Do You Want to Be Popular or Free Through Your Blog? |

Ryan Biddulph June 22, 2023 blogging tips 🕑 5 minutes read

Saigon, Vietnam

Being popular means that a large group of human beings know of your existence.

Bloggers often crave being popular.

Some celebrate specific milestones based on popularity metrics like:

number of followers
number of subscribers
number of friends

That’s cool.

Being known by many feels good in some regards.

But the problem with being a popular blogger is this: being known by many does not free you blogging-wise.

Peep this simple logic: being popular means that people know you, not that people buy your stuff, hire you and grow referral business.

People who buy your stuff, hire you and grow referral business free you.

You only reach these human beings by highly targeting them first, before they come to your blog.

Targeting people who buy your stuff, hire you and grow referral business is a dramatically different process than boosting popularity metrics on social media and through your blog.

Adding Facebook Friends Versus Driving Blogging Business through Facebook

Anyone can add the maximum number of Facebook friends daily.

Approving a high volume of Facebook friends makes you popular.

Hyper-targeting your ideal:

reader
customer
client

through a pinpointed:

content creation
blogger outreach

campaign is an entirely different skillset than adding Facebook friends.

Driving traffic and business through Facebook requires mindfulness, generosity, patience and a full commitment to targeting every Facebook action ruthlessly. Boosting traffic and business through Facebook frees you by expanding your blogging business.

Adding Facebook friends makes you popular but never frees you because until you use Facebook strategically, an eBook or online course sale occurs as frequently as Haley’s Comet blowing through.

My Twitter Account

48,100 followers subscribe to my tweets as of this post publish date.

But that is a popularity metric.

I use Twitter to highly target readers and customers.

I drive highly targeted Twitter traffic and income by publishing blogging tips and engaging people who engage me on the platform.

Engaging Tweeters frees me by growing my traffic and income.

The @reply section snags my attention and energy compared to popularity metrics like my 48 K followers.

The @reply section frees me.

Do You Want Freedom or Popularity?

You cannot have both.

Being free means expanding your blogging business; passive blogging income frees you to vacation, to spend a great deal of time offline, to sleep in, to spend time with the kids and to enjoy running a home based business.

Being popular means that a high number of human beings know who you are; being known imprisons any potential exponential business growth because wasting time and energy trying to be known by more people robs you of time and energy to connect with and serve highly targeted readers, customers and clients who amplify referral blogging business.

Choose freedom or popularity.

Go with one or the other.

Choosing freedom sacrifices meaningless popularity.

Choosing meaningless popularity sacrifices everyone’s #1 goal: freedom.

Do you want to be known or helpful and free?

I have a little secret to share…..choosing freedom instills your tribe to organically expand your fame but you will not care at all about the popularity.

You May Become Popular Organically As You Gain Freedom But…..

……you will not care about being popular and any fame will be a platform to help a highly targeted group of people.

For example, I created this course for you:

How to Get Featured on World Famous Blogs

after my tribe increased my presence enough to help me land on:

Forbes and Entrepreneur as a digital nomad authority
Pro Blogger, Smart Blogger, Blogging Wizard, Neil Patel Dot Com and John Chow Dot Com as a blogging authority

Each brand or blog is world famous in its niche.

But my “freedom focus” grew a targeted tribe that organically placed me in these highly-targeted spots.

When you love freedom you care not about being known. You have fun helping highly targeted people and allow your tribe to care for the rest.

Of course, your highly targeted tribe puts you on the radar screen of famous, highly targeted blogs. Contributors or owners from those blogs pitch you guest post invites, interview requests or link to you.

If you pay close attention to the Famous Course modules you see that each centers on developing skills and rendering useful service:

Course Content

Introduction

1: Blog Your Fun

2: Do the Mindset Work

3: Write

4: Build Bonds with Niche Leaders

5: Invest in Your Blog

6: Publish Resources Not Just Blog Posts

7: Create a One of a Kind Brand

8: Detach Yourself from World Famous Features

9: Pitch Emails?

10: Summary

#8 proves that fun and freedom – not being popular – drives bloggers who land features on world famous blogs.

Guys; if I did it you can do it too.

But you need the right mindset to achieve freedom through blogging.

Chasing popularity metrics is not the way to go because it pulls you away from targeting and growing a successful business.

Do a little happy dance for a moment after reaching a popularity metric if it feels fun but return to targeting to grow your blogging business.

Being known by many is radically different than publishing laser-targeted, in-depth content and engaging in a targeted blogger outreach campaign.

Building a big Facebook friend list is not at all like publishing targeted content in targeted spots with proper hashtags on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to drive quality blog traffic through social media.

Being known by many people is a different skill than being seen and trusted by the right people.

Try Your Best Not to Focus on Follower Numbers

Follower numbers are inanimate objects.

Try your best to stop focusing on numbers in order to pinpoint readers and blogging business with targeted blog posts and social media updates shared where your ideal readers meet and engage.

For example, I share blogging tips to: