7 Ways to Fascinate Your Readers and Build a Hugely Loyal Following

Posted by Henneke Duistermaat in Content marketing, Engagement | 49 comments

Dec 03, 12

Are you spellbinding?

Let’s be honest.

It’s a huuuuge challenge.

Probably the biggest challenge each blogger faces.

Because your readers suffer from many distractions.

Social media. Email. Other blogs. TV. Radio. Phone calls. Texts. A car driving past. People talking. Music.Thoughts popping up.

How the hell can you keep your readers spellbound?

How can you keep your readers glued to your content until your last sentence?

How can you keep them yearning for more?

It’s not easy.

But you can learn how to master the art of being fascinating. Enchanting. Captivating. Almost mesmerizing.

How?

You just need to understand the triggers to being fascinating. Once you apply these triggers, your readers will hang on to every word you write.

Let me quickly tell you this first.

These seven triggers are based on research outlined in an *uh* fascinating book by Sally Hogshead. You’ll also find a personality test on her website. Try it! The test will tell you which triggers you’re already using successfully; and how you can learn to use your dormant triggers, too.

These are the seven fascination triggers: Passion, Mystique, Alarm, Prestige, Power, Rebellion, and Trust.

You don’t need to use all triggers. You can choose the triggers that suit your personality. You can pick a few or you can use them all. But for blogging and other forms of online communication, at least one is mandatory. I’ll get back to that later.

Let’s look at each trigger and discuss how you can use it to make your blog irresistibly fascinating.

“Passion is the sense of participation that you have when you’re with someone who makes you want to come out of yourself and make an emotional connection.” — Sally Hogshead

For your readers to react to your writing, and to share it with their friends, you have to create a deep connection with them.

But here’s the thing:

Information doesn’t connect with people. Passion does. And emotion…

So, to connect with your readers, you have to infuse your writing with both passion and emotion.

How?

Simple.

Write about something you’re passionate about. Let your personality shine through. Be yourself, warts and all.

And use emotion-rich and sensory language such as a sleazy sales man, a rough day and SEO harakiri.

If your readers feel your passion, you connect with them, and you’ll see a boost in social sharing.

“Mystique flirts with us, provoking our imagination, hinting at the possibilities, inviting us to move closer while eluding our grasp.” — Sally Hogshead

Mystique teases us because we want to find answers, solve puzzles, and learn secrets. If you can generate some curiosity in the headlines or sub-headlines of your blog posts, you will increase the number of people willing to read them.

Have a look at these headlines from Derek Halpern:

These headlines make you curious. But headlines aren’t the only way to use the mystique trigger. You know stories keep us interested because we always want to know what’s happening next, don’t you?

Using cliffhangers is one of the most powerful tools in storytelling. A cliffhanger makes your readers anxious to know what’s going to happen next.

Make your readers dying to learn about your next blog post, your next email, or your next status update. Tell your readers what great, beneficial content you’ll have for them in your next email.

Or just build anticipation by announcing you’re developing something brand spanking new. Just don’t give away all the details yet.

Mystique makes your readers curious. And keeps them dying to learn more.

“Alarm demands a response now.” — Sally Hogshead

Of course, you can use deadlines to get people to act. If you don’t download now, the ebook will no longer be available free. If you don’t buy now, the price goes up. Or the course closes.

That’s one way to use the alarm trigger.

Another is to inspire action by focusing on people’s fears. Their worst fears. For example: the fear of being forgotten when we die.

Have you read How to be unforgettable?

Jon makes you feel afraid of being forgotten, and then he inspires you to take your blogging efforts more seriously. Because you want to be remembered when you die.

That’s the power of alarm.

You just have to be careful. Don’t apply the alarm trigger to each blog post you write. It stops working if you use it too much, and it can even get annoying.

“[P]restige can increase your perceived value.” — Sally Hogshead

How can you gain A-list status as a blogger?

How can you be admired and respected? And be recognized for what you’ve achieved?

Well, you’ll have to earn your status. And that’ll take some time — you can’t develop a track record overnight.

Take for instance Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. He has earned respect by sharing his tips for making money online and by showing exactly how much money he earns from his various online activities. That kind of success doesn’t happen overnight, though.

Also, prestige doesn’t necessarily have to come from money. If you get lots of comments and retweets and likes on Facebook, people start to respect you too.

Of course, that takes traffic. Thankfully though, there is a shortcut to generating traffic and getting more readers:

Guest blogging.

If you guest post on the best-known, most-respected blogs, more people will get to know you, and you’ll drive more readers to your blog, not to mention raise your status just through the power of association. For example, take the epic 7,037-word post like Tommy Walker did for ChrisBrogan.com. If you write a post like that and get over 3000 shares and Facebook and nearly that many on Twitter, everyone is going to take notice of who you are.

The keyword in the above paragraph: epic. If you want to trigger prestige, you need to publish epic posts, both for A-list blogs and for your own.

There’s also one more small trick to boosting your track record. Every time you publish a guest post on a popular blog, put their logo on your site and say, “As seen on.”

Prolific guest blogger Danny Iny has quite a few on his Firepole Marketing website. And Tommy Walker has a cool quote from Chris Brogan on the Tommy.ismy.name website. That boosts his track record, too.

“Whether parental or dictatorial, authority figures use power to control us.” — Sally Hogshead

Power on the web isn’t dictatorial. You can’t force people to listen to you.

But if you become an authority, people will want to know what you have to say. They’ll seek your advice. They’ll want to link to you.

How can you build authority as a blogger?

Decide on your niche and your mission first. You have to find a way to be different, to stand out from the crowd. And then, build your authority:

Know your stuff;Produce incredibly helpful content;Develop a unique voice and have an opinion.

That’s how Copyblogger became an authority in content marketing. That’s how Darren Rowse became an authority in blogging. And that’s how Marcus Sheridan became an authority in inbound marketing. They all know their stuff. They all produce awesome, useful content, and they have an opinion, their own way of doing things, and a unique voice.

Your power as a blogger doesn’t come from your ability to fire your readers or to give them a pay rise.

You don’t have access to an army of violent fighters to get them to behave. You can’t even lock your readers up when they misbehave.

But you can be on a mission, build trust and authority, and create a loyal tribe.

“Rebellion is about creativity and innovation. It’s taking a problem that everybody looks at in one way and interpreting it in another way.” — Sally Hogshead

Are you subscribed to Ben Settle’s email newsletter?

He’s an expert in using the rebellion trigger at different levels:

He uses bad language;He misspells words on purpose;He breaks taboos: telling you to email your subscribers daily; to ignore open rates, and to applaud unsubscribers.

You could easily decide to ignore Ben, because it sounds a little too crazy. But you don’t ignore him, because he balances rebellion with the power and prestige triggers.

Ben has a loyal following of fans because he knows his stuff. For example: he often quotes other copywriters – that’s the power trigger. He has also written for Copyblogger, and he lists recommendations from high-profile copywriting experts on his website. That’s using the prestige trigger.

That’s how you mix up different triggers. Now, let’s look at a trigger that surely needs to be part of your blogging efforts…

“You can dabble in prestige, or experiment with power, but you can’t dip in and out of trust. It must be established consistently.” — Sally Hogshead

The online world is full of pretenders, spammers and liars. While you can discard other triggers, you can’t do without trust. You can’t think of a popular blogger that’s not trustworthy, can you?

To establish trust as a blogger, you have to become familiar. Turn up regularly – on your own blog or as a guest blogger. Use social media to stay in touch. Or even better: email your audience on a regular basis.

In addition to posting on his blog Chris Brogan sends his subscribers an email each Sunday. He writes his emails as if you’re his friend and if you’re having a cup of tea together. Same conversational style each Sunday. That’s a good way to stay in touch with your audience. And to become trustworthy.

Remember your mission? Write about it. Often. And be authentic. You don’t have to bare all, but you have to be yourself. Don’t pretend. Develop your own voice. And be consistent.

Start building trust now. Because you can’t become popular without it.

You don’t need talent to be fascinating.

Anyone can leave their readers breathless by using these fascination triggers in their posts.

There’s no magic there. Just the decision and commitment to give this a go.

Does your online future matter to you?

Of course it does.

So, will you take the time to make every piece of writing fascinating?

Of course you will! Because if you’re fascinating, then you’ll build an engaged tribe; and you’ll gain raving fans who spread your ideas for you. .

Make the commitment to yourself right now… Promise to never publish drab, boring content ever again.

That’s what makes all the difference!

About the author: Henneke Duistermaat is a UK based marketer. She is on a mission to make boring companies charming, enchanting, and persuasive. Sign up for her Enchanting Marketing newsletter and receive free tips on copywriting and content marketing.

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The Forrest Gump Guide to Writing That Bites Readers in the Buttocks

Posted by Jon in Uncategorized | 55 comments

Southern Gentleman (John Worsham): “It was a bullet, wasn’t it?”
Forrest: “A bullet?”
Southern Gentleman: “That jumped up and bit you.”
Forrest: “Oh. Yes, sir. Bit me directly in the but-tocks.”

BANG.

One moment, you’re checking your email or surfing the web or browsing through the aisles of Barnes & Noble, minding your own business, doing nobody any harm, and that’s when it happens…

You read something that jumps up and bites you in the buttocks.

It’s so beautifully written, so painfully true, you can’t help feeling like you just got shot. No, it’s not a physical wound, but you can feel the ideas kicking around inside you, and you know somehow that they’ll stay with you for a very long time.

Maybe you even wonder how you can write like that yourself. So few can.

With blogging in particular, most writing is pitiful, full of shallow ideas and poorly told stories. The posts are hardly memorable, much less capable of making readers feel like they just took a physical blow.

The good news is Forrest Gump is here to help. Here are some of the best lines from the movie, along with advice on exactly how you can up your game:

Forrest Gump: “Hello. I’m Forrest… Forrest Gump.”
Army Bus Driver: “Nobody gives a horse’s shit who you are, pus ball! You’re not even a low-life, scum-sucking maggot!”

And the truth is, neither are we.

Yes, I know you have the world’s greatest untold story. Yes, I know you’re aching to tell it. Yes, I know it’ll turn readers into blubbering, sobbing messes of emotion.

But restrain yourself for a while.

There are times and places for stories, it’s true. I’ve even told mine once or twice (okay, three times).

I waited years, though. Not because it took me that long to tell the tale, but because that’s how long it took me to earn it.

Before your readers care about you, first they have to know how much you care about them.

Their problems. Their dreams. Their questions.

Not yours. At least, not in the beginning.

An audience is only ready to hear your story when they feel you really and truly have heard theirs. Never before.

Jenny: “Do you have a dream, Forrest, about who you’re going to be?”
Forrest: “Aren’t I going to be me?”

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to stick your personality in a box and stuff it in long-term storage. Lordy, no.

Any great writer’s personality bleeds into the page. There’s a special quality to their words, sentences, and paragraphs that’s as unique to them as a fingerprint.

Part of your job as a beginning writer is to find your own writing fingerprint. You were born with it, just as much as you were born with arms and toes and fingernails.

And the journey to find it, why, that’s one of the greatest journeys there is.

Truly dedicated writers don’t just explore topics and ideas and audiences, looking for the right match. They explore voices too, saying things this way and that until they find the voice that bubbles up right from their soul.

You can find that voice. It’s inside you.

You just need the courage to express it.

Drill Sergeant: “GUMP! What’s your sole purpose in this army?”
Gump: “To do whatever you tell me, Drill Sergeant?”
Drill Sergeant: “Goddammit Gump, you’re a goddamn genius. That’s the most outstanding answer I’ve ever heard. You must have a goddamn IQ of 160! You’re goddamn gifted, Private Gump!”

The best way to find that courage?

Get a mentor.

Too many writers struggle in solitude, fumbling to learn how to write all on their own. It’s a horrible mistake, not only because our craft is devilishly complicated, but because the anxiety of not knowing whether you’re good enough can rip you apart inside.

A mentor can tell you. A mentor can teach you. A mentor can make you a great writer decades sooner than you could have become one on your own.

So, where do you find one?

Well, you don’t. Mentors aren’t found. They’re bought.

In the olden days, parents would pay master craftsman to take their child in as an apprentice. Thousands of years later, it’s still largely the same. The only difference is you pay the master, in most cases, not your parents.

So, find yourself a good writing teacher and pay them to teach you. If you’re serious about writing, it’s the best investment you could possibly make.

(PS: You can find one of my mentorship programs here.)

 Forrest: “Now Bubba told me everything he knew about shrimping, but you know what I found out? Shrimping is tough.”

The harsh truth, though?

Yes, a mentor is a must, but there are also certain ephemeral lessons you can learn only by your lonesome. And it’s tough. Just as tough as shrimping, I would guess.

For example, deciding what to write. A mentor can teach you how to organize sentences, express your ideas, and even deal with your inhibitions, but tell you what to say? Sorry. Nobody can decide that but you.

The bad news is the decision of what to say is maybe even more important than knowing how to say it.

In my years as a teacher, I’ve taught more than 1,000 bushytailed bloggers how to write, and I like to think I’ve made all of them better, but there’s a certain percentage of them that just can’t help writing about the dumbest things. Oh, they write it well, but it’s a topic no one cares about, so it does nobody any good.

On the flip side, there are also bloggers who write about topics the world is so desperate to learn more about they can’t help become popular. When they sign up for one of my courses, I just take away the rough edges. Nothing more, really.

Which camp do you fall into?

Well, I don’t know, but I believe it’s a choice. And it’s one only you can make.

Lt. Dan: “They gave you the congressional Medal of Honor.”
Forrest: “Yes, sir. They surely did.”
Lt. Dan: “They gave you, an imbecile, a moron who goes on television and makes a fool out of himself in front of the whole damn country, the congressional Medal of Honor.”
Forrest: “Yes, sir.”
Lt. Dan: “Well, that… that’s just perfect!”

The good news?

Not all your decisions have to be right. In fact, you might as well prepare yourself – a fair percentage of what you write will be shockingly stupid, and when you publish it, you’ll look like a fool in front of everyone.

But therein lies a precious secret:

The difference between a great writer and a merely good one is being willing to look like a fool. You have to be fearless, writing not with a squeak, but with a roar.

That’s what readers remember. That’s what readers reward.

Forrest: “Sorry I had a fight in the middle of your Black Panther party.”

How, exactly, do you write with a roar?

Well, you can start by standing up to the bad guys. Not just obvious ones like serial killers and rapists and drug dealers, but every day baddies like mean-spirited critics, moneygrubbing gurus, and brainless bloggers.

Don’t do it in anger. Don’t call anyone names. Don’t be self-righteous.

In fact, be the opposite. Be humble, maybe even a little apologetic for having to cause a commotion, but also unquestionably firm in your convictions and unwilling to back down.

A lot of times, you’ll be all alone. You might even be surrounded by a whole industry of people who vehemently disagree with you.

But you’ll also get emails from people who are grateful for someone saying something. Seeing your courage, a few other brave souls might even speak up and publicly agree with you.

Your job is to be that spark, to be the lone voice of dissent willing to take a stand. A small but very loyal group of people will love you for it.

Lt. Dan: “Come on! You call this a storm? Blow, you son of a bitch, blow! It’s time for a showdown! You and me! I’m right here! Come and get me! Ha ha! Ha ha! You’ll never sink… this… boat! Ha ha ha ha!”

And most of all?

Never, ever give up.

Yes, you can make adjustments. Yes, you can change directions. Yes, you can even start over, if you have to.

But don’t quit. Not ever.

Not when you’re struggling to pay the bills. Not when your family thinks you’re crazy. Not when everyone ignores your work. Not when publishers reject you. Not when you feel like God is urging you to do something else.

It will be tempting, believe me. I thought about quitting lots of times. At the end of the day though, here’s the simple truth:

If you’re a writer, you write. Every day. For life.

That’s how you get good. That’s how you get respect. That’s how you build an audience.

And Forrest Gump?

If you remember, Jenny told him to run. You know, “Run, Forrest, run!”

Well, I’m changing that up a bit. For us, the motto is “Write, writer, write!”

Do that, and everything else will take care of itself. Just you watch and see.

About the Author: Jon Morrow has asked repeatedly to be called “His Royal Awesomeness,” but no one listens to him. So, he settles for CEO of Boost Blog Traffic, LLC. Poor man.

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58 Tips for Transforming Your Blog and Dazzling Your Readers

Posted by Marya Jan in Beginners, Motivation | 98 comments

Jan 29, 13

Let’s face it…

We’ve all been deceived.

Once upon a time, we looked at blogging and thought, “Oh, I can do that. Writing a few posts a week? Piece of cake.” From the outside, it looks so simple, so easy, so fun, and so we rushed off to start a blog of our own.

But then we get a rude awakening:

This stuff is complicated. Blogging isn’t so much about writing blog posts as juggling dozens of little odds and ends, all of them important, all of them demanding your attention, and all of them requiring you to learn something.

And it’s easy to drop the ball, so to speak, or even all of them. Not because you want to neglect anything, but because it’s too much to keep track of.

What you really need is a checklist of sorts – an itemized breakdown of everything you need to do to transform your blog and dazzle your readers. That way, you can stop trying to handle everything all at once and just go through it one step at a time.

So, that’s what I created for you. Here are 58 things you need to do, along with some links to help you learn how to do them well.

Enjoy.

1. Move to self-hosted WordPress, if you haven’t already. Yes, you can build a popular blog on WordPress.com or Blogger.com, but there are lots of reasons to move your blog to your own host, including having more control and looking more professional. (Note from Jon: for newbie bloggers, I recommend Hostgator (aff). If your blog is already gaining some traction, Synthesis is a good premium option.)

2. Are you in the right niche? If you make it too narrow you’ll struggle to build a large audience. Make it too wide, and you’ll find it really hard to stand out.

3. Rework your tagline. Your tagline needs to tell your readers who the blog is for, what it offers them and what makes it special (think unique selling proposition – USP). Clear is always better than clever.

4. Set up Akismet. It’s a plug-in that helps you eliminate comment spam. Most hosts include it by default, but you still need to set it up and get it going.

5. Schedule regular backups. You never know when your blog might get hacked, and the best defense is scheduling regular backups using a plug-in like BackWPup.

6. Create an ideal reader profile. If you know who your target audience is and write every post with them in mind, your results will improve significantly!

7. Develop a basic Editorial Calendar. Jot down the type of posts (list, interview, reader question, personal, epic, etc.) and fill in post ideas. This is fairly simple to do, and it keeps your content regular and flowing.

8. Showcase a clutter-free design. Nothing sends your readers running faster than being greeted by a cluttered, tacky or spammy feel. Make a great first impression by with a stunning, clean and professional design and improve your website trust factor instantaneously.

9. Link to the archives. We would all like to believe our readers browse through the archives of our blog, but the reality is, they don’t. You need to remind them. In every new post, try to link to at least three or four old posts, sending your readers back in time to read your best work.

10. Display a list of your most popular posts. Showcase your best work and impress the heck out of first time visitors.

11. Position your opt-in form in a prominent position. People often hide their subscription form and then complain that nobody subscribes. Make it very easy for people to find your sign-up form. Top right on your sidebar or just above your main navigation bar are two good places.

12. Create a contact page. As soon as you start getting traffic, some of your readers will want to get in touch with you, so create a contact page and use a plug-in like Contact Form 7 to make getting in touch with you easy.

13. Show your social media profiles. Encourage visitors to connect with you on social media. This builds trust and deepens the connection.

14. Perfect your About Me page. This is the most frequently visited page of your blog after your home page. It also has the longest shelf life. It’s worth really looking at how others have done it, and then to make yours as professional and well thought out as possible. You certainly don’t want people bouncing off this page. They need to subscribe to updates then and there.

15. Have clear guidelines for guest posting. If you want to attract quality posts from other bloggers, have a section with detailed advice on the requirements and the process.

16. Add a sign up form after every post. Remind your readers that they should sign up to get your latest updates and special offers. People are distracted. They have tons on their minds. If you don’t remind them to sign up and make it very simple, they won’t do so.

17. Display social share buttons. Again… If you don’t make it simple for people to recommend or share your work, chances are absolutely zero that they’ll do so. Make it really easy for them to participate.

18. Focus on and master one social platform. Instead of trying to be everywhere, attempt to do one well. Excellent results on one social network trumps mediocre results on five.

19. Schedule promotions for your own posts. Sign up for a free Hootsuite account and pre-schedule Tweets or Facebook updates.

20. Maintain an idea file. Always be on the lookout for new ideas for getting inspired to write. And have someplace where you can easily record them to refer back to later.  Use Evernote as an online catch-all for writing ideas.

21. Maintain a decent posting frequency. Posting every day is a silly strategy and you need to follow the 80-20 rule. Spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% promoting it.

22. Conduct surveys. At one point or the other, you’ll be struck by writer’s block. Ask your audience what they want to read about. They might surprise you.

23. Learn from the best. I don’t care what anyone says, content is still king. Make sure your content doesn’t suck. Otherwise, your subscriber count might be stuck on single digits — indefinitely.

24. Hone in your headline writing skills. You need to make your audience curious, and you always need to spell out the benefit of them reading the post. Make prospective readers and subscribers think: I have to read that, right now!

25. Start every post with an irresistible introduction. Draw your reader down into the rest of the post. Get them from one sentence to the next, working their way through your post. If people aren’t even reading, none of the other good benefits will come.

26. Make your writing screen-friendly. Take a step back and see how your writing looks — visually. Pretty it up by adding sub-headings, bulleted points, numbered lists, images and lots of white space. Make it easy on the eyes.

27. Incorporate effective communication principles in your writing. Clarity, conciseness, and connection: they make the world go round.

28. Show off your personality. Develop your personal writing voice. Dare to be a little different. Don’t try and sound like everyone else. This will help you seem less boring.

29. Tell stories. Captivate your audience instantly.

30. Add a call to action to every post. What do you want your reader to do? Give it a powerful ending. If you inspire people to act, they will see results and love you for encouraging them.

31. Create link bait. Give people reasons to link to you… Epic posts. Huge list posts. Interviews. Reviews of other (popular!) bloggers’ work and products. One successful link bait post can bring you traffic and subscribers for years.

32. SEO friendly content. Write for humans first, and they’ll make sure that your content ranks well for search engines. Win win.

33. Engage with your community. Aim to increase the number of comments on your posts every time you write one.

34. Have fun with content syndication. Submit your content to various content syndication sites like Alltop. These sites can be good sources of targeted and engaged readers.

35. Be consistent in your guest posting strategy. You don’t have a strategy, you say? How on earth do you plan to grow your list? If you can’t get people to come over to you, it only makes sense to go where they are. Devise a strategy.

36. Follow blogs in your niche. Your blog is not an island. You can’t do it alone. You have to find your tribe and become a part of it. Find your people or remain invisible.

37. Comment on other bloggers’ posts. Be strategic about it. Be smart. Know what you want to gain from your efforts. If you said traffic only, you’re in the doghouse. Quality connections are just as important.

38. Reach out to A-list bloggers via email. Keep it short and tell them why you appreciate their work. Ask how you can help them (not the other way around).

39. Follow them on social media. No brainer.

40. Link to them. Duh!

41. Interview them. Ask them to answer a few questions on a topic they’re passionate about. When they’re committed advocates for some cause, it’s hard for them to say no.

42. Ask for a guest post. Only after you’ve developed a meaningful connection with them and know their blog and audience intimately, pitch them a great idea. But be sure to do your homework first.

43. Ask them to share a post published on your own blog. Only after your guest post has done really well, or you have guest posted multiple times. Only when your post is your best work, and will really resonate with their audience. There aren’t any exceptions.

44. Build your email list. First, attract the right kind of traffic to your blog. Then impress them with your savvy, knowledgeability and generosity, and guess what? They’ll subscribe.

45. Offer a subscribe incentive. Give new subscribers free access to an ebook or report they can’t refuse. Make it super useful. Make it a killer. Give them something they’ll want to read (not something you think they should read).

46. Do consultations. The best way to find out what your readers want to buy is to get on the telephone and do some good old-fashioned consulting. Listen to their problems, and then try out different solutions. Soon, you’ll find a common problem and a solution that seems to work for everybody. That’s when you know you have promising product idea.

47. Create a hire me page. You’re running a business, so start acting like you are. Add a hire me page for all to see. Don’t be shy about this. Use your blog to build your business.

48. Get and display testimonials. Back up what you offer by positive feedback from past and present customers.

49. Be careful with advertising. Only display ads on your blog if the income is too good to refuse. If you do, keep the ads relevant to your audience.

50. Consider affiliate marketing. When you’ve reached the point where you actually have a substantial list, it might make sense to recommend quality products that will solve some of your audience’s problems.

51. Venture into creating your own products and running continuity programs. Multiple income streams… The name of the game.

52. Find mentors. Even the self-appointed ones who have no clue that they’ve taken this role work fine.

53. Invest in your online business education. Coaching, classes, courses, training, events, ebooks — whatever works for you. Keep doing it.

54. Shift strategies — evolve. It’s OK to change things as you grow. Your blog isn’t static. It’s constantly evolving, just like you are.

55. Be persistent — and consistent. You don’t have a choice.

56. Celebrate your wins. A few Facebook likes. A couple of retweets. A comment here and there. A guest post invitation by a popular blogger. 70 email subscribers in a day. Orders pouring in. Being completely booked out… You get the drift. Celebrate your positive moments to keep yourself motivated.

57. Thank your advocates and fans. You’re here today because of them. Don’t forget that.

58. Have fun! Be unforgettable.

And that’s a wrap!

I know, it’s a long, long list, but there’s also a bit of a silver lining at the end of the rainbow here. The good news?

Yes, blogging is a lot of work. Yes, it’s complicated. Yes, it’s overwhelming.

But it gets easier.

As you check off the items above, you’ll slowly have less and less to do. One by one, you’ll be snatching balls out of the air and putting them down forever.

Sure, there are a few types of tasks like creating great content and forming strong connections that you’ll always be doing, but you can check off at least half of the items on this list once and for all, never having to worry about them again. Or at least, not for a while.

And the best part?

You now have links to all the resources you need to help you do it. So, get to work, start checking those babies off, and make 2013 the year when you become a blogging superstar!

About the author: Marya Jan is a blogging coach for solopreneurs, small business owners and bloggers looking to grow their business. Find more of her stuff at Writing Happiness. Don’t forget to grab her free ebook “9 New Rules of Blogging – How to Grow Your Business with Little Traffic, No Connections & Limited Hours.”

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