These are in no particular order. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on which of the ten habits you feel is the most important. Did I leave one out? Let me know in the comments below!
1. Learn the Basics of Good SEO – While SEO can become obsessive in it’s own right, and is definitely taken to extremes by some “elitists”, it is vital for anyone putting words out on the web and expecting readers to find them, to know Search Engine Optimization basics.
More: Learn the Basics of SEO (by Kelby Carr)2. Be PROactive – You cannot control others. You cannot make them leave you nice comments. You cannot make someone take an action step you would like them to take. REacting is never the way to success. You must control the part that you can control – YOU.
More: Proactive vs Reactive – Your Circle of Influence3. Have a plan. Know where you are heading. What are your goals? You need to know. They must be actionable, measurable steps. “Wishes will blow away in the wind of change. Dreams are directionless. Goals have both – set direction and time.” ~ Angela England
More: Create Inspired Goals (by Leslie Gail) Have a P.L.A.N. to Achieve Blogging Success4. Be True! John Maxwell says that “trust is the foundation for leadership” and I believe this holds true whether we are talking about integrity as a writer, creating a platform for marketing a book or product, and representing a client to those around you. Be. True.
More: Do you Have T.R.U.S.T? True to YOU (by Jessica Smith)5. Be Yourself – What makes your blog different from any of the millions of other blogs out there? Nothing at all except for YOU. If people only wanted information they would read the encyclopedia. People want to connect with other people. Be. You.
More: Inject a voice into your blog – Yours! (by Diane Corriette)6. Focus Your Efforts – This is the pot calling the kettle black here, but the truth is you cannot be all things to all people at all times. Delegate. Write ahead. Plan a series instead of single, stand-alone pieces. Let go.
More: Focus Your Efforts (by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlin) Eliminate When Needed and Work Smarter! Seven Day PR Focus (by John Sternal)7. Overcome Obstacles – Overcoming obstacles means that not only do you have a clear goal in mind, but you are willing to fight to achieve that goal. Like a wide-reciever in a football game, obstacles will try to stop your forward momentum and prevent you from reaching your goals. Are you willing to put forth the effort to overcome them?
More: Overcome Obstacles – Learning from Football Overcome by Increasing Education (by Susan Payton)8. Understand the Slight Edge Principle – The difference between success and failure is usually minuscule. Slight. A razor’s edge. Often the mundane, ordinary tasks are the ones that lead to success. Which side of the line are you on?
More: The ‘Slight Edge’ for Bloggers9. Remember Your Value – You have worth. Your time has value. Your words are not cheap. Ask any massage therapist what an hour of their time is worth. Query your local photographer about their sitting fees. Are you worth less because you work from home? Hardly! Raise your chin up now; remember your value.
More: Remember Your Value (by Julie Roads)
10. Speak-up and Network– The internet is a difficult place to be a wallflower. It is much easier when you make friends, reach out, speak-up and find those around you who are influential or knowledgeable in your field. Have you been reading a certain blog for weeks now but never contributed? Speak up! Leave a comment! Introduce yourself and say hello.
More: Networking – Speak up! Wilderness Wallflowers or Drive-By Bloggers (by Danny Brown)Perhaps we can explore more of each of these 10 habits in depth later but these highlights should be plenty of food-for-thought as you evaluate the past year, and plan for the coming year. What is a habit you’ve found important to your success? Which of these habits is the one you need to work on most?
More: Grocery Grump or Glory – Wrapping it up!
Great and very instructive list, Angela (and so many forget #1, although I still prefer writing for humans and building SEO into that).
I’d also add love your community. Reply often; highlight great comments; share ideas; ask for blog topics from your readers.
Without a community, a blog is half the success it could be – show them you truly appreciate them.
I whole heartedly agree with you! I tend to only think about SEO in terms of my title and subtitles, but the rest of the time I am thinking about my friends and readers.
Thanks for mentioning community! I recently did a guest post for Blissfully Domestic that was a tongue-in-cheek post about the five top ways to kill your blogging community. Lol! It’s so true though – and part of the reason I enjoy participating in the twitter chats and other blog events. Those connections are so powerful.
Angela <><
Some great habits are listed here! Being yourself, being focused and proactive and networking with people is gonna take you, your blog and your career very far. Every blogger should be doing it!
Thanks for the reminders on where we should be focusing.
Angela –
Great post . I look forward to reading more from you.
#8 happens to be a lesson I recently learned firsthand at PRBreakfastClub.com. By simply moving the location of a link to our Daily Mailing we doubled our list size in a month. There was no other change which would account for this uptick. It really is the little things that matter sometimes.
Happy New Year
What you said makes a lot of sense, especially for bloggers who are doing it for business reasons. For those blogging for the fun of it, they don’t need to be as careful.
It’s not about being “careful” as much as it is about being aware. And focused. Even when I am only writing for me and myself, I still want to be true. To be myself. To be heard. 🙂 Habits for Success doesn’t necessarily mean financial success – unless that if your specific goal. It can be as simple as getting your first comment or guest posting on one of your favorite community blogs. Angela <
Angela, I found this post very useful, and I’ve bookmarked your site. I came upon you through a link from Dani Greer on the Blog Book Tours discussion list. I’ve been blogging since May and already have over 28,000 hits, but I don’t know nearly enough about the technical aspects, and it looks as if your site will be an enormous help.
@Julie Wonderful! I’m glad you stopped by and I hope you will join us for the Ten Habits series we are about to embark on. Posts will be up daily with action steps and hopefully lots of interaction between participants. I’m excited!
Angela <><
I saw your site via twitter and was wondering when do you have the blogchat open and what link location?
You know what? out of the 10 habits above I just got 3 of them (1, 4 & 5). Thanks for the wake-up call.
I think #6 is an area I’ve done well at. Some of my series posts have been the most visited and shared of all my posts. This is because they are helpful. They have also helped me to ficus on a topic for 1-5 weeks at a time and in turn, brought organization to my writing.
I need to work on #5. Too often I focus on creating how-to, informational posts. Very rarely do I insert my personality.
Writing was never my gift. Talking about myself isn’t easy. But, somewhere in there I need to bring myself to my posts.
Looking forward to more #10Habits!
That was the hardest part for me starting out with a “real blog” because my original online writing was all second or third person content production and copywriting. I think that it can still reflect YOU without being “loosey-goosey” as my friend would say. Sometimes just giving real, good information is so valuable. There’s a balance I think, for sure. I mean, we have encyclopedia’s for pure facts. But they are dry, boring and stuffy. When you become the filter for that information, magical things happen. 🙂
Such a great lesson in number six. Marketers and branding pros often preach this one to our clients. It’s a great parallel to think of a blog as someone’s brand identity whether it be personal or professional. A blog must have focus or else you’ll lose your community.
John Sternal
@sternalpr
Oh yes, and how well I know it! Lol! I am the queen of many interests. My mother said even as a little girl I’d flit from toy to toy. I usually have three or four books I’m reading at once. I am learning it’s better to break things up a little bit more and FOCUS but it’s my weakness of anything on this list. :-
Angela <
These are great habits to have in working towards achieving my goals. Thanks for the list!
Finding your “tribe” and networking even before beginning a blog can be one of the biggest keys to your success and maintaining motivation.
I found the travel blogging community just as a prepared to start a my travel blog nearly 1-1/2 years ago. Their help and encouragement helped me get started more quickly and maintain my enthusiasm during those first few difficult months. I didn’t feel alone.
I’d like to learn a little more about SEO this year. I don’t want to go nuts with it, but I’d like to learn how to better position my work without sacrificing quality or real content.
@Liliana – Glad you found it helpful!
@Dominique – I agree! I’ve networked my way into some new websites and blogs and as a result of the connections made ahead of time, they’ve blossomed very quickly. SEO is SO important. You don’t sell-out as a writer if you learn about it. 🙂 I promise.
Great post, Angela. Thanks for the great tips!