This guest post is by Chiara Mazzucco of TheIndieChicks.com.
There are hundreds of thousands of articles written on being a successful blogger and driving traffic to your website or blog .
Bleh.
You can sit down and read each one, leading you to write your first blog post in about 4 years, or you can pick the gems (on sites like ProBlogger) and choose to drive inspiration from the world around you, instead.
Let’s take popular 90s sitcom, Saved by the Bell, for example. Would it blow your mind if I told you that watching just one episode could lead you to become a better blogger? Yup.
Here are six lessons I learned from Zack and the gang.
1. Be yourself, loud and proud
Screech stood out, without shame.
While thousands of other bloggers, known and unknown, write about the same thing, the only guaranteed way you’ll stand out is if you stay true to who you are and know your voice—without shame.
Start typing, without worrying about grammar, sentence structure and keywords. Thought flow is a unique process and it needs to be respected. If you worry about what others will think, how many sentences should be in a paragraph and whether or not you’re SEO optimizing your text, you’ll never actually write what you’re thinking.
Be unique. Readers appreciate honesty and individuality. Stick out.
2. Be trendy
Lisa was oh, so stylish.
You need to be blogging about things people actually want to read about.
The first step is to find your niche. The tighter the niche, the easier being trendy will be. Write on a popular topic that people care about, from a different perspective, with your unique voice.
And don’t forget, you pick the trends you want to follow. Don’t write about politics because #election2012 is trending when you know little about the presidential candidates and your blog is focused on Irish bagpipes.
3. Be charming, confident, (and a little slick)
Let’s be honest, Zack was a charming, trouble-making stud—and he was completely irresistible.
You may not be the most confident person at a social gathering, but the beauty of blogging is that it’s done behind a computer screen (and, more recently, any type of tablet or smart phone), which means, you are able to be anyone you please.
The key is to establish yourself as an expert. You want readers to be attracted—smitten, even—and to want to know your every move.
Even if you’re blogging for business, you can portray a sense of charm and confidence that immediately sets you up to be seen, and respected, as an expert in your field.
4. Be the girl (or boy) next door
Remember Kelly and that sweet, snuggle-inducing smile of hers?
There is something to be said about the need for your readers to be comfortable in your home (blog).
Whatever you blog about, welcome your readers with open arms—even if you blog about hating your readers. It’s important you make your website easy to navigate, aesthetically appealing, and user friendly.
End your posts with a question, encouraging your readers to engage, and please, allow comments.
Deep down, we all had a thing for the girl (or boy) next door. Don’t you want your readers to have a thing for you, too?
5. Be bold, and don’t apologize for it
A.C. Slater was a bit inappropriate… and it worked.
This particular lesson has to be taken with a grain of salt. You don’t have to be sexist to make it work for you—but you do have to be bold.
In order for a post to be a success it has to solve a problem, be controversial or be generally entertaining.
You can’t entertain or trigger controversy if you’re afraid of making a statement.
So be bold. People won’t be able to resist the urge to comment.
6. Stand up for what you believe, be educated (and blog about it)
Jessie was a pain in the backside, even when she got addicted to caffeine pills. Putting her small indiscretions aside, it’s safe to say that Jessie always knew what she was fighting for, she had the knowledge to back it up and she was always vocal about what she believed in.
These are qualities, in my opinion, that are absolutely crucial to the success as a blogger and I’m grateful Jessie taught me about them.
First of all, being able to write something incredible and have it go live in front of the world without relying on a major newspaper to publish it, is truly a gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
The second quality I cannot stress enough is to be educated on the topic you’re discussing. Whether you’re writing about a celebrity love affair or the complicated matters in the Middle East, make sure you have your facts straight … and convey them without spelling or grammar errors.
Apply it
Does this mean each characteristic has to be vibrant in every single blog post in order to make it a success?
Absolutely not.
Use the popular 90s sitcom to learn your strengths, your weaknesses and what you need to work on as a blogger.
You don’t have to hover over old Saved by the Bell episodes to learn anything new about blogging, either.
Look around you and be inspired. I happen to (shamelessly) love television, so I can tactfully take a CSI episode and learn that a blog post is like a murder mystery; pieces to a puzzle lead to a conclusion that solves a problem. Boom!
Chiara Mazzucco + is CEO and Editor over at TheIndieChicks.com – an online magazine for the badass independent woman – where she devotes her time to inspiring anyone who’ll listen. She wrote a book on dating and relationships, The 9 Mirages of Love: How to Stop Chasing What Doesn’t Exist, and can be found handing out free nuggets of inspiration to new badass subscribers.
