to Impress Google and Readers
Stop trying to impress Google and readers.
Google is a non-sentient thing incapable of anything.
Readers want to be inspired and informed, infused with energy and educated, not overwhelmed and paralyzed with your misguided attempts to impress them.
I intend to respect you guys enough to never dumb anything down (you are smart) nor to try to impress and overwhelm you (you deserve simple, clear, practical strategies to be free).
Stop Trusting the Ego Voice
Do your best to ignore the ego voice for MORE.
MORE Google traffic…..
MORE blogging income…..
MORE of…..anything.
The ego voice guides you to seek more. Seeking more influences you to do overwhelming, confusing things which generally yield the opposite effect of more: less.
Trust intuitive guidance.
The intuition offers that “just right”, Baby Bear level of guidance for inspiring and informing effectively and practically.
Frame blog posts as guides for your readers not things to give you traffic and money.
Inspired, informed readers happily build your blogging business by becoming customers, clients and referral business trumpeters.
But you cut the legs out from this process by overwhelming potential customers, clients and referral business with impractical titles geared to drive Google traffic.
Blog to help human beings not to manipulate things.
Google traffic is a non-sentient thing.
Blog for the human beings who:
- query phrases on Google
- read blog posts
- apply simple, detailed but practical blog post advice
Being practical means creating content people can read over 5-10 minutes and use immediately for their benefit.
Conclusion
Write and publish practical blog posts to make life easier, not more difficult, for your readers.
Stop overwhelming.
Start inspiring and informing.
Empower your readers.
Satisfied readers who appreciate your practical content happily multiply your blogging success.
