I received an interesting email this afternoon, from a blogger who sounded extremely disheartened.
He is just 5 months into writing his blog and he was wondering if he was wasting his time. He explained that he was not seeing the results he wanted and that he was rapidly of the opinion that unless some influential people would promote his work, he’d never get noticed. What struck me about his email, was that he repeated several times, how it wasn’t possible to grow what he called an ‘A List’ blog, without influential friends. This is not the first time I have heard that point made and so I decided to cover it, in today’s post.
I’m going to start by sharing three examples of extremely successful bloggers with you: Two who started from what we’d think of as a normal position and one who started off from a position of wealth and influence.
We all start from a different place
The thing is, although every blogger begins by writing their first post, we write that initial post from very different starting positions. Most bloggers start from scratch, with no contacts and no one to help them amplify their message, like the guy who emailed me. A tiny number of others start off with influential friends and hit the big time extremely fast.
However, the great thing about blogging, is that it’s possible to achieve what we want from our blog, regardless of our beginnings!
Here are those examples I mentioned earlier, from the total opposite ends of the scale.
At one extreme, we have Seth Godin
It would be fair to say Seth Godin had a head start on most bloggers. For example, Seth started blogging by writing his first post, sitting next to his friend, Google co-founder Sergey Brin!
When Seth began his career, his father, William, was president of a multimillion dollar business. He saw Seth attend the world’s best business school, Stanford. Stanford students went on to become CEO’s of; Ford, Microsoft, Paypal, Google, Coca Cola, Wells Fargo etc as well as US Presidents. That’s a wonderful head start in business / blogging, with advantages that the rest of us couldn’t even imagine.
So, does this mean that people from a ‘normal’ background are excluded from the top level of blogging?
No. Not even close!
At the other extreme, we have self made guys like Brian Clarke & Chris Brogan
Brian Clarke was a Lawyer, turned Real Estate guy and entrepreneur. Brian started copyblogger by himself, from scratch, and went on to launch a number of million dollar businesses from the success of copyblogger. Today, Brian shows others how achieve great results from their blogging. Similarly, my favourite blogger, Chris Brogan, started from scratch. Today, Chris writes one of the world’s most popular blogs and his client list includes many of the most respected companies in the world. (He’s also a New York Times best selling author.)
Both Brian and Chris (and many, many others) are proof that no matter where we start from, we can achieve outstanding results from blogging. In fact, very few of the top bloggers came from a privileged beginning.
Here’s what I have found, whenever I’ve studied extremely successful bloggers (and businesspeople in general):
- They determined NOT to follow the flock and do what everyone else was doing.
- They learned how to do the right things, correctly.
- If they needed influential contacts, they went out and made those connections.
- Then, they committed to work as hard as required, for as long as needed, to achieve their objectives.
In short: Blogging is like everything else in life – Regardless of where we start, we have the opportunity to determine where we finish!
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I think it’s helpful when bloggers tell us a little of their back story, so we can see where they came from.
In the grander scheme of things, it don’t matter. As you pointed out most bloggers at the top of the pile came from regular backgrounds and some from quite disadvantaged backgrounds.
Thanks for an interesting blog, Jim.
You’re right, Raj. As Rakim told us in 1987; “It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at!”
Couldn’t agree with your observations more here, Jim. (By the way, I also left a message on your Google+ feed.) I am only a few weeks into a new blog after leaving a corporate blogging position and am hoping the exposure will lead to my next opportunity, but, in truth, I know this will take some time. I have an advantage in that my name is still associated with past projects elsewhere on the Web, but the reality is there are many voices out there and much competition. What a blog does for you is to allow your own personal voice to shine through. So the idea is not necessarily how many people you get to read your blog. Rather, it’s getting the right people to hear your voice, which is another issue entirely.
Hi Shawn. Welcome to the blog. You’re right in that a blog can be a powerful tool, to get your voice out there.
So long as we have something worth sharing and we do the right things, correctly, we can take it as far as we wish. Thanks for the feedback.
Keep on trucking.
Keep on blogging.
That’s the only way to move forwards.
Nicely put, Stuart!
The way I see things Jim is that I’d rather come through the hard way. It makes you more resilient. Plus its nice to know that you made it happen yourself on the back of your own labor.
Hi George. I’m the son of penniless immigrants and took my own route. It’s nice to get that head start, but there’s something very special about doing it from zero.
Good for you Jim!!
I’m sure it can’t feel as rewarding to achieve success when you’re born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
I could not agree more, Jim. When I first started blogging for our very small business I was very scarred to write anything. As I write more I get better. I never expected to be associated with big names and probably never will be. I write my blog to help people get to know us and our area better.
I also just keep truckin. Who knows what may come!
Hi Tammy. So long as you’re getting the results you want, it’s not important to be associated with the ‘big’ names. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you Jim. I feel I am getting the results I want. I have times when I thought I was just writing for myself. Then I’ll have a guest that mentions what I wrote on my blog and I know it’s all worth it.
BTW I really like reading your ideas they have helped me so much.
Hi Tammy. I think every blogger has times when they wonder if anyone is reading their work.
Thanks to analytics software, we can see how many visitors we get, how they find us and what they read etc.
I’m glad you find my ideas helpful – Thanks for the kind words!
I wonder what is actually meant when the person Wants someone more influential to promote their work? Do they want someone to do the work for them? Many influential bloggers share advice fit free on how they got results along with entry level products going into much deeper detail.
I think they know what to do but don’t actually want to do the work.
Hi Jim,
I’m like you, love Chris Brogan and his work at Copyblogger. I’m about to launch my personal blog and our business blog within the next few weeks. At the moment I need to find and properly market the 2 in different ways so I don’t get them cross-wired. I need to sit down and determine what the differences are and what content I want to be writing for both of them. Any other tips you feel I should look out for?
Steven
Hi Steven. The most important thing, is to get started. Sites like copyblogger.com contain thousands of tips – you may also find this useful: http://www.internetmarketingjam.com/
Hope it helps!
Happy Sunday Jim, a most excellent post for aspiring bloggers (I’m still one of those, after even after few years!). I love to see your big heart for bloggers – it’s not easy.
The one trait in your list that can get you the traction you need for success is the ‘HARD WORK’ one! So many people on the planet are just not cut out for the work that’s required to be a success, regardless if that’s blogging or anything else in life for that matter.
As far as working smart, there’s so much good information out there, much of it free for the beginner, take this blog for example, that anybody can get the traction they need to build a successful blog.
Obviously you can get much faster results if you pay to gain your education; I think this is where many people get disillusioned. People are paying and getting no results. They’re buying into to the ‘overnight success’ donkey crap out there, and it’s a shame.
But that’s just plain laziness too. If you did some simple research, people would find that, in fact, they are buying donkey poo poo and that people like You, Chris and Brian are some of the best consultants in the world for bloggers – and nobody has to convince people of this – the social web will tell them that!
And for about the price of a cup of coffee day, you can access the brightest minds on the web to build a successful blog, guaranteed (head-shake)).
Nice awareness post sir!
Some useful observations there, Mark.
Thanks for sharing them with us and thanks for your kind words regarding my work! That means a lot to me.
Hi Jim,
Sanjib here. I have been into blogging for over a year now and am happy with the way things are going on with me. But still I feel I came to know of some new things about blogging. Thanks a lot for this post.
Regards,
Sanjib
Hi Sanjib. I have been blogging for years and I still learn new things all the time.
Thanks for the feedback, sir.
Like anything it life to be successful with your blog it requires hard luck and a bit of luck, to strike the right chord at the right moment and engage with people. When that happens, to the lucky few, what do you do? You work even harder to maintain it!
Hi Elena. Your final point is interesting. In my experience, it’s actually a great deal easier to maintain a popular blog than it was to get my first 10,000 daily subscribers.
Yes, there’s a need to ensure the quality of the posts is as high as possible, but there’s less need to promote the blog. Once I built my initial blog community, the community did a lot of that for me, by sharing my posts and recommending the blog to their friends.
Thanks for the feedback.
Great points Jim! Blogging has showed me that there are many other things worth learning and doing. Also when I start blogging I realized how big the online world is and how many opportunities it can offer. Also blogging helps to meet new wise and nice people and be a part of some cool communities.
You’re so right, Becca. There are many additional benefits from blogging. I’ve met some amazing people and been able to reach out to people in parts of the world, which would have been unthinkable before I started this site. Thanks for the comment.
Another great blog Jim. I have been in the same position as the blogger who emailed you. My advice to him and anyone else in the same boat is to take massive action with regards to inbound and content marketing. Blog often and regularly (without compromising on quality), learn as much as you can about this topic and implement what you learn. Do not expect results in the first six months and expect the big rewards after 2 years.
Hey Wade. With so many scammers promising people ‘instant results’, it’s understandable that some people believe it. Hopefully, as more people become Internet savvy, it will become increasingly difficult for the scammers to push their bullshit messages.
Agree Jim. And the more of us who make money and tell people the better. The tide is turning and I love it.
Amen!
“In short: Blogging is like everything else in life – Regardless of where we start, we have the opportunity to determine where we finish!”
It’s good advise, but the problem is that if you are running a business and don’t have enough spare funds to invest in blog in terms of hiring others to work on it, you often don’t have time necessary to invest in uncertain future of a blog, you just can’t afford to work on it too much. I bet like many businesses, many blogs fail miserably.
Hi Roman. You make a good point and many people have used that excuse. It amazes me they find enough time to watch junk TV, yet “can’t afford the time” to write a blog post. once or twice a week. Thanks for your comment, sir, and welcome to the blog.
Hi Jim .. this has been a great help for me… sharing the stories of the bloggers would not only encourage us but will also give us some great ideas of how we could make our blog better
Blogging just like any brick and mortar business. Learning what works, and do them – consistently. Discover that most people learn what works, do them one time, and then pronounce that it didn’t work.