There is so much Blogging advice floating around the internet. From blogging pros who have been doing it since the beginning of the internet, to a mom at home who just opened up a blogspot site two weeks ago, it seems every one has some advice for fellow bloggers.
So how do you decide which advice to implement and which to ignore?
There are a lot of posts with gorgeous images and scientific looking info graphics that are circulating poor information, which is why we thought it was time to bring you some thoughts on how to choose blogging advice wisely. Whenever you are hearing advice, it’s important to first consider the source.
1. Numbers – If some one is writing a post about how to get more followers on twitter, the first thing I do is click over to their twitter account to see how many followers they have. If they have 57 Twitter followers and they’re trying to teach me how to get followers, I can already tell it’s going to be bad advice, simply because they evidently have not experienced what they are talking about.
It’s not just in the number either. You can buy followers and likes, so you need to do some extra digging. On Facebook it’s easy to gauge the health of a page by simply clicking on the number of likes. This will take you to a brief version of the page’s analytics. What you are looking for here is the talking about number. Comparing the talking about to the number of likes is a simple way to guess the health of a Facebook page. With all the Facebook changes if the talking about number is at least 10% of the number of likes a page has, this is considered a Facebook page doing pretty well. There are lots of amazing pages out there doing much than just 10% too! You want to look to people who are at 10% or better for Facebook advice because those numbers in relation to one another are much more important than the number of likes a page might have. It’s so easy to buy those likes that looking at that number alone can be deceiving.
Be it social media or anything else, do a bit of digging around to see how the person who is giving the advice stacks up against what they are saying. While I don’t discount the growth of another person, I want to learn from those more successful than myself, so I try to find people like that to ask questions and learn from.
2. Niche – Especially in regards to social media advice, niche matters. What works for one niche and one platform may not do as well for another niche and platform. Some people are experts for every one, while others have success more because of their niche than their methods specifically. Learn to differentiate between these and you’ll be able to save time trying things that won’t work for you because your niche is different. An example of this is the info graphic charts that state when the most number of people are online and urge you to post socially at these key times. While there is interesting and important information to be gleaned from these, if they are not telling you what type of people are online during those hours it is virtually irrelevant to you. You must decipher when YOUR target audience is online, not other random people in the population.
3. One way? – Remember that there are many ways to be an awesome and successful blogger. Any one marketing their way as THE way to reach success is probably incorrect. Different blogs perform better on varying platforms and with various methods and strategies. There is much to be learned from other bloggers, but it’s important to be careful when listening to advice so you don’t waste your time pursuing something that is poor advice in the end.
Have you ever heard bad blogging advice being circulated? What are some of the worst blog tips you’ve ever received/heard?
This has been a huge frustration for me. I will spend time reading something or watching an hour long video only to find out the person isn’t really doing that well.
So now if I’m learning something about FB or Pinterest the VERY FIRST thing I do go see their numbers. Some people will tell you “it’s not about numbers, don’t compare yourself” well I got news for them, it is ALL about the numbers. If you don’t have the numbers you don’t have the $ coming! 🙂 So yes, check their numbers before you waste time listening to their advice.
Another thing is when someone tells you “we have 500K visitors to our site each month” make sure that’s true. I’ve had people tell me that and then I’m thinking “what are we doing wrong?” only to find out it’s Pageviews and not Visitors! There’s a HUGE difference in those two words!
One more thing. Don’t always listen to the experts. When the experts said last year to only post 2-3 times a day on FB, I decided to try posting 12 times a day. We went from 15K likes to 300K likes. Our reach went from 50 to 5,000.
Then we started posting 24 hours a day 1/2 our stuff 1/2 others and our reach was up to 1.2 Mil now with the new FB changes it’s still 700K+.
If I would have listened to the experts then we would be way down in traffic.
This is great info. As I new blogger, I spend a decent amount of time researching the “how-to” of blogging. {I love digging into it so much that I have to remind myself to actually take the time to apply what I’m learning. 🙂 } I have learned that I need to be reading information from bloggers who have proved themselves (like here). I’m trying to be more selective.
Thanks for providing such a great resource!! I keep coming back for more.
Great post!
I have two blogs, one for book reviews and the other is my more personal/nerdy side. I have heard some absolutely terrible advice, ranging from “share your post every five minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 6 am & 10 am for best traffic” (That’s just annoying) to “Keywords, keywords, keywords! Use as many as possible in your post. Plug them in at least three times per paragraph.” (Yes, because THAT’S not keyword stuffing.)
Thanks for sharing!
http://triskelereviews.com
Definitely enjoyed the post!
It’s also refreshing to see someone else agree with the fact that blog marketing isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” method.
So many people seem to want to tell others that you have to do it this way or that way, when in reality, the blogger that is saying that probably has only one blog. And that blog is a specific niche. So why do they think that their exact method applies to everyone?
We can all learn something from someone. Everyone is in a different circumstance than everyone else.
Just don’t get duped into thinking that that shiny piece of pyrite you’re being sold is true gold.
My mantra is “Only take advice from people who are already where you want to be.” I pay attention to you guys and Kim Garst, as well as Bjork and Lindsay Ostrom. Paying attention to too many dilutes your focus.