As I hurtle into my sixth (!!) year of blogging, I’ve learned a lot and made a ridiculous number of mistakes. I’ve also managed to experience some wins related my blogging activities and thought I would share my thoughts about all of the blogging rules that people seem committed to following. I’ve either broken these rules or I’ve had friends break these rules and still manage to not anger the blogging Gods. Even, though they may have pissed off a blogging troll or two. Here is my list of 15 blogging rules you should break and feel good about it while breaking them.
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15 Blogging Rules You Should Break
Rule number one that you should break!
- Losing your blog “voice” to make money blogging-While there are some formulas and logistics that almost all well monetized blogs follow, one of the most annoying things that I see is people beginning to sound like robots in their posts. The key to a well monetized blog is the ability to: answer your readers’ questions AND answer A LOT of your readers’ questions. Why do you have to sound boring during the process? How to avoid this? Always make sure to think of relatable situations or stories that are relevant to the blog post that you’re writing. Share them. Boom.
- Niching down-Everyone talks about the “riches are in the niches.” While that’s not untrue, you could also decided to cover a broader range of topics. I decided to do that because as much as I love to geek out about personal finance, there are some days I just want to talk about food, cocktails, cute clothes, and trips. In fact, my highest converting blog post on this blog has NOTHING to do with money. And, that post is insane in terms of number of page views. Still not sure? Read this.
Here’s More
- Not Being Anonymous-If you want to be anonymous-DO IT! There are some crazy a@@ people out there. Or, maybe you just want privacy about whatever it is you’re blogging about. In fact, at the time that I’m writing this blog post, there is a lottery winner who won $500+ million dollars and is fighting to keep their identity private. I know why, they don’t feel like discovering all of the cousins they didn’t know that they had. While it may be more challenging to monetize a site without your face on it, you’re absolutely able to do it. You do you boo-boo.
- Letting Rules Dictate How Often You Post-If you’re a newer blogger being rigid about posting may be the thing that makes you quit blogging. Just get in the habit of blogging, as you get used to it then set a schedule. Do not put pressure on yourself in the beginning to do more than one blog post a week. I’m serious. In fact, the majority of bloggers quit in the first 6 months and focusing on blog post frequency is one of the reasons (I think) that contributes to the quitting rate. Learn the process of blogging, then make adjustments as you get used to things.
- Being Afraid to Use Stock Photos-Let’s talk for a second. Stock photos are either really good, or really bad LOL! But, if you’re able to work a system to find good photos that look like you could have taken them-why wouldn’t you use them on your blog? You only have so much time and running around town posing for pictures may not be on your list of priorities. Obviously, you will need to share the photos legally. Check out how I find gorgeous, free, stock photos HERE.
And, More!
- Engaging with Trolls-Why? Why on earth would you do this? I’m not talking about having a thoughtful exchange of ideas via your comments area. I’m talking about people who are trolls. You know that they’re trolls because energetically your body reacts negatively when reading the post. Delete, block, and roll. That’s it. Do not engage. Things are stressful enough without bringing in more stress into your life.
- You Should Monetize-Who says? I’m monetizing because I want to and I want to prove to myself that I can do it. BUT, that’s after 5 1/2 years of running this blog with no clear idea or process to earn money from it on purpose. You don’t have to make money with your blog if you don’t want to.
- You Shouldn’t Monetize-Don’t let people guilt you into changing your mind about monetizing your blog if you feel like it. It’s YOUR blog. If you want to make money with it-then, hey, by all means do that. Don’t let other people’s discomfort keep you from doing what’s right for you.
- You Shouldn’t Share Other People’s Amazing Work-Actually, you should. Because you’re an abundance minded person who is not afraid that by sharing other people’s brilliance that will hurt your bottom line. In fact, it won’t. You’ll make more money and you’ll be so happy about it. There are billions of people on this planet and you just need a teeny tiny number of them that you can help with whatever it is you’re doing. Being nice and excited about what your friends are working on is a wonderful thing. Try it, you’ll be glad that you did.
Keep Reading!
- Pinterest is the #1 Place to Market Your Blog-Actually, there are a number of incredible places to share your blog. Pinterest just happens to be one of those amazing places. Currently, I’m getting more organic searches and Facebook referrals to my blog than from Pinterest. While I do expect this to change by the end of this Spring, I am very aware of the power of networking everywhere.
- Share as Many Affiliates as Possible-Umm, no, don’t do that. It’s confusing to you and your readers. Geek out about 10-12 affiliates that you can’t get enough of. And then share the sh$t out of them. And, always focus on affiliates that help you and your readers win! You will compound your earnings if you focus on fewer affiliates but people make contact with them on a frequent basis. And, it’s easier for you to keep track of your affiliates if you have 10 versus 50 random ones.
- You Need Ads to Make Money Blogging-Nope, you don’t. Here is my list of 30 Ways Bloggers Make Money. While ads can be extremely lucrative, they can be ugly, distracting, and harmful to the blog aesthetic that you would like your blog to have.
And, Finally!
- You Should Start Your Email List from Day #1-It has taken me a LONG time to focus on my email list. But, seriously, I changed my blog how many times? I even changed the blog’s name and I’ve spent the past few years basically trying to understand what the hell is this blogging thing that I’m doing. Now I get it and now I’m working on growing my email list. In my opinion, it will be a lot more useful to the people that I’m trying to help because I understand what I’m trying to do for them and for myself!
- Reporting Incomplete Income on Your Blog Income Reports-Why is this a thing? Isn’t it complicated? Please don’t tell people that you’ve earned $7.97 for an affiliate. You’re leaving out the other part of the conversation which is this: you need earn a certain amount in order to get PAID. I only report cash that I’ve actually received in my bank account and is real. I have money pending in my Google Adsense portal and it has been pending there forever. You never here me mention that money because it hasn’t hit my bank account yet. As far as I’m concerned-it’s imaginary money. Until it isn’t.
If you feel like breaking the rules, create your own rules and own them! The best thing about running a website is that each website has its own unique foot print. Like a snowflake, or a flower. What rule do you feel like breaking today?
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Haha, I dislike riches in niches mainly because I would pronounce it ‘neesh’ not ‘nitch’ and therefore it doesn’t rhyme!
The top post on my blog is also somewhat random, it’s from my wedding planning days.
I still wonder if I’m saying it right LOL!! Depends on where you are in the country. But, I’m one of the “nitches” people 🙂
I got bogged down by certain blogging “rules” early on, and even 5 years later, I still can’t shake them. Every time I go to say, publish a post on Tuesday I stop myself. Why? Because somewhere along the line I read a “rule” that you should post on the same day every week (which has typically been Mondays, maybe Wednesdays for me). It’s dumb. I know it’s dumb. But I schedule the post for Wednesday instead of just hitting publish.
So YES to all of this! Make your own rules!
Break the rules Amanda!! Be crazy! In fact, because I’ve decided to go with the flow, I’m getting more done. I used to be really hard on myself about publishing dates, etc. Now, I’m like-just get it done, do it well, and when the time is right to do it regularly-I will. I’m PAYING to provide this free service to others! I pay for blog hosting, etc. So, I’ve given myself permission to chill the heck out about everything.
I love breaking the rules. I agree with them. You can not afford to lose your voice. In my opinion, that’s why people read blogs because of specific bloggers voices.
Some blogs are really “flat” because they lack an active voice for me to connect to.