Blog Like The Big Dogs
By Bill Riddell on Mar 19, 2008 in Principles of Success
Recently I was chatting online with a fellow blogger who has been struggling for some time. He has been running his blog for almost six months but has not been able to really improve his number of readers in the last three months. His readership is not growing anymore.
He has dreams of turning it into ‘one of the top blogs’ and often talks to me about all of the changes he will make and tactics he will use once it is successful.
I asked why he does not do these things already, he replied that you only do those things once your blog is successful and believed they wouldn’t work at the moment.
He seemed not to realize that by using those very ideas his little blog could possibly become a lot bigger.
I told him to imagine that his blog was very successful, to visualize exactly what it would look like. He described how the new layout would look, what his posts were like, if there was any ads, etc.
Together we wrote down everything he described. It was a pretty impressive list.
Again I asked why he had not made any of these changes, even simple and effective changes like adding a RSS Subscriber. Yet again he believed that only ‘big blogs’ could use these techniques because he only saw the ‘big blogs’ using them.
I was truly dumbfounded.
I asked him to humor me and make at least one of those changes every week. Just the other day he made the first change by adding the RSS Subscriber. He already has four subscribers, thats four people who will see every post he makes after just two days.
If he keeps making these changes he may just become a big dog of the blogging world. There is no reason you cant do it either.
Imagine all the extra things you would do if your blog was a smash hit and make them now. Get some guest bloggers, use a unique wordpress theme, write that great post you have been saving for when you have more readers and most importantly THINK LIKE A BIG DOG, you might just become one!
-Bill Riddell
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21 Comment(s)
By Jeff Gordon on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
great information
By Emma on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Great article. I have ideas of great blogs I could write on my site but often think to myself “I’ll save them for when I get lots of hits a day”.
Of course, this leaves me with very few not-so-great blogs on my site that if people do visit, it won’t be enough to encourage them to stay!
By Aaron at FullTiltBlogging.com on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Great post! After working with internet business owners for seven years I can tell you INACTION rather than WRONG ACTION is responsible for almost everyone who fails.
By Missy on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Hi—Bill (you must be the new writer on the block):
Nice to meet you, name is Missy. Bloggers should definitely act like they have a big blog, even if theirs is currently a tiny one.
Add content, improve design, network, and promote should be the hallmark of all bloggers, BIG and small.
By Bryan on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Missy - Bill is one of 3 new writers at OMG. What do you think so far? Be brutal… punish the guy…
By Sudheer on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
One should take out the “to do list after being successful” from their minds.
Regards,
Sudheer
By Mr. Nice Guy on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Great content. It’s really a problem for millions of bloggers maybe how to become an authority in their blogs and celebrate success.
By MargoTutor on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Great advice you gave your fellow blogger! Sounds much like the well-known maxim, ‘Act the way you would like to be, and soon you will be the way you act.’ Guess that can work for people as well as blogs, eh?
By Nick on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
That’s crazy! Come on, everyone knows to fake it until you make it! That’s what I did, and I still wouldn’t say I made it, but I went out and got the premium theme and put my site 100 dollars in the red, and wrote the best content I possibly could. I did everything I could to make sure I rose above all the other blogs that were in the same position as me. When I looked to part, all the other stuff started falling in place, advertisers, readers, comments, etc.
By Bill on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Yes I’m one of the new bloggers Bryan has enlisted, very pleased to be on board.
Emma - we all have made some not so wonderful blog posts, don’t let the thought of people seeing them stop you from adding great posts to your blog. If they are really that embarrassing, delete them or go back and edit. People would rather see just one great post on your blog than 20 average ones. It’s about quality not quantity.
Missy and Margo - absolutely, you need to think big in order to become big. Not just in terms of your blog, but life in general.
By Bryan on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Emma - Although I agree with the point that Bill was trying to make, I’d recommend NEVER deleting posts. Especially since it’s so easy to go back and re-write them to make them more appealing to new readers! That’s my tip of the day, the bill is in the mail!
Nick - I thought you had died. It’s rare not to see you in the top 3 of my “top commentators”. Good to see that you still know how to get here my friend…
By Missy on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
Bryan, im not really good at being brutal. Atleast not yet. LOL.
Bill—-The post was very basic in nature, try harder next time. Oh, dang i can be brutal. Sweeeeet!
By Bryan on Mar 19, 2008 | Reply
LOL… Don’t worry Bill, you’ll grow to love Missy! She’s a loyal reader and always willing to add to the conversation!
By Emz on Mar 20, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your thoughts Bill and Bryan
Deleting posts is something I probably would’ve done 6 months ago, but after seeing some of my posts in google after only a couple of days posting them I think I’ll leave them where they are
Editing them though does sound like a good idea!
Thanks!
By Clothing Guy on Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
Great suggestions!! I will use them towards my own new blog.
By Richard Callaby on Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
This post was basic but it did illustrate a valuable technique of Kanzi or the Japanese belief in small improvements done over a long period of time add to great improvements. Let’s face it many bloggers get into a rut of self doubt and disbelief that they can ever “make it” as a blogger and then give up. I would say that would be true for about 90% or more of the blogosphere out there. it is perhaps a bit low even. just my opinion of course.
By Bryan Clark on Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
Richard - This post might have been a little basic, but Bill is new. Give him some time to warm up, I think he’ll do just fine! Also, I couldn’t agree more with the Kanzi comparison, and I think that 90% is waaaaaay low. I read somewhere that less than 1% of the blogosphere will ever make real (full-time) money from their blogs.
By Bill Riddell on Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
Yes Richard and Missy this article was quite basic, however I truly believe that is often the best approach to get your message across. I see too many people over complicate there writing in order to make themselves feel more intellectual. This often just confuses their readers, distorting and even removing the effectiveness of their post.
This entry was about introducing a mindset to success. In further posts I will discuss specific methods to achieve greater success.
However, by all means do keep the creative criticism coming.
By Mark on Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
Actually I think you do need to act in a certain way and as you say imagine as if you are there, I have read this in quite a few books about seeing yourself as how you want to be, I decided myself to invest in a more professional theme.
And don’t tend to think I won’t make it, blogging is a learning game even though the concept is quite simple you do have to take action and think BIG interesting post.
By clueless on Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
interesting post.
i usually myself implement “upgrades” to my sites and blogs progressively. i’ve found that applying to much work and effort to a site that has next to no traffic useless.
but i like your 1 change per week theory. i’ll have a think about doing something like that in my next 3 sites i’m about to launch by end of april.
By Jonathan on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
How true, but it is like that with so many things. When I am rich and have time, I can write articles, post on my blog, learn a new marketing technique. Take action today - even just a bit at a time. Turn off the TV or other distractions. Make the posts, put in the effort and your blog will be great.