PB100: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Blogging

Note: this episode is available to listen to in the player above, on iTunes and Stitcher. What I Have Learned About Blogging Welcome to episode 100. Today I would like to take a look back, not over the last 100 podcast episodes, but back to when I first started blogging 13 ½ years ago. I’m going to talk about some important lessons, and identify ten things that I wish that I had known when I first started blogging in 2002. I hope to share some of the things that will help you get over the bumps in your blogging venture. My blogging journey began when my friend Steve sent me an email with these four simple words, “check out this blog” and a link to TallSkinnyKiwi.com. I had never heard of blogging before, and I was curious about who the tall skinny kiwi was. I clicked the link and loved the content that Andrew Jones had created, but I also fell in love with blogging. I was intrigued with the idea of building a community around a blog, and I dove in with no experience or credentials. In Today’s Episode My introduction to blogging and different jobs I tried before blogging My first blog called Living Room and how I just got started People found my blog by me commenting on other blogs I met some bloggers that taught me some HTML and how to make things bold Rachel Cunliffe from New Zealand helped me redesign my first blog I learned a lot just by starting and reaching out to others Over time the blog evolved and I became addicted to it A year later I started a blog about digital cameras I made a little money with AdSense and the Amazon Affiliate program A few dollars a week, grew to a few dollars a day, to a part-time income After about a year, I realized I was going to be a full-time blogger and really ramped things up I started ProBlogger in 2004 and went full time with blogging In 2007, I transitioned my digital camera blog into Digital Photography School The 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started In 2002 If you want your blog to be a business, you need to treat it as a business Identify who you want to read your blog - Spend time to understand your reader An email newsletter is a very powerful thing - Build a list - Popups increase conversions There are so many ways to make money from blogging - Diversify your income Create something to sell - My first ebook The Essential Guide To Portrait Photography Content - Create content that informs, inspires, and interacts Look for Sparks - Most big things start as small things (glimmering sparks) To be active - What action will I take today that will grow my blog? Let your worlds collide - It’s OK to let your readers see what you are passionate about beyond your niche Aim to have a big impact upon the readers you already have - I am incredibly grateful to you for listening to these podcasts and for the emails I get from you. Further Resources on 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Blogging Episode 64: Content Marketing – Secrets From an Entrepreneur Who Has Used It to Build a Successful Business Episode 37: How to Grow Traffic to Your Blog Through Guest Posting and Creating Content for Other Blogs, Forums, Media and Events Episode 67: Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It) Talk at World Domination Summit in Portland Oregon -  Paying Attention to Sparks   Darren Rowse from Chris Guillebeau on Vimeo. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to episode 100 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse. Today, I want to look back. Not over the last 100 episodes (although that was tempting to do), but over the last 13 ½ years of my blogging. I want to pull out some of the important lessons from that time. I want to identify 10 things that I’d wish I had known when I was starting out b...