Successful Blogging: 5 Tips to Success.

The world has literally millions of bloggers competing against one another (Technorati alone claims to track 112.8 million of them). So how can you automatically give value to your writing? Easy, just write with confidence. Most people assume writing with confidence is all about your use of language but that’s not even half the story.

Let me explain this in a way that you’ll certainly have experienced; you’re reading a post about “how to get more traffic” yet the next post is about “I got 1,000 visitors yesterday”. Suddenly the credibility of the information in the first post is sullied by the user’s inherent lack of confidence. A user who is excited about 1,000 users is unlikely to have a lot of traffic - therefore their advice on the topic loses value. Here are my 5 tips on writing with confidence.

#1 - Don’t Ever Talk About Being Dugg/Reddited/Stumbled

Unless you’re being featured in the national press don’t discuss the exposure you’re getting unless it’s topical; otherwise it completely detracts from the message you’re giving. Bad bloggers talk about “I received 2,000 visitors yesterday from Digg”, good bloggers talk about “How to leverage Digg for traffic”. Showing your excitement about bursts of traffic shows your inexperience and stops your information being reputable.

#2 - Don’t Disclose Failure Unless It’s To Make a Point

While failure helps you to be seen as “real” to your anonymous reader it can also make your readers doubt your abilities. This is especially true in the professional blogging field - Shoemoney didn’t become famous by showing you his smallest Google Adsense cheque did he? No, he shows you a massive one and suddenly his advice means something. So unless you’re trying to make a point (e.g. why making money online is hard) don’t discuss your failures.

#3 - Shout About Your Successes

While I don’t recommend disclosing your failures it doesn’t mean you can’t shout your successes. As I stated above, you become reputable by proving that you know what you’re taking about. When Shoemoney posted the picture of him and his biggest Adsense cheque he suddenly gained credibility within the “make money online” field. The best way to introduce your successes naturally is to use them as case studies: if you’re an SEO analayst then you can explain “how I got [x] to #1 on Google for [whatever]”. If you’re talking about how to make money online, then explain “how I made $10,000 this month”. Just make sure your success is worthy of being bragged about - otherwise you’re going to be that inconfident blogger again shouting about his 1,000 visitors from Digg.

#4 - Write with Authority

Ambiguity doesn’t inspire. Professionals don’t offer uncertain advice - they have given it many times before and know exactly what they’re saying. Your blogging needs to become more like this. If you’re explaining “how to get more traffic”, a confident blogger will write specifically how to leverage various sites and mechanisms as if they have done it before. A blogger lacking confidence will offer suggestions explaining that you “might do quite well” if you get Dugg. This leads me onto my next point:

#5 - You Don’t Need To Tell The Truth All The Time

If you’re feeling evil you can use confident language to make it seem as if you’re experienced in a field you are not (while I don’t advocate this). It’s entirely possible for you to write about “how to get Dugg” without ever having experienced it. You can read other blogs and collate this use this information to add authority to your own musings. So if you are lacking confidence on a given topic it pays to research it properly rather than express your inexperience.

There you have it, 5 tips to write more confidently. But don’t just limit them to your blogging, these can be used in any aspect of your life. If you speak (and write) with authority and confidence then people will pay attention. When was the last time you read a blog by a famous writer that lacked confidence? Exactly.

Creating Your Blogging Roadmap

Every blogger (irrespective of their popularity) needs to consider the future implications of their actions; this is true of any discipline within blogging, be it SEO, monetization or traffic. It’s a fact of life that you won’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going - so why would it be any different online?

If you’re driving from A to B, unless you know where B is and how to get there you’ll never arrive; and the same logic applies online. If you’re not mindful of what the future holds then you’re driving blind. Rather than get overly cryptic let me explain how to make your blogging roadmap:

#1 - Have a business plan

You don’t need to be a business to have a business plan - it’s just a document defining your objectives and timescales. So if you want to have 1,000 RSS subscribers by January 2009 that’s your business plan (because you’ve marked your objective and timescale). Once you’ve written your business plan you know where you’re going - that’s the easy bit.

#2 - Understand where you are now

Anyone can write on a piece of paper “I want to make $100,000 next year blogging” but if you’ve only got 5 RSS readers and no income it’s unlikely to materialize. The roadmap doesn’t have to be completely realistic but it has to be rational: you can aim high provided you can explain how you might get there. Aiming wildly at the sky and hoping for stardom isn’t a good way to meet your objectives.

#3 - Plan your resources

How many of the famous bloggers got where they are without promoting themselves? How many did it without spending a penny? How many did it without dedicating any time? None of them - that’s how many. To get anywhere you need resources because getting your name out there is the hard part. Competitions with desirable prizes are a great method provided you have something to offer (not necessarily an item, maybe a service). Just look what Unique Blog Designs [http://www.uniqueblogdesigns.com/] have done by offering their services as competition prizes… Time and money are resources and you’ll have to spend at least one to meet your objectives.

#4 - Find your inspiration

It’s all well and good aiming for somewhere but why are you doing it? You need to know your inspiration otherwise you won’t make it. Blogging on a regular basis (and producing high quality content) while trying to balance a full time job, friends, family and other commitments is not something that is easy to do. Yet you don’t need to know much about it to know how important regular updates are. Blogging becomes a lifestyle and without your inspiration you won’t make it.

Blogging is a very difficult thing to do well; just look at John, Shoemoney, Problogger (and more) and you’ll see that it takes more than good content to make it in this lucrative business (there’s that word again). January is a great time to do your roadmap because you can work out where you are, where you need to be and dedicate resources towards your goals. Rich and famous bloggers are still people, hell, sometimes they write down their advice and publish it just to help you out.

How to Use Money Earned Online, Offline.

What would you do with $23,448.59?

You really have two options. You can spend it on something that won’t make you money, but may bring you some kind of happiness, like a new car or a HDTV LCD Television. Or, you can use that money to make more money. Much more.

If you would have bought $23,448.59 worth of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock ten years ago, you would have $70,218.16 right now. You would have made an even higher percentage return by buying Google stock last year. But, after being slapped by Google, I don’t think John would condone that.

Putting your money into something that will make you more money is always a good idea, but what type of investment is the best? We may be at the end of a real estate boom, but my vote is still on real estate. Why? A little bit of knowledge can make you exponential returns.

Let me provide a short hypothetical for you. It’s 1997. You have the same amount that John made last month to invest. Someone approaches you with the opportunity to be a partner with him and another investor on a 12 unit apartment building in, say, Washington DC. You each will put $23,376 in as a down payment and, since real estate offers you a great leverage opportunity, you’re able to buy a building worth $351,729 (20% down payment, 80% loan from the bank).

Over the past ten years the Washington DC market has seen appreciation of 285%. So, in 2007 your building that you bought for $351,729 is now worth $1,002,427.

Since this is a commercial property, you have a professional management company handle it. Your job is simply to make sure that the management company is doing its job. You have to take into account the income you’ve gotten from the tenants. Let’s say the average rent in each unit ten years ago was $500 a month and it has gone to $650 a month today. This makes your average income over the course of the year $78,660 by applying a 95% occupancy level. The best part? That income pays your loan.

But, you don’t owe taxes on very much of this thanks to the great tax savings that apply to real estate. You will write off the interest on your loan, property taxes, management expenses and anything else that is an expense for the property. It’s basically a small business, so that trip to DC you make to visit friends can now be written off as long as you check out the property. Don’t forget to go to a nice restaurant too, and definitely don’t forget to post pictures on your blog.

Okay, this is all fine, but now it’s 2007 and you want to sell out. How much have you actually made on your investment? Hold your breath…. $284,081!

You put in $23,376 and you made $284,081 for a total return of 1,215%. Your partners that split the down payment with you three ways made the same amount. Think about it. If you would have had enough for the entire down payment, you would have made $852,243. Of the money you did make, you made an average of $10,933 each year in net income (money made after all expenses including the loan) and $174,751 of capital gains when you sold. This takes into account all yearly expenses like loan interest payment, property taxes, management expenses, and expected capital expenses (like replacing a roof).

This is why real estate can make you a ton of money: leverage, appreciation, income, and tax savings. Of course if you buy a house to live in you can have even more leverage (5% or less down) and even more tax savings (no capital gains tax).

The real estate market is cyclical and now is a great time to buy a long-term investment in an area that isn’t overbuilt. If you’d like to learn more, check out The Property Pundit. I tell you about my investments and what I’m looking to buy. There may even be an investment opportunity for you in the future. Friends, this isn’t a get rich quick scheme, but if you have ten years to wait and some money to invest, you’ll make an incredible return.

Now all you have to do is find a way to make $23,376…blogging is a start.

Another Way to Earn Money Blogging

Smorty is another way to earn money from your blog. Smorty connects bloggers and advertisers, letting bloggers review advertisers’ services and products.

Advertisers can advertise on blogs with quality content to get opinions on their products and services. Bloggers get paid for the reviews approved by advertisers via Paypal. The pay out is weekly, and this attracted me.

Bloggers can also write reviews in multiple blogs and earn more. Reviews must have a minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 400. There are not really many tough rules to get into Smorty like traffic, etc. and this is a good money making platform for new bloggers with quality content.

The Smorty interface is extremely simple to use, and I loved it. Nothing seemed to be complex. Opportunities are listed in the right panel for you to see.

There's also a referral program that lets you earn money when people sign up via your referral link.

Overall

Reviews must have a minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 400 words. Bloggers get paid for the reviews approved by advertisers.

Smorty’s interface is really simple to use. All available opportunities are listed on the panel for you to accept/decline. There’s also a referral program that lets you earn more bucks by referring new sign-ups.

Something which I found lacking was the usage of RSS feeds in the system. It would be easier for bloggers to keep track of available opportunities via feeds. Many similar services have integrated RSS feeds in their system very well.

Overall, Smorty seems to be a very good platform that lets bloggers get paid for blogging.