This is a guest contribution from Kirsty Sharman.
There are a million and one articles online that talk about how to earn money blogging. They all have the same tips, talk about the same things and usually just teach us things we already know.
The truth is: people like you and me (I’m assuming you’re a blogger if you’re reading this) didn’t start blogging because we wanted to be bac link experts, banner ad salesmen or tech gurus. We had a passion for a topic, and we wanted to talk about it. A lot.
All the articles online educate us to become masters of everything in order to succeed as a blogger, and successfully monetize our audience. I don’t really agree with that thinking. My thinking aligns more with being the best you can be within your niche – and partnering with others to help you monetize your audience.
If you want to be the best, and in turn earn an income from your passion, you need to be the guy that everyone wants to be friends with.
You need to be kind of a big deal.
As ridiculous as Ron Burgundy is, he mimics many traits of an internet celebrity. As influential bloggers, Tweeters, Facebookers and Instagrammers, we need to stand out from the digital crowd. We need to be to the internet what Ron Burgundy is to the News Network of America.
Below are five Anchorman inspired tips to help you blog your way to the top:
Start to think of yourself as an influencer
Brands want to work with people who can influence consumers within their target market. In order to be an influencer you need to work towards being an authority in your chosen blog category (or niche).
Partner with the right people
The same way that Ron Burgundy relies on Brick Tamland to deliver the weather, and Champ Kind to announce the sports results – is the same way you need to think of your blogging network. Partner with people to do the things you don’t specialize in – like monetizing your audience for example. Or managing your video editing. Trade exchanges are a good idea if possible.
Say what’s on your mind – even if it creates a stir
If you’re going to be a thought leader in your niche, it’s important that you speak up. If you’re a tech blogger and you think a new phone is terrible, say so. In the long run, being authentic is more important than pleasing the brands around you. Creating a stir has Ron Burgundy written all over it!
PR yourself
If you work hard, write great content and consider yourself a credible source within your niche – then it’s ok to let others know that you’re kind of a big deal.
Stay in shape
Ron Burgundy takes his personal fitness extremely seriously, you should take your online fitness just as seriously. Know who the other bloggers are, know where the best information comes from, research and write weekly. Stay in shape, on the internet!
Kirsty Sharman is • Crazy about all things digital • Bulldog owner • Toy collector • Runs @Webfluenti_al by day and @GeeksDoingStuff by night • One of the girls behind Girl Geek Dinners Johannesburg •
I had become really lazy while running my site day after day. It was starting to get boring so I hired some people to keep the site rolling.
The part where you said, “Start to think of yourself as an influencer” , I think that would really help me getting my interest back in work.
Thank you so much. For you, I started loving my site once again.
Oops ISP prob, sorry…
You’re right I will found lot of post about How to earn money from blogging. But I could not This types of post yet. So I would like to giving a special thanks for this awesome post!!. Yea many blogger’s are doing mistake like partner with a wrong people, Having a good partner are always inspired.
This was an excellent blog post, I truly enjoyed how you engaged the audience in your blog, making us think about how we are going to earn money from blogging. I’ve noticed too that a lot of bloggers will partner with the wrong people and they’re blogs either stay stuck at a certain level and people give up quickly.
Especially when you start to get more competition. It’s important to stay constant. You can earn a lot of money if you have quality content.
Best,
Laura Monique
Brilliant,Great article i want to make my blog on top in google.
Thanks for sharing. You did a good job.
Keep up the good work. Have a great week ahead!
First of all good article! I agree with all your points especially talking what’s on your mind and even if it creates a stir, it only benefits you and others they can discuss the topic and you’ll most likely get some traffic from it if it really explodes into a big debate.
Blogging is always good, as your random thoughts can improve long-tail SEO.
My man Ron Burgundy. Great article. My favorite line is “you need to be the guy that everyone wants to be friends with.” Hope I will be that guy soon. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Kirsty,
Clever!
I like the networking/collaborating note. I published a podcast a few hours ago covering the same topic. If you work with others and they handle their strong points you can blog your way to the top.
I’m releasing an eBook with someone soon. He’s super effective at networking and promoting eBooks through all types of clever strategies. Since said strategies are a bit out of my wheel house it’s the perfect collab. Presentation is not my thing ;) I do however LOVE to write like mad so I churn out the content and then, leave things at that. Win-win, and we both prosper in the process.
The challenge is to find good partners. Usually, collaborations spring out of strong friendships built over months or even years. You likely have the perfect matches around you based on the skills each person has developed over time. Look a bit deeper. See where you can benefit one another. Prosper.
As for saying what’s on your mind this can be the best and worst approach; keep things high energy! The other day someone got naughty and salty with me on a social network, using vile language. 2 things; 1, I don’t know him well at all. 2, he made a branding boo boo in front of my nearly 34,000 followers. Not got. Speak your mind bu do so in a polite, cogent and thoughtful, high energy way. You may attract some resistance but if your heart is in the right place and if you play nice, it’s all good.
Ryan
In terms of partnering with the right people, many people don’t take that into consideration when looking to build their businesses from scratch and World Wide Web. When you partner with the right people, they will have your back entrepreneurially even when you’re struggling. Struggling in terms of creating “lots and lots of content.” One thing many people don’t know is that they can “blog their way to the top of the search engines,” simply by creating [lots and lots of content] on a daily basis and auto schedule their content to post to their WordPress blogs using a “WP automated content scheduling plug-in.” By auto scheduling content, this is one unique way “bloggers can blog their way to the top of the search engines.”
Some valuable and motivative tips to Blog my Way to the Top.
Thanks a lot.
Waiting for your next post.
Happy Blogging :)
Thanks for the post Kirsty!
I really appreciate your post, especially the importance of partnering and teamwork. We can’t be good in all areas, and like Ron does with his teammates Brick and Champ, we need to look for help from others within their specialty sometimes Anytime I read, I really enjoy any kind of metaphor or analogy so this is right up my alley.
I would like to ask a question, however.
You mention the need for the writer to believe they are an influencer in order to influence their audience and consumers. You follow that up with the need for the writer to “work towards being an authority in your chosen blog category”, which I think is a fine statement, but do you have any specific steps that a blogger can take to become an authority?
As a follow up, is there a concrete footing a newer blogger can take – such as content creation or social promotion – to help create that authority?
Kirsty,
Well said. I know it’s nauseating reading blog post after blog post saying you need to “Master” everything from Twitter, to Facebook, to driving traffic – blah, blah, blah.
Another thing to add here is be real. Be yourself and be consistent about that. Don’t try to be someone your not.
One last thing is have some confidence and a little swagger. Think of all the greats in sports – Lebron James, Tom Brady, and Tiger Woods they all have that and combine that with skill is a lethal combination.
Kurt
great points there Kristy, i believe if one sum all that up with persistence he/she will have made their blogging way clear to the top.
Well, stay fit and be a blogger, it’s like a mission impossible for me. But i totally agree, you have to be honest and say your opinion.
Hello Kristy. You made some great points and relating anything to Ron Burgundy is always enjoyable. I fully agree that you should promote yourself. As bloggers, we tend to shy from the limelight. Now, I’m always excited to share my website, business card, and story because the more people you interact with, not only can you build connections but you can also gain valuable feedback to let you know what you are doing right and where you can improve.
Hey Kirsty,
It really does get redundant reading blog post after blog post about a topic that we already know or someone else has said in another post.
If anything, one way to be genuine and interesting is to just be yourself. Some people will be repulse by who you are while others will be attracted, but as long as you’re blogging about what you love talking about, then it doesn’t matter. You’re still going to draw an audience that you can dialogue with, giving your social proof, and as a result will attract more visitors and commenters.
Keep your online presence as the uniqueness you are, stay in online shape, and partner up with the right people and you’re set!
Greate post for bloggers!
I hope this is very helpful for successful bloggers. Thanks for this article.
Hi..
Thank you for sharing this blog .this is very useful blog for seo .Its very helpful for successful bloggers .
Hi..
Thank you for sharing this blog .I hope this is very helpful for successful bloggers.In this blog we have some valuable and motivative tips .thanks for this blog..
Never believed it could be such an inspiring movie for bloggers ;-)
Jokings apart liked how you derived the tip “Partner with the right people” from the movie! :-)
Generally speaking, it has something to do with your technique of naming and tagging
your images that you post and use in your websites. People are more interested in the links
that appear in the first page of a search engine.
In terms of when to analyze, again it depends on what marketing initiatives
you have in place at any given time.
Thanks for sharing this article. i want to see my blog on the toplist. after reading your article i think that i can bring my site on the top.
Thanks for this. It was a very handy article. I read that social media is getting more and more important for SEO, and that the more fans and followers you have on accounts linked to your website, the higher you rank in google. Is that true?