Category Archives: Blogging

The House That Blogging Bought

I have had a few people ask me about blogging, and how far they could go if they chose to make it their career. I have talked about the things I have been able to buy thanks to blogging full time for the last two years, and I wanted to take a second to give a little more insight into one of those things: my house. I want to quickly prove to people that blogging professionally can get you to the things you want in life, and it isn’t just a bunch of people writing diaries online. Blogging is a career that can pay the bills.

The House That Blogging BoughtOur house isn’t a shack, and it isn’t a mansion. It is pretty average of a small three bedroom house around where I live in St. Thomas, Ontario Canada. It is a two story house with over 1200 square feet of living space, not including the unfinished basement. We just recently had our lawn put in. I really enjoyed watching them unroll it all. It was built brand new for us in a newer subdivision and so we got to pick pretty much everything from the color of the shingles on the roof to the type of toilet we wanted.

I am not the first blogger that has been able to afford a house thanks to blogging professionally, as Darren Rowse has bought, sold and bought another house in the past couple of years.

Working hard at producing amazing content can help you fulfill your dreams, especially if they include working from home, traveling, paying some bills, or even buying a house. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You can earn more from blogging than just paying for your monthly coffee bill.

What do you want blogging to buy you? Comment below, or even better, write out a list and put it in a spot where you will see it every day.

Originally posted on September 21, 2007 @ 5:54 pm

More on Network Blogging versus Blogging for Yourself

There are some points that have been brought to my attention since I wrote my last post entitled “Blog For Yourself Not a Network” and while people agree that the title is good, the content left a sour taste in the mouth of many people.

I have to admit that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, so it wasn’t the most objective look at writing for a blog network, but it does bring up some important things you have to think about.

Continuing on that same thought pattern, I wanted to come back and give some of the positives of blogging for a network, and also clarify my original position some more.

The blog network I work for has given me so very much including various odds and ends, not to mention full time income for two years and growing. Could I have done it on my own? Maybe, but it would have taken me a very long time, even with my current knowledge in regards to monetization, link building and content writing.

I have also made contacts I otherwise would not have made. At one of the first conferences I went to, when I mentioned who I was, the person responded “oh, you are the guy that writes on the sites for that guy that bought them from Scrivs”. At the last conference I went to, I was called by name by a few people and I don’t think I could have gotten to that point without the platforms that Bloggy Network created for me.

This situation is not the standard though. Jacob and thus Bloggy Network gave me access to Blogging Pro, a site that was one of the first and biggest to report on WordPress and some of the general blogosphere. They also gave me access to CSS Vault, Forever Geek, and some other amazing blogs, both already established and brand new. Most networks won’t give a new blogger access to high profile established brands, and for that I am forever grateful.

If you have a chance to blog on a high profile site, either as a guest blogger or come on as part of staff. There are very few situations where that wouldn’t be good for your career.

Blog Networks like b5media, Gawker and the like can create contacts with advertising companies that can bring in massive amounts of advertising revenue, and thus actually pay their bloggers a more than fair wage right from the start, meaning you can concentrate on writing without worrying as much about making ends meet, and that is an amazing feeling.

A friend of mine, Ahmed Bilal, recently said to me, “unless your network’s goals aren’t aligned with yours, don’t blog for them. It’s that simple.”

When he said that, my brain opened up, and it was so simple and true. With all the different blogger payment models, niches, and whatnot, it comes down to being as simple as making sure your goals align with the place you work at. I believe that is true with any and all jobs, not just blogging professionally.

He also added, “on the other hand, if you have to sell your soul to make ends meet…then sell it.”

I am sure we have all been there at one point or another, and if you are thinking about joining a blog network where you goals might not line up, weigh the positives and negatives, and never forget that the people you will meet, the work that you get to do, and being able to pay the bills will really make the job enjoyable, network or no network. Blog because you enjoy it. Blog because it makes you happy. Blog for yourself, even if you are employed by a network.

Originally posted on September 18, 2007 @ 5:40 pm

Keeping a Publishing Schedule

One thing that many bloggers forget is to consistently add new content to their blogs. On many of the blogs I have written on, I try to keep putting out at least one post a day during weekdays, and take the weekends off.

I don’t always take the weekends off, and I don’t always post every weekday, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

A consistent posting schedule is powerful for many reasons.

Subscribers

People that subscribe to your blog only see new content, and thus their only draw to your site is the new items showing up in their feed readers, or e-mail inbox.

If your quality is high and they are interested in what you are doing, consistently posting will keep them subscribed, and long term subscribers can be difficult to attain in this day and age. I, myself, have unsubscribed from hundreds of blogs that haven’t continuously posted new content.

Search Engines

Fresh content makes search engines happy. That is, in part, why blogs do so well with Google’s search engine. Not only does the new content get indexed, but it makes the whole front page of your blog new and fresh.

Some people have said that Google keeps track of how often new content is added and uses that as part of its indexing schedule.

Overall Blog Growth

Every new piece of content has a chance to bring in new readers, entertain previous readers, and grow your blog.

When a blog doesn’t have new content over an extended period of time, I eventually remove it from my daily reading list, and unfortunately, I don’t return usually for a long time.

Summary

I can’t think of a single blogger who would say that keeping a manageable publishing schedule that people can rely on is a bad thing.

It doesn’t have to be every day, or even every weekday, but once you decide what schedule you are going to use, try to stick with it for the best results.

Originally posted on August 23, 2007 @ 12:37 am

Blogging and Personal Life Considerations

I have written about this before on my personal blog, but it is something that continually comes up.

Blogging can be a freeing experience, fulfilling a need to express yourself, but what happens if you say too much? Where is the line between your private life, and your blogging life? What subject is too taboo to talk about?

My family has brought up how open I am on my personal blog, and I try to add in personal anecdotes on other blogs I write on, but I also realize that I have to be careful, and that just because I don’t mind telling the world what’s going on in my life, that doesn’t mean my family or friends want pieces of their lives published for public consumption.

This is something you have to take into consideration when posting about your personal life and the people in it. You should always ask for permission when it comes to mentioning them, or even better, don’t mention them at all if possible.

There are so many things I have wanted to post about interactions with my family and friends that I don’t post just out of consideration to those other people.

It is a fine line sometimes, but if you want to publish your personal life, just make sure that those involved agree and understand. No point in losing friendships over blogging.

Originally posted on July 26, 2007 @ 10:03 pm

The Perfect Method For Getting More Attention On Your Blog Content

At some point, you know that you have good, valuable content on your blog. The next step in financial or personal success is to try to get more attention in the form of traffic. There are a million different pieces of advice that you can follow for making this happen. But, you can generally figure out how to split it into a few categories.

So, if you’re trying to improve the visibility of your blog, start at three of the more traditional places. First of all, you have to know your audience. Connecting with your audience is the entire point of having a blog, but to create that connection, you have to first understand who they are. Secondly, dig as deep as you can into search engine optimization possibilities. Having great content is an excellent first step, but knowing how to arrange that content for better search engine visibility is also crucial to appropriate project management with your blog. 

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Originally posted on June 30, 2019 @ 7:46 am