Posts Tagged ‘focus’

Today we’ll be talking about a subject many people fail to follow through with. When it comes to anything really, but especially blogging, you need to focus and achieve goals before you expand.

For example, many, and I stress the many, forget to have an established, and strong blog before adding another blog on your network if you will, and running dual blogs. In this regard, I don’t mean related blogs, but I mean separate ones. If you start a second blog before your first one has stable traffic and RSS readers, then your first blog has a better chance of not succeeding because you will be focusing on your new blog, which by the way will also have a bad chance of succeeding because, again, you’ll move on before it’s anything special. See how the vicious cycle runs on like that?

Let’s talk about a few ways to focus on your blog to stipulate growth, and also a few ideas for when and how to go about starting another blog.

Write content ahead of time

A lot of bloggers these days are catching onto this trend, and rightly so. It’s a smart idea to keep a small to medium sized stockpile of posts written up so that when the day comes that you can’t post for one reason or another, you have some content to fall back on to keep your blog flowing, with updated content. The last thing visitors wanna see is a blog update 9 days in a row, and then be un-touched for 5 weeks. Now, I completely understand sometimes you cannot post, but just make sure you keep your blog updated with fresh content, to keep your readers around. This is something that will cause growth and stability in your blog, which is something you need to make sure you have down before you start on a new project. Just keep in mind that if you write to far in advance, your stockpile of posts may become out dated.

Take time out for Your Blog

Running a blog is hard work. A lot of hard work, it takes someone with a lot of dedication and skill to keep one running for very long. You need to take out a lot of time for your blog if you expect it to grow, and running a second, even sometimes a third blog, can create a situation where you don’t have sufficient time for any of your blogs, which can contribute to their fiery downfalls. Just kidding.

But you still ask, ‘ When is it smart to start a second blog, and how can I keep the first and the second running smooth when this time comes?”

When should I start a second blog?

Some people will say immediately, some say never, and still others have a different viewpoint. I’m in the others among these three.

I feel that when it’s appropriate, starting a second blog can be a smart investment that can double, even triple your income and joy in blogging. But you need to make sure it’s time, as this can be a daunting task, running two blogs, and you need to make that you and your blog are ready.

As a rule of thumb for me, I feel that a blog needs to be firmly established with constant traffic before you start a second blog. When you feel you are ready, run a case study. See for one month if your traffic for any days goes down by more than 50 visitors. See how much you fluctuate. If it’s more than that, than hold off. If you think your ready, than go ahead.

But how to I keep them both running smooth?

There are a few ways to keep multiple blogs you run smooth, which is a tough task when just one blog can be tiring. We’ll list those ways here.

1. Hire a writer - Hire someone to take care of some of the writing, or even all of it!
2. Create an alternating posting schedule - Post every other day on each blog, alternating so you never have to write more than one post.
3. Get a friend to help manage things - This can include the advertising, upkeep, etc.
4. Automate as much as you can - Get OIOPublisher, set up autoposting schedules, anything you can to automate things to keep the work flow manageable.

Well, there you go! That’s it for today, and I think these tips will really help you out a ton when it comes to running multiple blogs.

“Content before Cash.” This is a phrase I use quite often for my own motivation, and it’s something I’d like to pass on to my readers as well.

Right now, blogging is huge, and it’s only growing. Everyone sees John Chow and Shoemoney making thousands per month off their blogs, and people wonder, “Why the heck can’t I do that?”, and they see no reason why they can’t, so they start blogging.

The problem with this mind set is that from the get go, they are only thinking about the money.

Now granted, there’s no reason to doubt anyone can make something off their blog, but the problem lies in putting the making money part of your blog before the content.

Content before Cash

Like I mentioned before, I use this phrase quite often, as it’s catchy and fitting.

When blogging, if you are only looking to make some quick cash off your blog, it will fail. Why is that? Simple. The passion, or desire to write, to interact with your readers, and to help people gain knowledge in whatever niche your in is just not there. Why? Because all you care about is “How much did I make this month?”

Now, I know it’s hard not to think just about the money your making, and granted, I think about the money I make off this blog. But it’s not my focus. My focus is to help bloggers, freelancers, and webmasters in their internet ventures. I only speak from experience, and I only try to help. I know that it’s tough to believe that I actually do want to help people, and not just make money, but it’s true.

Keeping Content before Cash

There are a couple ways you can keep content before cash when blogging, and I’ll cover them.

1. Don’t spend time reading blogger’s income reports

I know it seems quite silly, but it’s 100% true. As soon as I stopped reading John Chow’s income reports, and stopped gazing at Shoemoney’s giant Adsense check, I realized that when blogging, money is not everything.

2. Be Passionate about your niche

When blogging, if your only in a certain niche because it’s profitable, or because you have some connections, it’s going to fail. Why? Because you don’t really care. Your just in it for the money, and eventually, blogging about a 5 karat gold ring every day is going to get old. Real old, real fast. That’s why you have to make sure your niche is one you actually know about, and are passionate about.

3. Spend more time writing, not looking at the empty ad spots on your homepage

This is one reason why I love OIOPublisher, because it allows you to “set and forget“. I no longer have to deal with advertisers, talk with them, or anything. It’s all automated, which allows me to not even think about the advertisements, and just focus on my writing.

In other news, I will be posting part three to the series “The Freelancer’s Guide” tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.

Today we’re going to talk about a subject that has been brought up by Darren Rowse and other bloggers alike.

It’s the subject of focusing while writing for your blog.

We’re going to cover two aspects of this. How and Why.

How do I focus?

Focusing on your writing is not too hard to do, you just need to place yourself in the right situation.

Here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts when writing a blog post, that either help you to focus, (The Do’s) or distract you and eventually cause you to lose focus and determination in your writing. (The Don’ts)

The Do’s when trying to focusing on your writing

1. Keep your desk uncluttered
2. Don’t keep books or any other reading material (other than any required research material for your post) on your desk.
3. Don’t write posts in a slumped state. (IE: In bed, on the couch, etc.)
4. Disconnect your internet while writing up the post, as this keeps you from site surfing.
5. Use the full screen mode in Wordpress 2.5 to remove any other text or buttons that are on the screen that are unnecessary.
6. Write in a well lit area of natural light, not lamps.

The Don’ts when trying to focus on your writing

1. Don’t have the television on, no matter the volume level.
2. Keep the radio off, or on a classical music station. (it’s been said that orchestrated music helps you concentrate)
3. Don’t have any games open. (IE: Minesweeper, Tetris, etc.)
4. Don’t write in a public place with lots of noise and commotion.
5. Don’t talk to friends or family members on AIM, MSN, or yahoo messengers, as this will completely distract you and cause you to lose your train of though.

Now we’ll discuss why you should focus.

Why Should I Focus?

There are many reasons why you should want to focus in your writing. Let’s go over a few of these reasons.

One reason is because it shows in your writing. If you were distracted when writing your article, it is more likely that it will show in your writing by means of bad grammar. You need to take the time to write well so that you convey your highest quality writing!

Another reason is because if your writing seems to go off-topic, or you love tangents, than your readers will get bored with your blog, and they will leave.

You don’t want any bad articles so slip out and ruin your reputation as a professional blogger or good writer.

I hope you guys use these tips, and if you do, I can guarantee that your readers will see the difference and be more and more intrigued with your blog or articles!