Today is a very special day here at Simple Solutions for Part Time Entrepreneurs.
This marks my 200th blog post!
Applause is appropriate now, thank you very much.
It seems not that long ago that I was writing about my huge milestone, 100 blog posts.
And here I have doubled it.
Since the first 100 posts, some cool things have happened:
- Our blog was voted #7 in the Top 50 MLM Blogs.
- I started a cool interview series with Top Part Time Marketers.
- I began a collaboration with 18 other top bloggers in the home business niche, called Experts Speak. Wildly popular!
- For the first time, I had people requesting to advertise on our blog.
So how did this all happen?
How To Write 200 Blog Posts and Live to Tell About It
To explain every detail about building a popular blog would take way too long.
My wife tells me I'm too wordy, so I'm going to condense it down to shorter snippets.
Oh heck, let's make it a list:
1. Start with an idea.
Why do you want to blog? What do you want to write about? Who are you going to “talk” to?
2. Clearly define your niche.
The term “find your niche” has become widely used in recent years, for good reason. But it takes more than just finding it. You must define it, twist it every which way and understand it better than you understand yourself.
If you don't know exactly who you're writing for, what they need, how they're suffering and what you can do about it, you might as well not even start a blog, unless you just want to hear yourself talk.
Some call this a journal 🙂
I've written a ton about how I found my niche here at Simple Solutions for Part Time Entrepreneurs. Here is the best resource I've found for defining your niche.
3. Lay the Framework
Go get a self hosted blog on WordPress.org or another self hosted site. Do NOT let someone else host your blog (think Blogger.com and WordPress.com). I made that mistake and my first blog was gone one day without notice… for “violations of terms of service.”
If you self host your blog, you can rant, rave, throw things, preach, and sell to whatever extent you wish, without worrying about Big Brother shutting you down.
If you don't know how to set this up yourself, here is an inexpensive but incredibly valuable course that will help.
4. Look Professional
Don't allow your blog to look unprofessional or hokie.
It just won't cut it.
Unless you're a web designer, you'll want to outsource this. Getting a really cool header for your blog is no big deal nowadays, and won't cost you much more than $5 on Fiverr.com.
5. What's the Point?
What's the purpose of your blog, anyway?
- Is it to generate leads for your primary business?
- Build a list?
- Brand yourself?
- Showcase yourself as a leader?
- All of the above?
It's important at this step to figure out what your desired outcomes are for your blog. You need to have that direction.
6. Educate Yourself so you can Educate Others
If you want your blog to be a place where you teach others about business, marketing, lead generation, mindset or whatever…. you MUST educate yourself along the way.
It's hard to teach something you know nothing about.
But here's the cool part. You don't need to learn everything before you start blogging.
You can learn and teach as you go along.
Here's another point — you don't need to be the smartest person in your niche. You just need to know more than most others.
And in most niches, that doesn't take much.
7. Ask Questions
As you begin to develop a readership, ask them questions.
- What do you need help with?
- How are you struggling?
- What keeps you awake at night?
Heck, I developed my Free Giveaway, the Part Time Entrepreneurs Success Kit by asking one simple question using SurveyMonkey.com: “What do you most want to learn here?”
The 2 most popular answers were the basis of our free giveway (don't have it yet? Why the heck not?).
8. Interview Others
Find others that your readers would find interesting and interview them. I've done it several times, most recently with Natasha Nassar Hazlett.
Your readers will get to meet new people with inspiring stories, and you build up your business connections for later use.
Win-win!
9. Aim High!
When I started my Experts Speak Collaboration Project, never in a million years did I believe that I'd get some of the top bloggers in the Industry to come out and play with us.
But they did… and some even contacted ME asking if they could join us.
How cool is that?
Do NOT sell yourself short! Never assume anything!
Aim for the sky in all you do.
10. Be Consistent, Persistent, and Belligerent
Be consistent in your efforts. Set up a schedule for blogging and stick to it. Whether it's once a day, once a week or once a month, never put it off once its on your schedule.
Be persistent against obstacles. You WILL have things thrown in your path along the way.
But your ability to get around these obstacles will determine your ultimate success, so climb over them, under then, or around them… whatever you have to do to keep going and moving forward.
Be Belligerent against the naysayers. The people who laugh at you for doing what you're doing. The non-believers. The people who are afraid you WILL succeed because that will show them how disappointing and humdrum their lives really are.
Spit in their face (not literally) and move on. Keep going.
This Post has Nothing to Do with Blogging
Read between the lines of this post and you'll see that the 10 items on my list are really a BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCEEDING in your BUSINESS, not just your blog.
Find your WHY, determine the purpose of your business, define and understand your market, lay a proper framework, appear professional, educate yourself, ask questions, collaborate with others, never sell yourself short and make success non-negotiable.
It is the true recipe for realizing your dreams, folks!
36 replies to "How To Survive 200 Blog Posts and Live to Tell About It!"
Your blog is fine. I just want to touch upon the design. Its too loud. Its doing means too much and it takes away from what youve acquired to say –which I think is actually important. I dont know when you didnt suppose that your words might hold everyones consideration, but you were wrong. Anyway, in my language, there usually are not much good supply like this.
Appreciate your input, Pankaj. I am constantly testing and tweaking my blog design in trying to come up with just the right combination.
Congrats! Wow that went fast.
I absolutely loved this post. What I liked about it the most about all the information you have given us is the part of: “Lay the Framework”
When you said: ” Do NOT let someone else host your blog (think Blogger.com and WordPress.com). I made that mistake and my first blog was gone one day without notice… for “violations of terms of service.”
This is not only the problem, but it takes away from your branding. I was just going to write a rant about that as I was visiting some new bloggers. It is so important to have your own personal blog with your own name that brands YOU! I think that is one of the key reasons for your success.
Also when you mention to educate yourself to educate others is a golden rule of blogging. One can never run out of content that way. We are constantly taking some of our time on learning curves to keep our business up to date. When doing that, just shout it out to your readers!
Again, Congratulations, You deserve the applause!
Donna
Hi Bob,
Congratulations. That’s quite an achievement. A lot of people stop blogging way before 200 blog posts. I believe that your list is very accurate. To me, it’s been about aiming high and never giving up. I have done a lot of mistakes, but as long as you keep going no matter what, and learn from your mistakes, you’ll eventually end up where you want to be 🙂
Hi Bob,
Congratulations on your 200th posts and most of all on all your successful ventures since your 100th posts. That’s how you know that you’ve progressed and are getting better and better at what you do.
It is absolutely essential to use your own hosting if you want to remotely look professional in this online biz. No one, nowadays, will stop long enough on any amateur looking blog to do you any good 🙂
You’re right, just finding a niche is good, but it’s just the beginning. I think that defining is the right word. Thank you for making this point.
Great post!
:::clap clap clap clap!!::::
So I have to know… what was the date of your very first blog post? In the next few months I’m on track for my 200th, too, so we may have to have cake or something 🙂
All very good points here for running a successful blog… and a successful business in general! Plan, find your audience, execute, measure, repeat. And never give up. Here’s to blog 300!
Really great tips you share with us. Its very helpful for my blog. thank you so much for sharing this post.
This is awesome Bob and Rosemary!! I think your right when you say this is a blueprint for success in business.
It’s so awesome to be wring your 100th post! I am not sure how many I have wrote I lost track. I started my blog late 2010 and have loved the type of attraction it provides my business. i feel it is the most effective way to build a business. I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and look forward to reading your next post! 🙂
Thank you April… it certainly takes dedication and perseverance to reach milestones such as these. But writing 200 blog posts isn’t as hard as one may think, especially when you have a clearly defined niche that you know well.
Whenever I run into a dry spell for blog post ideas, I ask my readers what’s stopping them or causing them issues in their business, and then I write about it.
Appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for this wonderful ideas that you share in this blog. This is such a big help to us.
I’m glad, Carol. Keep coming back, there’s much more planned in the near future!
Congrats on hitting 200 posts – that’s quite an inspiring accomplishment! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Sharon!
Hi…I am really inspired a lot because of your post here…Thank you for the help!
Thanks for your support, Luisito… stay tuned for much more!
Wow! that is a great accomplishment. I wish i am good on writing and reach 200 in the coming years.
Keep on writing you inspire us and we learn a lot from you.
Great job!
You don’t have to be a great writer, Becca. Just need to share what you learn and share from your heart.
Thanks for your support!
Congratulations Bob, here is looking forward to the next 200 blogs.
Thanks, Wade! Me, too!
Congratulations Bob on hitting that 200th post. Wow, that time flew by didn’t it? It doesn’t take much that’s for sure and you’ve done a fabulous job of sharing great content that keeps us coming back for me.
Love your list and there are some areas I definitely need to concentrate on. Just got off a phone conversation with a Facebook friend and we were talking about this very same thing. I still have a lot of work to do this year so I’m anxious to implement more of these strategies into my own blog.
Will be keeping tabs on this list now Bob so thanks for that. Now here is the the next 100 posts.
~Adrienne
Glad you found my list useful, Adrienne.
When I started writing this post, it wasn’t my plan to formulate this list. I was just thinking about what got me to the point where I was able to write 200 posts and then I thought, “I should number these”.
Perhaps this is the way that great lists are conceived! 🙂
Anyway, thanks for being a regular reader and commenter… I very much appreciate you and what you bring to the discussion.
And for the other commenters reading this… if you haven’t met Adrienne or been to her blog, you’re missing out. Go check her out now.
Ah thank you Bob, I greatly appreciate that. And you are right, you should make a list post out of this. Great tips.
Congratulations, Bob! 200 posts is a great accomplishment! Those are ten important points for building a solid blog. You laid them out in a good order because without the foundation of the first two the rest won’t be able to come together!
Thanks, Stacy!
It’s true, without a solid foundation your blog (or business) will never get off the ground. Thanks for the comment!
That is a lot of posts. Needing content is the hardest thing to blog about but you make it seem easy.
Hi Luke,
You know, it sounds like it would be hard to keep coming up with content, but it really hasn’t been. I look to my readers for inspiration. I ask questions and write about what they need.
I also get alot of content ideas from comments like yours.
If you haven’t done so, be sure to read this post about content creation from our Experts Speak panel of expert bloggers:
http://bobandrosemary.com/great-content-ideas-blog/
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Bob,
congratulations to you 200th blog post. Way to go ! You are a perfect role model of consistency. It can’t be stressed enough how critical it is to run a self-hosted blog, thanks for pointing that out explicitly. We should point out though that hosting services too have of terms of service that can be violated. There’s one service that is widely used that doesn’t allow MLM in its terms and conditions. As long as we don’t have our own servers, we are still tenants. I am sure that every entrepreneur is aware of the legal framework of his or her business.
Keep up your great work !
Cheers
Oliver
Great point, Oliver. Every service has terms you should read and understand before using, even with a self hosted blog.
Thanks for your endless support over the first 200 posts Oliver! Very much appreciated, my friend.
It was an informative post. Thanks for sharing this with us, it really helps to a newbies like me.
You’re welcome, Jam. Let me know if I can help.
Hi Bob, you did a great job. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Please keep it up.
Thanks, Liz… appreciate the support!
I think I am going to give this a try! Thanks for the nice idea..
Definitely, Arthur! Blogging is an amazing way to get your message out and brand yourself as someone to follow.
If you need help, give me a yell. I’ve got lots of resources for you.
Bob, congrats on reaching 200 posts! That is an impressive number, especially if you are willing to put in the time to produce a quality product.
I completely agree with #3 on your list – host your own blog. It amazes me how many fairly big blogs are hosted by Blogger or some other platform, where you don’t have complete control. I understand that not everyone is technically savvy enough to dig into the guts of a system and create a website, but fortunately you don’t have to with something like a self-hosted WordPress blog. Host your own so you don’t ‘disappear’ one day.
Hey Marshall,
I put in #3 because people need to understand what can happen if you don’t host your own blog. As I said in my post, my first blog (which I loved!) got shut down one day out of the blue, for “terms of service violations.” The frustrating thing is no one could (or would) tell me exactly what I did to violate the terms. They just shut it down.
I vowed never to let this happen again, and by hosting your own blog, it never will happen to you.
Thanks for the kind words and your insights, Marshall.