Do you have what it takes to become a superstar blogger?
While anybody can set up a blog…not everyone can take that blog and turn it into a world-renowned blog that ends up on Time Magazine’s best blog list or Ad Age’s Power 150.
The bad news is that you need some pretty unique qualities to make it to the top. The good news is that just about everybody can learn those qualities.
Let’s take a look at them…
Superstar bloggers are insane
Most superstar bloggers have one thing in common: they take risks. They take risks with their blogs and they take risks with their content.
Your goal as a writer for your blog is to stop someone dead in their tracks nearly to the point that they can’t believe you just wrote what you just wrote...
And they have to keep reading.
This means you have to write headlines like How to Rank on the First Page of Google through Videos and 8 Simple SEO Tricks That Will Help You Rank Above the Fold and Increase Your CTR.
But on a higher level, you keep on pushing the boundaries of what your blog can do. You wonder about the design of your blog…and can you make it work harder?
You wonder about conversion and how you can triple it. You think about crazy ideas…
Sure, not every idea will work.
But that’s what separates a superstar blogger from your average blogger…they never give up. They keep trying and pushing and making everything they touch better.
Superstar bloggers write and write and write
You’ll never get away from this one because you have to write a lot to get better at what you do. What I mean by this is you need to write at least 1,000 words a day…
Seven days a week.
Some of that content won’t be that great. Some of it will be awesome and drive you a ton of traffic. Your quantity can suffer some time as long as your quality doesn’t.
And another lesson about writing so much is that you will cast a wider net when you have more and more blog posts online for the search engines to index.
There are currently about 3 billion searches a day on Google…
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This will ultimately lead to more visitors and subscribers.
Superstar bloggers stick to their master plan
Do you have a master plan?
In Daniel Pink’s book Drive, he talks about the single sentence that defines you. He uses as an example where Carol Boothe Luce once said to John F. Kennedy, "A great man is one sentence. Abraham Lincoln's was 'He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.' What's yours?"
What about you? What one sentence defines you? Here are some examples to get you motivated:
- A world traveler who speaks about entrepreneurship to foreign governments.
- North America’s greatest digital media strategist.
- A well-rounded political writer with a blog read by 25,000 people.
Those may sound like pretty grand ideas…but remember…superstar bloggers are insane.
They go big.
But once that master plan is in place, you need to stick to it. You need to create the plan and then start working the plan. You won’t go anywhere if you don’t work the plan
And don’t worry about perfection. Sure, you’ll want to make adjustments when you get feedback…but make those changes and keep pushing forward.
Becoming a blogging superstar is a journey…not a finished goal.
Superstar bloggers are creative
If you want to become a superstar blogger, then you need to come up with a way that you generate idea after crazy idea.
That’s going to be hard because you will have to churn out a lot of content.
What do superstar bloggers do to keep those ideas and creativity constantly coming? Here are six tips for breaking writer’s block from Darren Rowse:
- Change your environment – If you are struggling to be creative in your office, jump up and work from the kitchen. Or move outside. Spend a couple days a week working from a café or restaurant that doesn’t mind you being there for a while. Or work with a friend.
- Keep an idea journal – Whether you use a notebook and pencil or a free tool like Evernote, jot down ideas for content when ever inspiration hits you.
- Just write – Sometimes to jolt your creative system you need to simply write without an agenda. This is a great way to empty your mind of thoughts and ideas that have been percolating for quite some time.
- Read other bloggers – Become a master at reading a ton of other blogs. If you can manage hundreds a day, you will never be short of ideas. And remember to copy ideas down as you get them.
- Figure out needs – Use your readers’ needs as the starting point for your blog posts. What problems are they facing? What questions are they asking?
- Combine two unrelated ideas – A great exercise for generating ideas is to take two completely unrelated ideas and then combine them. For example, what kind of ideas can you create when you match blogging with Mt. Everest? Or what about digital marketing and The Simpsons? See how that works?
Superstar bloggers are passionate
If you look at bloggers like Seth Godin, Rand Fishkin or Ramit Sethi you’ll see that they love what they do. You can also see that they are also totally immersed in what they do.
Are you totally immersed in what you do?
It’s okay to start a blog and then learn 30 days down the road that you really don’t love the subject you are trying to write on. Maybe it was just a passing phase.
What you need to do, however, is drop it fast and pick up something that you do love…because readers will be able to tell if you are not enthusiastic about your blog. They’ll sniff you out and you will struggle to grow it.
The godfather of passion, however, has to be Gary Vaynerchuk. His passion is obvious whatever he touches or speaks…it could be on his Wine Library TV or on stage or on one of the many videos that he shares through his marketing blog.
He’s on fire and you can’t help watch him and get on fire, too. And this is why he is a superstar blogger.
Superstar bloggers interact with their readers
You can not shy away from those who comment on your site. You need to jump in and thank every single person who comments. You need to engage them with questions and pick their brains for ideas on new topics.
Run surveys on your site using KISSinsights or simply publish a post asking for new content suggestions.
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You should also run contests that reward your readers with gifts… letting them know how much you appreciate their support.
When you create content that your readers really love and can relate to then you are on your way to creating a vibrant community who will support you for a very long time…both as readers and buyers.
Besides, you want this community engaged so they share your content on the social web.
Superstar bloggers are insanely focused
You’ll kick butt in the blogging world if you can stay focused and organized. The very best of bloggers have a razor-sharp focus…
They see the big picture and then use their self-discipline to stick to it.
But they also don’t do it alone. They use productivity tools to help them stay focused and efficient. Here are 8 I recommend every blogger use:
- Zaarly – You can hire just about anybody in your area to do just about anything you need done. Want somebody to research for you? What about put a desk together?
- Batchbook – As your contact list grows, you’ll want a great system to manage it. Batchbook is a cloud-based contact management tool that can even handle your social media contacts.
- MailChimp – I’ll mention this in a later section, but you’ll want to create an email newsletter that looks professional and doesn’t cost a fortune. MailChimp can help you.
- DropBox – With this app you can access any document or file anywhere you want. Store a document on your laptop and it’s on your iPhone, too.
- Jing – This free tool allows you to capture images from the web, create arrows and boxes on those images and then post to your blog. You can also create videos and narrate on the fly…
- Rescue Time – This thing will easily save you 4 to 5 hours every week because it tracks what you do and helps you avoid distractions.
- Evernote – Clip a URL, selection of a page or the entire page into Evernote and then save for later. Great for recording ideas for future blog posts.
- FreshBooks – Once you start earning a living off of your blogging, you will definitely keep track of your income and expenses. This tool will help you do that without wasting your time.
Superstar bloggers understand their strengths and weaknesses
Great bloggers know what they are really good at…and they know what they are really bad at. This helps them to see what they need to work on…or delegate to someone else…to help conquer their goals.
This can include things like design, code or proofing.
But you also need to learn how to give away those tasks that you don’t enjoy at all. Those are the tasks that rob you of productivity because you tend to procrastinate. And like I mentioned above, use a tool like Zaarly to delegate.
Superstar bloggers use a variety of media
In today’s world, copy is not enough. Google is learning how to index video and audio and giving you a wider net to cast for possible search terms.
What you have to do is learn when to use each of these tools. For example, you need to ask yourself:
- When should you use text? As long as search is dominated by keywords, then this will make up the chunk of content you produce. But as you will see, you will also be combining medias.
- When should you use video? I’m a fan of creating short…anywhere from 2 minutes to 11 eleven minute…videos for tutorial type content. SEOmoz does this with their Whiteboard Fridays and Khan Academy has become famous though his use of video. This also works well with video, especially with Google+’s hangout feature. Keep in mind that you should create a transcript to put on YouTube and your website for the skim readers and search engine spiders.
- When should you use audio? Audio works great for tutorials, but I’ve found that the best podcasts are those that feature two people talking make it way more interesting. Check out the Manager Tools podcast to see what I mean.
Superstar bloggers diversify their income
Superstar bloggers don’t rely on their blog to bring in all their income. In other words, you don’t rely on just one income stream.
This means that you need to use your blog as a stepping stone to other ventures. This could be to books you sell and create like Darren Rowse does…
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or information products to sell like Timothy Sykes does.
Maybe it’s to promote yourself as a speaker or the platform you use to promote your own conference.
In addition, your blog will also become a magnet for joint ventures with other bloggers…something you must engage in if you want to expand your audience.
Superstar bloggers are thorough and original
While in the early days of blogging…before there was so much competition…being brief was very important.
Not so anymore.
These days people want more than just a quick answer. They want a detailed, highly-researched post that will answer their questions completely.
The worst thing you can do as a blogger is to provide a pat answer to a real problem.
When it comes to creating content for your blog, the superstar method is to study your analytics to see who is coming to your site, when, from what source, where are they going, why they are there…and how to get them converted into subscribers.
There is a huge audience online. This Edison report shows that more than half of Americans who are +12 or older are using social media…
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How do you tap into those people?
You analyze the search terms…you study your Twitter analytics to see what gets shared the most...you look into why some posts get more comments than others…and then you create content that produces those kinds of results.
Superstar bloggers are curious
You’re probably thinking that superstar bloggers reach a certain point and then they stop learning.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The bloggers that I’ve met who I consider superstars…people like Ben Huh and John Chow…are constantly reading, studying and looking for ways to implement and test their ideas.
These are people who will try anything once. Your weirdoes…
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These are your 0.1%. And that’s going to be you.
The thing about these guys and girls is that they are curious, restless and eager to know more.
They are also some of the most humble people I’ve met, too, which is important. They never come off as arrogant or prideful. They want to learn from you no matter who you are…and they want to help you learn, too.
Superstar bloggers are relentless
From reading to writing and testing to tweaking…superstar bloggers never stop. Sure, they may take a short break just to get their bearings again…but they won’t be away from it too long.
And when it comes to writing great content…each and every day they are creating posts that stick to the subject matter they are experts on.
They don’t stray…and when it seems like they do they are always really good about tying the post back into their cornerstone content.
And when it comes to their schedule…superstars are also very consistent here, too. You need to decide when you are going to post…and then stick to it!
One more thing…if you want to become a superstar blogger you have to understand that success takes a long time.
Trust me…I’ve been at this for over ten years…and one of the things that has kept me at it even when things get really difficult…is that I’m relentless and I stick to the master plan.
Superstar bloggers are humble
You can’t really be a life-long learner if you think you know it all. That’s why you need to remain humble and understand that you have so much to learn…
It will take time and you will master certain aspects of blogging. You may become one of the best headline writers like Matt Drudge is…but you know you can always get better.
That’s humility.
Superstar bloggers are self-starters
If you ever plan on working for yourself, then you better know that you will need to be able to manage yourself.
What do I mean exactly?
You’ll need to be able to kick yourself out of bed and get to writing when you would much rather sleep in on the rainy day.
The thing about working for yourself is that you only make as much money as you work. If you’re not writing, then you are losing money.
Being a self-starter is all about having ideas…and then putting them to work. If you can’t do that, then you will not become a superstar blogger.
Superstar bloggers watch for trends
If you really want to catch some traction with your blog…watch what is trending on Twitter and Google and then jump on that traffic.
This is why blog posts that tie into current trends always get a lot of traction. For example, when Steve Jobs pasted away I wrote a post on the 11 Business Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Me. And I didn’t just do it for the traffic, but instead it allowed me to look back at all of the great things he helped me accomplish in life.
That post got a lot of traction.
Here’s another example. This is what is hot on searches as of this writing:
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You could write an article titled “How Amanda Bynes Getting Arrested Can Make You Filthy Rich.” You could do that with all of those searches.
Keep in mind that trendy posts must relate to your readers self interest…in other words, you just can’t write a trendy post for the sake of writing a trendy post…
You have to write about something your readers care about.
Superstar bloggers find a common enemy
This a great copywriter tactic that says you will engage readers if you choose an enemy that both of you hate. For example, very successful financial newsletters will play on fears that the government is out to get the money of the rich…and make the government the enemy.
In SEO, Google or Microsoft is often played as the enemy…the big bad guys who wants to spy on everyone, play to their favorites and never give SEOs a break:
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Now I don’t suggest that your cornerstone content is all about you attacking this common enemy. That will get old quick.
Superstar bloggers are not afraid to outdo another blogger
For the most part the blogging community is made up of people who get along pretty well. So I’m not talking about doing something rude to someone else…
I’m simply talking about taking their idea and making it better.
Here’s what I mean. If I write a blog post called 10 SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore…then you can come along and write one called “10 SEO Trends That Will Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site in 45 Minutes”.
When it comes to gaining attention, that strategy really works.
Don’t be afraid to use it.
Superstar bloggers twist social media to their advantage
Back in the day when blogging was the only game in town the way to get people talking about and sharing your content was through commenting on other blogs.
This is what Pete Cashmore did with Mashable. He literally commented on hundreds of blogs a day.
With the rise of social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook, commenting is still a successful strategy...but using these social media sites have become a major part of a successful bloggers arsenal.
It all starts with creating great content that people love to share. And it continues with you sharing other people’s content, building a list of influencers you follow and interacting on a daily basis with your followers.
Social media will help spread your brand across the web.
Superstar bloggers build a list
The real magic of the blog comes in with the list that you build from your growing audience. The more you blog the more traffic you will get…
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But that traffic is worthless if you don’t do anything with it.
See, the email inbox is still a very private thing…and it’s a place that almost everyone still communicates.
Friendstar came and went. MySpace has come and gone. And maybe Twitter, Facebook and eventually Google+ will go away when something new and better comes along.
But through all of this email still remains.
So if you want a way to communicate with your audience…then start building an email newsletter list.
This gives those who sign up an exclusive relationship with you. And your conversion rates will be much higher when you market to the email list.
Superstar bloggers target their traffic
One big mistake that a lot of beginning bloggers make is they try for the biggest audience. They may end up getting 1,000 hits a day to their blog…but not get more single subscriber or one single person to buy from them.
How can that be? If the traffic is so high…they should be able to make at least one sale, right?
Sadly it’s wrong.
The problem with this approach is that quantity never outranks quality. If you have only 50 highly-qualified hits to your site you will more than likely have higher conversion rates than if you had 1,000.
So know who your audience is and what they want…and then give it to them.
Superstar bloggers are very personal
You likely have one or two bloggers who you think are the greatest. And I’ll bet that one of the reasons that you like these bloggers so much is how personal they are.
They blog every day about business and the world of content marketing, but it’s always in there…those life experiences that are very close to them…and how these experiences can turn into lessons to help you the reader.
Chris Brogan is a master of this skill. If you look at his “Best Of” page you’ll see that a lot of that content is written from a personal perspective:
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It’s like he was writing just to you because he is writing like he is talking. He is very conversational. It is coming out so easy because he is passionate and informed about what he is talking about…but it’s in such a personal context that you can totally relate.
Superstar bloggers stick to their brand
While lots of superstar bloggers started off without really knowing their brand…they knew what they were really good at it…but they didn’t have a really good idea of their essence.
But blogging eventually helped flesh that out.
Johnny B Truant has created a brand of blogger misfit. His name alone tells you a lot…but then his avatar that’s branded on Twitter, Facebook and his blog tells you even more. He’s biting into an apple, which reminds you of Adam and Eve and the first sin.
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His brand is very distinct.
But this doesn’t mean that you can’t create another blog and create another brand. Lots of superstar bloggers run two or more blogs…but each blog is branded very uniquely.
Conclusion
In a world where so many blogs are being published you need to know what qualities are necessary to rise above the crowd and stand out like a superstar. Fortunately you can look at current blogging superstars and follow what they did.
What other qualities do blogging superstars have?
About the author: Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics, an analytics provider that helps companies make better business decisions.
Super star Bloggers are very Clever:
They write a post on SEOMoz with more than 10 outgoing links to various posts of a single blog(quicksprout) to get it promoted. Its a good article but you have included the so many links of one blog that make it somehow look fishy.
But nice efforts anyways!
Hi Asad, Neil is definitely a super star blogger and fullfilles his own written "criteria" until the last item. So if you are able to reach this level and give tons of value to the community you can profit by linking to extern sources as well - without harming the moz guidelines :-)
Yes Petra, he really is, i ve been reading him for quite a while and I did mentioned him as "Super Star Blogger" in my comment above before anyone else even made any comment here.
All we need to care about is to keep the balance. Linking to 10 different posts of a same blog from a single post just don't make any sense.There is a serious issue with the SEO community, which people hesitate to talk about.
"If you are an authroty person, it does not mean you are free to do whatever you want!"
And believe me, even if someday I reach this level, I would atleast not link back to 10 posts of my blog from a single post at SEOMoz(I would care about the quality and standard of SEOMoz), I would call it misuse of the authority.
I personally don't think there's an issue with linking back to your own post as long as the link is relevant.
@Eric Siu: Even I dont have any issue with "linking back to your own post as long as the link is relevant".
The issue is backlinking to 11 posts of your personal blog from a single post of SEOMoz, dont make any sense. Seems like the post is written solely for this purpose!
@Asad Wahab misuse of the authority? maybe. But think of it this way, he is also showing us a great example of Guest Posting! aha!
He isn't going to spend hours of his time writing this post just because he's a nice guy trying to help people become blogging superstars.
The end goal is to gain awareness and get that sweet link juice, thats basic white-hat seo. why do you think anyone guest posts on SeoMoz?
I am a fan of Neil for quite a long time and everytime you read him, this man is going to shut you up and make you think again of what you are doing lately… Quicksprout is indeed a place to bookmark!
As far as too many out links are concern, I guess its fine because personally I didn’t find it ‘pushing’ and on the other hand over all content is worth sharing… and yeah obviously passed by the Moz editorial team!
Yeah Neil is great in his writings no doubt about it, I actually loved his post, quite detailed and much informative. But we shouldn't actually misuse the authority we have.
Point is very simple, what if a newbie do the same and link back to more than 10 posts of a single blog from a post? What would we call it? Spamming or something around it. But if the same is done by an authority person people change their views.
Matter to think about!
Asad, I am not sure about most of the people around the community but if you ask about my personal take… its not about how many links are going out but it’s about how natural they look in the post… I do read the posts that contain 1 or 2 link out but that looks more like pushing but here even 10 links didn’t look like a push to me…
So, to me it’s not about how many links are going out to 1 domain but how natural they are is the real point! Obviously this is my opinion and you can completely disagree with this!
I agree, if its natural its ok but there should be a limit to everything, going to a double figure count in backlinking to an external domain from a single post is surely not a 'best practice'!
I'd have thought though that each additional link serves to dilute the ones that have gone before, so it would be a sub-optimal strategy to simply flood a post with these links?
Perhaps it was felt that in each case the link would be beneficial? Not every reader will click every link.
Spamming (aka unnatural link building) if its not in good context. And, yes if someone who earned respect in a niche does the same they will get more shares, bookmarks, mentions and love (even if they are wrong).
However this is no different from natural human behavior is it? When you were in school as a child, whatever the cool kid said held more weight (authority) than a dork. No matter who is right or wrong. I can give 1,000 more examples if you like.
People (and please don’t take offense to this) are like a bunch of fish swimming in a school with tunnel vision, programmed and very easily manipulated.
That's what Neil has told in this post. If you want to be famous do something, so that people either love you or hate you but can't ignore you. He made you enemy by this post and you will wait for another post for either reason. :)
Well, to be true these are just professional work based difference of opinions, it happens everywhere!
I do respect Neil, he has been a great guy and I actually like to read his posts.
Hey Asad, I am sorry about that and next time I will make sure there is little to no outbound links to my own site...
Sorry.
Yeah link to me instead lol.. ill give you a free tweet!
Don't apologize. If the content is high quality, relevant and adds value, who cares how many links are in your article. Link away Neil! I'll click on every one.
I completely agree, there's no reason to apologize. As the blog editor, I would remove links that I thought were inappropriate. As long as the links are relevant, it doesn't bother me if there are a lot of them.
lol, I think you are too serious man. There is nothing wrong with linking to other posts. They are helpful for readers as well. I have no problem even if he provides more 20-30 links.
I like this article. As far as links go, he has 3,500 words in this article. Not saying that that gives the right to link soo many times to one site. However, he did spend his time preparing this long article and deserves to link to his site as much as he pleaseas. Especially if its done with relevancy.
From what I learned on SEOmoz and other quality SEO sites, it is best to place links were relavent and helpful to the reader. Im a little surprised that the highlight of this good article is on how many links were placed on the blog post.
Yes, it's quite unfortunate that the number of very relevant links became the highlight of this excellent post.
IMHO the days of superstar bloggers are over. When Neil Patel started out it was easy to become a blogging personality. Now most succesful blogs are run by large corporations with dozens of writers. Even in the small SEO blogging niche you have to compete with the likes of SEOmoz or SEL for attention who have whole teams of paid bloggers.
No single person can match that unless s/he has enough money to blog all day. Most superstar bloggers are remnants of the not so distant past but their influence is dwindling. Just look at what happened with Michael Arrington, the artist formerly known as the TechCrunch voice.
Personally I have given up the quest to being a blogging superstar. Today it's much more rewarding to go after your 1000 true fans aka the niche community that will support you. You don't want to compete with AOL and the likes or even the few still existing superstars.
I think you make a great point about carving out your place in your niche. There is so much content/competition that becoming a general superstar is kind of an unrealistic goal. But you can become a superstar to your audience and those are the people you want to connect with in the first place.
I actually disagree with that. You don't need a ton of money and new bloggers are popping up all day. Yes, big corporations have an advantage and you will probably never create a large blog like Engadget, but it doesn't mean you can't create something big enough.
You do make valid points about it being easier years ago and it was, but it doesn't mean it is impossible to become a superstar these days.
"it doesn't mean it is impossible to become a superstar these days."
you're a nice guy, so nothing against you personally, but the quoted language shows the problem. we're talking probability, you're talking possibility.
Neil, I'm a big fan of your writings and the superstar bloggers you have mentioned in your article. It doesn't help much to promise people they can reach stardom while most of them can't though.
I'm all for lofty goals and self improvement type of advice but the point is you also don't need to become a superstar blogger these days. It's a strategy from the early days of blogging. Now that the market is saturated you need different strategy or you will get frustrated quickly. So trying to follow in your footsteps or those of the early blogging superstars is actually going the hard way. Success lies elsewhere.
I think I will write a blog post about successful blogging in 2012.
I would respectfully disagree as well. Not only upon principle (that anything is possible) but look at, for example Smart Passive Income. He did start a few years ago, but really, he came from nowhere - now has 44,000+ RSS subscribers.
So not saying its *easy* - just that its definitely possible!
"He did start a few years ago" Exactly. Like I said the situation has changed significantly by now.
Completely agree, it's certainly possible. Look at Jon Cooper's recent rise to 'SEO stardom'. It's not easy, but it can be done.
Another example of a blogger that only started out recently and has built up a huge following is Mr. Money Mustache. He's a financial blogger, but writes just as a regular person down in the trenches. Why he built up such a huge base so quickly was not so much SEO but by writing really, really well and being funny and being super smart and an expert for personal finance. Personal finance blogs are all over the place, but he just went for it and started blogging 3+ times a week.
To be honest, his writing is refreshing because it doesn't follow the empty bare bones format of some blogs where they write a post where they start a new paragraph after every single sentence and each post barely has any substance like Coppyblogger and others.
Just saying - if you can write and you actual are writing with purpose, not so your blog ranks, then you can gain a large following over the course of a year or two. From what I've seen. Not that I have any experience.
Mr. Moustache is cool but he's not (yet) a superstar you have to admit with only 7k readers.
I love his blog. I think he is actually a good example of what one person can do these days... And it's not quite superstar status. Maybe a superstar of a smaller niche but it's unlikely anyone will dominate the Internet like the big blogs from major companies can., It's very hard to start now and build a blog as big as someone who started pre 2008 or so.
I understand where you are coming from, but I personally think it's actually easier now to become a superstar blogger.
With the advancements in social networking over the past few years, you can gather a large following in a relatively short time at almost no cost. There are just so many tools out there now to help you spread your blog quickly and to a large audience - StumbleUpon, Redditt, Youtube, etc. All it takes is a couple of really creative ideas to get that big boost in traffic and good content to retain those visitors.
Now days there are also so many niche online communities/blogs, that you can easily acquire a mass amount of qualified traffic to your blog. This qualified traffic is sustainable and all you need to do is interact on these communities or guest post on a several related blogs to build a solid foundation of fans.
Sure there is a much greater amount of competition out there now, but I imagine the majority of that competition maybe great at blogging, but probably not the best at marketing. So if you can beat them at that and utilize the endless resources available online today, I think it's really quite feasible to have a superstar blog.
To your point about competing with large corporate blogs, sure they have a team of paid bloggers but that also means they have higher costs. A single person might not be able to beat a large blog like TechCrunch, but if you are smart (and especially good with online advertising) you can have a higher profit margin than them because the only person you are paying is yourself. A single person doesn't have to pay for office space, employees, and a large number of other operating costs that corporations have to deal with.
In the end though, all that matters is being passionate about what your doing. I think some of the most successful blogs are the ones that probably didn't make money for a long time because they didn't give a shit about that - they just wanted to speak their mind. So I would agree with you on the quest to being a blogging superstar is pointless because you aren't going to always produce quality content that way when your end goal is focused on making money.
I'd very much like to agree with you on "With the advancements in social networking over the past few years, you can gather a large following in a relatively short time at almost no cost." but I don't see the people who actually manage to rise above all the chatter and information overflow. Just check the top blogs by Technorati, there are only a few real blogs led by individuals in it by now.
Where are the recent big names? Where are the huge blogging upstarters. I don't see any. All I see are a few who are left from the first phase of blogging where individual bloggers still mattered.
I did a bit of research and I think I misunderstood how significant the difference was between some of the individual bloggers I considered popular versus some of the large blog sites like Engadget, TechCrunch, etc. There maybe a few individuals out there that are close to that level, but yes it's pretty minimal in terms of the ones that have recently started.
To rephrase part of my point, I still believe it's possible to make a very profitable blog and I would argue to some extent that is easier now. However, creating a blog that is considered a "superstar" blog is more on the side of unachievable now, as you mentioned.
onreact, you are absolutely right. there are just not enough hours in a day to do all that is necessary to be a superstar blogger on one's own given the ridiculous level of competition - not to mention the writing talent that is necessary too, which very few people have. better chances winning a lottery. if this article was written in 2002, then maybe.
Write 1000 words, 7 days a week and Read lots of other blogs… this advice make me think of Stephen King’s quote that says, ‘If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.’
Great Post as usual!
Does the author perhaps think that he is a superstar blogger?
I'd suggest that one way to become a good blogger (let's be honest, calling a blogger a superstar is like calling Coldplay a rock & roll band), is to not write unnecessarily long articles with a really blatant aim of everyone responding with "You're the superstar".
Obligatory reminder that we are not "rock" or "superstars." We are, in general, marketers. Some of us write things on the Internet.
Hmmm, I actually didn't take his use of "superstar" literally. He's simply talking about the well-known bloggers that we know and what they did to get there. Perhaps a different name would have made people feel differently about this post. I think it's a great post, with excellent tips. Whether you call someone a superstar or simply a good blogger, these are great.
We really have to stop tolerating marketers referring to themselves and others are superstars or rockstars. It's highly obnoxious, no matter the tips they share.
Wow. So if he'd simply used a different word other than "superstar" you would have liked the post? To me that seems a bit unfair when there is tons of great information in this post.
I think it's that alongside the brutal self-linking that caused this post to leave a nasty taste in my mouth.
I think he is a great blogger and linked t some others as well. But I agreed with you on the use of the word superstar. I just don't think superstar or rockstar are words that should be applied to bloggers.
I run several blogs, some successful, some not so much. I can sum it all up in two words: passion and promotion. Without both, your blog does not stand a chance.
Forget all the advice on how many words the blog should be or how often you have to post.
Write what you believe in and promote it effectively and you are on your way.
- Brett Bern
Couldn't agree more with you. It's hard to fake passion after a few weeks of writing on something you don't give a sh*t about. Some SEO said "You can't outsource giving a shit."
Love that to sum it all up... Passion and Promotion. You've got it!
If there is one thing that puts Neil and his advice a step above others in the industry is the fact that everything he posts is useful and detailed unlike most of the shallow crap that other bloggers seem to put out these days. I mean just take a look at his guide to Pinterest, https://www.quicksprout.com/2012/02/06/the-marketers-guide-to-pinterest/, it's full of actionable tips. He provides value and I think that is one of the most important keys to becoming a 'Superstar Blogger'.
Neil, I agree with all your points mentioned about stopping folks in their tracks, the problem is many bloggers are using this tactic so regularly, that even 'shocking' headlines are becoming de-sensitized to the regular reader. Since most everything you said here was precisely what i'm trying to teach (and learn at the same time), I am not sure if this is the place to post this since I've created a program that promotes quality backlinks without spam. Even though this goes against the grain of everyone in the niche that is 'AWARE' that any existing program in the past that ever did something that sounded like this was specifically a bad practice and or useless, and those that WANT to use things sounding like this are black hat or spammers, i'm wondering what your take would be on how to promote this when I start up the blog on the same domain.
I have a video that explains the how and why I made it and basically, when a good blogger writes, they 'reference' and/or at least read up thoroughly on the topic they are creating. Since fellow quality writers do their research this way, it only makes sense that having a tool or service that assists them (and surfers/readers) at the same time be created. My program is in beta and pretty rudimentary at the moment but it does everything i just said in the form of a video game. I'd appreciate your (and anyone else's) opinion on it since this is the 'authority' location of where stuff like this should be discussed. My 'blogging video game' is called ManseAdvance and it's located at https://www.manseadvance.com
Thanks for any input or insight, im pretty new on here and i'm most certainly not trying to or remotely attempting to 'spam' for a comment link... i'd just like to know what people in this mindset would have to say about the concept and if it's positive, what would be a good way to go about getting it promoted without it looking like the opposite of what it actually is? Thanks for your time.
Hey, great post. Writing certainly gets easier the more you do it. You have to be thick skinned and take on board criticism and not obsess over your work. Get it done, make sure it's good and relevant to the people who are reading it and then move onto the next one.
I don't think you neccessarily have to post every single day, but being consistent, whether that is once a week, three times, five times or every single day but be consistent so people know what to expect.
Oh, and try to be a bit funny too as it makes things more readable! :)
John Chow, who makes a killing/living off of blogging has always preached that consistency is the key to doing well as a blogger.
I think that's the big factor that most bloggers miss.
I love this article. Im a pretty technical guy, I wrote blogs in the past, and I should start again.
One thing you said is so important, take risk. I wrote numberous of technical articles but I was always staying in the safe range. I never pushed what I really think in fear that poeple may find something to arguee. Taking Risk is mandatory.
+1
Really awesome post, Neil. You've literally outperformed every other single one out there and claimed the spot of the best content marketer in the world. ;)
Great post - really thorough. You inspired me to change my boring Twitter handle. And I agree - you gotta go out on the edge; take risks with what you say. I cannot manage 1000 words/day (I assume such people are doing nothing BUT blogging), but I am doing 500 words 4 days a week + curated content/retweets....still a real challenge.
Thanks!
It's tough to blog in quantity. It takes a lot of dedication and it's hard to find that rythm. But once you get your process down, you can end up killing it.
I Love Neil's aprroach. This post iteslef give you the idea how the great blog post should be. It includes crazy intro which let people dive in deeper content. A great headline. Tons of Images. Mention of Tools. Resources of other sites. Mentions of other celebrities. Some lines which ignites you to comment.
Thanks for the sharing Neil
No problem. I appreciate all the comments everyone has given and I'll definetly make sure I learn from this post as the Moz community has given me great feedback.
Thanks!
Nice post Neil, I have recently thought about blogging seriously, before this time, I was just creating small blogs and was never worried about becoming a blogger superstar. Your post changed my mind though.
Nice Post Neil.
btw, I'm enjoying comment more than post. :)
Coming across this blog post is some serious motivation to step up my blogging habits because right now they are severely lacking. I run a free penny stock newsletter service called Penny Stock Dream, that specializes in releasing penny stock picks. We do a lot of blogging and releasing of newsletters but I feel as though the site needs a major re-design, before I even bother to start to really improve on the writing style. Almost every blog I visit, tends to have a nicer layout than ours does (including this one), so I think it has been turning away new users. This has given me some motivation to finally get moving on all of this, especially considering that it's been on my mind for a while.
Great write-up!
If you really want to achive better results and be more productive you should use Yaware.TimeTracker for capturing your time. No need to push start or stop, just simple visibility of where your time goes. So, you can see what apps take most of your wokday and eliminate time eaters.
Wow, very informative and inspiring.. I actually got a post idea from your article and it got very good responses.
Thank you again
Thanks very much for sharing this! I've really stepped up my blogging up after reading this.
I always assumed that becoming a superstar blogger required a high degree of motivation and dedication... sounds hectic, think I'll stick to the occasional Google Plus post! Thanks.
Great post! Everytime I thought the end was coming you had more great posts. Love your super detailed look at superstar bloggers.
Social media engagement on other sites is especially key. Constantly being active on sites like Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter etc and having a trust and following will mean people will read your posts - including other bloggers. I especially like Reddit.
Yeah there are some good tips in here but it also does seem somewhat contrived. I guess I expect something more innovative from Neil on the moz blog.
Great post Neil and hope you do not mind us leaving this post as a reference for our post on risk taking!
https://www.extra-cash-online.com/blog-risks-should-you-take-it/
Rich and insightful. I love this article. Hope to become a success!! Monst3r
Thank you for the great post
Enjoyed the post and all the comments. I learned so much from you all.
Same here! I love reading the comments as much as the post sometimes!
Hi Neil am always a fan of your articles, everytime you give us a very descriptive information about the topics, I think you are a blogging superstar.. thanks for this great info..
I must say Neil is a superstar blogger. With such passion and intensity he has explained how to be one. Thanks!!
Good post you are really superstar among blogger.
Awesome post Neil - I am reading it only now. Truly very inspirational!
I see all the conversation going on concerning the links to Neil's website but Asad you should check up with the quality of content specifically the length of this article and the pictures, graphs it is assisted with. In other circumstances, you can easily make 4-5 articles instead of this one huge article and therefore you should multiply those '2-3 external links per article' with 5 aswell. My point is, when you work so hard towards writing content then you have all the right to put in this number of links which are even in context at times. Thats what you do guest blogging for, right! Nice Reading it btw.
Totally agree, with this post being about 4000 words, I think he is allowed to put 10 links in there to his blog. Especially because they are relevant and not forced, he usually links to blog post to show an example of what he is talking about.
Hi Neil..Now im a big fan of you..Thanks for sharing inspiring post..I like every word of Superstar Bloggers..And I am very glad to see this post..
This is probably the best post about blogging that I've ever come towards. Definitely gives a drive in me to start blogging with my own brand.
But I'm not sure about the 1000 wordds everyday strategy, it might put people off if you can't produce quality content. People like Avinash blogs twice a month and he's still doing great.
I'm sitting and thinking about that one sentence which defines me... Amazing article, as all Neil's posts!
Moin tosamm,
Neil, thanks for your inspiring post. I'd like to answer your final question, too: In my eyes, a superstar Blogger has to be "true hearted" and honorable. If he writes, I'd like to be sure he means what he or she writes. If he promotes something ore someone, he has to state it clear from the beginning.
Beste Gröten,
Nico
I don't think there is a cookie-cutter formula to being great at blogging, so I like that this particular blog displays a degree of self awareness and speaks more in generalities than specifics.
This is certainly a nice guide to what has been successful and people should probably look to how they can best adapt the suggestions to their own situation, rather than trying to follow the plan as though it were a recipe or dot-to-dot foolproof method.
You are right. Nothing in blogging is cookie cutter. You have to take the principles and adapt it to your own blog.
Thanks for the Great post Neil.
I like every word you say to push new bloggers. I love this one the most:
You’ll need to be able to kick yourself out of bed and get to writing when you would much rather sleep in on the rainy day.
It reminds me a quote "You have to lose yourself to find yourself"
I don't think i've read this type of mind blowing post recently.
I am stuck with my blogging and unable to go ahead, I was awating for some motivation. Thanks for this motivational post. You're are a SuperStar...
Absolutely an amazing post. Very inspiring, indeed!
Hi Neil, always giving a new push! Good work.
Maybe you can use this comment on your next one: Good blogs have comments but, great blogs, have long lasting comments which keep them live for the long run.
This piece of work you produced is one of them.
Keep it up, we will be willing to read from you while you produce great quality content, with your personal touch.
Yes, links a plenty pointing back ... but still awesome advice.
@Brett - great point about passion & promotion. So true in many aspects of business!
Great post as always. You're definitely a superstar blogger that I aspire to someday be half as capable as. Thanks for the great tips.
thanks neil for excellent job on blogging~!
Nice post Neil. We have been doing a lot of testing and measuring on the effects of blogging daily. Its no easy task. Our CEO Bostjan, blogged daily, for a month. The recap is on Content.ly https://contently.com/blog/one-ceos-story-on-the-benefits-of-daily-blogging/. What we found was the consistency of his blogging resulted in a huge traffic lift to his blog and a huge upswing in Klout score. People can dismiss Klout score all they want, but it still is a barometer for how influential the web views you. If you are interested in increasing your social reach and influence daily blogging can help.
It's fine to be a superstar blogger, but to what end? Blogging for the sake of blogging is often counter-productive. You kind of mentioned this when you say "stick to your master plan", but I'd say that superstar bloggers never forget why they are blogging. Truly successful people always have a vision in mind, and all their efforts are filtered through that lens.
I agree 100%, and it's such an easy thing to forget. It's so easy to get caught up in watching page views climb, and tracking social media shares at the expense of the end goal. What do you want to do with your blog? Whether that's to inspire people, sell something, increase your brand's profile - your end goal should be the filter you view everything through.
Really good and inspiring blog to read. I am new blogger and planning to work hard on my blog and try to give at least 25 post per month but I am not very constant in blogging. My goal is making money from blog but I think for this you need to do lots of work on blogging to create your own audience.
Mr. patel is celebrity among online marketers
Neil is a Super Star Blogger and a Very Good Writer, i loved this post, he explained everything with details to become a star blogger, this is my first comment of his blog. he give some changes to improve my blog with some new tactics. Thanks Neil.
I havent any word to appreciate this post.....Really i am impressed from this post....it was a great human..thanks for shared this with us.
one more thing.
I think Now No-one can become the Superstar blogger. Because you are here :),
A couple of mins ago I put your superstar blogger in google.com and your this post is on #1.
I really like your tips Thanks again
This is na very informative article on blogging. bloging is an essential part of SEO promotion tecniques. In my belief this is highly recommended for blogers. Thanks for such information.
I like articles on SEOMOZ, all the articles are very informative and helpful. thanks for all the articles.