Life is all lessons…ignorance is not a destiny…
In this discourse, I want to impress the subtle aspects of blogging many taken has for granted. Apparently, I have observed that many come ill prepared as they go on their goal of problogging. Monetizing is their immediate concern: and this is their first mistake! They have completely forgotten the crucial elements that will lead them to that end.
Being effective must be the first area of concern: every blogger needs to develop the most important aspects about themselves. One needs to have the right attitude to triumph; attitudes that will give you the edge in facing the challenges inherent in the pursuit of success. Read my post regarding this one.
Once you have fine-tuned your character to the call of blogging you must resolve to cultivate the following elements to seal your effectiveness.
Passion for writing
Blog is a form of communication and one must be comfortable with its medium—writing. Don’t go on building your own blogsite if you have difficulty expressing your thought in words. Your posts will be your signature, it will make or break your career as a blogger. It would be wise to develop this skill first—patience is crucial on this one. Many bloggers don’t stay long because of this handicap. Don’t be one of them. Although the alternative of hiring a writer is tempting, there are subtleties only you can express.
In my experience, to be comfortable with writing, you must incorporate it in your daily habit. It may be hard at first but don’t be discouraged. Your mind will cope up and the day will come when you can do it effortlessly. Read good books to develop your understanding of semantics; then practice to write diligently until your thoughts are one with words.
Intellectual capacity
I don’t mean to deprecate on this aspect. Blogging requires intelligence: No, not the above-average I.Q. many highly regard. By intelligence I mean the deepness of understanding, the level of acumen one applies in dealing with people, situation and contingencies of life.
It plays an important role on tapping your inner reserves of creativity; by its lack you won’t be able to effectively implement your goal. Prioritize on developing this necessity: it’s very important that you must. It will greatly alleviate your overall performance in life.
An excellent way to develop your intelligence is by espousing the company of good books—yes, books again! It’s your single most available source of wisdom that will provide you with the necessary insights about the realities of life. Experience, though the greatest teacher, is not as convenient compared to the ready source of timeless knowledge abound in a great book.
Respect and Trust
It takes time and effort to gain the trust and respect of people—once you have it though, respect its fragility. Unfortunately, some bloggers are employing detrimental ruses to take advantage of other people. This kind of character may succeed for a while, but will eventually be the victim of their own selfish acts.
Blogging is about connecting with people; of being sensible to their needs, desires and aspirations. To gain respect and trust, you must affect your genuine concern. Don’t make the common mistake of pushing your brand to your reader’s throat. Instead, think of how you will address their needs. Extend your hand. And perhaps in gratitude, they may reciprocate by considering what you are offering.
Wisdom of the blindfolded archer
What do you think will happen if a blindfolded archer fires his arrow? Of course he will miss the mark; his inability to see the target displaces his aim. In blogging as well as in any other pursuit, one must see his target clearly. The metaphor of the blindfold represents the challenges of everyday life—failure, discouragement, bogeyman, criticisms, fear, anxiety, bills, frigid wife, unfaithful husband; if you allow these on your mind you’ll never hit the mark no matter how much you aim.
Life will unfold the way it has to. Don’t waste your time brooding—heaven and earth will not concede to you. Clear you mind of anything that will mire you further in despair, see straight ahead and lock on your target. Live each day with the effort of going one step closer to the bullseye.
Embodying thy uniqueness
This is a very neglected virtue among many. We always seek conformity: afraid to express our true self. Everybody seeks to be someone, not realizing that they can be somebody in their own way. Many bloggers aspire to be the likes of Darren Rowse or John Chow or Yaro Starak— unaware that these prominent bloggers rose by embracing and trusting their own uniqueness.
Ubiquitous is the criterion that a good blog possesses uniqueness. However, many failed on this account simply because they are stifling their own distinctiveness. Remember, your uniqueness is your asset; find an appropriate use for it. Don’t be wobbled by criticisms as long as you’re not doing anything wrong.
To anchor this principle I want to ask you what would happen if Einstein had allowed himself to be swayed by the mockery of his time? Certainly, this world as we know it could never be the same. His uniqueness embodied in all of his works had made him the greatest scientist of all time.
Oftentimes as we go on through our daily activities in life, we never give any thoughts about engaging our self to things that will bring advancement to our life. We always settle in the status quo and prefer laziness over the prospect of developing our self. Many bloggers are trying to be what they are not. But it only takes a distinctive blogger to rise among the top. Be one of them.
” The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique. “
— Walt Disney —
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Hi Walter,
My luck to come across You and Your awesome blog. This post is so informative.
I like the fact that you have emphasized on blogging being a people centric medium. And the feeling of all other people you come across does matter.
Even the point about trying to monetize too soon and maintaining your uniqueness.
All the points are really good. They will help me tremendously since i am new to the blogging scene as well. But, till now..thank the lord i am enjoying myself and enjoying the interactions.
Will come back later to read your older posts…i need info to be a better blogger
Everyone of us has something to contribute to the betterment of this world. Share you thoughts and don’t be afraid to be different. In the history of the world, those people labeled for their eccentricity and persistence had become the greatest contributors for the advancement of mankind– Einstein, Charles Darwin, Henry Ford, George Washington– and maybe YOU in the future to come.
Great post Slinger, I really liked and identified with what you said about books and developing intelligence:
“An excellent way to develop your intelligence is by espousing the company of good books”
Good books can often help us reach our goals as bloggers;
creating valuable content, finding our voice, finding and embracing our own uniqueness, and so much more.
Thank you. I’m glad you have identified yourself with what I’ve written. I just want to share a powerful way to develop yourself and stand among the rest. Books are powerful because they contain wisdom that you may not know in your lifetime.
Hi Walter,
Thanks for dropping by my site the other day.
Just wanted to say how much I like the images you associate with your blog posts.
Could I ask where you get your images from?
Super content as well.
Speak soon,
John
Thank you John for visiting my blog. Images are powerful because its sends message far deeper than words. Oftentimes what you can’t express in words you can depict through images. I’m glad you like it.
Have an account on istockphoto.com. The images are scalable according to your budget: I always took the smallest, it’s very economical.
Hi Slinger,
Wow, what an excellent post, that actually explains a lot of what I’m feeling in my journey as a blogger. I’m new to blogging and to your blog site, and reading through your post, I pretty much agree a lot with what your message is saying, and most definitely, I hope that I’m one of those unique individuals that is using blogging to communicate and express my creative thoughts and insights from with in.
Keep up the great posts, and have a great day!!
Cheers…. Paulo.
Yes Paulo you are unique; use it to bring yourself to the top. We all have power to command success. Use it. Even though it’s difficult at first don’t give up. That’s the secret of being great.
Don’t be afraid to be unique is great advice and so often ignored. I see SO many people trying to imitate Steve Pavlina, using his same language and trying to just re-warm the things he said. Likewise many in other niches, of course. I read many blogs – some for instructions, some for advice, and some for just the train-wreck entertainment of someone telling us TMI.
But I don’t read any that are pale imitations of something else.
You know what, Steve Pavlina was my inspiration is developing this blog site. I sure learn a lot from him and at one time I thought of imitating him. But then I realized that what made him successful was that he embraced his own uniqueness and with that wisdom I’ve learned to do the same.
We are all special. It just happens that we don’t have faith in our own greatness.
These are really good tips and give you good direction as to what skills you need to focus on and develop. I really appreciated the pointer about being attenitve to the needs of your readers. You can tell when blogs sincerely focus on their readers and their experience. Thanks for the suggestions.
Thank you for your precious time reading my blog. I really want to share my insights about what I’ve learned to my fellow bloggers, so that we may all grow in our endeavors. :-);
Thanks Walter,
It’s a very thoughtful post of yours.
I agree wholeheartedly that we must have uniqueness and being passionate about writing. Those two alone will set you apart from the rest. People reading blog posts are a bit like the fashion industry where people have their own taste and will tend to follow the ones they like(aka uniqueness) so it does pay off in the long run to just write and be yourself and write what we are passionate about.
Huddson
Hey thanks for dropping by. I’m sure, being true to our self and believing our abilities will bring us success. Let’s keep on going. We have a lifetime of opportunities.
Right you are Huddson, ones’ uniqueness will truly pay off. Thanks for your kind words.
Blog for passion can lead your blog as a big business.
I know Darren Rowse had start his blog in early days for passion and now his passion is his business.
There are lot of people in the world to read your passion,your thoughts but it takes long time to build trust on the readers.
Darren proved it and today he is the best blog mentor in the Blogsphere.
Isn’t he?
Darren Rowse is truly an inspiration. Passion is what will make you stick to your goals.
thanks for dropping by my site.
I have gone a unique direction in my blog by not having a niche. I have a full staff writing for me. There are weekly columns on sports, women’s issues, fiction, etc. Not having a niche probably makes it harder to grow in the short term, but I (and my writers) get to write about things we are passionate about.
Yes you do have a niche, you have a niche for people, like writers who are passionate about something.
Passion has a lot to do with it. Skill is also important. And, sadly, because of the algorhythms the search engines and advertisers use, there is also an element of routine. You can succeed if you conform enough…but what kind of fun is that?
Great post.
~RW
If a person loves what he is doing then he can alleviate himself. Successful people do what they love.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hey singer.. Your posts’ quality is really very well and you follow what you write. I have witnessed many bloggers giving wise advices but not following the same. The real spirit of a blogger should incline to content and content quality first.
I subscribed to your blog and would also like to go for link exchange with your blog for my blog http://freetechjournal.com .. Reply to me back
Hey thank you for subscribing. I’m more than glad to exchange link with you.
Beautifully captured and expressed. What you have written coincides with the physical world outside of this computer screen too, as the underlining of it all, is about being who we truly are, without the externality and influence of others. I find that technology is a useful medium to express ourselfs, much like you, and in that we are free to be what we are without the pressures of the social day by day culture. Even that is no excuse, as we have the choice to show our true selfs to the world at any moment.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Thank you Ana for your gracious comment. It really feels good to express yourself and your uniqueness to the world.
Hi Walter,
Really great post (my first time here, and also noticed what great photos you’ve chosen for your posts). I like the fact that you focus on being ourselves and giving value. Really if we do this consistently, I think that’s what it’s all about.
Good photos do tell a story of its own Jen. Thank you for appreciating my post; I will write some more.
Hey Slinger, great tips and nice blogs. I’d better subscribe to your blog
Nice of you to drop by Oscar. It inspires me to write more. Thank you.
Hey singer, Thank u for your interest in link-exchange. Tell me your text and the link.. whether lionslinger.com or http://www.lionslinger.com ? ALso tell me where are you going to put link on a separate page or in sidebar ?
Love the last quote! It’s a good reminder for all bloggers about how we could excel and be a distinctive blogger. While reading through, I can’t help but looking back at the journey I’ve been through, the ups and downs, the satisfaction and how I’m glad to really choose to be myself. Enjoyed the tips and you bet it’s a stumbled piece.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
You do have a pretty good blog. It’s different from others that I’ve read. Keep on going and I hope to learn more from you. Thank you Ching for you kind words.
Don’t try to copy or imitate the famous bloggers. Be yourself and blog in your own style.
Right you are Jacob, we’ve got to trust our own ability.
I really like your last point about uniqueness. It takes connecting with one’s natural self to truly contribute something of value to the world. We are strongest when we are being ourselves, with all of our flaws. We don’t need to be amazing at everything… and that’s the awesome thing about not having to be alone. We can simply bring our strengths and help each other out.
Thanks for visiting my site. And I can hardly believe that you have only been blogging for 2 months; you seem to be getting a lot of comments on your posts! Congratulations, and great writing.
Thank you very much for your encouraging words. I really love to write and express my thoughts, and the rest is history.
I absolutely agree with your topics. Early paragraphs caught my attention. And I totally agree with those. You have a very good writing style! Keep up the good work.
I’m glad you liked my post, it surely feels good of express my thoughts and to share it with someone.
Thank you for your praise.
Hello, I’m new to your site. I agree with your points here. A lot of bloggers nowadays are into monetization that’s why most of them are just making SEO post with search engines as readers and not real people. But when you look on the comments, there are none. A blog without comments is like a dead blog with no readers.
Thanks Tyrone for dropping your comment. I find it truly important to communicate in a humanely manner in this impersonal enterprise called the Internet.
I started out wanting to be like someone else but everyday it was frustrating, I didn’t want to be ignored!
It’s also so true about monetizing before gaining trust, wisdom and style.
My blog is 10 months old and my message and tagline are different. Now I’m trying to see if my photo still works.
Nice post Walter, I like it. I’m on the process to find my true self on the blogosphere. More opinion is the key. Btw thanks for commenting on my blog.
Nice to hear that Isaac, remember you are unique. Share your genius to the world.
Passion for blogging and Ability to be creative! This will help in creating Unique and Good content which shows how good a blogger you are.
@Tech-Freak – This is very true, passion and ability are key elements of a good blogger. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Walter,
just looking back at some of your older posts and found this (thanks for commenting on my blog this week, I’m so glad I followed your link back here).
I’m still very much a learner in the blogging world and sometimes struggle for inspiration, but I loved your comment about reading good books. I’ve always been and avid reader, so hopefully when the inspiration does strike I will at least have the words at my command.
All the best,
Des.
Des´s last blog ..Blog networking – The happy side effects
I’m glad to have shared to you my insights. I look forward for your success.
[...] Elements of a Distinctive blogger [...]
I’m happy to see that I am on the right path! What I’ve been most pleased by is how many wonderful and supportive people there are in cyberspace.
I used to think it was an impersonal way to communicate and I am delighted to discover that I was inaccurate. As in life, there are so many awesome people.
My commencement speech in high school was based on Thoreau’s A Different Drummer. It was about marching to your own drum. I totally believe in pursuing our own unique path.
I have found that blogging is a great way to do this.
And passion! Well, it is a MUST or why bother.
Thanks Walter!
Lauren´s last blog ..Can You Think Outside the Box?