This guest post is by Daniel Kidd of Best Money Saving Blog.
I’ve found out over the past couple of months that the hardest part of blogging isn’t thinking of things to blog about, it’s getting people to read them.
There are thousands of helpful sites out there (especially this one) that give you advice on how to build a readership, but the first couple of months can be a real struggle. I now know why there’s such a large amount of bloggers who give up after the first couple of posts—luckily, though, I’m not one of them.
My money saving blog has been around for just over two months, and at first, I was getting next to no hits. Lately though, it’s picked up a bit, thanks to one little change I made to a weekly blog post.
Solving the authority problem
When you start a blog that gives advice to people, no-one’s really interested in you if you’re unknown in the subject you’re blogging about. That’s why I decided to get help from known industry bloggers.
Every Friday, I decided to ask a number of finance bloggers (randomly) to give me one money-saving tip via Twitter. As well as asking those people, I leave the option open for anyone else to give advice, too.
I’m not asking them to give hours of their time like they would if they wrote a guest post. This approach is very quick to respond to, as they have to be on Twitter to read the question anyway. It also helps my social presence, because if a blogger with 5000 followers answers you, there’s a chance their followers will also give you a tip.
Once I’ve got seven or eight tips, I have enough content to make a decent blog post. The post is probably more appealing to readers than if I were to just give advice like normal. After all, I’m asking for tips from people who are more experienced in my subject—many are experts.
Giving back
The post thanks everyone personally and includes a link to each contributor’s blog (if they have one). When the post is published, I thank the contributors publicly on Twitter.
The majority of bloggers who participate always kindly re-tweet or put a link to the post on Facebook. Once again, this is great if they have lots of followers or fans, as I’m bound to get a few visits from their networks, too.
Think of the bigger picture here: not only does this tactic improve a young blog’s traffic, but it gets me talking to other bloggers in my niche, and making myself known. In future, if I’ve got a really great post I want to share, or I want to guest post somewhere, I won’t have to go out of ,y way to break the ice with influencers in my niche.
This tactic isn’t going to attract millions of visitors overnight (unless you’re very lucky), but it gives you a constant source of content, as well as helping you to interact. I’m going to try and get a post like this out every week, and eventually I hope that I don’t have to ask people on Twitter—that my mailbox will be full of money-saving tips each Friday morning.
Do you think this tactic could help you build authority around your next blog? Let me know in the comments.
Daniel Kidd, 26, from London, has been working in SEO and social media for the past three years but stupidly, only just started blogging at Best Money Saving Blog. He’s very passionate about white-hat SEO and proper social media promotion, and has a huge dislike for anything that involves spam.
Thanks for this GREAT idea! I already posted a tweet requesting advice from my followers for my “mystery” for this week on my blog! :)
Thanks for the post, Daniel.
That first tip is a great one. I did the same for a client a little while ago, but using their Facebook fans instead.
I simply asked them a question (for me it was money saving tips as well, as the client was a credit union) and I then created an article for the client’s blog based on those tips.
I then posted a link to the article to Facebook and made sure I tagged those who contributed to it.
It’s a fantastic way to make people feel special and a great source of content.
Russell
This is perfect, I too run ‘money’ blog, which I’ve started recently and hopefully I can too assert some influence. Good, short read Dan! :)
This is embarrassing.. one should not comment on ProBlogger using a mobile device that is too small for one’s hand! The grammatical errors are beyond atrocious even in this simple comment.. :(
Hi Daniel,
Super creative tip to become a master problem solver quickly. I mean, if you receive advice from top pros, and consolidate the advice into problem solving content, you become an authority.
All pros stand on the shoulders of giants. We acquire knowledge from pros, and repackage the information to help other people. Just a continual series of learning from experienced people and sharing our knowledge with people who need it to improve their lives.
No need to spend hours asking for guest posts, etc. Simply fire off quick questions, you receive some responses and you have awesome blog post or article fodder in minimal time.
Another tip is simply following the leader. I load my Google Reader with authority blogs, read daily, take notes, and share what I learned. Learn from the best, put your twist on the insight and share with others to build authority and drive targeted traffic to your blog.
I also like visualizing myself as an authority. As within, so without, meaning the predominant vision you hold becomes your reality, attracting to you the ideas, people and situations to make your dreams come true. Work on the inner world and the outer world follows suit.
Thanks Daniel!
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
I just wanted to thank you for your input. You really added some important information to the already-helpful article, thank you!
Ali
Daniel, this is an amazing tip! I’ll start following you on twitter and hopefully I’ll implement something like this on my weight loss blog soon :)
Really great idea! Thanks. I will definitely put that tip to my arsenal. Great way to get some awesome content.
Thanks for the post!! All-ways looking to build Authority
That’s a new idea I have never thought off that!! just sent out a tweet so I will see how it goes.
Good Luck with best money saving blog!!
Joe
I think credible sources of information will make you credible to your audience. People build a trust with someone who gets their details right and states it simply for them. I love the idea.
Great tips Daniel, certainly building authority on the blog is crucial and working on your advice will be better to boast the overall image to my readers.
I think interacting the readers in comments or social media channels very crucial to building authority.
Thanks for sharing :-)
DK, in a similar way but using LinkedIn groups. You find the group of likeminded experts and provoke some discussion about whatever. It is interesting the different viewpoints put out there by the different LinkedIn members. Then you consolidate the info into a post, and credit the LinkedIn members with there linkedin address I guess.
Starting the discussion kind of cool, because you can actually moderate the discussion, so puts you on a pedestal or gives you any air of authority if you know what I mean.
DK, now I can see what you are doing; you are getting all these new ideas for your next post. Kudos to you!
DK, me again.
Of all the posts I have read here at problogger, you have given us “bangs for bucks”.
I mean, how concise was the post, and how straight to the point were your thoughts. Well done.
Love the Twitter tip Daniel, I think I’ll set it up in my schedule to ask a few of the authority people in my different niches questions and make a blog post out of it. Not sure if I can do it weekly because of all the different blogs I run, but maybe once a month for each one.
Hi Daniel, this is a wonderful article and the strategy for a new blog. I will check out your blog and use the strategy on my new blog. It’s not a blog yet but has some cool freebies that will help newbie internet marketers.
This is an interesting approach to combining Twitter to build blog authority. Thanks for this great post Daniel, I will look more into this approach now. :)
Hello Daniel,
Thanks for writing the article.It will help many newbie bloggers.Social media is the biggest platform to build some authority for any new blog.However I recommend not to think about money making at beginning.Just blog about helpful tutorials.When your blog will be popular then think about money and that is also in a decent way.Building authority is a damn hard job but destroying it is much easier.
regards
While I have an identity on Twitter, I do not spend a great deal of time on it. My target market is Baby Boomers and their parents. As a group they do not spend nearly as much time as they do on Facebook. As a result, I spend more time on that social media site and with email. I did, however, want to share a money saving tip with you. I blog about insurance matters in general and Retirement Insurance portfolio in specific. The tip is that if people want Long Term Care insurance since Obamacare’s CLASS will not happen, it is so much less expensive to buy if an individual gets it in their 50s rather than wait until their 60s or 70s. They can avoid those $ 400 monthly premiums if they act earlier in life.
That really is a useful idea. If you’re not yet a known authority in your field, building these kinds of relationships with those who are, and sharing the knowledge of know authorities is a great way to enhance your own. You become the middleman at first where people come to glean the knowledge of experts. Soon, you become the authority.
Thanks Daniel,
Awesome tip that could work wonders for my blog! Twitter is such a great tool for little bloggers trying to connect with the industry super-powers. Do you find it more effective to simply @-reply them or send them a DM? Also I base my posts on a variety of topics, so what is your strategy to find targeted authority figures??
I usually just @ them, my DM folder is full of spam, meaning I hardly check it unless I’m prompted.
This is a really good article!I learn something that i never known!
That is a fantastic idea. I don’t know if I’d use Twitter because of the limited number of characters that can be used but the concept is a terrific one.
If you are new to blogging I suggest that you find people who have a lot of followers and see what they have recently posted. Subscribe to their newsfeed and build your opinion based on what you have read. Avoid saying the words “I agree” because then they think you are pretending to be friends with them.
And make sure that they comment on your posts as well because if you are the only one who comments on their posts then it is not a friendship. Like in the real world commenting on blogs is a two way street.
Lawrence Bergfeld
This is AMAZING stuff Mr.Kidd! For a second I thought it would be unwise if i don’t read this post. Twitter has a major influence and I also suggest to use Google +1. This will be one added value. I just shared this post on twitter with my followers :) Keep in touch!
Great idea! Would love to hear how the tips are worded. Trying to figure out Twitter. Just read tweets and send a few of my own, but I have a feeling I am missing out on something and am limiting myself somehow.
Thank you all for your excellent feedback.
I learnt early in my blogging days that putting out killer content based on what your audience want and not what you think they want is probably the most influential determining factor of the success of your blog besides establishing a loyal following and others.
As you’ve so correctly added, this is how you would get under their skin and stick for a very long time with loyal followers and subscribers not being able to wait until the next time you bring them something else of interest.
I have received many emails in the past from the people I personally follow because of that exact authority we are talking about here that encourages their readers to fire away with questions or share their experiences with a certain tip/tool/strategy. This tactic has a lot of advantages, way too many to list here in this comment as I could probably write and eBook on it, but clearly one of the most valuable would be to get an idea of what your readers would want to see from you, maybe even great ideas to create products or services around solving a specific problem they might have.
The same could be done with your tactic of course and all credit to you; very insightful indeed!
I think I will start asking for advice. I used to think I had to be the authority and write it all, now I know I can borrow that authority-sure takes the pressure off!
I agree, but you have to prepare to take a few rejections, for every 10 tweets I send, I probably get 2 back
This is an interesting approach to combining Twitter to build blog authority.
Thanks for sharing :-)
The idea is quite innovative and seems to work. After all it’s about building relationship and creating bond to more experienced pros of that field. As far as authority of a blog is concerned, I think creating unique contents which gives more value to readers plus search engines ( search engines being a medium to reach readers ) will make your site an authority site in the long run. To build authority in google’s eye, it may take from 6 months to a year for a new blog. So, instead of creating low or medium quality articles and post then everyday, it’s better to create high quality unique and valued article per week and if stick in this process for a long run, we can achieve authority in not only a single niche but in multiple niches we target.
I’m trying it with my Facebook followers. I think the concept is great.
The Authority Blog… is that a John Cougar Mellencamp song?