ProBlogger: Why You Should Diversify Your Traffic Sources

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Why You Should Diversify Your Traffic Sources Posted: 25 Feb 2021 03:30 AM PST The post Why You Should Diversify Your Traffic Sources appeared first on ProBlogger. This post is based on episode 62 of the ProBlogger podcast. If there's one thing we can all learn from Facebook's recent spat with the Australian Government, it's that you should never rely on a single source for all your blog traffic. When Facebook decided to stop sharing news on its service in Australia, it blocked a lot more than just Australian news. It also blocked government web sites related to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, emergency services, and even the Bureau of Meteorology. It also affected a lot of bloggers who use Facebook to bring traffic to their blogs. Facebook eventually removed the restrictions on these sites, and has since struck a deal with the Australian Government to bring news content back to Facebook in Australia. But losing traffic even for a day can have a devastating effect if you rely on it for your income. As I discovered back in late 2004. How I lost 85% of my income overnight It was about a week before Christmas when it happened. I was blogging full-time, having quit my part-time job about three months before. My wife was working as a lawyer, but she'd just started out and so wasn't earning a lot of money. So my blogging income was pretty much all we had to live on. Like a lot of bloggers, I started the day by checking my stats. And it didn't take long to realize something was seriously wrong. According to the stats package I was using at the time, my traffic had plummeted overnight to around a fifth or what it normally was. My blog (a camera review blog) was ranking number one in Google for most cameras, at least in Australia. But it seemed my site had pretty much disappeared from Google completely. And so had my traffic. I'm still not sure what actually happened. I suspect Google had made a change to its algorithm (back then they didn't announce their changes like they do now). But whatever reason, my traffic dropped by around 80%. And because that's where nearly all of my traffic was coming from, my income dropped by around 85%. Lesson learned Having spend the past two years working on getting more and more traffic from Google, this was a major blow – especially considering it was Christmas. And for the next few weeks I felt quite depressed about it all. I ended up getting another part-time job to get us through the next few months. But I also started working really hard on my blog, and working out how to diversify my traffic sources. In retrospect, losing all that traffic was a good thing. It forced me to make changes that have really helped with my blogging over the years. Still, I wouldn't with it on anyone, and so I'd like to share ten things I did that will help you diversify your traffic sources. 1. Identified my ideal reader Up to this point I wasn't paying much attention to who was reading my blog. All I was interested in was the traffic. But having lost all that traffic and income, I started thinking about the kind of readers I should be trying to attract – not just their demographics, but also their needs, problems and challenges. I've talked about creating reader profiles a lot over the years (particularly on episode 33 of the podcast), and so I won't go into it here. But I can tell you that knowing who I was trying to reach made finding those readers a lot easier. 2. Focused on solving those readers' needs One the reasons I was getting so much traffic from Google is I was optimizing everything I wrote to rank as highly as possible. Unfortunately, I now realized that building traffic that way was like building a castle on sand. One small shift and it all falls down. So I started writing for the people I wanted to bring to my blog instead. I thought about their needs, problems and challenges, and then wrote content to try and help them. Switching my attention away from Google and towards my readers was a great move. Not only did it help me attract the readers I wanted, it also helped me increase my traffic. Why? Because a lot of people look for answers to their problems by typing them into Google. And guess whose blog they're going to find in the search results? Whether you're an established blogger or are just starting out, asking about your readers and what their needs are is a great idea. It doesn't need to be full-blown survey. You can just ask a few questions on your blog. 3. Worked on getting on other people's blogs While my own site had pretty much fallen off Google's radar, a lot of other blogs in my niche were still there. And so I started thinking about how I could make an appearance on those blogs and try to grab some of the traffic they were getting. Writing posts for other people's blogs (guest posting) wasn't really a thing back then. But that's what I set out to do. I started reading their blogs a lot more, and commenting on their posts. And then I offered to write articles for them and be interviewed by them. This not only brought traffic to my blog, but also helped me become known as an authority in my niche. 4. Started a newsletter As I learned back then (and Facebook users have learned in the past few weeks), the only guaranteed way to avoid losing traffic this way is to use a platform you have complete control over. Such as email. And so I started writing a newsletter, and encouraging people to subscribe by giving me their email address. At first I was only getting a handful of subscribers each week. But over time the numbers grew, and these days I have more than a million subscribers. Starting a newsletter and collecting people's email addresses is probably the most powerful thing I've ever done, and I really wish I'd started doing it earlier. Just make sure you're not just collecting emails for the sake of it. Unless you're actually sending out a newsletter, or at least regular updates, it's not much use. 5. Started promoting other ways to subscribe As much as I love email and the power it can provide, I realized I didn't want it to be my sole connection with my readers. After all, not everyone like receiving emails. Back then RSS feeds were big, and so I started promoting my RSS feed in case people wanted to connect that way. But these days I tend to focus more on getting subscribers and followers on social media. Exactly what social media platforms you focus on will depend a lot on where your readers hang out. (You might want to ask your readers which platforms they prefer.) But if you're not sure where they are then Facebook and Twitter are two good platforms to start with. 6. Started networking more These days we tend to take networking online for granted. But back in 2004 there were only a couple of options – email and forums. And I wasn't doing much networking with either of them. But after my traffic scare I started putting aside a bit of time each week emailing getting to know other bloggers in my niche and asking if I could help in any way. I even tried to meet them in person, which was a big step for me. But my efforts paid off. Not only did it lead to some great friendships (and even a couple of profitable partnerships), it opened up opportunities to link to other bloggers, and for them to link to me. And we know how much Google likes other sites linking to yours. These days we have plenty of ways to network online – Facebook groups, Twitter, and even apps such as Clubhouse. But the best way to network is still face to face, and once we get past this pandemic you should look for ways to meet people in your niche. The chats you have with people during a session, over a meal, and even in the queue for a coffee can lead to all kinds of fruitful relationships. 7. Started running my own events As well attending other people's events, I started running my own. The first event I ran was at my local library, which hosted workshops on various topics that people volunteered to run. I asked if they'd be interested in me running a class on how to use digital cameras. "Sure," the librarian said. "We've never had a photography class before. You can do it." So I put up a sign in the library, and in the end around 20 people came along to learn about photography. I ended up running a few of them, and while 20 people may not sound like many, some of our readers on Digital Photography School have stuck around simply because I met them in in one of those workshops. And I'll bet they introduced a lot of their friends to my blog as well, which has helped us increase our traffic numbers. I've attended a lot of events, meetups and conferences over the years. And these days we have around 500 people attending our ProBlogger conferences. And they've all provided me with a great opportunity to meet people who have then become readers, and quite often advocates and evangelists for our sites. 8. Started having personal interactions with readers Something else I started focusing on more was having more personal interactions with my readers. As I just mentioned, your readers can become advocates and evangelists for your blog. But for them to do that they need to feel they have a connection with you. And for that happen you actually need to connect. So respond to their comments, interact with them on Twitter, and even email them out of the blue occasionally. Showing that you've noticed them and value them is a very powerful thing. 9. Started pitching to other bloggers If you've written something that other readers in your niche might be interested in, you may want to try pitching it to other bloggers in that niche. Just shoot them a note on Facebook, Twitter or whatever platform they like to be contacted on and say, "Here's something I wrote. It might be useful to your readers." Providing what you've written is useful, you'll be amazed how many people will share it. After all, helping their readers by providing more useful information makes them look good too. 10. Ran a content event The last thing I did was to start running what I’d now call a content event. Around this time the ‘Idol’ shows (American Idol, Australian Idol, etc.) were quite popular, and so I decided to do ‘Blogger Idol’. I’d suggest a topic (I think the first one was ‘The ’80s’) and then encourage everyone to write a post about it and publish it on their blog. They’d then send me the link to it, and I’d publish a post with all the links. Of course, most of them would then share my blog post, which sent traffic to both their site and mine. (Later on I repeated this as part of our 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge.) Getting people involved in something like this is a great way to not only build traffic, but also get them coming back to your site. An ironic footnote By doing all of these things, I now get getting traffic from all sorts of places–other blogs, social media, my email and newsletter list, and even word of mouth. So if any one platform disappears, or my blogs disappear from it, I’ll still have traffic coming in. Ironically, about six weeks after losing all my traffic, Google changed its algorithm and I got it all back. Where is your traffic coming from? Take a look at your Google Analytics, and see where your traffic is coming from. If you see a lot of it coming from a particular source, you should think about using some of the techniques I tried to diversify your traffic sources. Because who knows what the future holds.   Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash The post Why You Should Diversify Your Traffic Sources appeared first on ProBlogger.

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ProBlogger: 15 Ways to Hook Readers into Your Blog

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15 Ways to Hook Readers into Your Blog Posted: 18 Feb 2021 03:00 AM PST The post 15 Ways to Hook Readers into Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger. This post is based on episode 35 of the ProBlogger podcast. With so many blogs out there (not to mention all the other types of websites), you’ve only got a few seconds to convince a first-time reader that yours is worth coming back to. So how do you do that? By hooking them quickly with your blog’s design and content. And here are 15 ways you can do it. 1. Provide ways for people to subscribe, follow and connect You might think this is so obvious it isn't even worth mentioning. But despite there being so many options available – email, RSS feeds, social media and so on – you'd be amazed how many bloggers don't provide an easy way for their readers to stay in touch. You should start by working which option works best. I prefer email simply because it gives me complete control. You only need to look at what's happening with Facebook in Australia at the moment to see what can happen when you rely on a platform you don't control. Once you've decided what method works best for you, embed it into your blog's design as much as possible. While we have links to our various social media channels on our blogs, we have multiple places where we ask for people to subscribe – in popups, in our design, and even at the end of our blog posts. Which is a nice segue into my next point. 2. Ask people to subscribe in your content One of the best places to ask for your readers to subscribe is when they're reading your content. It's the equivalent of casually bringing up during a conversation, and chances are people will be more than willing to agree – especially if you've just provided them with useful content. When Twitter first arrived on the scene, we ran a number of posts on Digital Photography School about how to use it. And it was the perfect place to ask people to follow us. "We've told you all about Twitter. Why not try it yourself? You can start by following us and seeing how we use it." 3. Make a good first impression with your blog When people come to your blog for the first time, they'll want to know what it's about and whether it's relevant for them. If they can't figure it out, they'll quickly move on. And I mean quickly, as in a matter of seconds. So make sure they can quickly get that information from your blog's design, title, tagline, categories and navigation areas. Speaking of design… 4. Pay attention to the design of your blog While your content will ultimately be what keeps your readers coming back to your blog, its design is also important. People will quickly judge whether your blog is professional, relevant and on-brand for them by what they see. And as I said earlier, if they don't like what they see they'll quickly move on. So make sure your blog is easy on the eye. Use images, headlines, subheadings and formatting to make your posts look inviting. And keep your paragraphs relatively short so they aren't faced with a wall of text. And don't forget about those people reading your blog on mobile devices. How does it look on your phone? Are the images too big, forcing people to scroll for pages just to get to your content? Or is the balance of text, images and white space just about right? 5. Build anticipation Think about the blogs you've subscribed to or follow on social media. Can you remember why you subscribed in the first place? Chances are it's because they were providing great content, and you didn't want to risk missing out on any more of it. A great way to build this sense of anticipation on your blog is to write a series of posts that cover a particular topic. And at the end of each one, explain what you'll be covering in the next post. There's a good chance your readers will come back and/or subscribe to avoid missing on what you'll be covering next. Another way you can do it is to have a type of post that comes up regularly. For example, every Friday on Digital Photography School we give our readers a challenge: "Go away and take a photo on this theme. Then, come back and share it." We have some readers who come back every week to read those posts (and only those posts). 6. Link back to earlier posts If a reader has just finished reading your post on a particular topic, chances are they'd be happy to read about it some more. So if you've written posts about that topic in the past, you should definitely provide a link to them. The more useful content they find on your blog, the more likely they'll subscribe. You can link to these posts as part of the conversation you're having with your reader. Or you can create a "Further reading" section at the end of your posts that provides a list of links. There are even tools and plugins that can do this for you automatically, pulling in other posts in the same category or even your most popular posts. 7. Create a sneeze page If you have a lot of posts that cover a particular topic, then you might want to consider creating a "sneeze" page for that topic. A sneeze page is one where you provide a list of all the posts (or perhaps the most popular ones) that cover that particular topic. It's kind of a one-stop shop for newcomers that brings all the information they need into one place, such as our Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials for Beginners page on Digital Photography School. But while it can be great for your readers, it can be great for you too. Chances are you have a lot of great content buried deep in your archives that people may not know about. A sneeze page allows you to bring these posts back to the surface, so to speak. 8. Use social proof Just as people are more likely to consider eating at a restaurant that's full of diners, people are more likely to read your blog if you have lots of people commenting on your posts and following you on social media. So make sure you show how many comments each post has, how many followers you have on Facebook, and how many people have subscribed to your emails. And if you're still building up your numbers, try highlighting whatever interaction you're getting. Speaking of interaction… 9. Encourage people to interact People are much more likely to come back to your blog if they've interacted in some way, whether it's leaving a comment, voting in a poll or entering a competition. So make sure you encourage people to interact at every opportunity. At the end of your posts, ask your readers what they think about the topic, or perhaps the idea you've come up with. WordPress has a number of plugins you can install that will let people know when someone has responded to a comment they made. And of course, you should be responding to everyone's comments as well. 10. Get personal People are more likely to connect with you if they think of you as a person rather than a brand. So to try to be as personal as you possibly can. It can be as simple as including a photo of yourself, which I do a lot on ProBlogger. But you can also do it be sharing personal stories about yourself, and showing that you're just as much a human being as your readers. You can take it one step further, and create podcasts or videos so people can hear your voice and even see you 'live'. 11. Remove the date from old posts Some people will judge a post by how old it is, figuring that unless it's relatively current it can't possibly be useful. And in some cases they're right. On ProBlogger we talk a lot about blogging tools and techniques, and what worked a year ago may not work as well (if at all) today. And so showing when those posts were created is important. But on Digital Photography School we often talk about concepts that never change. I still refer to a post about aperture that I wrote more than a decade ago. If you have similar evergreen posts you may want to consider hiding when they were written so people aren't put off by it. 12. Give people an incentive to subscribe A great way to convince people to subscribe to your blog is to give them something in return. One option is to offer a free PDF booklet or guide to anyone who subscribes. Unfortunately, some people will subscribe to get their freebie and then immediately unsubscribe once they have it. A better option might be to provide an ongoing benefit, such as a free course on a particular topic that’s delivered through a series of emails. That way they’ll be more likely to stick around for a while. 13. Work on your About page One of the most highly read pages on any blog is the About page. People use it to figure out: what your blog is about who you are whether you know what you're talking about. So make sure your About page makes these details clear. It’s also a great place to show a little personality so people will think of you as a person rather than a faceless brand and be more likely to connect with you. 14. Target different readers with different messages Not everyone arrives on your blog in the same way or for the same reason. And so you may want to tailor your message depending on where they’ve come from and what they want. There are some great tools out there that let you deliver a different message based on whether they’ve arrived from Google, Twitter, Facebook or somewhere else. For example, on ProBlogger we use OptinMonster so we can tailor our call to action based on where people have come from. And as people coming from Google often leave again very quickly, our calls to action for those visitors tend to be a little stronger 15. Pay attention to where your traffic is coming from If a particular post or page on your blog is getting a lot of traffic (perhaps because it’s getting a lot of media attention or has gone viral), make the most of it. At the very least, make sure it includes an invitation to subscribe to your blog. (If it doesn’t, add one.) You may also want to create a “Further reading” section so you can bring more of your posts to people’s attention. You may even want to create a follow-up post and then link to it. Time to start hooking those readers What are you going to do to start hooking readers on your blog? Let us know in the comments.   Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash The post 15 Ways to Hook Readers into Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

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ProBlogger: 10 Writing Tips to Help You Sound More Human

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10 Writing Tips to Help You Sound More Human Posted: 11 Feb 2021 03:00 AM PST The post 10 Writing Tips to Help You Sound More Human appeared first on ProBlogger. This post is based on episode 52 of the ProBlogger podcast. As a blogger, you will be judged by everything you say. Of course, unless you've just starting out and have never received a comment on your blog, you probably already know this. But did you know you will also be judged by how you say it? Depending on the words you use you may come across as trustworthy or shifty, stiff or relaxed, friendly or unfriendly, genuine or fake, robotic or human. And it's that last one that I'd like to tackle today by giving you some writing tips to help you sound more human. As I've said many times, one of your goals as a blogger is to build relationships with your readers. But that's unlikely to happen (at least not quickly) if everything you writer makes you sound like a robot. And it's not just blog posts you need to think about. You also need to sound human in your social media posts, your emails, and even in the microcopy you write your website such as your 404 page. So here are ten things you can do to sound less like a robot and more like a human being. 1. Use more contractions When you're talking to someone face to face, chances are you'll use a lot of contractions – "we're" instead of "we are", "you'll" instead or "you will" (as I used in this sentence), and so on. And you should also use them in your blog posts. A lot of people think you need to be more formal when you're writing. But as J. Michael Straczynski once said, "Good writing […] is nothing more or less than speaking on paper. It's the development of your natural voice." And this is especially true if you're writing an apology or delivering bad news. Because in those instances you don't need to be formal. You need to be sincere. 2. Use shorter, simpler, clearer words Like most bloggers, you probably want to be known as an authority in your niche. And so you may be tempted to use the fanciest words you can think of to sound more… well, authoritative. And so we choose words and phrases such as "utilize", "incentivize" and "efforting outreach" instead of "use", "motivate" and "connecting". Unfortunately, it usually has the opposite effect. Thanks to our politicians, we usually associate long words and convoluted language with having something to hide. And so rather than coming across as an authority, you just come across as being dishonest. It also put people off reading your content simply because you're making them work too hard to understand what you're saying. Even if they are willing to put in the effort, your words may simply be too complicated for them to decipher what you're saying. Always write using short, simple words that have a clear meaning. No-one is going to complain that you made the information too easy to understand. 3. Don't use exclamation marks When you write a sales page to sell a product or service on your blog, you often want to generate a bit of excitement with your copy. Unfortunately, a lot of people do it by ending their sentences with exclamation marks. But tacking on an exclamation mark doesn't make anything sound exciting. Instead it's seen as trying to overcompensate. (F. Scott Fitzgerald went so far as to say "An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.") So don't use exclamation marks to try and create a false sense of excitement. Use those short, simple and clear words to create real excitement. 4. Avoid using jargon Another trap bloggers fall into when trying to sound authoritative is using jargon and acronyms in their posts. Yes, it may help you get your message across more quickly. But it can also alienate potential readers who have no idea what they mean. They'll quickly decide you're not writing for them (or are deliberately excluding them) and move on. And that's the last thing you want to happen. If you really want to use a particular acronym or industry term, explain what it means the first time you use it (e.g. "Make sure you have a clear call to action (CTA) at the end of your post"). After that you can use the acronym because the reader will know what it stands for. It's the same with any jargon that you use. If you're talking about tachycardia, then you should explain that it means a fast heart rate. And don't assume your readers will know what a term means because you explained it in your previous post. They may not have even seen it. 5. Proofread before you publish As I said earlier, people will judge you by the words you use. And that's especially true when your post is full of spelling mistakes. The internet is flooded with examples of misspelt or misused words that turn an important statement into a joke: "Please pay your parking fee before existing." "No smoking aloud." "Violators will be towed and find $50." If a word is misspelt, then you may get a warning depending on what software you're using to write your post. But if you've used the wrong word (as with these examples), then it may not tell you there's a problem. And by the time you find out there is a problem, the damage to your reputation and perhaps your brand may have already been done. So make sure you proofread your posts before you publish them. Ideally you'd do this a day or two after writing it so you're not familiar with the words. But if you don't have the time you could try reading it out loud, or even asking a friend or fellow blogger to proofread it for you. (Reading your post out loud is also a great way to see if you've used any complicated words or language.) 6. Create a style guide A related problem is spelling words in different ways in the same post. You may talk about "email" in one paragraph, but then refer it to it as "e-mail" in another. You need to be consistent not only to look professional, but also to avoid confusing the reader. And that's where a style guide comes in. You can start by choosing a particular dictionary as your "source of truth" for how to spell and hyphenate particular words and phrases. But a style guide goes further, and spells out (pardon the pun) things like: tone of voice how to capitalise headlines (title case, sentence case, etc.) when to spell out numbers and when not to when not to use abbreviations how to format times and dates. Some businesses and government agencies make their style guides freely available. You can either adopt one of them, or use it as a starting point for creating your own. And then you can keep adding to it as you go along. 7. Hire an editor Having a style guide is one thing. Enforcing it is another. If you're writing your own content you can check things as you go to make sure everything is consistent. But if you have other people writing content for you, it's not as easy. Even if you give them all a copy of your style guide, how can you be sure they're following it? This is where hiring an editor can be such a help. They'll go through everyone's content (including yours) to make sure it's consistent with what's in the style guide. And if it's not, they'll either fix it or ask the author to do it. They can also proof your content to make sure you haven't made any embarrassing typos, and even suggest changes to improve your copy. Yes, you may have to pay someone to do it. But having an editor will free up more of your time to write content. Which would you rather be doing? 8. Make it all about your reader Ever been excited by an email or a web page that says, "We're super excited to announce this new feature" or "I can't wait to tell you the good news"? I'm guessing your answer is "No". Sure, they're excited. But you're not. And why is that? Because they're making it about them by using words such as "We" and "I". So when you're trying to make someone feel excited about something, make it about them by using words such as "You" and "You're": "You'll be finishing work early with this new feature" "Finally! Here's some good news for you". Switching from "I" and "We" to "You" and "You're" often means rewriting the entire sentence. But making everything about your reader instead of you will give you a much better chance of them feeling excited. 9. Put yourself in your readers' shoes By now you're probably champing at the bit to his "Publish". But before you do, picture someone else reading your post. Not just anyone. A specific person. It could be someone you know, or a well-fleshed-out persona you've created. It just needs to be someone specific. Now, picture them reading your post when they've had a really rough day. They got to work late and got chewed out by the boss. They spilled coffee all over their shirt at morning tea. They've been dealing with stupid emails all day. And now they're about to sit down and read your post. How do you think they'll react to that pun in the headline? Will they start poking holes in your reasoning? Will they bother reading that long paragraph, or just skip over it? And how do you think they'll feel when they get to the end? Will they feel how you want them to feel? Now, think what you could change to eliminate those issues and leave them feeling the way you want them to. And then start editing. People will often say to me, "I feel like you're writing to me," and I think it was because I was writing to someone specific. I think it does help you to write in a different tone if you're imagining someone or having a bad day. You're going to write in a more patient and more caring way. 10. Don't be snarky Humor can be a great way to build a relationship with your readers. People like to laugh and be in on the joke. But there's a difference between being funny and being snarky. Humor should be lighthearted, and if there's going to be a 'victim' it should ideally be you. But humour is often directed at other people, and instead of being funny it comes across as being mean and snarky. And the last thing you need it your readers thinking you're a bully. So tread very carefully when you're trying to be funny. And if there's a possibility it could be taken the wrong way, you might be better off leaving it out. In other words, be kind.   I hope these tips have given you some ideas on how you can sound more human in your blog posts, emails and social media updates. Now, take a look at some of the posts you’ve written recently. Can you see where you could make changes to sound more human? Which tips do you think will have the greatest effect? Let us know in the comments.   Photo by Syed Ahmad on Unsplash The post 10 Writing Tips to Help You Sound More Human appeared first on ProBlogger.

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ProBlogger: International Start a Blog Day Class of 2021

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International Start a Blog Day Class of 2021 Posted: 06 Feb 2021 05:00 PM PST The post International Start a Blog Day Class of 2021 appeared first on ProBlogger. Why would you start a blog in 2021? The past 12 months have shown us how important human connection is. Particularly when people have become physically isolated, blogging has brought people together, providing a space for ideas, conversations and community. In the new Covid-19 world, amidst crisis and fast changes in society, blogging is an established platform which has adapted and helped people in their time of need providing hope and creative solutions to emerging problems.  I am very proud of how bloggers have stepped up to help their local and online communities. I spoke more about this as the virus was hitting in March, in my podcast episode: COVID19 – How to Approach Blogging Through This Crisis. And amidst the chaos, upheaval and overwhelm of the previous, I am immensely proud of the individuals who have stepped up and decided that they too want to contribute to making the world a better place by creating new blogs. Now, more than even we need to encourage and nurture people who are willing to put themselves out there and do something positive to address the needs of their readers – both current and future. These new bloggers have made their first steps in the journey toward a profitable blog:  Start a blog Create content Find readers Build community Make money   Not yet Launched? We'd also like to recognise those pre-bloggers who are currently working through the course and taking steps to launch their blogs. We'll be bringing you updates on them in the coming weeks. So if you’re still working to launch your blog, make sure you update your student profile in our members section (you need to be logged in) with all your blog details, when you’re ready.   Course Graduates New bloggers, if you’ve got something out of doing the course, we’d love you to leave us a testimonial (you need to be logged in) recommending us to other new bloggers. Next Steps As a new blogger, your horizons are broad and choice of direction is completely up to you. At ProBlogger we've developed some key resources to help you choose the right path for you and one that leads to a successful and profitable blog. Four Pillars of Blogging Series – Helping you build the foundations for a successful blog Create Content Course Find Readers Course Build Community Course Make Money Course Content Sprint Series – Three 7-Day mini-courses, focused on planning and creating different types of content. 31 Days to Build a Better Blog – ProBlogger's trademark course based on my best-selling book, designed to help you form the habits and routines that you need to adopt to be a successful blogger.   Would-be Bloggers You can view all the testimonials here for ProBlogger’s free course The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Blog. Hopefully you’ll be inspired to take the course and start your own blog.   Congratulations to the Class of 2021! Finally and most importantly I would like to introduce and congratulate the class of 2021 who are launching their blogs today on the 4th Annual International Start a Blog Day, 7 February 2021. These new bloggers will inform, entertain, connect and help people. They will enrich and even change their readers lives. Please support these new bloggers by visiting their blogs, reading their posts, leaving them an encouraging comment and following their progress via email and/or social media. They’ve taken action by completing ProBlogger's Ultimate Guide to Starting a Blog course and following through on a commitment they've made to themselves and their future readership. You can check out all the new bloggers below – enjoy scrolling through the entries! You can also sort by Blog Topic to find some new blogging buddies in your niche. For more details about each blogger, click on the button to expand their entry. Note: If you don’t see your new blog in the list (and it is launched and you have completed your student profile in our members section) it may be because you missed the cutoff please email help@problogger.com so we can include it in updates to the list in the coming days and in next week’s newsletter. Filter by category ---- (none) Books Business and Marketing Education Family Fashion & Beauty Finance Food Gardening Handmade Craft Health and Wellness Hobbies Home and House Lifestyle Personal Social/Political Issues Sport Technology Travel and Outdoors Visual Art The post International Start a Blog Day Class of 2021 appeared first on ProBlogger.       Related Stories International Start a Blog Day Class of 2020

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ProBlogger: Are Schedules and Deadlines a Help or a Hindrance?

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Are Schedules and Deadlines a Help or a Hindrance? Posted: 04 Feb 2021 03:00 AM PST The post Are Schedules and Deadlines a Help or a Hindrance? appeared first on ProBlogger. This post is based on episode 249 of the ProBlogger podcast. This week's post is all about schedules and deadlines. Are they a good thing, or can they hold you back? We've talked a lot about deadlines and schedules over the years, and how they can help you publish content regularly. They can not only help you get into the flow of writing content, but also let your readers know when to expect new content on your blog. But what if your schedule becomes a hindrance rather than a help? What if the pressure of constant deadlines starts having an adverse effect on your blogging? There are no rules about how often you should post new content on your blog. But as someone who's been blogging for a long time, I thought I'd share what I've learned over the years. Choose quality over quantity The first thing I want to say is that quality is more important than quantity. Your regular readers won't share your posts if they aren't any good. And so pumping out content before it's ready just to meet your deadline could hurt the potential growth of your blog (not to mention your brand). But quantity is still important, particularly if you want to monetize your blog. As I've said many times, every piece of content you publish is a doorway into your blog. The more content you produce, the more doorways you have. And each doorway is a potential source of traffic from search engines, social media, and links from other blogs. You can still get traffic without having much content, but you are limiting your chances significantly. Which can be a problem if you equate 'quality' with 'perfectionism'. ‘Quality’ doesn't mean ‘perfect’ I remember talking to a blogger who felt that everything they wanted to say on their blog had already been said, either by them or someone else. And so they began second-guessing everything they wrote. "Is it good enough? Will it stand out from what other people are saying? Will it stand out from what I've already said before?" To the point where they weren't producing any content. As you can imagine, this limited the chances of their posts being found by search engines, social media shares, links from other blogs, and so on. Which, in terms of building traffic, isn't a great strategy. Yes, quality trumps quantity. But if you don't produce any content then you're really limiting yourself, particularly if you're using a monetization model that relies heavily on traffic such as AdSense. Schedules and deadlines So it would seem that schedules and deadlines can help (by pushing you to post regularly) and hinder (by pushing you to post content before it's ready). But not having them can also help (by giving you time to create quality content) and hinder (by letting you get away with not publishing anything). So which one is it? Should you use them or not? That depends on who you are and what stage you're at with your blogging. Some people find deadlines incredibly motivating. A friend of mine is a journalist, and she admits that if it wasn't for her editor's deadlines she wouldn't have won some of the awards she's received for her work. Her editor gave her a really hard deadline for one piece, and made it clear there would be consequences if she didn't meet it. That looming deadline gave her a rush of adrenaline and panic that sparked her creative engine. And the piece she wrote ended up winning a national award. As much as she doesn't like deadlines, she knows they're good for her and help her produce her best work. As Thomas Carlyle would say, "No pressure, no diamonds." But deadlines don't have that effect on everyone. For some people it just clouds their mind and stifles their creativity. Here's what George R.R. Martin, who wrote Game of Thrones, said about deadlines: "I've never been good with deadlines. My early novels, I wrote by myself. No one knew I was writing a novel; I didn't even have a contract." Not having a deadline gave him a sense of freedom where he could just create. Which probably explains why he struggled to write the latest volume of Game of Thrones when he did have a deadline. In extreme cases, deadlines can create so much panic in a person that they effectively become paralyzed. If any of this sounds like you, then creating an editorial calendar might not be a good idea. So how do you feel about schedules and deadlines? Do they keep you moving, or send you into a tailspin? A double-edged sword Or perhaps you're like me and a lot of other people who find them both a help and a hindrance depending on the situation. There have certainly been times when deadlines were my friend. If it weren't for my editorial calendar and the deadlines it gives me, I doubt I would have produced anywhere near the amount of content I've published over the years. But there have also been times when an impending deadline created far more panic than the situation warranted. I started focusing on the deadline instead of the work, and ended up creating content I wasn't happy with. I still think having some sort of schedule, whether it's a full-blown editorial calendar or simply promising yourself to write something every week, is a good idea. But don't use one if it makes you feel uncomfortable. It's a schedule, not a contract If you do decide to create a schedule, just remember that it's not a legal contract that will have you thrown in jail if you miss a week. If you need more time to work on your post, there's nothing wrong with posting it a little later than you planned. If having to post every week is making you anxious, try dropping back to once every two weeks. And if you need a break, then that's fine too. At ProBlogger we've changed our publishing schedule a lot over the years. And we announced some of those changes to our audience, but not all of them. As I said earlier, there are no rules about how often you should post new content on your blog. Which means you can create a schedule that suits you, your blog and your life. Don't feel pressured into posting every week just because other people are. You don't know what their circumstances are. They may have a team of ghostwriters working for them. Just find a balance between quality and quantity that suits you and your lifestyle. Another way to look at deadlines If the mere thought of creating a schedule makes you nervous, think of the deadlines as goals instead. This can help you stay on track without feeling pressured. I'd like to publish a new post every week. But if I don't then it's not the end of the world. And no-one else needs to know what your goals are. If your plan is to publish once a week but it's taking more than a week to complete each post, the only person who'll know about the discrepancy will be you. Everyone else will just think you're writing to a fortnightly schedule. How do you feel about schedules and deadlines now? Do you currently use a schedule to create deadlines for yourself? Are you going to start doing things differently after reading this post? Let us know in the comments.   Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash The post Are Schedules and Deadlines a Help or a Hindrance? appeared first on ProBlogger.

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