What are you really battling with when it comes to blogging?
Every now and then I like to take a break from the regular blog posts and have a discussion with you guys to see what you’re working on.
This is quite useful for me because it gives lots of insights into what stage everyone is up to, which really helps for future content ideas.
But it’s also really nice to start a discussion and help each other on the spot.
So let’s get some comments happening!
Is anything really bothering you?
If you’ve been working on something for a while and it’s still giving you issues I’d really love to hear about it.
Maybe it’s to do with your blogging setup, some technical issue, or even a long term strategic problem that you just can’t crack?
Or perhaps you’re thinking about hiring a new writer or making a big change to your brand?
Whatever it might be, share it in the comments below and let’s see if we can come up with some solutions either right there or perhaps in a future article.
I can’t fit the life of me get a photo thumbnail in Google searches. Tried all the steps and doesn’t seem to be playing nice.
Hi Kylie. Give up on that one, Google removed it a few months ago. 🙁
Thanks for letting me know! How annoying though.
Yeah a lot of people were very unhappy.
I have 2 different problems on 2 different blogs. My first blog, creativebeacon.com the original one, is traffic. I monetize it, and in affiliate sales, I average roughly 1-2 grand, which is ok I guess, but I feel like I could do more with more traffic. I get 2k pageviews per day M-F and a little less on the weekends. it’s a big site with 1200 posts, though.
The other one, designcrawl.com gets 500 pageviews per day, with little effort, but I haven’t figured out how to really monetize it yet. I though a $2.50/month membership would be good if just 1000 of the 3k members signed up, but I have only a handful of members. It’s $2.50 which is next to nothing, what gives?
I guess my whole thing is strategy. Designcrawl has close to 3500 email subscribers. creative Beacon has 10K. Any suggestions?
Have you tested a higher price? Perhaps a one off?
Hi Ramsay,
thanks for opening up this discussion, and it got me thinking.
Personally, I’m trying a couple of things, and juggling these things can be kind of confusing at times.
One of them being finding writers with more reach and expertise than I have, and interviewing them/ letting them guest-post on the website.
I’m building an authority website here in The Netherlands, in the spirituality/ self-development niche. And simultaneously setting up an online marketing agency.
Are there any metrics you’d measure in this part of the process?
Do you mean metrics to determine whether or not a writer has a good following?
Thanks for getting vack to me.
I meant determining whether or not the writer has a good following.
Oh I think that is a matter of just doing lots of research.
I’ve been wondering about how much is reasonable to expect from affiliate links, and also, how to decide whether to accept guest posts or not. Not sure if these things really count, I’m not “battling” with them, but I’ve been wondering for a while as I work on setting up my blog.
I make a full time living from affiliate links – you’ve just got to choose the right programs and promote them carefully.
Accepting guest posts can be a really good idea. It just depends on what you need help with or are trying to achieve.
Thanks Ramsay. What sort of range is there in terms of how much you’d get per click for an affiliate link? E.g. would it be 5% of the sale if the person buys something, or PPC to you regardless of whether a purchase is made or not (and in which case what sort of price range per click), etc? Do you have any advice on how to approach affiliates?
They’re all different. Some pay a flat fee, others do a percentage sometimes up to 100% of the sale. Usually the best way is to look in the footer of their own websites and join the affiliate program that way. Direct seems to be best.
Thanks Ramsay, appreciate your help 🙂
I’m working on how to balance creativity & sharing what I feel vs. writing for marketing and making it an attractive read for people.
There’s also the issue of writing for Search, which complicates it further.
If anyone here has the same issue, please tell me how you look at it!
I’m a big believer in writing something damn good that you believe in and letting that be the big starting point. Good question though.
Thanks for the reply, Ramsay. What about all this talk online about looking at Google insights to choose a topic that’s ‘definitely going to be found’, then?
Jonathan, I am struggling with the same thing. One thing I did recently is send out an email to my subscribers with a survey asking five basic questions about what they struggle with the most in life. The answers were great and it helped me pinpoint what my readers want. I used the free survey template from survey planet.
~Jennifer
Thanks Jennifer. Looks like it’s also working for Ramsay.
Just have to get enough readers to survey first – the struggle is real!
Finding the time. My paid writing contracts are quite extensive and take most of my time.
I have the same issue. Only with me, it’s often that when I DO find the time, I don’t have any ideas or motivation.
At least none that push me to action.
Time management seems a big one for a lot of people.
Photos – sourcing them, crediting them, optimising them, using them in Hootsuire for Twitter etc. I find it all very time consuming and would appreciate any guidance or tips on this subject
Hi, Anne – I’m not Ramsey but I thought I’d chime in anyway. It sounds like you need help. You can outsource this type of activities to someone, e.g. Virtual assistant.
Just a thought Anne–What about taking your own photos? I use my camera phone for just about all of my pictures and edit them a little in canva. Voila! No worries about crediting them, etc and I can control what I want to say better with my own images.
HI Stephanie, I am starting to do that more but because my blog is relatively new, I sometimes find I don’t have an appropriate image for what I’m trying to achieve. Now wherever I go I am snapping away in order to ensure I can use Flickr and the like, less and less. Thanks.
Hi Anne, I use Pixabay which gives you free stock photos. In exchange I upload some of my own images for other people to use for free.
Also look up a site called Death To Stock, they e-mail you high res stock images every month based around a particular theme so in time you build up a good selection of stock images to use. You don’t have to credit them.
Also Gratisography and Unsplash are good for that.
Ramsay,
Thanks for opening up , this kind of discussion. Though to resolve certain battle of bloggers you are always ready even if this kind of discussion isn’t there but this might open up someone like me who is hesitant to ask you queries. Here are some of the queries :
1) getting perfect theme for one’s blogging platform – selection is difficult to suit one needs. What should be kept mind while selecting the theme.
2) recently many big bloggers have removed comment section, since you still have kept the comments section implies that it is worth to have comment section rather than just counting on social media comment – I think it would be better, at least,for starters to have comment section
now the question for me is whether to keep – disqus or WordPress comment or new one – commentluv
3) getting recognized as an authentic blogger in the niche of blogging.
4) this should be the #1 challenge – It maybe one of the toughest battle / challenge for any newbie blogger – Making Blogging as a number one priority ; working everyday to step up without getting disheartened with the results of initial phase .
5) for articles which option one should opt – short articles and to publish it thrice or more in a week or long form article once in a week. On what basis one can take decisions .
If you have previously discussed any of the concerned topic – please share the link of your article.
Thanks again.
I think to be recognised as authentic you need to use case studies about your own successes. That helps a lot and I think goes a long way towards making your brand solid.
Hey Ramsay, I own a website, and I have bought a wordpress domain to blog about it, now I want to link my blog with my website in such a way that whenever I create a new blog, my subscribers get an update in their inbox. How can I do that?
Arunabh, I am a novice blogger too but I think I know the answer to your question. You will have to set up an account with an autoresponder service like aWeber so that when u put a new post, your subscribers get an email with the link to your blog post. Correct me Ramsay if I am wrong.
Thank you Karishma, but I have tried my hands with Feedburner and Getsitecontrol, but the look and feel doesn’t seem fitting the ambience of my blog and website. Maybe Ramsay has something more to add.
Feedburner and Getsitecontrol are good, but not very many people (that I know of) are using RSS feed readers these days. The difference is that Aweber is a mailing list service.
With RSS feeds, it’s one way, as in they read content as it’s published. With Aweber, you have a captured lead that you can send email-based updates to when you post a new article (or when you have a special offer to pass along).
Yeah you’ll need to add an email subscriber form and then set up a blog broadcast in Aweber. You can do it manually with a broadcast as well. That’s how I do it.
How to brand myself as an authentic blogger? How to rank my content on first page of Google?
Well thank you for putting this query up. I have the same question for Ramsay. But what I know about it is that it has to do something with SEO isn’ t it?
Yes you are right. It is something to do with SEO and keywords search but I have no idea how to do it.
Hi Karishma and Arunabh.
I might be a new name here just like the others but I’ve run blogs for over three years already and I started a personal blog of my own where I write about blogging, SEO, keyword ranking and increasing organic traffic just as Ramsay does.
If you are looking forward to getting your posts rank for particular keywords, here are a few tips-
1. Write great posts. With great I mean, detailed, exact as what your readers would want. Long articles do pretty well with the shares and backlinks.
2. Comment on other blogs. Solve queries in comments.
3. Guest post on good websites and backlinks
4. Work on infographics
This are things to get started with. There are a lot of ways that you’ll need to consider for On and Off page SEO.
If you are not adept to all of those, you can hire someone in particular or work with an agency (which I personally discourage).
I hope that solves your queries to some extent.
Thank you for the reply Naman. Can you please explain what are backlinks and infographics. Also do you mind sharing your website. I would love to have a look. Thanks.
Great answer Naman.
For more basics on SEO for blogging you can check this one: https://www.blogtyrant.com/beginner-blogging-seo/
Hi Ramsay,
I thought I would add to the comments, though I believe the last time I corresponded you were able to advise me concerning my blogging passion.
You suggested I blog my passion and maybe add an eCommerce feature as well. Therefore I sarted a new site with a new URL and am slowly building elements to the page which should be fully functional soon.
So – thanks for your imput – you removed my “blogging problem”.
Regards,
Will
I’m so happy to hear! I hope it’s going well. Please keep me posted.
Hi Ramsay, love this concept!
I’m struggling to get traction with my blog – building traffic and engagement. I’ve got a full plate (as does everyone of course) and am finding it difficult to identify which actions I should be focusing on (being the most effective to help me reach my goals).
Ultimately I’d like to create a portfolio of online assets geared towards producing passive income. Even finding the right coach is tricky.
I know it’ll be worth it but I just want the confidence of knowing I’m doing the right stuff at the right time for me and my goals.
GAH.
I always think that at the start the most important thing is to create beautiful, massive, valuable content.
Thanks Ramsay –
I’ve taken that advice and have gone ahead now and refreshed my editorial calendar. I’ll do that n guest posts. That’ll simplify things!
Hi,
For me the biggest challenge is to stay motivated towards writing for my selected niche for long time………I am just not able to pursue the continuous process of writing. How should i schedule myself for writing my articles?
Hi Kamlesh,
The best way to get organized for blog posts is to plan ahead (with a diary) of what you are going to write and then publish, way in advance of each blog post.
So set aside some time and plan out what topic you’re going to cover and what day you are going to publish it on. Do this for at least four blog posts in advance.
Get a diary and schedule all of your blog topics/posts for each month.
Always be planning and be ahead of your blogging activities so you know what you are going to do the next day/week/month.
Hope this helps!
Claire
P.S. Am I allowed a sneeky plug? I have ‘done for you’ interactive blogging worksheets to help you with this…
http://www.bloggingtoolkits.com/worksheets/blog-post-planning-worksheets/
Just left this comment and been taken to the ‘after comment page’. I have also done the ‘Cousin It’ impersonation and I also do a good (audio) impersonation of Chewbacca (just saying)…
Thanks Claire for your wonderful suggestion. I have a tendency of going blank on my article choice sometimes. But this tip will ensure a smooth productivity.
Do you find it boring?
Yes Ramsay
At times i find difficult to keep going. I am also into Sound Recording where i have to work for 8-10 hours a day. Now i am in a position to select the one which I enjoy most. And that is blogging…. Sooner or later i am going to get me into blogging only. Thanks for your wonderful Knowledge. It will certainly help me a lot.
Hey Ramsay,
Cool idea for a discussion, I bet it helps get some blog post ideas flowing!
I’m having trouble with validation and just knowing whether my idea will actually work.
I want to start a site about personal development for internet marketers. ‘Personal development’ sounds kind of weird, it’s more of a focus on skill development that will help internet marketers not only become more successful but happier and balanced (with a bunch of psychology thrown in).
I’ve already got a free optin created (a 17’000 word mini-course on productivity for internet marketers in case anyones wondering.. ;))
I’m pretty sure there is a demand for it. There is definitely a demand for internet marketing and it seems to me a lot of internet marketers are also interested in personal development (noah kagan for example).
There is also the sub forum ‘Mind Warriors’ over at Warrior Forum that seems to always have 150-250 people active on it.
It would be really awesome if you could provide any thoughts on this?
Cheers, Zach.
It sounds REALLY cool for me. Just do some testing, I reckon.
I find it hard to blog regularly. Am I lazy? Do I have a mental block? I don’t know. I don’t seem to be able to break through the barrier to regular content production.
I can’t blog regularly, either. But with enough coffee anything is possible! 😀
I often can’t find the motivation. One solution would be to write whenever you have ideas (if you can’t stick to a schedule remember…some is better than none), and if you can’t finish a post, just save it as a draft and revisit it later when you have more ideas about it. I’m pretty sure I’ll never be able to produce a constant flow of content, but I still try to at least check my stats a few times a day, and solve problems that may arise (which is a great way to get ideas, btw…) with my blog.
That’s an important one to figure out. Do you really love your topic?
For me it’s still the main one, deciding what to blog about. I have a really hard time sticking to one topic and finding a topic that is useful, one of the main reasons I keep failing with my blogs. But I’m determined, might start a new blog soon. Have any tips on how to pick a topic?
Here’s a question that might help:
If you could skip work for a day and do anything, what would it be?
Thanks for the response, but I already do what I love (article writing) and I don’t think another blog about freelance writing is a good idea…
I think the main thing is to pick something you love but that you also have some personal experience with. Being able to draw on your own issues or accomplishments is really important to keep you and readers interested.
It was writers block until yesterday when I heard writer Stephen J Cannell say the reason for writers block is fear of failure. Makes so much sense and now I don’t put the pressure of perfection on my work.
That is interesting.
I’m battling building my email subscriber list. Using Twitter and Facebook on the SM side with slow movement. I agree with your statement above on writing what you want to, not what you have to.
Thanks DaveP
Hi Ramsay,
Because I”m still a beginner blogger the biggest battle for me is the coordination of all the things I do for my blog. From one hand I should think about ads and monetizing my blog and from the other, I think about providing quality content. Particularly, I can’t seem to add my ads properly. I will try harder to make it. With time, it does become less overwhelming, doesn’t it?
Ads aren’t always the best method, either. You might do better making an eBook or creating a membership site, or even promoting some affiliates. All of those things can help you create new content as well as you have lots of feedback from people involved.
Thanks! Before promoting any affiliates, however, I should build trust in people, I suppose? I’m in the beginning and don’t want to rush it.
No you don’t have to wait. In blogging you rarely need to wait. The main thing is to just have confidence in the affiliate by using it yourself and making sure you love it. It has to be useful for your readers.
And what about WooCommerce? Do you think it’s ok to integrate a store in a blog or make a store and a blog separately?
Ramsay, for me it’s where to spend my time. Generating more content or promoting the content I already have. It’s a tough dilema most of the time. And for promoting, where are the best places?
That is my main concern as well! Do you have an advertising budget?
I always need new content! And the kids are home for summer!! 🙂
You could always try to get the kids to write content…heh. Kidding.
Maybe keep a notepad app handy where you can write down little things each day that stick out in your mind and try to turn those ideas into content.
Thank you for this! I appreciate the suggestion! It’s a great idea.
Hi Chava, maybe the kids home for summer is all the content you need! 🙂
Seriously, though, people love funny stories about kids. Perhaps you can include some of their antics in your posts…
~Jennifer
I’d like to see a blog written by kids who hate it and are doing it instead of other chores. It would be HILARIOUS.
Awesome thought! LOL
Lol! Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions!
Hello Ramsay, so proud to be a member of the Tyrant Troops! I’ve been learning a lot from you over the past couple of days, nice idea to open up this discussion I must say. Ramsay, I want to focus on building my email subscriber list. What’s the MOST practical way to go about this? Please let us in on the tricks you use, not the normal stuff we hear around. Thanks boss!
Hey Ken.
I’m proud to have you here!
The main thing is to write really long, valuable content and make it distinctive. Find out how to stand out from the rest. And then make sure you have a free offer that email subscribers get and ensure that it is closely related to the content that you write.
Good luck!
That right there is the dilemma for me. How best to stand out and what to put in a free offer but OMG I love the challenge of working that out.
HI Ramsay,
Great idea! I’m having a huge issue with spam referral visits which is screwing up my statistics in google analytics. I’ve set up filters to remove them and it doesn’t work! An example of a few are:
floating-share-buttons.com
webmonetizer.net
trafficmonetizer.org
How do I block these and protect myself better in the future? Thanks in advance!
Steph
Hi Stephanie,
I experienced similar problem with my blogs. Google Analytics filters did not work well for me too.
I edited the htaccess and it’s working fine with me now.
Here’s what you can do- Add the code in similar order.
# Block Referrer Spam
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*ilovevitaly\.com/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*econom\.co/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*kambasoft\.com/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*buttons\-for\-website\.com/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*semalt\.com/ [NC,OR]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ – [F,L]
The above code blocks traffic from sites like semalt.com, kambasoft.com, ilovevitaly.com, or so as mentioned above.
You can add as many sites that’ve been spamming you.
I hope this should help.
Thanks for the feedback, Naman. I am not anywhere near being a programmer, so where would I add this code? To google analytics or my site?
I am not a programmer as well. But when you run a blog it’s better to know how to edit some codes though.
If you are on WordPress, you can edit your htaccess file from inside your dashboard. You should have Yoast SEO plugin for that. If you have it, you can go to tools>File Editor where you’ll see htaccess codes there.
You’ll only need to copy past the code and the list of other websites in similar order that have been spamming you.
If you are on a different CMS, you’ll need to edit the htaccess from your server side.
If you still face problems, write me an email at nepal.naman [at] outlook.com and I can help you with it.
Thanks.
Ok, I’m going to take a look at it more closely. Thanks for the tip!
I tried this (as I’ve been having the same problem) but it just led to my whole site becoming a 403 error.
I then removed the added code and it works fine again.
Sometimes it’s best to let your host know that you’re having these problems and they can sort it out for you.
Hi Ramsay,
I’ve been debating whether or not to turn my blog ideas into eBooks. I am feeling more inspired to write and sell than blog and hope. What do you think? Is that just a sad, sad cop out on my part?
Thanks,
~Jennifer
Why would that be a sad cop out?
I feel that way because blogging is such a passion of mine. But is having a passion enough of a reason to keep blogging?
I battle with wanting to make money and helping people, and sometimes the money making part pulls ahead.
Truly, I’d like to do both.
When should a person accept that blogging is just a hobby verses a source of income?
I reckon that’s something you might have to figure out for yourself based on your own situation. It’s different for everyone based on your needs.
I thought you might say something like that…:)
As I was pondering this last night, I decided I’d like to find a way to better combine my blogs and books. Get them to promote each other.
Thanks again for your attentiveness and help.
Hey Ramsay,
Thank you for this opportunity to share our concerns.
The problem Im facing is the following:
I understand that as a blogger we are doing inbound marketing, so we create interesting content that solves problems that users are looking on the internet and then we engage them with products that solve this problem.
I undertsand that. The thing is that I have a music blog about my pop band. What problem can I solve to people that makes them purchase my music afterwards? I can share my music, explain the lyrics, review similar music… what are your thoughts about blogs for music bands?
John Mayer was a really interesting case study for this when he was working on Battle Studies. He showed the art for the album cover, clips of him working on songs, and thoughts he was going through while writing. This kind of thing built up huge interest for when the album was released. That’s how I’d do it.
Hi Ramsay, thanks so much for this opportunity to share my blogging concern to the public eye.
Basically, I got this ebook idea, but I am not so sure if this upcoming ebook will sell. Mainly, my doubt is because my blog is in spanish and on Latin America readers are kinda reluctant to buy online stuff, specially ebooks.
I don’t see any other way to make money online with my blog, other than an ebook, but at the same way I feel like I’am in an impasse.
Any comment, suggestion, critic or anything would be highly appreciated Ramsay.
Hey mate.
Trust me, people everywhere buy things online. There is no going back. I think the best thing is to test it out and see how you go. You can also use a service like e-junkie to get other bloggers to sell it for you and pay them as affiliates.
Hi Ramsay (and everyone)!
My biggest battle has to be with my demons right now. My self-doubt, procrastination, fear, inexperience with writing… It’s very hard to actually execute a good idea that you have. That is what I am struggling with.
I just read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. The book is on this very topic–overcoming what he calls Resistance, to do the work you’re supposed to. I think it is very inspiring, and will help me.
Laura
That sounds like a great book. I’m going to look it up. I’ll be very interested to hear what you learn from it all.
I am searching for a WP responsive non profit/organization theme. The site does not need ecommerce. I would like a slider and buttons-Read More- and a right sidebar, 2 horizontal menus. I am not familiar with themes that have Page Builder components. Any suggestions will be very welcomed. There are too many choices and I need some suggestions that have worked for you. Thank you.
This one is pretty awesome! http://theme-fusion.com/avada/
Thanks Ramsey. I will look into it!
[…] Inspirado por Ramsay Taplin, de Blog Tyrant, me gustaría iniciar una conversación contigo y que me cuentes en lo que estás trabajando en tu blog. […]
I am more comfortable with writing now, but integrating my content with SEO Yoast, getting all 27 recommendations greenlighted is nowhere as easy as I thought it might be.
Also, I fear losing Google Adsense by adding any affiliate links to my content. Should I drop Adsense from my blog?
Would it be better to only put affiliate links in e-mails for now?
Hey mate.
I don’t use Adsense at all. Seems like a waste of money to only earn a few cents per click when you could get a new email subscriber. Personally I like to focus on growing the mailing list and then sending them to quality blog posts which have affiliate links in them. That way you promote new content as well.
Thanks for the advice, I guess that’ll be doing some homework on growing an e-mail list for the next couple of days.
It’s the main thing. Focus on that and your business will grow and grow.
Hi Everyone,
I’m at newbie (is that term used anymore) and my biggest battle is procrastination. I’m hoping to get past this soon and just put my writing out there in the universe.
We talk about that a lot here on Blog Tyrant. It’s a huge problem. In the end I think you learn more just from doing it, even if it’s not perfect.
I would also like to know how to submit a guest post and How does it actually drives traffic to my blog. Do I give my website name somewhere in the guest post?
Hi Karishma.
The best way is to build up a relationship with bloggers that you respect and with blogs that you’d like to be featured on. Don’t pitch right away – do something for them first like mentioning them in an article.
You get traffic by having links in the post or a short bio at the end.
Hey Ramsay,
How would you get traffic to a fitness blog these days?
I know you had a big win in the past.
This is my second blog, and my first one got traffic from writing and very little guest posts. Don’t think it will fly with fitness.
Was thinking a massive guest posting spree on smaller fitness blogs.
What do you reckon?
Cheers,
Fin
Guest posting still works so well, especially if you can crack a site like Nerd Fitness or someone with a decent brand. Forums are also huge for fitness – I remember getting a lot of traffic from the Bodybuilding.com ones a while ago. And if you have the budget – FB Ads are amazing.
Cheers dude.
Hi Ramsey thanks for the post and opportunity to bleat on my big issues. I love the writing and I know I can go on for ages with my topic which is evergreen. Planning is the biggy, best to get out a calendar and plan all subjects for months ahead and just DO IT. SEO is huge too, I got heaps more work to do on that. Backlinks are worth pursuing- my question is: Is the only way to do white hat backlinks, guest posting? And I have another question: Everyone needs a good tech person and I found one, problem is he’s in England and anything he does for me costs me 3 times what it would cost in NZ where I live, can you suggest a good tech person I can use in NZ or Auzzie where the exchange rates is more in my favour? please help. I love what you do here and you are my all time favourite mentor. With all of us making comments here I am sure I can find common interests and do guest blogging for each other? Anyone out there interested in natural health?
The best tech guys I’ve come across for WordPress stuff is Crazy XHTML. They’re great.
thanks very much
I’m struggling with getting people to click on the affiliate links. My traffic is growing, but monetizing clicks doesn’t seem to be changing that much. Any tips?
Best thing is to go around and have a look at some sites that you know are really successful with a similar thing and see how they are doing it. Sign up to their mailing list and watch the whole process.
Hey Ramsay
I’m very new to the world of blogging, and am still trying to work out all the jargon. I followed your advice and list of steps to get started with Bluehost, but I’m having difficulty in setting my blog up the way I want it to look.
My biggest frustration is when I put together my posts the format doesn’t look how I want it to when I publish the page. It just seems to take ages to get it right.
Please help!
Hi Jacinta.
That can be a problem with the Stylesheet of your blog. Every theme has a different stylesheet that changes the way to font, spacing, etc. looks. You can learn to tweak this yourself or pay a coder to copy the style of a blog you like.
Make sure you don’t write it in Word or anything as well because they change the formatting.
Thank you! That has helped.
Actually, to be honest I like the way it looks now better than the way I had it. 😉
You don’t by chance hire yourself out to set blogs up for people who have no idea (like me) do you? 🙂
No, sorry. 🙂
I m probably asking too many questions but I am a newbie in the blogging world. I know Google slap is bad for the website and the personal brand but what exactly is it? What happens when someone’s site gets a Google slap, why does it gets that and how can it be prevented.
Hi Karishma. This might be a good place to start: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en
Hi Ramsay,
All going smoothly here but I LOVE this idea!
Happy to share it.
Ryan
Thanks mate.
Ramsay,
I would say getting more email subscribers.
I read a lot of different posts and I’m starting to implement the tips, tricks, techniques and steps that they share. So far, it’s been working, but not as quickly. So, I guess I need to just figure things out to make it work really well. That advice would only take me so far, the rest is up to me.
– Andrew
If your website is converting, the main thing is just to find as much targeted traffic as possible. It’s hard but important.
What’s the name of the floating sidebar plugin you use??
The social media one? That’s called Monarch.
Thanks for sharing this nice article about Blogging Battle.
I was waiting for the same article, that will help me. And you’ve published it..
Thanks again..
Thanks for stopping by.
my biggest blogging battle is finding a new topic so i can publish on my blog, i didn’t publish anything since May.
Hi Ramsay, where exactly do I post what I am offering in the lead magnet on my blog so that people receive it in their email after subscribing?
Here’s a tutorial: https://www.blogtyrant.com/how-to-automatically-send-an-ebook-to-your-email-subscribers/
The biggest problem is time. I had a great rhythm going. Business was growing even after I had a child. Now my kiddo is a toddler and needs more time, and I need a whole lot more energy. To add to it, we moved and now our schedule is out of whack–husband commutes almost 2 hours to work (one way), which takes away about 3+ hours of what I used to have allotted for my work. With other things that I could add to the list, I am simply out of time and energy by the time my kid is in bed and all household things are done. It is almost 1 am now, for example, and I have barely scratched the surface of what needs to be done for my business. Imagine the level of creativity to write at this time… And all of this means is that I am losing customers and losing money. It is disheartening. Ok, I digress! My biggest challenge is time…
Elena, the best thing I can suggest is that you hire someone to help as soon as possible. Even for small tasks.
Getting down to write even a single sentence after a long and hard day at work, is the biggest blogging battle. Couple this with writer’s block and you will know what I am talking about.
Yeah that’s a hard one. I think it is about making time to focus on what you want most, even if it’s hard for a while.
Hi Ramsay,
Excellent post. Just fyi I originally found your blog through the post you wrote on short vs. long posts.
I’m no stranger to blogging, having done it for clients as well as authored, monetized, and sold a couple of websites myself.
My biggest struggle with my new blog that I’m just starting is finding topics that are highly relevant to my target market/ideal customer.
I don’t really care about padding my ego with huge traffic numbers, I just want all of my content to be tightly themed and everyone (or at least a very large portion of) my visitors. I’m all about qualified traffic.
In a perfect world, everyone that visits my site would have the potential to do business with me. My revenue per client is high, so I’m not in the business of needing hundreds or thousands of sales a month to do well.
8-10 highly qualified leads (mostly b2b companies) a month is what I’m after with my blog. That’s the goal. I’ve got to go wide enough to bring in enough traffic, but keep the content tighly themed so that it only appeals to potential clients who really want, need, and have the ability to pay for what I offer.
For this kind of thing I usually think that case studies work best. You take a problem really common for your target market and show how you expertly solve it. Then spend time getting that case study in front of the right people through FB Ads, LinkedIn, etc.
Thanks for the suggestion Ramsay. Sounds like a winner!
Hey Ramsay, that was something unexpected. Ok, my biggest blogging battle is coming up with new ideas for my blog. How do you suppose I should handle that?
Start at the end. Think of what you want people to do as an end result and then work backwards with the content you create.
I just found your blog Ramsay and I can say that I totally love it! Thanks for all the tips!
Thank you. Hope it’s helping.
I’ve been struggling with developing the thick skin. I produce my content with one person in mind – the reader. It sounds cliche, but I’ve helped a lot of people with personal development, career & financial planning so I use my personal blog to spread that content, hoping someone will find it useful.
I have a full-time job so I’m not out to pressure, pressure, pressure people. Any tips?
Thanks Ramsay.
-Dominic
I really struggle with that one as well. I think it helps to try and write from the perspective of someone who is still learning and is just kind of sharing the information. As long as it’s researched and tested info it will hopefully be helpful.
[…] week I asked everyone about the biggest blogging battles that they face. It turns out that time management is a huge issue – many people want to blog but […]
[…] week I asked everyone about the biggest blogging battles that they face. It turns out that time management is a huge issue – many people want to blog but […]
Hi, first time poster here, I’m glad comments are still open.
Well, I would have to say the big three mentioned above: self-doubt, procrastination and fear of getting started. It took me weeks to even reply here, how pathetic is that!? Had a topic and domain for years but struggle to nail down ideas for the home and about pages, and then pillar content…. I even signed up for an online blogging “school” and private Facebook group but I felt defeated before I even started because everyone says you have to be an expert/authority with a value proposition in your niche first.
Struggling to figure those out but I would just like to inspire people and bring awareness to my topic-affordable housing. Confused as to why that isn’t a value proposition, not looking to monetize right away, rather get people thinking and talking first. Maybe a free giveaway (what though?) for sign-ups and a survey to start, or incentive to take the survey somehow. Would I be crazy to ignore conventions and just go for it-sensibly of course?
Any thoughts on how to nail things down to get started or any other comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
Even I am a newbie and still feel scared that I won’t be able to figure out all the technological stuff like SEO and ranking on Google etc. But I realized that the only way to get past my fear is to actually start and learn as I go. And who knows I may become a successful blogger in future. I would say the only way to get rid of fear is to do the same thing which you fear doing.
Also I don’t think u need to be an expert. I m a living proof. I have started and I still have a lot to learn. Perfectionism is a disease.
You don’t need to be great to start, but you need to start to be great – Zig Ziglar.
Hope that will encourage u to start.
Thank you Karishma Gautam. So true.
I’m going to get started, my blog will be a continual work in progress which will be part of the fun. I know I will get a lot of criticism but hopefully some positive comments too.
Hey there! I remember when I was rebranding my travel blog “Wandering Whims” a couple of years ago, and I was stuck with deciding the right theme and layout for weeks! It’s so challenging when you want everything to be perfect and reflect your brand accurately. It’s great that you’re creating this space for discussion; it can be a game-changer for many, just like it would’ve been for me back then.