155: 5 Tips from Full Time Bloggers

The 5 Top Tips from Full Time Bloggers Today, I want to give you some advice. It’s not advice from me. It’s advice from about 50 full-time bloggers that I surveyed about two years ago.  I was testing a survey software, and I sent the survey to some bloggers that I knew. I asked all of them one simple question What is the number one tip you would give a new blogger who is just starting out and dreaming of becoming a full-time blogger? In Today’s Episode 5 Tips from Full Time Bloggers Listen to this epsiode in the player above or here on iTunes (look for episode 155). Just be you. Speak in your own voice. Consistency Be persistent Give it a go Do something meaningful. Further Resources 5 Tips from Full Time Bloggers ProBlogger Virtual Ticket   Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there, it’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to Episode 155 of the ProBlogger Podcast. Almost forgot what we’re up to there. Today, I want to give you some advice. It’s not advice from me, it’s advice from around 50 full time bloggers that I surveyed about two years ago. It’s about two years ago I was testing out a new piece of software for surveys. Whilst I haven’t gone on to use this software anymore, I did do one survey using it and it was a survey that I did send out to full time bloggers that I knew. I asked them a simple question, one question. Quite a few of them answered. The question was this, “What’s the top piece of advice, what’s the number one tip you would give a new blogger just starting out who had dreamed of becoming a full time blogger?” I thought when I sent this out that I would get all kinds of strategic advice, that I would get really practical, actionable advice. You know what came in? It really surprised me. I sent it out to 50 bloggers and almost all of them came back to me with five responses, five common answers. That’s what I want to share with you today, these five things that I think are great things for us to all hear as bloggers, whether we’re just starting out or whether we’re well on the road to becoming full time or whether we’re even full time. These are five great reminders that I hope will help to keep you on course towards reaching your dreams for your blog, whatever that might be. The first theme that I came up with as I looked at this 50 was to be you, just be you. In fact, this is what one person wrote. “Just be you. Speak in your own voice, and don’t try to be anyone else. Swim in your own lane.” Another person simply said, “Be yourself.” A third person said, “Keep it real.” A fourth person said, “Find your authentic voice.” Someone else said, “My best tip is to write about what you love and have experience in. Honesty comes out in your writing.” Another person said, “Only write about what you're passionate about, your own unique experiences.” An eighth person said, “Don’t copy, find your own voice and use that. Remember, cover bands don’t change the world.” Two more on this theme, “If you are passionate about something, let that shine through in every aspect of your blog. Don’t be so caught up in watching stats, gaining followers, and forget why you began blogging in the first place. Be authentic and make those connections organically because those are the people who will stick with you over your journey as you go through your ups and downs, and it will be a rollercoaster,” they said. One more person said, “Write about something that you are genuinely interested in. In a crowded space, the best way to stand out is to be you. There’s no one like you. Your story, your opinion, your voice, your humor, they’re all unique. Tap into that.” I love that advice, be you. It gets said a lot and sometimes it takes us a little while to work out who we are. I do think, as I look at successful bloggers,