This guest post is by Chris, “The Traffic Blogger”.
My name is “no one.” Well frankly, to you, being that you have no idea who I am, my name might as well be “no one.” However, just because I am a “no one” does not mean I have nothing to say! Many of you may actually know exactly what it is I want to say because you also are a “no one” like me.
I am a “no one” and I have dreams. I have aspirations, a good work ethic and although there are others with the same name as me, there is only one person who can be me. So just because my name and situation are not unique, does not make my personality, good humor and helpful nature a common commodity. Nobody else can be me—even other “no one”s!
I am “no one,” and I have something to say! I exist! I want to help people and I need to reach out to them! I write helpful content several days a week but I cannot find other people besides my mother to read my work. I exist whether I have a comment, a follower, or not!
Are you a “no one” as well? I know that I sure was when I first started writing a gaming blog two years ago. It took many months of hard work before 1000 people called my site home and two years later a staggering 9,000 individuals read my content daily. What I did as a “no one” was the difference between building a site that worked and one that would lead to me wasting my time.
There are two drastically different ways to look at being a “no one:”
You can realize this is hard work and eventually give up.
You can take advantage of being a “no one.”
If you chose option ‘B’, good for you! But how can you possibly take advantage of being a “no one?”
1. Be a new presence with fresh ideas.
If you are a new person to any niche you have an opportunity to jump off the band wagon and stand all by yourself on an island build out of your own ideas. Many people find fresh ideas exciting and inspiring, so play off this notion as much as you can by making your site seem very new and inviting.
Write content that is challenging of old concepts and revolutionary at the same time. In other words, don’t be just another site in your niche. If you manage to pull this off then you will be the person everyone wants a guest post from or the one person they all talk about on forums (which you should also be participating in).
2. Experiment and don’t be afraid to mess up.
Making mistakes and learning is what it’s all about. Although you will never stop screwing up and learning, it pays to get the bulk of your speed bumps out of the way earlier on. Write outrageous articles, experiment with cheesy headlines and do all the big mistakes we all learn from early on. You’re a “no one” so nobody will mind your early mistakes. Take advantage of the situation and do some learning.
3. Build a relationship with the few readers you do manage to get, while you have time to do so.
As your site grows you will find it impossible to build relationships with your readers the way you could when you were a “no one.” If you skip this crucial stage of intimately connecting with those who like you from the outset, then you will be building a structure whose foundation is made of Swiss cheese.
Be intimate with your readers and pick their brains on what their problems are, what they think so far of your site, and more. You’ll need these fans later when you want to promote site growth, especially with regards to social media.
Are you a “no one”? If you are, what are you going to do about it? If you aren’t, what did you do to go from a “no one” to a “someone?”
Chris “The Traffic Blogger” writes on the subject of generating traffic for both new and advanced site owners for the purpose of making money online. He is a self-proclaimed expert on building communities and marketing solutions for those communities.
Love this new twist. I’m not sure I’m celebrating and embracing my nooneness, but your ideas did encourage me. I spend hours and hours writing a post and then 20 readers see it. It is a reality.
It takes courage to believe more people will find your information interesting.
The key to developing conversations and relationships is to actively seek them. If you go to where your readers are you can then attract them with your helpfulness and good nature, as well as ability to hold a conversation in your niche. Then it is just a matter of them taking the time to check out your site because they found you so interesting.
Getting confidence and belief in you is very hard. But as time goes by it becomes a routine in the world of Internet.
All is fair, not only in love but also in blogging. We started from scratch, from zero post, zero visitors and zero subscribers. It’s all upon us to make the most of our time and the big idea we have in our mind into reality. We can make our small blog into big one, like Problogger, if we really want to. We just believe in our self and do what the successful bloggers did.
Yes great advice about just feeling the fear and “having a go!”
I too felt enormously discouraged when I first started blogging and no one commented, or the numbers were SO low after all my effort but actually looking back I was honing my writing skills, experimenting and staying true my own own passion to empower parents with my ideas, tips and strategies.
Take the long term view, be authentic and ENJOY writing then it’s a passion that people connect to and the numbers will come …. honestly … oh and remeber to use Ping-O- Matic to spread the word faster for you (wish I’d known that 5 yers ago ! LOL
Sue Atkins
Author of “Raising Happy Children for Dummies”
I am actually planning to start a new blog, I know I’ll start a no one, but I look forward to it nonetheless :)
can I ask what is the name of your gaming site if its still around?
Just My Two Copper is the name of the site, it’s based on the Blizzard Entertainment game: World of Warcraft.
Thanks to all for some much needed inspiration. I just started my blog and only have 2 posts but I am very excited about starting finally. :)
Great post, I dig this. Once I begin blogging, I’ll blog about my interest: web development, web design, gaming, possibly wild life, etc. The key is that I would understand all these topics and of course I enjoy them!
I just want to infuse my personality with my content and my designs. I’m not trying to beat everybody, I’m trying to be myself and do a damn good job at it.
As a new blogger, I enjoy the experience of the daily journey. Reading and researching are a huge part of teaching myself what it takes to build a helpful blog. This article is wonderful, just as I expected. Thank you for sharing!
We all start as seeds, for sure, and if we don’t do as you suggest here, we remain seeds and never grow into nice sturdy trees like Darren. ;) I agree especially with your #3–about relationships. I make warmly responding to comments and e-mails a big priority, and it has helped me create some strong connections. As a blogger who comments on other blogs, I am always amazed when those at the little blogs who have few comments don’t bother to respond to comments. People like strokes, and when you acknowledge them, they’re more likely to come back and water your little seed.
Great point Ande! As you can see in the comments, I am trying my best to respond to a few of them and continue the conversation. As a blogging ‘no one’ myself I cannot afford to pass up the relationship opportunities which this guest post has openned up to me.
I been blogging for a few years now and really hope to get more interactive readers/commentors..but it doesn’t seem that easy.
I’ve alluded to this in the comments here already but the easiest way to achieve traffic is to go where the traffic is and then bring it back with you to your home base (that could be your blog, facebook, twitter, wherever). There are quite a few ways to do this, and if you master any one of them then you will have the capacity to jump start any blog in a niche topic which you enjoy.
Finally! Someone who gives me permission to have woeful traffic! And gives me permission to be myself – which might not be that interesting. Really, I appreciate it. Thanks.
My first blog wasn’t really about anything in particular – I just threw articles out there on stuff I had found online which I found interesting, amusing, entertaining – I found an audience of sorts.
If you persist with your blog over time, it is almost impossible to remain a “no one” forever!
Thanks so much for the inspiration, Chris!
I admit it – I’m rather obsessive about checking the stats on my blog and get pretty discouraged when they don’t look as awesome as I dream they should. It helps to hear stories from others who built their blog on hard work (which we can all do) rather than luck (saved for an elite few.)
I love this article. I’ve never been discouraged by small traffic, I felt the love from every one of those darn uniques.
And honestly I felt successful when I started realizing that bigger bloggers whom I deeply respect visit my blog – not when I had big numbers.
Another thing to remember which is true of both traffic and money – it’s not how much you have, because you will always want more. It’s about how you enjoy what you have. THRIVE on 20 visitors – that’s 20 people! Picture them in a room! That’s a decent audience at a lot of New York venues!
Hi chris,
As a blog writer we will surely keep all the suggestions given by you so that we can make our blog more interesting for the readers. And great advice on the fear of writing. Starters who are reading this article will surely be motivated to write blogs.
Thank you
Lakhmi
Thanks for helping this “no one” feel a little less alone. I read and read, and study successful sites and still some times it feels like playing darts in the dark. I checked my numbers this morning I was excited to find a 30% increase in readers over the last post and for the first time made it into triple digits. It’s a small victory, but something to build on. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi,
This is inspiring for me. I’m back to resume my love affair with my blog.
Thanks again for this consumate blog post.
Hi,
Add quality content all the time. It works for me all the time.
Here’s a tip. A powerful headline/title and don’t try to exhaust your article.
Keep rocking,dude.
Perfection !!! This post is the food my mind and heart needed very much today.
This is hands down, the most refreshing post I’ve read in a very long time.
I have owned and operated message boards and websites since 1994.
Over the last two years, things have changed so rapidly with technology growth. What once was a hobby which mutated unintentionally into a 24/7, yet lucrative “madhouse” in concert with genuine resources and community became a surge of new users and with that a surge of popularity “over the top”.
The enormous growth and absolute endless e-mails, management needs all encompassing became a burden.Surely, there was staff and fans of great talents working to keep it all running smoothly to the eyes of the user. The bottom line transitioned into clarity that if I were not “everywhere” with my writings of rants and raves and such, the best for the “whole”, sufferred.
As many companies, as are our favorite authors, entertainers, etc., the personality of site operations can often become the root of the tree that no one can fill in for you at the desk if you desire some time “away from the keyboards”.
What many would most likely view as a success in obtaining a very large online fan base and strong membership comes with a personal price that I’ve finally put behind me. Seeking to be no one is exactly the venture that I hope to attain in cohesion with my dynamic and unique niche. How true it is, be careful what you ask for as you just may get it. Being a well known, faceless personality on the internet with “too much” power of persuasion and fanship of the users perceptions, comes with terrific personal reponsibility to thousands of stangers.
Millions of posts later, this is my first post in my new personal quest to become anonymous and still find my personal space to write for myself. Should the hundreds of thousands of followers and members of the past years seek me out, they might only find me in what I hope to find with the simplicity I seek through a blog venue.
The gift of the Prologger book was hesitantly read; logging in here for the first time and this being an initial post viewed at the top, I’m taking it as a sign of sorts to proceed on my journey with confidence.
(note to self: read the book again and then allow self to come back online ;=)
Thank you very much. It is my turn to learn now. It is my turn to be member. It is my turn to breathe, turn back the clock and simply write to the people that seek that which I do give so freely.
May you all find that which you truly seek and all of your dreams come true.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Los Angeles
* spell check ; voice recognition software ; editors ; no more I’m winging this alone and apologize for mistakes. The time is now to actually have some here and there while being happy to be able, to simply, be.. (Yeah !!!)
I’m still in the beginning stages with my personal blog, but I imagine that in a few weeks after I’ve been regularly posting I’ll feel that I’ve accomplished because I’m posting regularly to my blog. That’s how I felt a couple of months after getting another blog up and running. But I’ll surely bookmark this post for the frustration days that will follow. :)
I know how you feel… actually I’m REALLY a nobody. I still don’t even have 1 single comment on my blog… but I just started! So, I haven’t given up yet. My favorite part about your article was the part where you suggest we build relationships with the few visitors we do have while we still can. I am looking forward to that phase… but don’t get me wrong, I won’t be disappointed if ever my blog develops a following. Maybe it’s possible to maintain relationships with those first few followers even once you become successful… Like they say: you should never forget where you come from. Many of us come from humble beginings. All in all, one positive thing about having no followers yet in my case is that I can basically write whatever I want on my blog and noone will notice! haha
Have a great night and thanks for the post.
My mistake. I just wanted to correct the link to my blog. Thanks!
I find that blog hops have really helped me meet other bloggers and develop relationships, as we all support one another and try to overcome the title of being a “blogger no one.” :)
I think part of me is actually scared of being successful at blogging. I’m only 2 posts in so far, though, so I’ll forgive myself. This is a great article – very upbeat, reassuring and helpful, so I’m bookmarking it to prepare for the next few months of graft. Thanks!
Anyone have any additional insight on getting a following on blogs inside of the corporate world.
yah, learning by experiment is important in any field,blogging is interesting,creative,hardwork,talent,feel
good when you have comments on your post,rise confidence,help others,lots of thing .
I like blogging.If someone act on these three tips , his blog jumping gloreously,highly,temendeously.
Its a fact for genuine blogger.