“The Secret to Blog Popularity” plus 1 more

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 01:09 PM PDT

This guest post is by Ankesh Kothari of SuccessNexus.com.

Psychologist Antonius Cillessen of the University of Connecticut wondered how kids became popular. So he started researching social behaviors and peer relations of early adolescent kids in American schools. And he found something very interesting.

He found that every school had a bunch of very friendly kids who are socially accepted and liked by everyone. But they are never considered popular.

The kids who are considered popular are often just as friendly as these universally liked kids, but with one difference. The popular kids draw a boundary around themselves, and exclude a few "outcasts" from their circle.

Professor Antonius found that you can't become popular unless you learn to exclude. He stumbled onto a truth that Chinese philosopher Confucius had described years earlier:

"Build small community and thousands will want to join." – Confucius

It's a truth high-end clubs have realized too. The harsher they are in excluding people from entering their premises, the more popular they get. Facebook grew when Friendster and other social sites didn't. Why? because of their initial exclusivity—they only allowed folks with a .edu email address to sign up.

Apple. Rolex. Rivendell bikes. All of them are insanely popular because they focus on only one type of an audience and exclude others.

If you want to make your blog popular, you too have to learn to exclude. You shouldn't cater to everyone. Only by creating exclusivity can you get the crowds to clamor for what you offer.

Creating exclusivity

Decide who your ideal reader is. What is their one characteristic that you value above everything else? What are their peculiarities. What do they love? What do they hate? (Or if not hate, what are they indifferent towards?)
Draw a boundary around yourself based on what your ideal reader loves and hates. Exclude writing posts on certain topics and catering to a certain group of people.
Let the world know (from your about page or your sidebar) who you are excluding and why.

I used this process to create a sense of exclusivity around my own blog. The first thing I did when I started out was to focus on who my ideal readers would be. I zeroed in on people who would take action without making excuses, and who have achieved some success already and are hungry for more.

I know that if I can help my readers' blogs grow, my site will grow automatically. And so I only wanted to focus on readers who are willing and able to put in the work to take action and grow their blogs.

That's why I focused on excluding two types of audiences that are slow or inconsistent in taking action:

Beginners: people who just don't have the skillset or the resources yet to implement things and take action.
Hot news chasers: folks who get excited by every shiny new thing that comes out and waste their time jumping from one thing to the next.

On the About page of my blog, I clearly mention that the above the kinds of audiences are not welcome.

The added benefit of this declaration is that it polarizes my audience to my liking. The beginners and hot news chasers go somewhere else. Meanwhile, the action-takers realize that there won't be a lot of fluff on my blog, and subscribe in higher numbers.

Action points

How can you become popular? Simple: don't serve everyone.
Target the right people. Don't write for everyone.
Mention on your about page: which topics you will never cover, and which people you will never cater to.
Be choosy and selective, and your fame and influence will grow.

Have you tried this approach on your blog? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments.

Ankesh Kothari is the founder of SuccessNexus.com—an affiliate management application for blogs and forums. He also runs the Advanced Internet Marketing Strategy blog—which you should not visit if you've just started blogging or didn't find value in this post.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

The Secret to Blog Popularity

Are You a Creative Blogger?

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 07:01 AM PDT

This guest post is by Chris Kahler of bloggeritus.com.

It doesn't take a genius to stroll around cyberspace and quickly find that the World Wide Web is littered with junk. There is a lot of "stuff" out there, most of which isn't very good.

On the flip side, though, there are still many amazing gems hidden beneath the rubble. The magical ingredient that marks the divide is creativity. Creativity isn't just part of a fairytale that only children believe in. It really exists, and is the one thing that will polish you into a masterful blogger.

The gems you will find online are from the few bloggers who have found their own creative abilities and applied them masterfully towards the many processes that grow a blog. They have their own special style that everyone instantly recognizes.

"Run of the mill" is a term used to describe work done by others who try to imitate someone else's style—their work becomes obscure and much less effective.

Originality is not attempting to be different, but rather doing what you want to do the way you want to do it. Originality is only effective when approached with creativity.

A blog is created through many small steps, wouldn't you agree? Depending on how you approach them, these steps can either produce "run of the mill" results and put your blog in the pile of rubble, or they can produce results of original creativity and polish your work to be one of the few gems to be found.

What are the benefits of creative blogging?

Blogging is a medium thriving on the expressions of originality. Those who can create their own unique style stand out.

You create your own style by being creative with your content and unique with your presentation. The creativity in your content will act as your originality, and over time your style will resonate with people.

For creating a unique style you must quit following trends, trying to fit in with specific groups, or attempting to fit a personality mold you weren't made for; rather, embrace the idea of creative imagination and flow where you really want to be.

When you become creative with your ability to express your thoughts, your style will carve a path of its own.

As you practice being creative many drastic changes will occur in your life. Here are some of the more noticeable changes creativity can bring:

Creativity can reduce stress (if you learn to enjoy it).
It helps to unlock hidden potential in your brain.
Creativity helps rejuvenate your vigor.
It boosts your motivation.
It will help you build and maintain stronger focus on what you need to get done.

Another main benefit, which in my opinion is one of the best, is the fact that you will actually grow to enjoy the process of creating. There is a fine line between work and play that produces the most efficient results toward any goal.

Creators of great achievements walk along this line.

They understand the importance of focused objectives yet are able to have fun during the time they spend "at work" getting them accomplished.

As you learn to be more creative you will grow to enjoy creating just for the sake of it. Results are just results and shouldn't be the focus of your efforts.

Creators focus on the creations, not the potential rewards

It helps to provide real value when your overall focus is applied in the right places. If you have a goal in mind that you want to reach, by all means remember it constantly.

However, when you find yourself in the trenches trying to make the life you want to happen a possibility, don't work with possible results as your main focus for inner drive.

Disappointment sets in when you work for results. But even worse, your work will be totally misguided due to the lack of controlled focus for direction.

Now if you have a dream, which everyone should, do keep it in the forefront of your memory; when you visualize your expectant life and realize certain things must initially take place for you to get there, you will understand what's next—you must create those "certain things" to help you move forward.

This is what visualizing is for—to help you prepare yourself for the skills you'll need to gain and to give you a direction to begin creating that dream.

As you create your way through the smaller incremental steps giving you advancement towards the dream, make those individual processes your sole focus.

Creativity will help define a passion for you

Being creative will help to create a since of pride in you, yet the process of creation will always leave you humbled. The result of this is the constant urge to continue.

When you learn to enjoy the creative process and feel a great deal of satisfaction from your creations, that's the birth of passion.

Creative passion is one of the most powerful driving forces for producing effective, high quality content in record time.

Furthermore, you will also strive to exceed any current “limitations”—this is just how the creative process is!

Applying creativity towards any kind of work you do will allow you to spark a new connection with what you're doing, and your progress will grow positively.

No matter what side project(s) you are involved with, such as a blog project, some form of art you want to try out, or any other kind of objective—if you search out a creative aspect in it, you will see things in an entirely new perspective.

The best part of creativity: a new-found perspective

Creativity gives you flexibility without expectation. This gives you a full enjoyment for what you do.

As a creative blogger:

Rather than creating blog posts just for the rewards of blogging, you will find yourself stretching your limits to create the best post you can, just for the challenge of creation.

Rather than focusing on distant realities in your mind you will develop solid concentration on tasks that are enjoyable.

You'll also begin feeling passionate for these tasks.

Also, a lasting impression for seeking creativity is the new mannerism developed for modeling the success of others.

Rather than seeing limits that seem to impose themselves on you when considering yourself in comparison with a notable leader, you'll just see the distance as mere obstacles that you will overcome in increments … creative increments, that is.

The only steps separating you from the most established professionals are the many smaller and focused processes of creation, which have given these professionals every asset, tool, and skill they use to travel the path of achievement.

Your steps to becoming a more creative blogger

To become a more creative blogger is a very wise thing to do. However, it takes time and effort to establish and build a mind that leans towards creative thinking.

Here are the things you must do in order to be more creative:

You must be more positive with your outlook on everything. For any situation, try to find the positive aspect or potential outcome. This is key for creative people.
Stretch yourself past what you may perceive as limits. There is a simple mindset to consider for doing this effectively. You need to learn this mindset in order to expand your own abilities.
Observe any professionals in your field or niche. Try to discern what makes their work different. Whatever it is that gives them a pizazz comes from creative thinking.
Master the aspect of innovation. By learning how to take an idea and improve it you not only give yourself room to expand the originality of your own ideas but also can benefit from observing the professionals you admire.
Practice the habit of writing every day. Writing a journal is one of the best ways to initiate a creative spark. A lot of ideas come to us every day, but only those who discipline themselves to organize their thoughts in ways that can be referenced are able to hold on to the good ones.
Learn how to be flexible. Allow yourself to take on new ideas, allow yourself to question your inner beliefs, but don't change who you are for anyone. Flexibility just opens you up to new channels of thought and is not meant to make you have a different belief system, only a more acceptable one for good ideas.
Learn how to experiment. Experimenting is the essence of creativity. When you do something that's different than everyone else, you will not know how the results will be. Learn to do this and improve from it.
Learn to accept criticism and how to give criticism. Find positive results either from yourself or others who critically analyze what you do is a great way to make improvement.
Above all, enjoy the process of providing quality content to the rest of humanity. You will grow as a passionate person and will establish a lasting legacy on this planet if you can do these steps.

Let creative blogging help you

As you can see, creative thinking isn't something you can expect to master overnight. There is a lot of information pertaining to our imaginations, most of which we have yet to discover.

According to what I've gathered from modeling success and acquiring new skills is that those who balance their thinking by relying more heavily on creativity than average people tend to stand out as above average.

These people are the ones who establish influence, trust, and higher levels of success using originality and boldness—both directly gained through creative thinking.

Unfortunately space is limited here, I like to keep my posts from turning into small novels! However, comments are a great way of continuing this discussion.

In what ways do you think you are creative already? How are you working to improve your creativity?

Chris Kahler has recently discovered the definition of a creative personality. He has also discovered that there are a million things still left unsaid which you should know about. Maybe subscribing to his RSS feed is a good idea? He thinks so, oh and while you're at it follow him on twitter as well.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Are You a Creative Blogger?