BluePop13

This is a Pop Post by James Richmond from TheInfoPreneur.net. James is an incredible blogger who hasn’t been at it for very long (about 3 months) and is the ultimate example of how hard work will bring you amazing results. I’ve been with him since about the beginning of his blog and have seen what he can do.

I recommend everyone who reads this post visit his blog and discover someone who is more than willing to help you out with whatever you need and can push content out like there literally is no tomorrow. Enough said, though I could go on and if you want more please read inspiration, smart work, success | the infopreneur.

Over to you, James.

Let’s just get this out of the way first, I’m not a marketing expert or a web 2.0 guru, in fact I have no qualifications at all. So why read the rest of this post then? Well, despite my methods and mentality not working for everyone, it works for me, so read on and give it a shot.

Millions of new websites are created every week and within weeks most of then are already starting to fail. A website, your website is your megaphone, your worldwide banner that says ‘Come and listen to me’ but why do so many fail where the minority succeed?

I have never paid for a coaching programme, never paid for advertising and have made a stack of mistakes, but I firmly believe the main reason after 3 months my site is growing is because of these simple but vital parts;

• Drive

I’m driven you have to be, in my opinion it’s the only way to succeed. A website with no drive is going no where, it’s simple. Imagine a car, any car without an engine. It becomes a piece of scrap without any drive, you need to want to tell people about your thoughts and opinions.

Drive can come from anything around you or something that you yet to have around you. My family and my full time job drive me to over produce and keep moving forward, I want to spend more time with my family and leave my full time 60hr working week job, so I’m driven to achieving that as quick as I can.

• Passion

You need to be passionate about your topic, I don’t care if it’s an article about pin cushions or rocket engines, if there is passion behind it I will read it. You know what I’m talking about, you would and probably still come across, websites that just talk about the same old blurb everyone else talks about and it’s a boring read.

On the same thread, you can really tell if someone is passionate about that topic and whether you’re into it or not, that will inspire you and it’s this point you need to have in abundance. Passion for your subject matter will transform you into yet another site people will close straight away into a website with real fire and fuel to keep it burning for a long time.

• Accessible

How many times have you gone to contact a site owner and never been able to find out how to do it, or have had to go to site map and track their contact page or email down that way? It really gets to me when owners do this, the other thing that drives me mad is when the author of the content never interacts with their readers.

If people are taking the time to read, spread and reply to your content then the very least you should do is to thank them and talk to them in the comments section or the forum you have created. No matter what you need to be present for your visitors, customers or readers to actually reach out and shake your hand, no hand shake, no business.

• Readers

Every site needs visitors, fact. No traffic no website. Your readers are the very reason you write new content or produce latest products for them to buy. Without your readers you are nothing, absolutely nothing. I want you to really think about that, without your readers you wouldn’t even be thinking of how to take it to the next level, so make damn sure you look after them.

All these are the vital components of a successful website, SEO, links etc all important yes, but without these vital parts the site is on life support with only one outcome.

This is a Pop Post by Ben Lumley from 6Aliens.com. He’s a great writer and a very cool person to talk to. Check out his blog and get to know him, you won’t regret it. Over to you, Ben.

I’m Ben Lumley, a blogger from the UK who writes about self development at 6aliens.com. Why not connect with me on Twitter @benlumley6 or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to my RSS Feed?

We can all have our say now and reach a massive audience. 20 years ago, if you wanted to have your say and have everyone listen, you needed to be on radio, TV or on a massive billboard somewhere in the middle of town. Even then, you only had the potential to reach a particular geographic group of people, unless you moved on to better things.

Now if you write a blog post, it has the potential (without the need to take it to any other forum) to reach millions of people from all over the planet. That’s a massive thing if you think about it for a minute. Everything you write, or take pictures of, or video has to ability to hit a huge audience.

But there’s a funny thing about potential. It’s pretty useless unless you do anything about it. It’s like having a million dollars (something we can all relate to) and letting it sit in a box under the floorboards. It has the potential to change the lives of millions of people in either a positive or negative way but is useless unless you take some massive action with it.

Think of your blog as that million dollars.

Nurtured in the right way, it can positively affect the lives of people from all walks of life or it can lay dusty on the shelf.

How to make or break your blog.

Content

Make: With great content you can achieve anything. What was it the man said? “Give me a lever long enough and I can move the Earth.” You need to create stuff that you’re truly passionate about. It might be hard to come up with, it might take a while to put together, but by the end of it you should be so excited to publish it that you’re fit to burst.

Break: If you’re sitting down thinking, “I don’t want to write this” then don’t. You’ll end up creating something that makes people think “I don’t want to read this.” If you write in one continuous paragraph you’ll lose people’s attention. Focus on giving your readers a great article that they just can’t put down.

Comments

Make: Getting comments on your blog to start with is hard work. You can’t get your message heard if you’re standing on an island. Get out there and talk to other people. Commenting on other blogs has exploded my traffic. It’ll do the same for you.

Break: Make sure you always add value – just saying “great post, Dude” won’t get you anywhere. Just shouting your message on every comment page on every blog you find is just selfish and won’t make people want to come and visit your blog. Oh, and whatever you do, have the courtesy to reply to people who leave comments on your post. They’ve taken time out of their day to leave you a message, the least you can do is thank them (sorry rant over).

Promote

Make: Having a great post is one thing; telling people about it is another. Ever wonder how many people pay attention to cards you see up in shop windows saying that they have something to sell? Realistically, probably not many. What if your card was an advert but it was the one that came on TV just before your favourite programme, just after you sat down to watch it? You’d notice it then wouldn’t you? My friend James has this down. Write and promote, write and promote.

Break: The biggest things that will break your success with regards to promoting your posts are the fact you either don’t promote them (let’s just keep that box with a million dollars in it under the floorboards shall we) or that you promote it badly. Keep it simple. Don’t demand that people come to read your posts. Give people the choice and you’ll find that as your blog grows more people will choose to come and read or watch.

The making and breaking of your blog really comes down to one simple question… what are you going to do with your million dollars?

I’ve been successful in my first Guest Posts and would like to give out a huge thanks two both Sarge from BeginnerBlogger.com and James at TheInfoPreneur.net because they were kind enough to publish my work which means my articles were to their standards.

I want to give you the same opportunity I’ve had the last couple days. If you want to write an article for BluePop13.com just write your article and make sure it follows the guidelines below and send it to me.

What I’m looking for

• A quick and simple bio with links back to your site as well as your e-mail (make sure your e-mail is in HTML format).
  

• Please write an article relating to blogging, social media, computers, technology, entertainment, linux, money, life and self development, and helping people solve problems with how to’s.

• Any article on the above topics will do just fine as long as it’s well written and is fun to read and useful to other people in some way.

• To submit your article just send me your email address your article and your bio (if e-mailed remember to have it in HTML format if possible). Will have Pop Posts page up shortly.
  

• My post days as of right now are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I will post your article on one of those days as soon as I review it and it has been approved.

• I will email you to let you know if I’ve approved it and what day it will be posted. As soon as it’s up I’ll send you a direct link to the article.
  

Remember just e-mail me your bio and article in HTML format. My Pop Posts page will be up shortly as stated above.