Have you ever hear people saying try and try harder until you succeed. Well lets say you do succeed, then what? Or how about you are a complete failure then what? Should you keep going? I hate people who tell me Syed, try harder and you will do better. It might work in some cases, but in other cases it is a waste of time.

In this post, I will tell you that blogs are not suppose to last forever. There are blogs of all sort of subjects and niches. When you start a blog, you must create a work plan. How do you want to see this blog in three months, six months, year, and two years. You must always set a deadline during this plan. So I will stop blogging after two years of its launch. Ofcourse you don’t have to stick with this deadline because you analyze it later on the time.

So you have a very successful blog that is earning you over 10k a month. You love writing on it, and you are happy with the audience and attention you are getting. After two years when you were suppose to stop blogging, you don’t have to. Instead make a new plan that sees your goal and make another deadline. If for some case, you don’t reach your goals, and it turned out to be an extreme failure, then you know that it is time to stop and move on.

Specially when you are on a very specific niche. Lets say you wanted to make a cooking blog. You have 90 recipes to share. Well then you post once every 4 days with a good recipe, all the delicious looking pictures, maybe videos and so on. But after you are done with your recipes, you can stop blogging. Leave this blog be online, so you have user interaction, but your goal was done. Think of it as a book, you can’t keep going on and on in a book. You have to end your story some where.

Not all blogs are suppose to last forever. There is always a deadline. Even very popular blogs stops publishing content. Reason is that blogging takes a lot of time. When you are writing for a mass audience, you want to make sure that you write well. You want to make sure that you give them the absolute best article. Which can potentially distract you from other project of yours. So a deadline is always necessary.

Now there is nothing wrong with being a quitter. Because it doesn’t make a you a loser. It makes you a loser, if you quit without starting. As long as you tried your hardest, then don’t consider that attempt as a failure. It was just an attempt that didn’t work.

When you don’t have any more content to write, or if you think that the content you are writing is not worthy enough, then you should re-evaluate your plans again. You can even take the whole blog down once your goal is done. Not all blogs are started or run solely for monetary purposes. People have motives behind their blogs also. So follow your dreams, but remember dreams can be altered, or changed in anyway that you want to. Because your imagination can come up with infinite possibilies. So if one dream fails, there is no need to waste more time to drag this failed attempt. Instead think of something else.

As a blogger, you are often conscious about how well you are doing. You might even ask your readers for their feedback on your writing. You are too worried that you would suck at blogging because this is something new that you have started, and you are not a good writer. Welcome to my world when I first started blogging. I am going to tell you that this is not something unusual. New bloggers often feel this way because they want to make everything right. Now, I am going to tell you to stop worrying. Put your worries aside, and START SOMETHING.

People are so hesitant to be embarrassed on the web because of their writing, they don’t even start. So the first thing you need to do is start because you can always learn from your mistakes later. You might not be a good writer, but you can be a good blogger! So DON’T GIVE UP.

I was always told when I was reading a lot of blogging books, that a lot of famous bloggers are good writers. But there are a few that are not good writers, but they are famous bloggers. I always wonder if it is true to be a good writer. Then I realized NO, you don’t. As a matter of fact you don’t have to be a writer at all to blog. You can not have passed the 8th grade Writing Class and still be a great blogger. Because does not limit your possibilities. You can video blog, or have your own podcasts. But even if you want to write, I say you don’t have to be a good writer. You just need to be smart and make the right decisions.

Choose The Topic Which Interests You The Most

You will run out of things to write about if you have no interest in the topic. For instance, I might start a cooking blog. I have no interest in cooking what so ever, but I think that is where I will make tons of money. NOPE. Wrong Choice. Never start something with the sole interest of making money because you won’t make any money. You might think it is a Cliche saying, but it is true.

So find something that you can talk about all day long and not be tired of. A topic that if your friends remember it, they remember it because of you. You annoy the hell out of them when you talk about this topic, because you talk too much about this particular topic. If you are not sure what this topic might be, ask your friends. Trust me, they will tell you because you annoy the crap out of their life with this topic.

Find a topic that is not limiting. Find something that keeps growing. I think all topics can grow, it depends on one’s imagination, but there are some topics that are too limited. You get limited when you go too specific. So try to stay a little general. What I am trying to say is don’t pick the most general category, and don’t pick the most specific category. Stay in the middle grounds. So for example, you can write about Internet, Web Development, Developing horizontal navigations. I would say stick with web development because it give you more room to write about just in case if you run out of topics.

Don’t Try to Be Some One That You Are Not

Don’t try to be some wise person if you are not. Don’t try to be a good writer if you are not. Don’t use big words, if you don’t use them. You know why? Because you will screw up. Your writing lose your personality because you are not being you. You are trying to be some one else that you are not. The best quality in writing is personality. YOUR VOICE. Which diminishes in big words because that is not your style. If your style is YO Homies, Wud up, then write like that. Trust me people are not here to grade you on your grammar. They are here to enjoy good content.

I can tell you that one can provide good content without having good grammar, or big words. I can be interesting without being confusing. I can entertain my audience with my words. By making silly jokes in my posts, by sounding funny with the choice of my words, and so much on. Remember that your audience come to your blog to be entertained. To get a unique view. Give them that. Hey if they learn something from it. YAY for both of us, but that is not my main point. I want to provide my audience with a unique view that is entertaining at the same time useful to them.

So BE YOURSELF. Same thing if you are video blogging. You don’t have to dress up in a dress shirt and a pant. Simply pop out with your blings on if thats who you really are. People would appreciate it because you are being YOU.

Why You Should Worry?

There are so many types of blog posts. Which ones get the most traffic? Common saying in the blogosphere is that the list posts gets the most traffic. Well, I will share what is the most popular type of blog posts that I see get a lot of attention on other blogs as well as my own blog.

Instructions and Tutorials – These posts are among the most popular type of blog posts that I see on blogs. This type of post is usually most searched in google, so the if you get ranked well, you will get good traffic.

Informational – People like to know something that they don’t know. Perhaps an update, or something of that sort. Announcement of new wordpress release. This type of post gets hit if you are the first one. Even if you are not the first one, it is good to write it because of the trackback traffic. I know everytime I write about a new wordpress release, I get around 400 – 500 visitors from Wordpress site due to trackback.

Case Studies – Case Studies is also a growing trend among bloggers. This is one of the things that is being appreciated by the readers, so I would rank this third in my list because it attracts new readers as well as entertain loyal readers.

List Posts – The good ol’ list posts no longer rank at the top because it is getting old. You have to have a spectacular list in order for others to appreciate it. Make it more exciting than just a list. Now list needs more add on to it before it gets hit.

Interviews – Interview with a famous person is always a good read for readers. Interview bring you new readers because all followers of the person being interviewed comes to your site to see your conversation.

Prediction Posts – Prediciton posts always entertain your readers because your reader likes to see your predictions and your thoughts. If you are predicting something famous, then you will likely receive hits from google and other search engines as well.

Attack/Critque Posts – These posts are less and less common on the blogs now a days because there is too much sucking up going on. Almost all product reviews are positive. Those who find critiques do get a lot of traffic. This only works if there is a genuine problem with a product.

If I were you, I would focus on these 7 types of blog posts because these are the ones that takes the lead. Make sure to be original. Tutorials that have been copied over and over does not do a lot of good. If you have anymore suggestions then feel free to put them down in the comment.

Networking is an important part in our business. I attend conferences, chat with other bloggers, and try to meet as many people as I can online or in person that can help build my network. But building network is not the final step. Everyone can say I know XXXX, but how well do you know them. Are you friends, or just someone who you met at so and so conference? In this post I will show you some of the ways how you can change your one time meet-up into a long-term mutual friendship.

Lets say you meet someone at a conference. You introduced yourselves to each other, it was a three day conference. The first thing you want to do is give away your business card and ask others for theirs. You hang out with the person in other sessions, then of course the confernece ends. But now you know about their website. You should’ve already checked it out. If it is a blog then you should add comments. You have their business card, so send them an email, saying it was nice to meet them at a conference. You keep up with their next conference schedule. If you have any suggestions/feedback for their site feel free to give it to them.

Now you are not just someone who this person met at a conference, but you are one of the few that stood out. Now you will have an easy time getting replies from them if someone you met is a popular blogger. You might even be able to write guest posts easier then others.

That is just for bloggers. Lets look at a bigger picture. Companies! You go to their booths during the conference, you do the casual hello/hi and take the freebie and walk away. These people won’t remember you because you didn’t do anything to stand out. Perhaps it is good to look at the sponsors list before hands. Prepare questions for the company that you are interested in. Then when you approach the table, you are ready to have a good conversation with their representatives. You ask them questions and show that you are interested. This way the company’s rep. will remember you. Almost all of them have their business cards over there. You pick up theirs and give them yours if you think it is necessary. You come home you send them an email. Join their company if it is an affiliate marketing company. Try to become their partner.

What happens now is that you have a potential advertiser and partner. If it is a local company or a company in your area then you can ask to visit their office for your blog. You know take pictures and share the experience with your readers. Always good to build relationships.

Now I have been in good relationships with Market Leverage. We ran a successful contest before, and this is our second contest that we are running now. Check it out here.

Now you need to pick and choose. You can’t just give out your business cards to everyone, and send emails to everyone. Only send emails to those who you actually had a good time talking to. Because otherwise sometimes the emails get a little awkward.

So don’t stop at just networking, try to make business relationships.

We all know that bad things happen. The recent passing of Syed’s grandfather has highlighted how quickly a situation can change without warning. Blogging is safe. It is contained in the computer, you can take it or leave it, and you control what happens on your website. The thing about blogging is though, when something happens, whether it be tragic like a death or beautiful like a birth, as our situations change, so does our blogging commitment. So the question becomes, how do you keep blogging when life throws you a curve ball?

Remember why you started blogging
We all started blogging for a reason. When something unexpected arises, it is especially important to remember why you started blogging. Whether you started as a release, to meet new people or to share your passion, chances are you still have that reason waiting in your heart to get you to blog again. If you remember these passions that led you to blog, you will stay motivated to blog, even through the hard times.

Reach out to the bloggers who have helped you
Bloggers are a family. Each blog has its group of core followers. These are the people who have been around since the begining and who will be there until the end. It is during these times that bloggers have to rely on their support system to get by.

Count your blessings
Remember that through thick and thin there is always something to be thankful for.

Seek your muse
Hard times can bring out all types of strong emotions. Try to channel these emotions into your blog, or your art, or your photography, and use that to your advantage. it is not often that we get to be struck so strongly with a muse, so use it to your advantage.

Here is to hoping that what life may surprise you with, you can use to your advantage.