Expert Tips for Blogging Success

Have you ever wondered how successful bloggers become successful? Of course, you’ve heard about all the search engine optimization techniques as well as the fluke viral posts. But there must be more to creating a blog that has a sustained yet ever-growing and more-engaged readerships, right?

I asked six bloggers to reveal the one or two needle movers in the growth of their blogs—activities that helped them attract unique visitors, gain subscribers, get noticed by influencers, and create income. Their answers provide a wealth of information you can put to use immediately to help your blog succeed.

How to Grow Your Blog and Succeed as a Blogger

“Two things have contributed most to the success of my blog and the growth of my email-based business, for which the blog serves as the “top of the funnel.” They are, first, my conversational writing style about subjects that other writers were not covering, and, second, the care and time I put into creating a very useful, targeted, and highly designed free document offered in exchange for an email opt-in.”

Joel Friedlander (@JFBookman) is an award-winning book designer, a blogger, the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish and the recently published The Self-Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide. He’s been launching the careers of self-publishers since 1994 and writes TheBookDesigner.com, a popular blog on book design, book marketing and the future of the book. Joel is also the founder of the online training course, The Self-Publishing Roadmap and provides pre-designed book templates and other tools for authors at BookDesignTemplates.

“The one thing that attracts readers is when I am not afraid to rock the boat. In addition, I share posts by way of the permalink on all my social networks. I also share many of my posts with my email subscribers. I send a couple of paragraphs from the post with a “read more” and the permalink. This gets nice traction.”

Kathleen Gage is on a mission. She wants to inspire you to live fully,play full out, generate great revenue and leave a lasting legacy.

Kathleen is the “no-nonsense, common sense” online marketing strategist,speaker, author, product creation specialist, and owner of Power Up For Profits. She helps entrepreneurs make money online. Her clients are driven by making a difference through their own unique voice.

As an early adopter of online marketing, Kathleen is known for cutting through the fluff. She speaks and teaches about what she believes are the core elements of a successful life: accountability, integrity, honesty, and living with passion and hope.

Kathleen believes the best way to become well known in your market is to let go of the need to be well known and simply serve and create an incredible experience for all you come in contact with.

Kathleen’s mission includes animal rescue, respect of diversity, living a healthy life in mind, body and soul and contribution to community. Connect with Kathleen on Google+ or visit www.powerupforprofits.com/.

 

“The biggest factor in my blogging success is that I was a very early adopter of business blogging. I saw the power and opportunity in 2004 and haven’t looked back. I’ve been consistent and evolve my blog as trends evolve. I never stopped blogging.”

Denise Wakeman is an Online Business Strategist. She is also host of the popular live video show and podcast, Adventures In Visibility, focused on helping small businesses and online entrepreneurs to optimize, leverage, and strategically use social marketing tools to gain visibility, build credibility and make more money selling their products and services.   Denise is passionate about Adventure travel and how it can inspire you to think bigger and go for what’s possible in your business and life. Connect with Denise on Google+.

“Having a platform that includes a newsletter and social media, building relationships with readers (responding to comments, commenting on other bloggers’ blogs, following and interacting with readers on social media)…it all works together, all the moving parts. Finally, writing for other high-profile publications helps immensely—Huffington Post, for example, helps quite a bit. I also write for The San Francisco Book Review, BookPromotion.com, 12Most.com, and several others.”

Rachel Thompson is the author of newly released Broken Places and the award-winning Broken Pieces, as well as two additional humor books, A Walk In The Snark and Mancode: Exposed. Rachel is published and represented by Booktrope. She owns BadRedhead Media, creating effective social media and book marketing campaigns for authors. For affordable group sessions check out Author Social Media Boot Camp, monthly sessions to help all authors! Her articles appear regularly in The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Book Review (BadRedhead Says…), 12Most.com, bitrebels.com, BookPromotion.com, and Self-Publishers Monthly.

Not just an advocate for sexual abuse survivors, Rachel is the creator and founder of the hashtag phenomenon #MondayBlogs and the live Twitter chat, #SexAbuseChat, co-hosted with certified therapist/survivor, Bobbi Parish. Find her on Twitter at @RachelintheOC and Google+.

“My blog is successful because it meets primal needs my readers have. Successful blogs either help you earn money, save money or feel better about yourself—or a combination of those. I’d say mine helps writers earn money and feel uplifted. Also, I listened to my readers a lot, and then developed the paying products they told me they needed at affordable prices. Finally, Jon Morrow says the next great bloggers aren’t born, they’re appointed—by the current top bloggers/influencers. And he’s right. Being noticed by Jon when I shared one of my blog posts on Twitter, and then guesting for Copyblogger, and winning Top 10 Blogs for Writers were key to growing my audience and laying the foundation for this to be a blog I could build a viable business around. Without links and mentions from big-traffic blogs, it’ll be hard to ever hit critical mass.”

Carol Tice writes the seven-year-old Make a Living Writing blog, three-time winner of Top 10 Blogs for Writers, and a 2014 winner of Writer’s Digest’s Top 100 Websites for Writers. In 2011, she founded the writer support community Freelance Writers Den, which now has over 1,400 members. Her next ebook comes from her blog: Start Here: 50 Freelance Writers Share How They Find Clients, Stay Motivated, and Earn Well Today.

“I attribute the success of my blog to several factors but the top two are: guest posting and social media.”

Frances Caballo is a social media manager for writers and author of Avoid Social Media Time Suck: A Blueprint for Writers to Create Online Buzz for Their Books and Still Have Time to Write, Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books and Blogging Just for Writers. Currently, she is the Social Media Manager for the Women’s National Book Association-SF Chapter and the San Francisco Writers Conference. Find her on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
What tactics have you used successfully to grow your blog? Tell me in a comment below.

Photo courtesy of adam121.