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The Three Core Tenets Every Successful Blogger Needs to Have

As bloggers, we all have different goals. Some may be to monetize your blog; some may be to get a book deal; some may be to become recognized as an expert in your field; others may be to share company news and updates.

Some may even just be to have a personal outlet where you can let your creativity go and see what works, and what doesn’t.

But no matter the goals you have for your blog, to succeed in them takes more than just setting up a blog and watching the success come rolling in.

Succeed

While there may be early successes, to be a truly successful blogger you need to have the following three key tenets.

1. Patience

So many bloggers give up in the first few months because they’re not experiencing what they feel they should be, to be classed as successful. They’re not getting the thousands of subscribers, or visitors, or social shares, or sales.

The thing is, much like anything, blogging success is not an overnight success. To build a blog that has both longevity and solid foundations takes time.

You need to cultivate your community; understand who your audience is and what they’re interested in; what social platforms make sense for you to be on; and define your editorial voice.

You’ll make many mistakes in your first few months of blogging – but that’s a natural part of growth.

Don’t let perceived “failure” put you off your game – be patient and your goals will start to happen.

2. Strength

One of the great things about blogging is that it allows the fostering of some truly great ideas and discussions.

Sure, the blogger might start all this off with the original post, but then the following comments can really take the post into a rich and varied discussion point.

Of course, with discussions comes dissent – and many bloggers fail at welcoming this part of the discussion into their part of the web. Which is a mistake.

The very best bloggers not only welcome dissent, they encourage it and meet it head on – because they have strength in their convictions.

The very best bloggers not only welcome dissent, they encourage it and meet it head on. Click To Tweet

When you put something out for the world to read, you need to be strong enough to know that not everyone is going to fawn over your wisdom (real or otherwise), and that often questions will be asked.

Want to run a successful blog? Be strong when questioned, accept when wrong, and understand that the most successful blogs are the ones where the reader feels like they’re really a part of it, as opposed to just being a bystander to your soapbox.

3. Belief

One of the things I always notice when reading a blog is how much conviction is there.

It comes through in the words being written or the video/podcast being shared, as well as the advertising partners on the site, and the products/services being recommended.

In other words, it’s easy to see when a blogger truly believes in what they’re doing, or saying, versus one that’s just mailing their posts in.

Blog readers are smart people – we know when you’re the real deal and when you’re just out trying to make a fast buck, or position yourself as something you’re not.

Instead of trying to fool us, make us believe that you believe too.

  • Recommend products and services that you use, and would recommend anyway even if you weren’t getting paid to do so.
  • Believe in the words you’re writing. Passion wins over boring wisdom every time.
  • Believe in the wisdom of your readers – never take them for granted or expect them to believe your every word.

Simply put – if you believe, we’ll believe.

Which is what really matters at the end of the day, no?

The Three Core Tenets Every Successful Blogger Needs to Have originally appeared on Danny Brown – – all rights reserved.

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Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?

Reading Roundup: What's new in blogging this week / ProBlogger.net

Good morning! Welcome to your roundup of interesting titbits from around the web. Plenty to mull over here – tools, beta testing of our favourite social media sites, Google doing new Google things (who knew?!) and a cool script to help you tap into your blog audience’s personas. Enjoy!

5 Visual Content Tools to Boost Engagement // Social Media Examiner

If you’re on a tight budget (or let’s be honest: no budget) for graphics, these tools should help you up your visual content game. I love the Instagram collage idea.

Instagram Now Testing Support for Account Switching, No Logout Required // TechCrunch

Oh wouldn’t this be a boon for those of you who manage multiple accounts! Let’s cross our fingers that the choice proves popular in the beta testing and they keep it.

LinkedIn’s New Facebook-like App Arrives on iOS and Android // Mashable Australia

A much easier (and more eye-pleasing!) way to see who is sharing what on LinkedIn. I can imagine it would promote more engagement, which I’m all for. I have to admit, I don’t do much with my LinkedIn but I may be swayed by this!

How to Figure Out What Keywords Your Potential Customers are Using // Hubspot

And what your potential readers are searching for! This is a super-detailed piece – Bridget has taken a step back and started at SEO right from the start before launching into what tools you can use so you can be armed with all the knowledge to create a super campaign or tailored blog content.

How to Become a Virtual Assistant // Amy Lynn Andrews

I know plenty of us have “virtual assistant” on our Christmas lists, but for those of you who would like to be one (can be a great supplement to your blog income), Amy has recently updated her guide. Check it out!

image 2 tags snowmen

Google Turns Image Search Into Pinterest with New Collections Feature // TechCrunch

It’s only for mobile (and those of you in the US), and it looks as though it’s a part of the sort-of-revamped Google+, but now when you find an image you want to keep for later in Google search, you can organise your own personal collections. Search results are filterable and it appears quite intuitive.

“Don’t Pursue Something That Someone Said You Should Want”: Derek Sivers at WDS // Chris Gillebeau

I loved attending the World Domination Summit in Portland this year, and Chris Gillebeau, master of it all, has started releasing videos from the amazing speakers across the weekend. This video is from one of my favourite speakers – Derek Sivers – who delivered kick-ass, no-bullshit business advice. I took SO MUCH away from his philosophy. Watch it, you won’t be sorry!

Persona Research in Under 5 Minutes // Moz

You know how much we love a reader profile around these parts. Who are you speaking to? What kind of people make up your core audience? More importantly – where are they hanging out? I love this script for nailing all this info in under 5 minutes.

8 Creative Ways to Add Christmas Spirit to Your Social Media // Jeff Bullas

I just spent 10 minutes trying to find the best christmas photo for my Facebook profile. It’s that time of year!

From YouTube to Persicope: The Evolution of Web Video [Infographic] // AdWeek

Crazy to see how far it’s come (and how much I suck at all of them). I wonder where web video (and indeed, how audiences consume it) is headed next. Any ideas?

Have you Christmasified your social media yet?!

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama or be entertained on Facebook.

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately? appeared first on @ProBlogger.

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4 WordPress Alternatives: the What, Where, and Why

This guest post is by Matt Setter of MaltBlue.com.

As bloggers, we’re all familiar with WordPress, whether as a self-hosted setup, or via WordPress.com. I think that, if you’re a blogger and you’ve not used it, then you’re likely in an odd minority.

If you do a Google search for “blogging software,” WordPress will likely be among the first results you’ll see. But is it necessarily the best choice?

Yes, “everybody’s doing it,” but does that make it the right choice? Just like in the 90’s when Microsoft seemed like the only choice, but then we found alternatives like Mac or Linux, there are alternatives to WordPress too.

Now maybe you’re quite happy with your WordPress installation, it meets your needs, and your site’s humming along nicely. Well, that’s perfectly fine. But what if you’re not? What if you want to change, or have the opportunity to change?

What if you’re:

  • just starting out
  • about to rebuild or redesign your blog
  • moving hosts
  • concerned WordPress is not meeting your needs
  • contrarian in your thinking?

Well if you’re any one of these, you’ll love this post. Today I present to you four alternatives you may never have heard of, showing you the pros and cons of each, how much they cost, and where you can get them from. Ready? Great! Let’s begin.

Habari

habariHabari is a secure blogging platform designed from the ground up with the current and future needs of the blogging community firmly in mind. It’s also designed to be open and transparent, using modern software development techniques in its design.

Some examples of blogs run on this platform include:

  • http://barefootrunner.co.uk/
  • http://futurespark.com.au/

The Habari project screencast linked below gives a great introduction to the CMS.

Features

  • Support for a wide variety of plugins and extensions, including:
    • contact forms
    • Last.FM
    • spam management
    • Amazon
    • Google Maps, AdSense, and Analytics
    • star ratings
    • members-only access
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
  • modern theme support
  • support for multiple users and multiple sites in one installation
  • support for tagging
  • support for a wide variety of media, including Viddler and Flickr
  • custom RSS feeds and statistics
  • Feedburner integration
  • modern spam filtering techniques
  • automatic Twitter updates
  • Disqus integration for commenting.

Cost and availability

Habari is available as a free download from the project home page. You can even try out a demo version without needing to install it.

Support options

Habari support is available via:

  • FAQ
  • users group
  • IRC (internet chat, similar to ICQ, MSN, Google Chat etc).

Is it for you?

If you’re keen to roll up your sleeves and manage things yourself, or you have great tech support, try out Habari. However, if your host doesn’t support it or you’re not able to do it yourself, then this may not be the best option for you.

CushyCMS

cushycmsCushyCMS is, as the home page says, “A Truly Simple CMS.” It was designed to be implemented with as little effort as possible; to be “Super Easy To Use!”

Where Habari is more like WordPress in that you can download, install, and configure it yourself, CushyCMS is a fully hosted solution.

Minimal manual effort is required on your part, other than the work required to implement modest customisations. Have a look at the introductory video below to see just how easy it is.

Blogs that use CushyCMS include:

  • http://thewebtherapist.com/
  • http://www.the-nomads.co.uk/

Features

Depending on the package that you choose, different features will be available to you. In the free package, you get:

  • five sites
  • unlimited site editors
  • availability in 20 languages.

If you take the pro package, you can:

  • brand your installation
  • customise the interface via a wysiwig editor
  • remove all ads from the site
  • use your own domain name and logo
  • configure access rights for each user
  • customise the CSS classes.

Cost and availability

CushyCMS is available from Stateless Systems and comes in two forms:

  • free
  • pro, for US$28 per month.

Support options

This depends on the package that you’ve chosen. If you’ve chosen the free package, you get:

  • videos
  • documentation
  • package FAQ
  • access to the Google user group.

If you upgrade to the pro package, you get all that, plus direct email support from Stateless Systems.

Is it for you?

Depending on your needs and requirements, CushyCMS could be just what you’re looking for. You can sign up and get started in minutes. There’s no need to worry about what your current provider does or doesn’t support, as this system is fully hosted. You can get started with the free version, but you’ll have limited branding and domain control privileges.

You can upgrade to the pro version, but unless you’re making regular money with your blog, you might not want to pay the monthly fee for it. However, you do get a company backing the product with 24/7 support, should you have any questions or queries.

concrete5

concrete5Just like WordPress and Habari, concrete5 is available to be downloaded, configured, and installed at your web host and is a blogging platform built from the ground up to satisfy the needs of website editors, designers, and developers alike on a foundation of proven open source technologies.

The underlying philosophy of concrete5 is to make running a website easy. As you can see from the demo video below, in just about all aspects of site administration, you can simply click on a region of the page and edit it to your heart’s content.

A couple of blogs that run on concrete5 are:

  • http://www.gigstadpainting.com/
  • http://www.sustainableharvest.com/

Features

Concrete5:

  • is easy to theme yourself, or you can choose from a wide variety of pre-made themes
  • supports a wide variety of plugins and extensions including:
    • digital download support
    • discussion forums
    • ecommerce
    • ad servers
    • configurable menu navigation
    • star reviews
    • scrolling ticker
    • image gallery
    • traffic and statistics management
    • Google Maps
    • user chat
    • country-based redirect
    • Vimeo and YouTube support.
  • easy to configure, whether by hand or via the wysiwig editor
  • easy to update, right from your browser
  • open source and completely free to use
  • easy to install and configure.

Cost and availability

Concrete5 is available from the concrete5 website and is open source, so it’s free.

Support options

Similar to Habari, concrete5 doesn’t have a paid support option, however it does have:

  • an active community
  • clear documentation
  • a thorough FAQ.

If you are a developer, or have access to development support, training and integration packages are also available.

Is it for you?

Concrete5 is a good mixture of the best parts of the two previous packages. You can install it yourself, but training and custom build support are also available. So, depending on your needs and your available budget, concrete5 may be the right option for you. Why not give a trial version a go today to see?

TomatoCMS

tomatocmsLast, but by no means least, is TomatoCMS. Like Habari and Concrete5, TomatoCMS is an open source, modern blogging and CMS platform designed from the ground up to meet today’s needs and demands.

Examples of blogs that run on this platform include:

  • http://www.thethao68.com/
  • http://home.phono.co.jp/

Two key aspects set TomatoCMS apart: Widgets and the Layout Editor. Let’s look at its feature list.

Features

Among a vast array of compelling features are:

  • a variety of built-in modules (extension) including:
    • banner advertising support
    • category management
    • comment management
    • simple menu management
    • multimedia management
    • in-built news system
    • tag support
    • poll support
  • built on the Zend Framework, jQuery, and 960grid, making it fast, light and flexible.

In addition to this it’s also:

  • SEO friendly
  • secure
  • highly themable
  • packaged with a simple visual editor allowing you to drag, drop, and resize almost any interface element.

Cost and availability

As with Habari and Concrete5, TomatoCMS is also a free download available to be installed and configured on your host as your needs demand.

Support options

Also like Habari and Concrete5, TomatoCMS doesn’t offer a commercial support package. However it does have a solid project wiki and a thriving forum. If you have troubles with it, then you’re likely to find the solution there without too much hassle.

Is it for you?

If you’re keen to control most, if not all, of the aspects of the system on your own host, then this is the option for you. However, if you need support then this option may not be the best choice.

Choices, choices

So there you have it. If you want to change from WordPress, have an opportunity to change, or are just starting out, now you have four additional options to WordPress to choose from.

Take a closer look and evaluate them. When you find the one that ticks all your boxes, give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.

Do you run your blog on an alternative to WordPress? Why is it your platform of choice? What makes it the best one for your blog and your business? Let us know in the comments.

Matthew Setter is a freelance writer, technical editor and proofreader. His mission is to help businesses present their online message in an engaging and compelling way so they’re noticed and remembered.

The post 4 WordPress Alternatives: the What, Where, and Why appeared first on ProBlogger.

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