Quotes to make us better bloggers (and better people too)
In my books and other pieces I’ve written, I like to sprinkle in wise, witty, or worth-repeating words from others. Most of the quotes I tend to use deal with life, inspiration, leadership, love, communication, freedom, responsibility, and other subjects in the personal development or life enrichment vein. Below are some such quotes along with my reasoning as to why they apply to being a blogger. I welcome your thoughts–in agreement or difference–as well as any quotes you want to share.
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Know that when you’re in a blogging conversation–you write, others comment, you reply, etc.–you’ll likely have times when not all voices sound in accord. Learn to distinguish contradiction and alternative ideas from castigation and bullying. The former make for interesting and engaging conversation the latter make for unsafe territory that you’re likely to want to avoid.
“Enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.”
~ Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, The Art of Possibility
- Not every post you write will inspire others to comment. That’s fine. However, if part of what you want to do is interact with others, find a way to light that spark, drawing others out from their corners of the world to your circle. Imagine yourself as an ancient story-teller, Shakespearean bard, or someone who brings people together for an exchange of ideas.
“The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their information, their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which, they simply pursue their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.”
~ James A. Michener
- Write with passion. If you start a post that lacks energy as you type, save it for later when it truly speaks to you. If you have nothing you feel compelled to share, don’t just make up a post to fill space. Blogging can benefit your business, but only if you do it with heart.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
~ Annie Dillard
- You are in this world for a reason. You have contributions to make and unique gifts to offer those with whom you come into contact. Let your blog reflect your larger life purpose. Show yourself as who you are at your core, not who you think you “should” be. Offer your authentic self–and give others room to do the same–and your blog will be one more place where you can fulfill the purpose for which you were made.
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Blogs aren’t about control
It’s tempting to think that you are in charge of your business. It might even look like you’re the one calling all the shots. What we often fail to remember, however, is that, at most, we control just one thing. . .ourselves. We are responding to the situations we find ourselves in and doing our best to create the situations we want to be in.
When thinking about blogs perhaps it should not surprise me that people often worry about how much control they’ll have.
What if I don’t want people to comment?
What if someone leaves a comment I don’t like?
What if someone links to my blog from an inappropriate site?
While you do have choices about what happens on your blog, you can’t control the other person and what they do elsewhere. Sure, you can disable comments (or not post a comment), yet that doesn’t stop someone from leaving that same comment somewhere else. To me however, that seems like saying to your audience, “Please do business with me someplace else,” rather than seeking to engage them directly on your blog. Obviously there may be some people who you choose not to interact with or do business with, but that’s an entirely different matter.
Read great thoughts about business, control, and social media
- Wendy Piersall seeks to answer the question, How Can You Keep Control of Your Brand with a Blog & Social Media?
- Valeria Montoni suggests that, You’re Asking the Wrong Question
- Geoff Livingston describes how, Fear Kills Social Media Efforts
“Social media involves conversation and conversation involves moving away from controlling the message. That’s a big shift for a lot of people.”
~ Valeria Maltoni
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Keep blogging in perspective
While most of us would say that we know how to keep blogging in perspective with everything else of value in our lives, I think the reality for many is that blogging can become an obsession. In fact, many of the participants in my free introductory blogging teleclasses often allude to this concern in answering the pre-class survey I send out. So I wanted to write up some of my suggestions for how to find time for blogging AND how to save time for not blogging.
How to make blogging easy and efficient
- Have a way to jot down ideas at any time. Whether this is a notepad and pencil by your bed, a digital voice recorder to keep in your car, or a journal full of your scribbled thoughts, having a way to record your ideas for use at a later time will help you plumb the creative well.
- Do as much as you can at one time. If you’ve got 20 minutes for blogging today, use your time as efficiently as possible, whatever that means to you. Perhaps you write, edit, and add photos to one post. Or, you might start three posts with your time. Maybe you put the polishing touches on two posts and schedule them to publish in the next few days.
- Use tools that streamline your process. Some folks use desktop (non-internet-based) blogging software while others blog via email. Choose to use whatever tools work best for you. Read about some fantastic time-saving tools in my post “Save time when you blog with these free resources.”
How to keep blogging from consuming your life
- Know your values and live them. If family and friends are invaluable, you need to have time to spend with them (That’s part of my absence this week, enjoying time with my grandkids, Molly & Jack. Blogging can wait.). If getting outside keeps you feeling connected, you can get a laptop AND you can also schedule screen-free time in the fresh air each day.
- Create sacred space and time. For me this means that the computer is off on Sundays (with exceptions perhaps once a quarter). Set some boundaries and limits for yourself and hold to them. Generally this time away from blogging (either writing/maintaining your blog or reading/browsing others’ blogs) will help keep you energized and make you less susceptible to burnout.
- Make reasonable commitments. It’s easy to be so excited when we first start blogging that we’re posting frequently, and writing elaborate posts with lots of goodies and links. Over time, however, we might lose steam and our posts become infrequent or less well done. Instead of this model, go for the “start small and grow” method where you begin gradually with what you are confident you can handle no matter what and then build to more (posts, regularity of posts, added features, etc.) as it feels right. This method helps you (a) create a low- or no-pressure environment for yourself and (b) satisfy your readers who witness your improvement over time.
- Be a team player. While you may be a one person operation, there are ways to involve others so you’re not flying solo all the time. You could take a blogging class to benefit from group synergy or have guest authors for your blog. You can hire an editor to proofread your pieces before you publish or you could team up with a photographer who wants to get visibility for their work without maintaining their own website or flickr account.
Blogging is fun, creative, useful, connecting, and here to stay (even if it changes form over time). Whether you blog for your business or for your own personal reasons, it’s important to learn how to do it in a way that keeps it from overwhelming the rest of your precious life.
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Personality traits and habits of successful bloggers
The temptation is to think that to succeed as a blogger you must be a super-geek. However, that’s not the case that I’ve seen among my clients and other bloggers that I’ve observed. So, if you’re a new blogger or a person considering blogging, see which of these qualities you possess or which you can develop. By doing so, you help set yourself on a path toward a successful blogging future.
Personal traits of successful business bloggers
- Curious – A spirit of learning and wonderment keeps them seeking, discovering, and growing.
- Generous – They willingly share their experience, ideas, and suggestions with those around them.
- Persistent – They have the ability to stick to a task even when they encounter technical problems.
- Consistent – Their posts appear on a regular and fairly routine basis, whether they write three times daily or once a month.
- Truthful – They are honest and open, sharing information as they know it to be. Without this trait, none of the rest matter.
Skills used by successful business bloggers
- Planning – Thinking through the process–before, during, and after writing of posts–helps them to have a consistent and well-thought-out blog.
- Analyzing – Looking at their statistics AND then making choices based on what they discover can help them focus their blogging, their advertising, and the rest of their online business strategies.
- Communicating – Writing in a clear and appealing manner is essential, yet as important is knowing how to appropriately respond to comments and questions.
- Problem solving — This is perhaps where the geek-factor comes in because having some technical know how can often get them through whatever glitch they’re encountering.
- Interacting – Also called networking, this skill is invaluable in getting them connected with other bloggers around the world. Here are two of the best folks I’ve met via the blogosphere. Cheryl of Humming Crow who wrote Why Watch Server Stats? about the value of analyzing your stats. Of course there’s David of David Airey Graphic Design, who writes many great posts about blogging, graphic design, and effectively branding your business.
So you’ve got a few tips on what I think makes up a successful blogger. Now, I’d like to hear from you. What personality traits, habits, or skills do you see as being essential for the person seeking to become a blogging success story?
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Understand the steps needed to blog for business
Business blogging is more than typing out your ideas and clicking the “publish” button to share them with the world. Before you start blogging, it’s essential to know the full scope of a successful blogging practice.
Things to know or have before you ever launch your blog
- Know your blogging objectives — Are you blogging to gain credibility or make money? Is your blog primarily a marketing vehicle or a tool for customer service? You must first know your goals because everything else is done in service of those objectives.
- Know your desired audience — What are their wants, needs, issues, and interests? How can you attract them to your site, not once, but repeatedly? Knowing (and continuing to learn about) your audience is key to developing a successful ongoing relationship with them.
- Know yourself (or your team) – Are you truly committed to blogging? Do you feel confident in your skills or your ability to learn? Set yourself up for success by creating a realistic picture of what’s possible based on what you’re truly committed to doing.
The actions that go into the blogging process
I break the blogging process down into three basic areas of activity. Many beginning bloggers get so involved in area #2 that they often forget there’s more to blogging than just typing and publishing their ideas.
- Researching and planning
- Writing and creating content
- Promoting and connecting
A short-cut for remembering these three blogging phases is to think before, during, and after. In other words,
- research and planning happens BEFORE you write,
- blog posts are created DURING the writing and creating phase, and
- AFTER you’ve clicked “publish” it’s time to promote your post and connect with others in the blogosphere.
Make sense? In future posts I’ll break the three phases down even further, so stay tuned (via RSS).
If you have another take on this topic or want to concur with my ideas, please join the conversation.
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Thank you, blogosphere style
Bloggers, have you thanked your readers today? Readers, have you thanked your bloggers? In our hyperactive, speedy society, we often either forget polite courtesies or we offer them from a semi-conscious state. Today I wanted to offer a little reminder to say “thank you” and spread some sunshine into the lives of people you commune with here in the blogosphere.
For bloggers, I recommend that you install a plugin to disable the “no follow” default on your blogs. Using such a plugin (I’ve just installed Andrew Timberlake’s Link Love plugin that rewards regular commentors) will ensure that search engine spiders will follow links that your readers leave when they post a comment. This helps them gain visibility and credibility and is a very easy way for you to thank them for taking the time to visit and interact with you.
- David Airey turned me on to the whole “do follow” idea. Learn why he thinks you should add do follow to your blog design.
- Andy Beard offers a slew of links to his ultimate list of nofollow and dofollow plugin post.
For blog readers, I recommend you read Eric Giguere’s great post, how to support your favorite bloggers. Then follow through with some act of appreciation for any or all of your favorite bloggers.
“I was on a train on a rainy day. The train was slowing down to pull into a station. For some reason, I became intent on watching the raindrops on the window. Two separate drops, pushed by the wind, merged into one for a moment and then divided again - each carrying with it a part of the other. Simply by that momentary touching, neither was what it had been before. And as each one went on to touch other raindrops, it shared not only itself, but what it had gleaned from the other. I saw this metaphor many years ago and it is one of my most vivid memories. I realized then that we never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace.”
~ Peggy Tabor Millin, Mary’s Way
For me, this quote sums it all up. We’re always impacting each other (hopefully in a positive way) and touching one another’s lives. Let someone know that you appreciate the mark they’ve left on you by taking a brief moment simply to say “thank you.”
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Have the heart of a blogger
“It’s easy to tell who’ll be a great blogger. It’s the person who has a good brain connected to a great heart who listens when other folks talk.”~ Liz Strauss
There’s a lot written about what skills are required to be successful at blogging (I’ve even written about it myself). This quote from Liz at Successful Blog, however, got me thinking about the heart of what makes a great blogger. Though some might view these traits as “soft skills,” they’re as essential to your success as any “hard” or technical skills you might acquire.
Traits of the “hearty” blogger
- Appreciation of others — This trait shows up in many ways. Hearty bloggers visit others’ blogs and leave thoughtful, useful, or appreciative comments. Such bloggers also freely link to others and praise their work.
- Desire to connect – Bloggers with heart are interested in having conversation and community. They seek out new relationships and nurture the relationships they have. It’s not a one-sided monologue with bloggers with heart.
- Open, curious, and interested in the world – Though hearty bloggers have opinions and ideas that they want to share, they’re also open to the perceptions and experiences of others. They enjoy learning and aren’t afraid to ask questions or receive input from others.
- Authentic presentation – Though there are hearty bloggers who use an alias, most show up as themselves (there are pictures to prove it). In addition to blogging as themselves, these bloggers reveal information about who they are, their gifts/talents, their weaknesses, their dreams; in other words “what you see is what you get.”
I’m confident that some will say that if you’re blogging for business, you must refrain from being too personal, too real, or too generous. I totally disagree. One of the greatest strengths of a business owner is her/his ability to genuinely connect with those she/he serves. By blogging with heart, you’re taking one giant step in making that kind of invaluable connection.
What other traits do you think “hearty” bloggers possess? Do you disagree with any that I’ve mentioned?
