I've been blogging pretty consistently for over a decade now. And one of the most important lessons I've learned from it is that you can't succeed on your own. By that I mean that if you want to garner a substantial audience and gain some credibility (let alone make a few bob out if it!) you simply have to connect with other bloggers. And you have to nurture those connections. You also have to really appreciate your audience and engage with them on a regular basis.
If you do these things you'll learn an immense amount of new, interesting and useful information in a very short space of time. This will hugely increase both the quality and quantity of your blogging output. The more good stuff you add to your blog, the more is out there to be found by search engines. So this helps to further grow your audience all on its own.
Then there's the fact that building relationships with other bloggers and social media users results in a much greater number of shares on social networks. This brings in more visitors directly, and improves SEO as well. Speaking of SEO: links from quality blogs in your niche are gold for your rankings. And the more bloggers you develop lasting relationships with, the more of these will accrue.
Given how powerful all these factors are, being a friendly, gregarious person is a real boon if you are a blogger.
Yet just as important is the ability to sit there on your own and keep cranking out the posts for hours on end, day after day!
Sure, the socialization is done overwhelmingly online. You're not out there pressing the flesh like a politician in campaign mode (though it helps if you can do some of that as well!). But online friendships are very much like offline ones in that they do take time, effort, emotional maturity, and insight into human nature to maintain. Social ineptitude alienates people quickly in the blogosphere just as it does in the real world. So while bloggers must be self-starters and happy to spend many solitary hours working, being a loner and misfit is a huge disadvantage.
It's a real paradox, this. Blogging requires two diametrically opposed qualities. I can't help thinking that it's a lot like stand-up quality in this regard. You send hours and hours in your own head coming up with routines, trying to make them as unique and entertaining as possible. Then you get up on stage all on your own. But your purpose is connect with a whole bunch of people on such an intimate level that you can make them laugh for half and hour or more. That's a very social aim because it requires a real understanding of what most people find amusing. It also brings people together in that time and space.
Can you think of any other professions or pursuits that have such an odd combination of psychological requirements?
If you do these things you'll learn an immense amount of new, interesting and useful information in a very short space of time. This will hugely increase both the quality and quantity of your blogging output. The more good stuff you add to your blog, the more is out there to be found by search engines. So this helps to further grow your audience all on its own.
Then there's the fact that building relationships with other bloggers and social media users results in a much greater number of shares on social networks. This brings in more visitors directly, and improves SEO as well. Speaking of SEO: links from quality blogs in your niche are gold for your rankings. And the more bloggers you develop lasting relationships with, the more of these will accrue.
Given how powerful all these factors are, being a friendly, gregarious person is a real boon if you are a blogger.
Yet just as important is the ability to sit there on your own and keep cranking out the posts for hours on end, day after day!
Sure, the socialization is done overwhelmingly online. You're not out there pressing the flesh like a politician in campaign mode (though it helps if you can do some of that as well!). But online friendships are very much like offline ones in that they do take time, effort, emotional maturity, and insight into human nature to maintain. Social ineptitude alienates people quickly in the blogosphere just as it does in the real world. So while bloggers must be self-starters and happy to spend many solitary hours working, being a loner and misfit is a huge disadvantage.
It's a real paradox, this. Blogging requires two diametrically opposed qualities. I can't help thinking that it's a lot like stand-up quality in this regard. You send hours and hours in your own head coming up with routines, trying to make them as unique and entertaining as possible. Then you get up on stage all on your own. But your purpose is connect with a whole bunch of people on such an intimate level that you can make them laugh for half and hour or more. That's a very social aim because it requires a real understanding of what most people find amusing. It also brings people together in that time and space.
Can you think of any other professions or pursuits that have such an odd combination of psychological requirements?