By Hector Cisneros
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I’ve met many writers in my life. Some have incredible writing skills; their grammar and spelling are impeccable. Their creativity was remarkable. Many are successful business owners and senior officers in corporations. The same is true for many business owners I know. Their English speaking, writing, grammar and spelling skills are far superior to mine, and in many cases, they’re very creative and disciplined. Yet both of these groups of talented people often have less-than-stellar writing success when it comes to blogging.
What is the magic formula that separates a successful blogger from those who tried and failed? Why have some people had short-term success and then their results plummeted?
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hyperbole, so I won’t portray it as magic. However, this formula produces impressive results if you follow the entire process, without trying to cherry pick its components. So read on and take notes as we as we explore how commitment can succeed when talent fails, in this article by Working the Web to Win.
So what is commitment? Commitment is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as: “an agreement or pledge to do something in the future; specially : an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date…”
At Working the Web to Win, we think of it as, “D.W.I.T.,” for Do Whatever It Takes. We believe doing
whatever it takes consists of 12 very important Elements of Commitment. Together, they provide a system based on principles that always produce greater results when used together than when they’re cherry picked and used individually. We believe these 12 elements create a synergy, which makes for powerful results. Results don’t just happen; they’re forged into existence because their synergy exceeds the sum of their parts.
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Practice – Practice improves performance. Be willing to write articles and publish them to online magazines. This will force you to improve your skills and to focus on a particular subject. The best athletes, writers, musicians and professionals in any industry all practice their craft regularly. It’s great to have talent, but practice makes talent even better. Plus in the blogging world, this practice can be published!
Regularity – Consistency helps build your habits and grow an audience. Regularity helps improve
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Persistence – Perseverance, stick-to-it-ness, not giving up, whatever you want to call it ― in and of itself ― means you haven’t failed. Many blog authors fail because they’re inconsistent, which yields poor results. Poor results due to an inconsistent publishing schedule leads to discouragement, which often leads to quitting altogether. Again, if you stop blogging, or are inconsistent in any way, you’ll produce a mediocre following at best. At worst, you will lose your audience altogether. So even if you stopped or missed a week, get back in there and write something. Find a subject you’re passionate about and post an article that will inspire you to keep going.
Measurement – You must test and measure. You have to measure who is following you, who is sharing, what articles did well, and which ones did poorly. Track page views religiously; you’ll learn a lot from doing so.
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Use the Best Tools – If you’re using an old version of MS Word or WordPerfect, get the newest one. Don’t be cheap. Invest in the pro versions of Ginger and Grammarly. The pro version of Ginger will even read the article aloud, making it much easier to catch certain type of grammatical mistakes. Also, there are models you can follow. Ezines articles online provides a full course on article writing. They even offer a set of article templates an author can use to structure their ideas, focus their efforts, and improve their overall professionalism. Many writers I know also use reference books and websites such as the Associated Press Stylebook.
Be Willing to Share – Blogging is a community. If you blog, acting as if you’re the only blogger on the planet will yield minimal success. There are probably thousands of writers that share your passion for the subjects you care about. Read and share their articles. Share them at the end of your blog. Better yet, create links to their articles inside your content. This act of sharing gets noticed and often leads to the reciprocity of sharing your content as well.
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your articles, adding humor when appropriate, using subheadings and pull quotes to grab attention. Learn how to write both evergreen and seasonal articles, along with articles that are designed to piggyback on trends. And don’t forget the importance of adding multimedia elements such as pictures, videos and podcasts. A good article can be greatly enhanced by adding visual or auditory elements. These hold readers’ attention longer and encourage people to continue reading your article. Also, don’t forget to learn how to write articles of different lengths. This skill will help you fill different niches and needs as well.
Give Others Their Due – Never plagiarize someone else’s work. Always give others their due in your blog and on your social nets. Even with photo credits. If you scratch other influential authors’ backs, they’ll reciprocate (as long as your finished product is adding value as well). Breaking this law will have real consequences. Plus in many cases it’s illegal and could initiate a lawsuit.
Be Willing to Recycle – Once an article is published, don’t be afraid to post it to your social nets
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again at 9:45 at night, when the late readers often check their posts after they’ve put the kids to bed. My rule is to not post the same article more than twice in one week; and then not again until 60 days have passed before it’s recycled. I wrote a whole article on how and when to post. We’ve researched and tested this posting formula extensively. In fact, our blog’s page views now total over 110,000 and our monthly average is over 15,600. Here’s the article that includes a whole section on how to implement our posting formula that is
Be Humble and Appreciate Your Audience – I write with the belief that it’s a privilege to publish my work. I know we have freedom of speech in the U.S. (at least for now) and that anyone can publish a blog on the Internet for absolutely free. They can say anything they want, in any way they want. For me, I try very hard to communicate my ideas, thoughts and beliefs in the easiest way possible. I don’t try to show off by using big words or claim expert authority as if I were some celebrity blogger. As a matter of fact, I’m always amazed and humbled by the readership we’ve amassed. I avoid profanity, racial slurs, salacious language and hate speech, not because it’s against the rules, but because it’s shows one has little or no decorum. I never forget that my audience determines the value of my writing. Many people write to soothe an itch they have. I write to leave a legacy of what I have learned in my short life. I write to help others learn from my mistakes and my success. In essence, I use my writing to teach others what I have gleaned from living on this planet for 60 years.
Never be Afraid to Return to Square One – If what you’re trying to write is a blog and it doesn’t seem to be working, or if your blog is all over the place? Perhaps it’s time to stop and re-think your whole idea. For me, my square one starts with outlining and asking the six “reporter” questions: Who? What? When? Where? How? And Why? I go back through my outline and answer these questions before moving on. I try to keep my blogs coherent by choosing the top elements relevant to the subject at hand. I’ve learned that there are key numbers in writing. Especially if you write articles that contain lists. List articles contain verbiage such as “the three most important things…” or “the seven best items…” or “the 12 rules that always… ” etc. You get the idea. Confining my ideas to a list helps me with my outline. It also helps with layout, bullet points, subheads, pull quotes, multimedia elements and a whole lot more. Sometimes starting over is the best way to ensure the quality of your work bearing in mind that your audience always wants quality work!
In this article, I provided many of the elements of what I call the formula for blogging success. This is the first installment of an educational series designed to help novice bloggers and those writers looking to improve their writing and success online. It contains 12 Elements of Commitment that make up what has led me to my blogging success. Following these 12 Elements propels the reader to the next articles in this series, which are “Learning the Tricks of the Trade” which will be followed by “Marketing Your Blog in the 21st Century.”
If you’d like to find more articles like this, read, “Blogging Secrets of the Pros” and “The Secrets of Blogging For Dollars” or enter the words “Blogging” or “Story Telling” in the search box at the top of this blog to find even more.
If you found this article useful, please share it with friends, family, coworkers and associates. If you have
something to add related to this article or have a different opinion, place them in the Comments section below. It’s been my pleasure sharing this information with you.
something to add related to this article or have a different opinion, place them in the Comments section below. It’s been my pleasure sharing this information with you.
That's my opinion; I look forward to hearing yours.
Hector Cisneros is a partner, COO and Social Media Director for the award-winning, Internet-based marketing firm, Working the Web to Win, in Jacksonville, FL. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. He’s also the co-host of BlogTalkRadio’s “Working the Web to Win,” where he and Working the Web to Win’s co-founder, Carl Weiss, make working the web to win simple for every business. Additionally, Hector is a syndicated writer on EzineOnline and is an active blogger (including ghost writing). He's a published author of two books, "60 Seconds to Success"(available at Amazon and B&N), and "Internet Marketing for the 21st Century," which you can get by filling out the form above. He’s also the co-author of the book, “Working The Web to Win,” which is now available on Amazon.com.
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Thanks for this one, guys. As a novice blogger, I really needed this! Now it's time to get to work!
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