The Secret of Blogging Sucess

    This week, I received an email from a fellow blogger asking me about something that I had implemented related to my blog.  She thought it was a great idea and wanted to know how I had done it.  I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised because there was a time when I was on the other end of that email trying to learn as much as I could about everything having to do with blogging.  As soon as I had a chance, I promptly responded to her email and explained to her the steps that I took to implement that new idea.  That evening, she emailed me back thanking me for the information and for taking the time out to respond to her and to explain everything.

    Since this fellow blogger was so grateful, it got me to wondering if there is a sense of secrecy to this whole blogging thing.  I can recall that, during my early days as a blogger, there were many veterans who were eager to answer my questions about a variety of topics related to which blogging platform to use, blog design, and other general blogging questions.  However, it did seem like there were certain topics that were off limits, specifically related to monetizing your blog and public relations companies and products.  If I recall, I received very little advice about how to approach PR companies and very successful bloggers seemed very “off-limits” to new bloggers.

    Now, don’t get me wrong, I have been doing this blogging thing long enough that I understand the importance of being discreet when it comes to sponsors and business opportunities.  As with any other business, blogging can be very competitive and everyone is vying for their piece of the blogging pie.  It is important to maintain a certain sense of confidentiality around monetizing opportunities because they are limited and have specific requirements that you obviously don’t want anyone else fulfilling.

    I can still remember feeling “lost in the sauce” when I first started blogging.  A lot of people think that blogging is easy and that anyone can do it.  I’m sure anyone can, however, those of us who are serious about it and want to do more than just journal daily on the internet put a heck of a lot of work into it.  You can’t just start a blog and think that readers will magically appear on your site and you will have an instant audience.  The old phrase, “if you build it, they will come,” does not apply here.  I don’t mind sharing a lot of information with fellow bloggers about what I do and how I do it because I once started out and had tons of questions about how to blog and how to network.

    Sharing ideas with other bloggers creates an environment that fosters professionalism, in my humble opinion.  Perhaps if we were more open with one another about the experiences that we have daily with public relations companies and sponsors, we would be able to have more control over how we are approached with offers and it would increase our negotiating power.  Not to mention putting into practice the old “one hand washes the other” saying.  Believe me, I remember every single nice thing that other bloggers have done to help me and it definitely makes me even more eager to return the favor should the opportunity ever arise.  You never know, the blogging novice of today may be the blogging powerhouse of tomorrow and wouldn’t you want to be on his or her good side when that time comes?

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