Choose your niche carefully

• those who know what they want to write
• those that are writing to promote their business
• those that are writing to promote a cause or raise an issue.
• those that want to write a blog, but don’t know what to write
• and people like me  who like to write, but are unfocused.

This article is the last in a series of five relating to the different types of new blogger.  It warns that someone who likes writing, but is unfocused, is not going to do as well as someone who has a set targets.  A second consideration is that if they want to do more than write more than a low level, personal blog  they do need to define their niche.  If money is an objective a scatter, slap dash blog is not the way to fame and fortune.

I have been a sinner

True confession time.  I wrote my first embarassing blog post on 3rd October, 2002. I blogged for a couple years but took no control of the blog.  When Google took over Blogger their new automatic, extremely helpful, user friendly system completely wrecked up my layout.  Most of my images had disappeared and I had to go through a long, complicated procedure to restore each one of the 300+ posts.  I didn’t

My blog included geeky stuff, humour, reviews, political stuff, comments on the news, a few tourist pictures and a few things about me. Looking back a lot of the work is quite embarrassing, but I’ve left most of it on my personal, infrequent updated personal blog as a reminder that  I could do better.

One of  the benefits of my blog was that I was able to do a couple of public talks about blogging.  This then gave people the impression that I knew something about the internet, technology and similar things.  So I built up a quite a useful small business helping people with the internet projects.

But I missed out

What is clear is that if I had spent all the time and effort that I had initially done and focused on a niche.  If I had spent some of the time I’ve helped other businesses to develop I would have been quite a  rich blogger by now.  I estimate I should be earning somewhere in the region of $50,000 to $100,000 per year, without too much effort through affiliate schemes and ebooks.

I’m not feeling bad about this.  It’s just that as I’m now  looking at the blogging world I now realise how it’s done.  It’s not too difficult – just a bit of hard work, persistence, building your promotion and business skills  and developing your writing techniques.

So I’m probably old enough to be your dad so:

Work hard and make something of yourself my boy or girl

Becoming focused

Looking at my old blog it is not surprising that  I did not retain many visitors.  The site was not coherent and as the visitor scrolled down the list of posts they would be confronted by a political post, a joke, a film review, my weekend’s trip to Windsor, an ironic chat with Bill Gates, a gadget I liked etc etc.

What I needed to do is to find an area I am happy to write about and write.  If, like me, you need to write about a variety of different topics then a wide topic is useful.

One reason I chose blogging was that it can include writing about writing, seo, technologies, customising WordPress themes, motivation, making money and I can still have my odd rant about Microsoft. In addition I can do what I really like doing engage with other start-up blogger and help them develop, (a throw back to the old days of my being a community college lecturer).

So like in the introductory post in this series where I advised my friend Philip of developing his writing career as a car consumer journalist, rather than just writing about cars.

You need to think carefully which niche you really want to work and remember that to be a successful blogger you need to work on your blog for a longish time.

Unless you’re lucky, and it does happen, it could take 6 months to a year before things really get moving.  Sadly so many good blogs go under just as they are beginning to make an impact.

And if you don’t focus

You just don’t get traffic.  A few people will probably eventually subscribe to your site.  But most people who land on your site will bounce, that is they’ll read the one post that interests them and then leave.

So few followers for your causes.  A few accidental clicks on your Adsense advertisements, (you may even make 50 cents a month). In six months, a year or so you’ll either give up or remain in contact with your few followers.

So focus, focus, focus

and you’ll have a more contented blogging life.

So tell me what you think

So what niche are you going to be writing in?

Crazy comments

The Ever Expanding Comment Show

Wow.  I’ve just turned an 85 word comment, (see below), on the very inspirational blog, Blog Tyrant, into a 1,700+ word post, Forums: Techncially very Helpful.

Alternatively I could have easily turned the long into around five smaller posts. I will, however rewrite sections of the long post and use them in free article directories. I will also use a summarised version of the post as a guest post on someone else’s blog. (I believe in recycling and promotion).

I enjoy reading the comments on blogs and I enjoy joining into the conversation. I try and write something useful and helpful, (it’s my helpful, supportive, further education lecturer instinct coming to the fore).

Boring Mechanical Comments

I avoid writing the ‘Great post Humphrey’ style of comment writing with the hey – that’s one more crappy backlink to my blog.  This mechanical technique of writing twenty or thirty comments a night is soul destroying, boring and I don’t see it being that effective.

Far better to be helpful, creative and do something useful.  It will make you happier and you will benefit from being helpful.  Instead of the quick posts write five, well thought out longer  posts.

What is really useful is commenting on other comments making suggestions. clarifying points or starting a discussion.  Do this and  you will be loved by the blog owner.

You’re too smart to spell it out – but I will, (you never know whose listening:

• I recomend your don’t write anything negative, (but you can disagree as part of a discussion)
• you don’t insult any comentator, (even if what they are saying is completely stupid
• and life’s too short to worry about someone insulting you, (it’s their problem not yours – unless you’re on something like a political blog)
• and don’t go against the spirit of the blog

Your longer comments have the following advantages:

• they will be read rather than skipped over
• they will lead to more visitors to your site
• then owner of the blog will become aware of you, (guest posts, joint projects and other useful contacts)(Look at my third comment – Blog Tyant – one of my blogging heroes has responded.  Shows he’s on the ball and it shows why he’s a success).
• you are demonstrating that you are professional.

I find comments inspiring

I am a reactive writer.  I like to respond to emails, queries and cries for help – I’m inspired.  I see something and I’m inspired.

So when I’m doing my necessary reading of other blogs in the niche and  I see a comment that interests me I respond – enthisiastically.

Then I think   through the comments I’ve made and hey – I an do something with that. I expand the comment a little and then I’m finding I have to clarify this, which means I need to explain that – and before I know where I am – well I’ve got 1,700+ words.

The part of the Blog Tyrant post comment that sparked my post

“certainly the worst part, at least for me, is the tech part. Sometimes you are really inspired writing about a great topic and suddenly you see something is not working: the server, the WP upgrade, a plugin,etc. I am particularly “obsessed” with security. I’ve hear many horror stories.”

My comment

Your concerns can actually help you promote your blog.

Look for technical support forums and join. Obviously make sure there they allow a link back to your website. Daniweb, an independent support site, is generally quite helpful.

One word of warning don’t spell out you have a security problem as there is a slight possibility you’ll alert a hacker.

State your problem or concerns clearly and generally people will help you. Though some forums, WordPress is noted for it, are a bit rude to people asking for something obvious and could have been found in a simple search.

Where you have a specific problem on a specific page then post the link. You’ll be surprised how many people will love to show you how to solve it.

Another good thing is for you to help solve the problems of newcomers. The techie people will note this and will be more supportive of you when you have a problem.

And not only are you being nice but, as most technical sites have a high page rank, you are developing some high quality back links to boost your own site.

Links

Grammar Girl:  How to Write a Great Blog Comment

How to Make My Blog: 5 simple steps to build blog traffic by writing comments

The Adventurous Writer: How to Make Good Comments on Blogs

Image: Flickr @sarchi

Over to You

Well come on now let’s have some interesting comments – I will be grateful.

the blogging start up kit

Blogs range from being some of the most influential websites on the internet – good examples are the Huffington Post, which is an online newspaper, written by a team of professional journalists, which is worth millions, and is influential in business and politics; and  star blogger Darren Rowse’s Problogger, which is an essential read for all those interested in earning a living from blogging.

Other blogs are low level.  Personal blogs may only have ten or twelve followers.  Others use blogs to play around with ideas, such as my daughter’s experimental writing on invisible friends, which has some very weird stories.

So what is a blog?

In simple terms it is a piece of software which allows you to write an online diary on a website. Your last entry, called a post, is displayed on the front page, home page, of the site.

The significance of the blog is that it is dynamic.  That is that it can handle be updated and it allows the visitor to communicate through the comment section attached to each individual post.

The other significant characteristics of today’s blogs are:

• a blog has some form of navigation, usually menus
• a blog’s layout contains a header, footer and content.  Usually there is at least one sidebar running beside the content.
• categories of posts
• that readers can access the archives, previous posts
• that a post can contain text and images, (and often video and other media)
• that posts can contain links to other posts, both within blog and to the entire web
• should contain a contact page and form
• should contain an about page

In today’s world a blog may contain many other elements, such as a display of recent posts, a plugin that automatically sends a new post details to Twitter or Facebook,  image galleries and the ability to turn the post into an easy to print document.

A blog is really about communication

But let’s face it when you set up a website you are trying to communicate with the billions of web users throughout the world.  You are hoping that lots of them will come and visit, interact, take action or buy from you.

A blog, with a lot of work, is a very effective way of reaching out and communicate with a sizeable audience from these billions.  You may want them to just to come and read your personal thoughts; you may want to inform people; you may want to tell them about your campaign; you may want to attract potential customers to your services or business; you may want to sell them something.

In all these cases you are communicating and in most cases you are trying to get the visitor to take some form of action, even if it is only to click a link to read another post on your site.

Links

Blogging links

Wikipedia:  Defining a blog
WordPress: Introduction to blogging?
Problogger: What is a blog?

Image: Flikr @digitalrob70

Communicate with me

Well what do you think?  Are I right? or do you disagree?

Are you thinking of starting a blog?  Then tell me.  If you’ve started a blog?  Tell me about and build another useful backlink.

Which route do choose for your blog

Overview:

Before you start to blog you need to sit down and plan. Ironically this is better done with a notepad and pen. What you need to do is somewhat quietly and think seriously what you want to achieve with your blog in the long term.

Once your distant goals are  decided you can then plan your short term and medium goals.  What do you want to achieve in your first few weeks, first six months and first year . In this post we are going to look at how to plan for your long-term success.

Plan the long-term first

Imagine you are going on a long journey, (in reality you are in blogging terms). Now the thing with this journey is that you have been given a month’s holiday by the boss. Even better you’ve been told that you must go on an all-expenses-paid holiday but, and it is a big but, the deal is that you have to write a series of articles on the place that you are going to visit.

Wow. What a great adventure? But then the problem arises. Where are you going to go? How you can get there? What are you going to take with you? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

With a little thought you should soon decide the destination. Knowing that you can then start planning what to take for your trip. Do you need warm clothes, hot weather clothes or if you coming to England a combination of both, plus an umbrella, (I’m told it rains here sometimes).

You will know if you need shots, carry special medicines.  You’ll know what kind of currency you need, which guidebooks to take and you’d probably want to take some sort of language dictionary.

You’d also be checking your digital camera, buying spare batteries, finding out the best deal to keep your cell phone operational and getting your laptop loaded up with all the programs that you might need for your travels.

So what is your long-term aim of your blog

So your blog is going to be a journey.  You may have a specific aim for your blog. It could be that you want to use the blog to build up an existing website, or to promote a product or service. You may want to use the blog to support a cause, campaign for an issue, aid a community or faith group.

You may want to use a blog as a personal diary. You may want to use a blog to develop your career: demonstrating your expertise, gaining a network of contacts, building your reputation and authority, promoting yourself as a trainer, consultant, freelancer, coach, writer or designer.

(In the past blogging has helped me demonstrate my computer and internet skills, which has lead to my getting quite a lot of profitable projects).

Then, of course, there are those who want to make at the very least a part-time income from blogging, with the intention of having enough to live on by bogging to someone who has the ambition of becoming a star blogger.

All of these ambitions are viable, but to make the money, you will need to work hard and for a long period to achieve your goals. Promoting a business, service or yourself is relatively straightforward, you will need to do a certain amount of work, but this will reduce fairly quickly and after a few months you can probably just schedule in a short session each week to maintain your profile. The personal blog depends entirely on your ambition for the blog — some people will spend hours every day, while others may just write the old post whenever they feel like it will stop

A little business secret

To achieve anything in business you need a goal. It a well-known fact that if you write down the goal then the unconscious part of your brain starts working quietly on its own to implement your planned ideas.

You will suddenly find that an idea comes into your head that will help you. You will suddenly see useful connections that you have missed. You will find that your project will suddenly crop up in conversations that you having with friends or acquaintances and people will offer you support and encouragement that will boost your confidence to succeed stop

Over to you

Sit down somewhere quiet with your notebook and pen and think carefully where do what the blog to be in 10 years time. By then would you want to still own and run the blog, would you have wanted to sell the blog, (obviously for a fortune), or would you have wanted to pass the blog on to others, (this is really relevant for community, faith, issue and business blogs).

Then think where do you want blog to be in three years time. This still gives you a long-term perspective, but this goal is in the foreseeable future. Then repeat the process for one year into the future, six months into the future and three months into the future.

This planning helps decide your choice of domain name, the way the blog is set up, the writing, the promotion and marketing of the blog and your overall strategy for developing and managing the blog.

Starting your blog journey

Overview:

OK you want to blog. But do you?  In this article I’ll try and put you off.  Why?

Because a blog is a lot of hard work.  It will take time, patience and persistence before you achieve your goal of becoming the successful blogger you want to be.  If you want fame then sleep with, or murder,  someone famous, (legal note – practice safe sex and being famous in jail ain’t that much fun, except for your new tattooed friend called Butch).

Really you are advised to think a little before you start thumping the keyboard and belting out those brilliant posts – that will change the world, make you rich, sell your products, make you famous and admired by all.

So blogging – what is it?

The trick with blogging is to write regular posts on a blogging platform, (that’s some kind of software that let’s you write a blog as opposed to a platform in England where it is a place you stand and wait for a train that’s late and cancelled).

So you will write now and then, when the mood takes you, the last Friday in the month, once a week, once a day or even several times a day? (remember you do need to eat, wash and your partner, parents and friends do like to see you now and again).

To get any kind of success at blogging you do need, (unless you are Einstein, giving away your personal millions or excessively hot), to write fairly regularly, fairly consistently and with a reasonable amount of style.

It’s tough at the top? No – but it’s tough getting there

If you look at the swingers, the shakers, the successes and the rich, very rich and the very, very rich bloggers and do a sort of CSII, (Crime Scene Internetter Investigation ),  on their backgrounds  you will find that their overnight success is based on a few years of solid, uphill, hard work: building the blog, promoting the blog, improving the blog and working out how to make money from the blog all take some time and effort.

The successful bloggers, (usually trying to sell you a how I did it ebook or course), who live in the tropics and are writing their two posts a week, sitting on a veranda, on their beach front summer house, sipping their cocktail, while writing on their solar powered, Apple Macbooks didn’t start out just writing two posts a week.  They worked hard, understood the way of web, understood the business of the web and made their own opportunities and are now, justifiably, reaping the rewards.

So be realistic

Looking at the market there are a lot of people not making enough money to get their first Adsense $50 payout, some people making a few hundred dollars, a few professionals making a thousand dollars or more per month after their first year of blogging.  So a lot of bloggers are   making way below minimum wage.

There are many blogs helping to attract hundreds, or even thousands of visitors per month. There are many more who have maybe five or ten visitors per month. (Cue funeral music).

There are many more blogs dead, dying or deleted by the time six months are up. Many have their latest post written a disheartened few  months ago – the last post marking the last post of the blog, (cue bugle, sun going down on a dusty parade ground).

But be really realistic

If you get into your writing style and can product twenty, thirty, fifty or more good posts.  You can then deliver at least two or three posts a week after that.  If you can take some time to research your market, to promote your work and to network then ‘my son’ or ‘my daughter’ you are on the way to being a reasonably successful blogger.

There is that buzz as the number of visitors to your blog increases. There’s the buzz as you start getting comments, (ignore and negative ones as they’re usually from fourteen year olds, who are spotty and haven’t learnt the secret of befriending a girl actually requires the application of soap), and of course compliments, (always nice).

You’ll also find that your skill base improves – you become very confident in the use of technology, your writing skills will improve dramatically, (not just on the blog – but in the real offline world as well), your expertise and knowledge of your blogging niche will expand.  Your self confidence will build up and you will be there able to fight crime every time your blog’s logo is shone in the sky of the frightened city.

I’ve had various off an on blogs since 2002.  Mostly personal, which has allowed me to grumble, (England’s second most popular pastime after drinking cups of tea),  to make wise comments, express my concerns about Microsoft and advise politicians, (but do they acknowledge my ideas?  or even take them up?), and talk about my holidays.

Although I didn’t really try and exploit the blogs commercially they did lead to quite a lot of work in web design, business consultancy and training.  Had I followed a more structured business plan and been more focused I know I would be earning a great deal of money now.  But until I can develop a time machine  I can’t do anything about that.

I’m now applying my knowledge to this blog to see how many visitors I can achieve and how much money I can make in the current year, 2011. Once this is a success I will use the blog as a platform to start up some other projects.

Links

Blog Tyrant:  Why blogging is a waste of your time

Reason4Smile: Seven benefits of blogging to your personal growth

The @lpha marketer:  10 great strategic benefits of blogging

Problogger: 23 Questions for Prospective bloggers

Beginning to Blog:  What is a blog?

Image: Flickr @KUXIKA420

Over to you

Well what do you think?

Have I put you off?  I hope not.  If I have though it’s saved you time, money and hassle.

Overview:

Thinking it through I can see that there are seven logical stages of developing a commercial blog.  They range from thinking about writing a blog, to setting up a blog and then growing its visitor numbers and business potential.  You may be happy to earn a little money now and then from your blog, or use your blog to promote a specific product or service or you may put in the really hard work until you reach professional blogger status where you can live comfortably on your earnings.

A few, a very few, will go on to develop the ultimate, celebrity star blog, where the bloger is not only rich, but well known and respected.

This  structure is the backbone of this website.  Over the next few months I will refine this article and write up supportive posts and tutorials, which will eventually turn into a complete blue print, training course, for you to develop your own  blog.

Stage Zero: No Blog – your life is not complete

This is the notebook and pencil stage, the bright idea in the pub stage, the I can do better than that stage, the I need to tell the world about this or that stage, the I know a lot of stuff and want to tell the world stage, the I’m in a rut stage, the I want to make money on the web stage, the I’m a great writer and want to prove it stage  or the hey I just want to blog stage.

This is the period you decide what subject, or to get technical which niche, you want to blog in. Is the topic too wide? too narrow? too competitive? Will it interest you for a  long period of time? Can I make money from it?  These decisions help you make up mind and then you can decide the name of your blog.

This period is when you should be thinking about the style of your writing – serious, technical, posh, funny, ironic, aggressive, complaining, smart, intellectual,  abusive, childish, informative,sexist, liberal, respectful, dangerous, newsworthy, amazing and grammatical, laddish, full of slang or just plain write it as comes out of mouth as I speak.  (Which is a lot for an opening paragraph).

Then there’s the blogging system you’re going to use.  Unless you have a good reason not to use WordPress, the most popular blogging system with a host of themes, (layouts), and plugins, (clever little add-ons).  Then there’s you choice of layout and possible customisation, (note proper spelling – if the American Founding Fathers had have been geeks – then all computing terms would have been spelt properly – (sad Englishman’s rant)).

When you’ve got all that together well then.

Switch on the computer.  Open your blogging text program, either in the blog itself or you may want to use a text editor like Word or Writer.  Then away you go – the rattle of the keyboard – the coffee after coffee and then your first post.  You have started to blog.

1 The Starter blog

Full of enthusiasm and energy you quickly set up a blog, possibly on one of the blogging site, such as Blogger or WordPress.  You write a host of articles.  You play with adding images, video, sound and flashing animations.

After a week, two weeks, four weeks, ten weeks are you still writing? Have you built up a bank of posts that you like and that at least some of your friends like?  Do you want to carry on?  If the answer is yes and you’ve passed the one month point then you’ve have beaten between 60-80% of the competition, (Blogging statistics - scroll down to ephemerality – and I don’t know what it means either).   You now appear to writing a standard blog.

2 The Standard Blog

You are beginning to develop your writing style and you are experimenting with different forms and styles.  Your blog may be on a hosted pre-packaged service, such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com.  I advise you that you should now be blogging on your own domain, (this will be important if, sorry, when, your blog grows.

You are building up your posts but are not really thinking about keywords, marketing or building up network around the blog. There maybe some advertisements, but they’re probably Adsense or affiliate buttons just planted around the site.  The navigation is OK, but it is usually difficult for your  first time visitors to find their way to the older posts.

The majority of blogs, mostly personal, hobby or issue blogs, never go beyond this stage, even though they may have a lot of posts.  I see many cries for help from bloggers who have worked for a long time on their blog and they are desperate to get more viewers, subscribers and more than the few dollars per month they make from Adsense.

But you’ll go on.  Your writing will improve.  Your writing will be on a regular basis.  You’ll start covering your topic in more depth, while at the same time writing a number of interlinked posts to give the topic more breadth.  You now have a foundation blog.

3 The Foundation Blog

The foundation blog is the launch pad  to develop your professional blog.  Your design and your navigation is reasonably good.  A new visitor can identify the purpose of the blog and can readily find their way around your site.

More important you now have a reasonably clear view on the purpose of the blog, you have developed your personal writing style and now have a regular posting schedule.

Your site should have a minimum of twenty posts, of which at least two or three are substantial pillar posts.  These are informative, longer than average posts that are timeless.  This means that they are good posts for others to link to, which in turn means that your website will be boosted.

Your site is then at the stage where you can start working on promoting and attracting visitors. When the visitors come they can quickly make a reasonable assessment on whether they want to stay and possibly sign up to your newsletter or RSS feed.

This is the stage that when someone finds your blog from search engines, such Google, Bing and Yahoo they will want to stay and look around.  This is the stage when it is worth your while to start pushing social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.

This is actually the toughest stage in developing a blog.  You are in the process of fighting for people to come to your site.  You will start making contacts with other bloggers.  You will post comments and write guest posts on blogs in your niche.  You will re-write posts and place them on free article websites.

Gradually your user base will rise.  Gradually your networking will pay off.  Your subscribers will increase.  More and more people will return to your site.  Your name will be known to some of the movers and shakers of your niche and you will make friends with some of your fellow bloggers.

If you persist and work hard, you will find that there will be a time with the number of people visiting your site and the number of people interested in your site will start to grow automatically.  Other bloggers will mention your posts in their blogs.  Regular readers will recommend you to their friends.  Your site will be reviewed.

Your blog’s growth is now organic and you now have a promoted blog.

4 The Promoted Blog

Once you have achieved the difficult step of achieving the critical mass needed for your blog to grow automatically you will find that although you will still need to promote your blog you will find the work is going to be a lot easier.

You’re going to be well known by some in your niche  You’re going to be well respected. You’ll find that you’ll even be taken seriously by some of the leading bloggers in your niche, who will happily take your new guest post or mention your new initiatives in their posts.

You now have a serious audience and you can now start thinking of yourself as a serious business owner. You should start including or evaluating your blog’s income streams.

If you’re using advertising or affiliate marketing examine your choices. Should you replace a low value, few cents a click ad , with a high value affiliate link, which pays several dollars, tens of dollars or even hundreds of dollars, if the purchaser buys the product.

Your newsletter, and by this stage you should have one, will allow you to provide entertaining, useful information to your subscribers, but included should be a buying opportunity for your readers.

Gradually you will build your business skills and will be gradually improving your blog’s income.  You will be identifying more money making opportunities.

When you have achieved a regular, reasonable income your blog has moved up into the next stage a business blog.

5 The Business Blog

The business blog allows you to consolidate your technical and business skills. By now you will have a useful network within your niche and a large number of visitors and subscribers.

You’re website will now have a lot of useful backlinks and you will have a Google page ranking of at least three and a low Alexa rating.  In other words your site will appear high up in the search engine ratings.

From this base it is quite easy to launch new products, possibly your own direct advertising, your own ebook, someone else’s ebook, an affiliate scheme, a training scheme.  In addition you may want to offer your own consultancy, web design, SEO advisory or coaching service.

The income on your blog should be increasing until your reach the level that you have a large enough income and a reliable enough income to consider the blog a full time career and become a problogger with a Professional Blog.

6 The Professional Blog

This stage is where you are making serious money from your blog. You will have a high level of authority and will taken serious by the majority of bloggers at the top of your niche.  They will work with you to cross promote projects and offer you exclusive deals and high value  projects – only available to sites and blogs with a high readership.

You can now increase your income.  Advertisers will be willing to pay significant amounts for spots on your blog or to be placed in your newsletter. You’ll find other perks as producers will offer you gifts and free entry to events.  If offering any service your hourly or daily rate will increase substantially

Another benefit of the professional blog is that you can easily launch other websites or online services by just mentioning them in a post or your newsletter.  The post will be linked to, retweeted, Facebooked and mentioned in a wide range of blogs pushing the visitor numbers to the new site giving in a big jump start.

Your fame will spread.  The movers and shakers in your niche want to work with you; want to develop joint projects.  You will be interviewed, asked to speak at conferences or lead seminars.  For a few your fame will allow you to grow into a widely acknowledged expert, star or guru.

7 The Star Blog

This is where you are extremely well known with a celebrity status within your niche and often in other niches and sometimes in the wider world of the internet, business and politics.

Your  star posts will be read by their numerous followers.  At this level most of the growth is generated from respected associated bloggers.

A Guru blogger will develop books, training courses, other websites and other comerical projects often with other leading professional and Guru bloggers.

Gurus are in demand for interviews, both for the online and conventional press.  They will appear as speakers at conventions and seminars.  Many will be invited to discuss issues with corporate businesses and even by politicians.

Your audience waving

In 2010 it was estimated, by Netcraft, that there were 255 million websites in the world, each with its own domain name. This is quite a lot of text, images, videos and animations running around the wired world. Bear in mind though that each one of these sites is in its own way competing with the rest for users to read it content.

It is also reckoned that there are around 6.8 billion users of the net, which is just under a third of the world’s population. In North America and Europe the percentage of users is high, however, the rise of countries, such as China and India, mean that this number will increase dramatically. Both these countries have a high percentage of English speakers.

These sites range from the small, with one or a few pages web sites; to the very large content sites, such as the BBC; large commercial sites, such as the Microsoft websites, with tens of thousands of support pages; or WordPress.com, which hosts over 340,000 individual blogs, with several million pages of blog posts.

The Audience’s Choice

As the figures show there is a lot of competing websites chasing a massive audience. Nobody knows how many web pages there are but there are estimates of between 27 billion and a trillion, (a thousand billion). It we ignore potential computer generated pages, that is pages that could be generated, but may never be seen by humans, then the estimate of the writer, Stooge, on Hubpages of around 48 billion is probably a reasonable estimate.

What this shows is that there are a lot of web pages competing for the attention of the person browsing. This web user has a multitude of choices and pathways to follow. He or she may use a search engine to find a range of sites or they may follow a website they trust, such as a blog or news site, to find interesting links.

Your Job

With billions of actual users, with an almost infinite range of interests, the main job of you, the writer, is to make the sites you are working on are attractive to relevant users, who are interested in the topics you are writing about.

Your job is to understand your targeted readers and understand what is their expectations of your site. Understand your audience, work hard at satisfying their requirements and you will become a good, professional writer.

Links

Image: Flickr: @aemde

Over to You

What sort of interests do you have on the net?

What sort of things do you want to write about?

Lady archers getting on target

Overview:

Internet surfers are strange creatures.  The flit from site to site because of recommendations or following the results of a Google search.  They land on a site – look around and in the space of a few seconds decide to either stay or go.

What they need is to quickly understand the focus of your blog.  What is the blog about? What is the writing style?  Does the blog have interesting articles?  In short – what is the blog’s focus? or what is the focus of the blog’s owner.

Secondly – you, the blog’s owner, writer, developer need focus in order to write the right posts, design the layout, organise the navigation and very importantly focus helps you focus on where and how to promote and market your blog.

become a new you

I am assuming you know the niche, the subject matter, of your blog.  You are interested in a specific subject: such as cars, technology, child care, the goings on in Hollywood, games or business.   You are either very interested in the subject or you know there’s a good demand for this type of article.

Now go away and get distracted for half an hour or so:  have a coffee, tea, cola, read the papers, watch TV, go for a walk, listen to music or play a computer game, (but not a too addictive one).  Have your break and then come back but not as you – come back as a regular web surfer – but a surfer with a notepad and a pen or pencil.

So what is your focus?

As this new person look at your blog and what do you see?  Write notes.

• Is it easy to understand what the blog is about?
• Is it easy to find useful older posts?
• What is the style of writing?
• Is the design OK?  Could it be better?

Write notes.

and your style of writing?

• What about the length of each post – are they OK? or too long? too short?
• Are there themes to your posts? or is it a ramshackle collection of random thoughts?
• Is your writing too dense with too many long paragraphs?  or too short and too simple for your audience?

Write notes.

Where do you lack focus?

Take another break.  Read your notes away from the computer.  Make more notes.

Then come back to your computer and make more notes.

By doing this you will see how to improve your writing and your site design.

Testing times – be brave

Try and get others to look at your site and make notes.  The best to do this is to get a friend to organise other people, who don’t know you, to do this.  These testers should be given a brief, such as for this site –

‘This is a site for people new to blogging’

Do you think people starting to blog would want to use this site?

How good is the design?

Read at least five articles.

Write down up to five good points about the site

and up to five bad points.  This gets them thinking.

Review the testers comments

Don’t take things to heart.  You’ve asked people to criticise your site.  When people are doing that they tend to look for the negative.  This is useful as it helps identify potential problems.

Ideally review the comments with a friend – they’ll likely to be more objective than you.

You have the right to reject criticisms.  You don’t have to correct everything.

You don’t have to correct everything today.  Bring in the improvements and modifications  gradually when you’re doing other upgrades.

Your writing will improve

What you will find as you go through this process is that focusing on the focus of your blog will improve your writing.  It will have made you more aware of the blog’s focus and your subconscious will over the weeks and months organise your thoughts so that your writing will improve dramatically.

Links

Image credit: Flickr @uwdigitalcollections

Over to you

What do you think?

Tell me about the focus of your blog?