A Guest post by Celestine Chua from The Personal Excellence Blog.
Ever wondered what are the traits of the top, successful and excellent bloggers?
I have. Since I started my blog, The Personal Excellence Blog, in 2008, I have studied top bloggers extensively. I read many articles on how to build a great blog. I listened to different bloggers say their piece. Through personal experimentation, I learned what works and what doesn’t work, and integrated them as blogging habits. It has given me great results. After a lot of hard work in the past 1.5 years, The Personal Excellence Blog has grown into an well trusted and established resource on how to achieve excellence in life. It has 3,500 subscribers, 5,000 readers a day, 110,000 page views a month, over 160 articles, a bundle of free ebooks and has been featured on CNN and AsiaOne.
While there’s still quite a way before my blog reaches the ranks of A-List blogs like ProBlogger, Zen Habits and Seth Godin’s blog, somehow I’m not daunted by what’s ahead. If the past 1.5 years have taught me anything, it’s that the top bloggers of excellence have 8 consistent habits – 8 habits, which, when we practice duly, are guaranteed to bring you results. It’s not a miracle, it’s not luck, nor is it an abnormality. By living in line with these 8 habits, you become a highly excellent blogger as well.
1) Deliver their best value in every article
As a highly excellent blogger, you don’t write articles with a little value or some value. No, you aim to deliver your utmost value every time you write. Never do you write for the sake of writing or post for the sake of updating. You make sure every word counts for something.
When I write my articles, whether it’s for my blog or it’s a guest post like this one, I put my best foot forward. My previous guest posts on Problogger took me a few days to write (with breaks in between). One of the commenters said I was “taking this guest post thing too seriously”, probably referring to the effort that was put in. That guest post in question was 3,000 words long (longer than most guest posts at Problogger), filled with step-by-step tips, links out to relevant resources and deep personal sharing. (Actually, this guest post is 3,000+ words long as well.)
I beg to differ. Have you ever thought about why you blog? Like really. Beyond reasons like to earn money or to have an alternate career. Why do you blog over the 1,001 possible things you can be doing? What do you strive to achieve? I blog because I see it as the fastest and most effective way to reach out to millions out there and help them achieve their highest potential. It’s more than just blogging to me – it is my life purpose and personal mission. For every article written, there is someone who is genuinely looking for it to solve a problem he/she is facing. Every article I write is an opportunity to touch others’ lives. If it takes X number of words to deliver a message, I’ll write X number of words. If it takes X number of hours, I’ll spend X number of hours. There is no compromising on the quality.
Of course, not every blogger sees blogging as their “calling”, and you certainly don’t have to see blogging as a calling to succeed. There is no right or wrong reason. You just need to be absolutely clear of why you blog. Then live true to it. Make every article you write delivers top value to your readers.
There is no fixed format that dictates valuable content. It can be long or short; it can be in list, essay or story form; it can have text, images, video or a combination of them; it can be entertainment value, educational value or both. I’ve read articles of different permutations that deliver value all the same. If your article improves someone’s life after he/she reads it, then it has value.
Some questions to ask yourself as you write are:
- What is the specific reader group I’m writing to?
- Why would they need help in this?
- What’s keeping them in this situation?
- What and how can I write to help them?
- How can I write in a manner that’s relevant no matter when and where they are reading?
If I don’t have anything substantial to say or add to the topic (sometimes it happens), then I don’t write about it. The internet has enough junk; it doesn’t need us to contribute to it. What the internet really needs is real content with real value. And doing so pays off. Readers recognize you as the “real deal” and they go to you for advice on your niche. Because I set such a strict quality filter, my readers can expect a certain standard in what I write at my blog and my guest posts. They quickly become loyal readers, even though there are hundreds of personal development blogs out there.
How about you? Do you write value-laden content? Who is the reader you are writing the next article for? What is the problem you are solving for him/her? If someone with this problem is reading your article, will it help them out of their situation? How is it going to benefit them?
More resources to help you write top value:
- How to Create Compelling Content [Free Report]
- How to Get in Tune with Your Readers Needs and Produce Compelling Content
- How to Craft a Blog Post
- Writing Good Content
- How to Write Excellent Blog Content
- How to Eliminate the Echo Chamber and Add to the Conversation
2) Work harder than anyone else
Do you drive? Great if you do; if you don’t, just imagine for the next 5 minutes that you do drive. Let’s say you are driving on a normal, flat road. You press the accelerator for a few seconds, then as you reach a good speed, you stop accelerating. There’s no need to since the car is already moving at a steady pace. All you need to do is steer.
Now, let’s say you are at the bottom of a very, very steep and long mountain slope. What do you do? Do you accelerate for a few seconds then stop accelerating? No! You’re just going to stay stuck at the bottom of the mountain. Maybe you’ll move up a few centimeters, then you’ll immediately go back down when you stop accelerating. What do you do then to get up the slope? You keep pressing the accelerator, adding more power each second. Even though you may be stuck at first, it’s a matter of time before you overcome friction and gravity and drive up the slope. And as you add more power, you will move further up.
Turning your blog into a top blog is just like driving up a steep slope. You don’t just create the blog and expect others to come flocking in. You have to work hard to write powerful content, to earn readers’ trust and to get readership. I’m a big believer of hard work – Results don’t come if you don’t work hard. If you read The Dip (by Seth Godin) before, you would know there’s always a dip that comes with achieving big goals. To get past the dip and get what you want, you have to persevere and work harder (and of course, smarter) than anyone else to earn it. All top bloggers today worked extremely hard when they first started, and even when they achieve success, they continue to work hard to achieve greater heights.
3) Practice what they preach
“Example isn’t another way to teach, it is the only way to teach” – Albert Einstein
When you are a highly excellent blogger, you lead by example. As a blogger, you are (indirectly or directly) a role model to your readers, and what you say or do influences people, more so than you imagine. Your readers look up to you for advice and guidance. It’s important you don’t just talk the talk. You have to walk the talk as well.There is nothing more powerful than being living proof of your results.
Running a blog called The Personal Excellence Blog is more than just writing articles about how to achieve excellence. It’s about living in excellence every moment. I’m extremely passionate about achieving excellence. From striving to be the best in what I do, to understanding what it takes to be the best and live our best life, to helping others achieve excellence for themselves. Our readers look toward us as a testament of what’s possible for themselves – possibilities of what can be achieved, boundaries that can be removed, limits that can be broken. Hence, while I normally push hard toward my goals, I push even harder for my readers. I don’t try to teach my readers how to solve a particular problem until I have resolved it in my life, first and foremost, just like I don’t try to advice them how to achieve a certain result if I have not first achieved it. If we want others to listen to us, we need to practice what we preach first and be living proof that what we preach works.
4) Don’t write to please
“So you have some enemies… good, that means you stood up for something!” – Winston Churchill
You blog to drive a message. You don’t write to please the world. You know that no matter what you write, there will always be people who will disagree with what you say. As Timothy Ferris puts it, “10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.” If you stand for something, you will have haters.
Average bloggers try to please people with their writings. They over-analyze what readers will want to hear and they write to be accepted. But as a highly excellent blogger, you don’t do that. You don’t shy away from writing controversial topics, but you don’t write about controversial stuff for the sake of stirring controversy either. You write about what you believe in. You stand by what you say even when others disagree. At the same time, you are also not afraid to admit when you are wrong.
I have written stuff before which others disagree. Things like life philosophies, relationships, specific advice, etc. I listen and I take the feedback accordingly when there is merit, but I don’t change for the sake of conformance. Every reader is different – if you change yourself to fit every reader who disagrees, you become just an average and you lose your voice amongst the masses. There’s enough sheep in the world – we don’t need more sheep, we need more leaders.
Find your voice by discovering your inner self. Deal to deal with critics (Read: 8 Helpful Ways To Deal With Critical People). Don’t change your views or what/how you write to please others. Try to please everyone, and you end up standing for nothing.
5) Keep things real
I see 2 types of bloggers out there – there are the bloggers who are genuine. They keep their writings real and are down-to-earth. These are the bloggers like Darren Rowse and Leo Babauta. I have deep respect and admiration for them. Then there are the hyped-up bloggers who have a penchant for portraying themselves as bigger than they are, overhype what they write and make over-exaggerated claims about what they are selling. I don’t know how you feel about them, but I avoid them like the plague.
Readers are smart. Perhaps you might entice them with big claims and bold words at the beginning. However, just like motivational seminars that fail to deliver results beyond the short-term, readers will realize in the long-term you have nothing real to offer. They see past the marketing fluff and turn to the bloggers who keep things real and deliver what they promise on.
As a highly excellent blogger, you don’t exaggerate, you don’t lie, you don’t overclaim nor overpromise. I see this as respecting your readers. You say things the way they appear; you portray facts as they are and let the facts speak for themselves. You are truthful and honest. You keep things real. Your readers appreciate this honesty, and they stick with you as a result.
6) Not afraid to be vulnerable
As a highly excellent blogger, you are not afraid to share things about yourself – things you may not be proud of. You are not interested in creating a veneered image of yourself. It’s about what benefits the readers. If sharing an unglamorous side of you will help improve readers’ lives, you will gladly do so. You open parts of your life as case studies, so others can learn where you may have erred.
The average blogger on the other hand, is concerned about how others think about him/her, and refuses to write about anything that can be seen as an disadvantage to him/her. His/her obsession with safeguarding his/her personal image stops him/her from going all the way to become a highly excellent blogger.
In my blog, I openly share about myself and my life – the upsides and especially the downsides. For example, I have written about times when I was down and out, my past experiences of disappointment (and how I overcame it), heartbreak (and how I moved on) and woes of being single in the modern society. Most people are adverse against sharing their shames, thinking it’ll make them vulnerable and look “weak”. I’m not afraid to write about them because being vulnerable is part of what makes us human. I believe everyone has that side in them – it’s just a matter who is more honest and upfront about it. If you are confident about who you are and what you stand for, there’s nothing to be fearful of.
Subsequently, it is the times when I share my worst experiences that my readers gain the most insights for themselves. Readers take the time to write personal comments and emails sharing in detail how the articles have opened their eyes to similar situations they are going through. If showing my vulnerabilities can help improve even just one person’s life, I say it’s well worth it.
Of course, it’s not about being vulnerable for the sake of being vulnerable. There has to be a point behind writing it. Every time I write about such experiences, I share how I overcame that episode and steps readers can take to work on it too. This way, there are actionable outputs and it doesn’t become just a nice-to-read story. You are more than just a story teller. You weave a message in what you write too.
When you open up more about yourself, that’s when you bond with your readers. People will benefit from your sharing and your real readers appreciate what you do. Mutual respect and trust is built. Whenever I open up about a part of my life, my readers would similarly open up to me too, sharing their personal stories, parts of them which even they admit they don’t share with others.
7) Keep upgrading themselves
As a highly excellent blogger, you don’t rest on your laurels even if you are an authority figure in your niche. You keep upgrading yourself to maintain your expertise. This helps you to continuously innovate and provide expert opinions so you remain as the authority. Problogger is a great example. While Darren runs the biggest blog on blogging, he doesn’t take his success for granted. He’s always seeking readers feedback, improvising on those feedback and writing new content on how to create better blogs.
Upgrading yourself is not just a one-time act – it needs to be an ongoing aspect of your life. How can you do that? My personal tips:
- Subscribe to the feeds of top players in your niche. I subscribe to all A-List personal development blogs so I can learn from the best.
- Set aside time every morning/night to read their new articles. Learn from how they write and what they write about. Get top insights.
- Read the best books out there (in your niche). I borrow mine from the libraries.
- Network with top bloggers (in your niche).
- Openly ask for feedback from readers and fellow bloggers on how you can improve
- Work on those feedback to become better
8) Transform lives with their writing
This is an extension of Habit #1 (Deliver their best value with every article) but it is important and distinct enough to be an individual habit by itself. As the top, excellent blogger, you write content that has the power to change readers’ lives.
How do you know if your content is changing lives? When your readers start telling you so. Majority of blog comments hover around “Great post! I especially like point XX about YY…” or “Thanks for writing this, it’s very useful”. These are great comments no doubt, but I see them more as courtesy comments. Yes your writings are helpful, yes they are informative, but are the readers going to apply any of the things that are written? Most of the time, probably not. Many forget what they just read and nodded to as soon as they click away.
Powerful content on the other hand, has the ability to change lives and trigger readers to take action immediately. When you get comments from readers on how your writings have transformed them and triggered them to make life changing decisions, that’s saying something. I’ve readers who told me how reading my articles has made them quit jobs they dislike, (re)discover their purpose in life and (re)ignited them to take action on their dreams. Some of the most powerful feedback I’ve ever received includes a reader who found hope from reading my articles (after his brother passed away), and readers who broke up with their partners and/or friends (who are bad matches) after reading my article on “How to know it’s time to move on from a relationship”.
When your content is triggering others to make life-changing decisions, that’s when you evolve to more than just a blogger. You are now a leader and beacon of inspiration and hope to your readers.
So how do you transform lives with writing? There is no hard and fast rule, but here are some of my tips:
- Write from your heart
- Start with your readers in mind. Put your readers’ needs before all else.
- Do not afraid to share your vulnerabilities (Habit #6)
- Understand the real problems people are facing. Make sure your writing solves the problems.
- Tap into a relevant insight from your life. Share how you overcome a similar problem.
What do you think?
What do you feel is the top habit of an excellent blogger? Do you have other habits to add to the list? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments area :)
About The Author
Celestine Chua writes at The Personal Excellence Blog, where she shares her best advice on how to achieve personal excellence and live your best life. Get her 113-page ebook The Book of Personal Excellence in your email now by signing up for her newsletter (100% free, unsubscribe whenever you want). Get her RSS feed directly and add her on Twitter @celestinechua.
Beautiful Post! I’m trying to build myself up above just another blogger and there are some of these points i have already incorporated but you brought out others that I certainly want to adhere to. I really appreciate the personable aspect of trying to affect change in the lives of those who read your blog
Thank you for sharing this
Celestine,
Number 2 Is Key! If everyone out there is writing one article a day, you write 10. If everyone else creates one product a year, you create 7.
It’s not about quantity, but it is about getting your name out there EVERYWHERE. I am impressed with your numbers, expecially after 1.5 years.
You should be an A-lister in no time.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Thank you for this well-timed blog.
As a daily (or attempt to be?) it’s tough to remain fresh, and cutting-edge and effective day after day after day.
Got a few minutes? Check my blog!
Love to hear your thoughts…
http://www.katie-walters.com
Celestine I want to take the time and personally thank you for providing such valid and instructional information. I just recently started a motivational blog myself and the info you provided here will give me great insight on where to focus my time and energy. I too am one that feels that my blogging is my “calling” and have enjoyed every step of the way so far. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
Frankly, while seeing eye to eye with you on this writing I’m stunned at number four, “Don’t Write To Please.” Up until now, in my four months of blogging, most bloggers I have read say the opposite.
At one point, I was considering did I make the right choice doing blogging because I cannot write to please. If you appreciate (I have had no complaints yet) my writing, that is a result, not a cause of the writing, in my opinion.
http://www.atotheword.com
Wow man, you have implemented most of the points that you preached!
Giving great value is essential now, it is no longer an option. The points that you mention can be easily seen in the A-list bloggers.
These points will help a lot to make a blog better. They will increase the quality of a blog.
Nabeel
Great stuff! Love the title of this blog post especially! it caught my eye!
Quality and consistency, what I have experienced, is what eventually pays. Almost all the successful bloggers have this tendency to be persistent (Seth writes everyday — although quality varies) and deliver their best. Whenever you are writing, sit back before publishing and look at your post from your readers’ perspective.
Celestine, excellent suggestions. (I’m better at some than others!) As a food blogger, I want to give recipes, yes, but also I want to show readers the importance of sitting down to dinner with the family, of cooking with sustainable ingredients, of carrying on family traditions. Food is more than just fuel for the body!
Darren, thanks so much for publishing this guest post :D I wrote this post a month ago, so the numbers are a little outdated. My subscriber count has since grown to 4,500 readers (+1000 in a month), and these 8 habits are definitely key to helping my blog grow so quickly.
Thanks everyone for your great comments/feedback, please keep them coming!
Quite simply, the blogs I enjoy reading, are the ones that keep putting out interesting aticles.
Think about it from the reader’s point of view – and as we probably all subscribe to a range of blogs that should be fairly easy! I fire up Google reader from time to time during the day and there are always certain blogs that I hope have an update.
These are the ones where I’ll be able to lose myself for 5-10 minutes in something that interests and challenges me.
Some content that puts forward a new idea or highlights something that I want to know more about.
Being a successful blogger is as simple (and as hard!) as this.
number 6 is an excellent point and i think it extends well beyond just blogging. for a long time i didn’t want to tell anyone i had cancer. i didn’t want anyone to know i was sick because i didn’t want anyone to think of me differently but once i started talking about it, it started connecting me to so many new and wonderful people.
Celes, thank you for sharing your heart and mind with us yet again. Your blog and your work ethic have definitely both challenged and inspired me to be the best I can both on and off the “blogging” court. You make such a great point that, when we make it our mission to serve our readers (who are very smart and informed), we will have our best outcomes.
Since my most recent post is called, ‘Confessions of a Backsliding Blogger,’ I guess I obviously fall a bit short on practicing what I preach. I’m working on it though :)
What differentiate an A-list blogger from average blogger is their genuineness. A-list blogger genuinely wants to help people out there by sharing what they have come across in their lives. Monetary benefit is the secondary one. Also, they recommend the tips only after they themselves try it. That’s a trait of not only great blogger but great person too.
Nice post, celestine!
Thank you for putting together all of this great information. I tend to write longer posts and take quite a bit of time to write them as well. While I don’t want to bore my readers, I just don’t feel like I can offer very much quality information in 500 words. As a result, I’ve reduced my posting schedule to 3 times/week. That way, I have more time to put out quality writing and my readers (hopefully) can take their time with each new article. Thanks again!
Content is king. I love having good articles and creating confidence with people. If you can give advice or help threw a blog or article for free people will keep coming back and people will always look for regular articles that appeal to them.
Social media is so strong and adding other things into the situation really helps, 3rd party social media accounts always drive good traffic and allow you to interact with your customers and people who want knowledge and help!
I would never buy anything online without getting a review first now!
Thank you for showing us the way to go into blogging heaven.
You have covered almost every point to become an authority blogger or role model for the readers.
Blogger works like a teacher for students.Here our readers are students and we bloggers are teachers.Readers follow bloggers what they do.
Thanks you again for valuable guidelines.
This is a great list. I think many who blog could improve the quality of their work by adoption just some of these habits. For me, the points that really ring true are 3, 4, 5 and 6. All of it easier said than done, but well worth the effort.
This post is also a wake up call to those who ARE getting into blogging to make money, get famous or whatever. Wrong reasons that destine them to mediocrity (at best).
Thank you Celestine. Your guest post is most helpful for a beginner like me. I have been blogging since November last year and am enjoying it. I do believe though that I need to take your advice on all these points because you clearly know what you are talking about.
I will let you know how it goes.
Great blog by the way.
I try and avoid hype at all costs. It’s so beleaguering to read ego injected content (excluding sarcasm) and I’m weary of anyone who makes it the blogging process and path to monetization sound like you will be done in a weekend.
I spent months figuring out what I wanted to focus on. My mind was flooded with ideas, but out of all of them only two have proved to be worth cultivating. I have to say that I started of with dollar signs in my eyes. Who doesn’t want to get rich quick.
Nowadays, I focus on my art, the creative process, and parenting. I figure the money may come, but I’m thankful for the chance to revive old hobbies. I figure making the transition to full-time blogger will be slow, but that’s okay with me.
Thank you for the great post.
Come visit, if you have a moment.
http://www.slantlab.com/cartoons/can-i-get-a-loan-2/
What a power post!
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s essentially about hard work and showing the readers who you are.
I believe it’s a good start to have a photo of yourself on the about page…
thanks for compiling all the points at one, these all pints will help us in getting more from the blogging and improving ourselves
Very well said. Some bloggers become poser just to be able to impress other people. But when you talk more technical stuff about what they wrote, they don’t know the answer. Most of them pretend to be expert on the field they are trying to excel and are scared to admit their mistakes sometimes.
Thanks Celes. These are exactly the reasons why I trust and respect, you and your blog – genuine, credible and possess real value. =)
Blogging is really a serious stuff.
“So you have some enemies… good, that means you stood up for something!” – Winston Churchill
i hope i have some enemies like that so blogging will be more interesting :-)
This blog post is choc full of useful information, thanks Celestine!
It was a good read and very useful,
Now I know why you are doing so well, as you have a good balance of personal writing style, helpful articles, and a down to earth approach,
I learned much from this blog,
thank you!
Wonderful tips. I followed similar ways for making my blog. Seen a lot of things and learned a lot too.
Today I have over 4800 subscribers, over 5000 unique visitors and over 500,000 page views a month. A the growth is tremendous and fast.
I m very excited about it.
Thanks for a nice article.
I love what you said here: “If it takes X number of words to deliver a message, I’ll write X number of words. If it takes X number of hours, I’ll spend X number of hours. There is no compromising on the quality.”
That’s a matter of discipline whether the post needs to be long or short; discipline to sit & write & do the work to get all the information in there, and discipline to cut out the unnecessary. Copyblogger had a good article on the latter part : http://www.copyblogger.com/brevity/
I also appreciate #4: don’t write to please. I so love getting a pat on the head that it’s always tempting to write for that instead of write for the initial purpose of providing great content, great value, excellence – which is what people really need.
Thanks for providing value here.
-Annie
Hi,
The habits you mentioned are really good. There can’t be any more points other than this. Thanks Celestine for sharing this vital piece of information with us. It will help us to become good bloggers.
Thank you for this highly informative blog.
I am a rather new blogger (started in October) and I find myself evolving more and more by following other “great bloggers in my niche” as you said. It is sometimes hard to set aside the time to read all of the blogs I am following but I am trying to because I know how much I appreciate mine being read.
This is a “must print” posting and I will do that today and add it to the file I keep of Darren’s postings and others to help me in my quest to become an “excellent” blogger like many of the rest of you already are!
Thanks for “guesting” today!
Thanks a lot Celestine,
Your article just in time, really! Half a year ago i started my first blog and it still doesn’t show any good results (to be more specific result which i was hoping to see). About an hour ago i was talking with my friend that i feel frustrated about it and it’s really not helping me in going further to success. But, after reading your article i felt that i probably need to concentrate more on the #1 and #4 point you mentioned.
P.S. I wanted to check you blog and seems link is broken.
Best wishes,
Victoria
I’m really sorry, but if it possible please change the url in my previous comments to http://myhomemadebeauty.com. Thank you!
I love this post! re: “The internet needs real content with real value.” Yes, indeed, and so does our world. It’s too easy to get caught up in what ‘everyone is looking for’ or to chase the wrong goals (I’ve been tempted more than a few times).
I’ve been writng blogfiction, and I’ve been timid about pushing forward with the main theme of my story. I’m getting less timid over time, but I think it’s time I obliterate my fear of upsetting some people, and burst forward.
You asked what we believe is the top habit of an excellent blogger. My answer is truth. Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, or how-to…when truth emerges from your post, your content will have real value.
Nice points there!
I believe No.1 and No.8 is the top habit for excellent bloggers. An amazing bloggers inspire others through their words and phrases.
Celestine,
I reflected for over a day before posting this comment and I decided to go ahead and post it because I believe it will be of benefit to you. You decide.
It is nice that you played on Dr. Covey’s famous book the ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ in the title of the posting.
Two comments:
One
About Giving Credit
I downloaded your ebook ‘ The very best…’ and I was surprised to see you wrote an article on page 27 about ‘Get Your Big Rocks in First’ without making any direct reference in the posting to Dr. Covey’s work in the same book and in another of his books ‘First Things First’. He wrote about this idea and shared the idea in thousands of his workshops. It sure sounds like you have read his book since you are repeating his ideas. I could be wrong but in the interest of you becoming an A list blogger it is always best to show your sources. People will see you are well read. I recall in your advice number three ‘lead by example’ you sure want people to know that you are sharing your own ideas and not just other peoples with giving them credit.
Two
The value of humility
As a seasoned personal development coach I was actually turned off by how many times you ‘toot your horn’ telling people even in the comments of the same posting how many more readers you have. You have nothing to prove if you are doing the right thing. Humility goes much further if you really want to be a A list blogger. When I read Darren’s work he is humble. You are not the only personal development coach who speaks without humility but the best are humble.
I trust you take these ideas in the spirit of sharing they are intended to help you reach your goal by being yourself a true A list blogger.
Good luck,
Dan
Hey Celestine,
Fantastic article. I can see that you’ve made some great achievements in the blogging world. Good for you and congratulations,
very true ! :)
A great post with some really useful and important stuff- As a baby-blogger, I can see I have a long way to go, until I reach the stratosphere of the gifted blogger, such as you…A couple of little things though- Firstly I wonder about your point Celestine about the length of blogs…We are all, in our technology-saturated world, increasingly afflicted with ADD- at least when we are on the net. And there is an optimum length when people stop reading a blog and just start to skim- most A list blogs are not short, but are still reasonably concise..And your driving metaphor in Point 2.. Good to specify that you were actually wanting to go UP the hill?! Best Wishes & thanks a lot!
It seems to me that all the habits are important but the one about working harder should definitely be at the top.
Celestine, I like this set of advice very much because it goes deep. It’s not a list of superficial stuff, but really speaks to becoming an excellent person as well as an excellent blogger. And extremely well written.Thanks!
I have only few of these eight habits and now I have understood why I am not that much successful. But I am fortunate to read this post and hereafter I will slowly get into this habits. Great Post.
Thanks for sharing this piece of advice Celestine and this would be very helpful for me. A guideline to blogging success. I’ve started blogging few years ago but I’m still not reaching any heights yet, as what you’ve pointed out on the 2nd point, I need to work harder – getting out from the comfort zone because that is the only way to improve and develop to become a better blogger.
Well said Celestine talk about practicing what they preach! You hit all the nails on the head. Thank you!
Hey Dan, thanks for your comments.
1) Other than 7 habits, I’ve not been exposed to other of Covey’s works and it’s also not from Covey where I first learned this idea. “Big rocks” concept has been around for a while and is widely discussed in many resources. Covey has also acknowledged that he was not the originator of this idea. (http://zenhabits.net/big-rocks-first-double-your-productivity-this-week/)
2) The objective of stating the numbers isn’t to “toot horns” but to share that practicing these habits will give us results.
These results are achievable for everyone as long as we keep at what we are doing. It’s easy to feel discouraged and lose hope sometimes when it seems our efforts are not leading us anywhere (I experience that), but as long as we keep going, nothing is impossible.
I love the point stated “Not Write to Please!” It is important for the blogger so that our sharing is sincere. People like to read something sincere.
These are all good piece of advice. I particularly agree with the first part. I used to try and post stuff just get something up there but now I prefer to take my time and write each post to the best of my ability.
Hi Celestine,
This is a very well written article. I’m sure you took a lot of time and effort to write this really comprehensive article detailing the habits of excellent bloggers. I admire your enthusiasm in blogging and self improvement. Hope to see more of your posts here too :)
Wow Celestine, a great post. I just checked out your website and it’s really great too. I have added you to my rss reader. Nice to see another blogger from Singapore doing so well :)
David.