The Only 4 Blogging Goals You Really Need to Be Successful

I received a tweet this week in which a follower asked, “I want to be a blogger…give me a tip or two.” Only having 140 characters I was forced to distill all I knew into a just a few words. This became more difficult than I thought.
Finally, I replied with: “Blog about your passion and give a ton of value, but most importantly build an email list.” While I believe this to be true, I want to expand upon those thoughts. Many bloggers become distracted my so many unimportant things and then they wonder why they are spinning their wheels.
I’ve shared this before and we teach this in more depth inside Blogging Your Passion University, but it bears repeating. Here are the four keystone habits of all successful bloggers.
1. Create content about your passions
Don’t follow the money. Don’t choose your topic because you think it has the most money in it. The reason this doesn’t work is because you’ll have to give way more value on the front end then you think. If you are forced to write on things you have no real passion about, you’ll quit before you build an audience.
Creating regular content is a must. While other bloggers are changing their theme for the third time in a month or switching out the header logo once again, you’ll be doing the better thing by creating new content.
Using a fishing analogy, let me ask you a question. How would you rather spend your weekend fishing? You can spend it changing out lures and shining up your pole or you can be placing another hook in the water. For me, every new peice of content becomes another hook in the water.
2. Capture email addresses from your audience
Collecting email addresses is the priority for all full-time bloggers. It’s the energy in their business. They understand that without an email list they really don’t have a business at all. Most of us want more traffic, but I would rather collect more email addresses. Instead of watching your Google Analytics numbers, pay attention to how many new subscribers your adding every day. It’s an essential habit.
[Tweet “Pro bloggers know that without an email list they really don’t have a business at all.”]
3. Compile your knowledge into products
You are not open for business until you have something to sell. We live in an amazing time where we can use our own experience and imagination to create products that help others. Creating products and online courses also help you to get out of the “trading time for dollars trap” that so many people feel chained by. The best part is you can do this on the side while your doors are open all day, every day and all year long.
[Tweet “You are not open for business until you have something to sell.”]
4. Connect with other influencers
You will be served well by building relationships with other influencers in your niche. They are not your competition. They are a sojourner travelling down the same path as you. As you build these relationships you’ll begin to discover exciting new ways to collaborate and grow together.