Learning to Blog: Finding the forest one tree at a time

(Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes)

Too many trees? Can’t see the forest?

Sometimes, it feels like no matter many trees you climb, you’re still lost in the woods.

This is normal. So I’m told.

I’m still climbing a lot of trees myself. Some are easier to climb than others. So far, I haven’t climbed enough trees in the blogging forest to get a good view of the blogging landscape.

I mean, I could write gobs about everything you’re supposed to do with SEO, Twitter, Facebook, backlinking, PPC and 100 other topics you need to master for success. But without actually mastering these subjects, it’s all just blowing smoke. Blowing smoke up your reader’s hoo hah is not nice. Blowing smoke up your own hoo hah is just plain delusional.

(To my non-native speakers: “hoo hah” is a colloquialism meaning, well, whatever you want it to mean. Feel free to substitute some – preferably taboo – portion of personal anatomy)

First, some back story…

Initially, I had no intention of directly monetizing Website In A Weekend.

Website In A Weekend was conceived to market an in-person seminar for building a website (in a weekend) using WordPress. The URL is very well matched to its original concept. For the first several months, Website In A Weekend strolled along slowly, publishing posts maybe 6 to 8 times per month. These posts were, essentially, the Website In A Weekend curriculum, the course materials for the weekend seminar.

Along the way, I learned something really important: Excellent products don’t matter when nobody knows. The tree fell in the forest… but nobody heard. It’s a better mouse trap, but lemme tell ya, there ain’t no well-beaten path to my door!

That was then, this is now.

Around June 1, 2009, I figured out (long story, and sad, too) that while it was possible to recoup the entire year on a couple of good seminars, it was going to take real work to develop the marketing mojo to promote those seminars.

So I set about doing what I knew I could do… which was write! Since then, I’ve published daily (except for Burning Man but that doesn’t count). Along the way, I’ve learned a bit about the blogging business, and a lot more about writing.

Master one skill at a time

My expertise (such as it is) in writing and organizing content. I believe I’m really, really good at it. Which means I probably suck, but… if I suck, then I’m going to learn from you, whence I’ll suck just a little less. Here’s a bold statement: I’ve mastered blog post writing.

I can now:

• Write 7 days of blog posts in about a day and half, and like it. Like it a lot.
• Regularly write blog posts that get comments.
• Attract long term interest from search engines.
• Convert readers into newsletter subscribers without bribes, without promotions, simply on the value of my writing.

It took me about 3 months to get a grip on this. To be fair, I have almost 15 years of writing experience, publishing mainly in academia. However, blogging must be respected as it’s own thing.

Let’s suppose I’ve mastered writing. What next?

That’s a real good question… one I’m not sure exactly how to answer. Since my goal is to sell my own products, I have several necessary next steps:

• Master the art of the mailing list, especially to attract signups (⇐ send an email to get on board).
• Learn to rapidly create valuable, interesting and useful products.
• Get a good grip on web site sales technology.

But there’s a problem with this list: these activities are coupled! Without products, no reason to learn how to use a sales site like E-Junkie. Without understanding how web sales work, no way to sell products. But given a vicious circle, you need to apply pressure at any point to break it… so watch for a small announcement in the near future.

Take time to integrate skills

Being a brilliant blogger is good. Being a brilliant email marketer is good too.

Being an excellent email marketer with serious blogging chops is 4 times better than each alone.

Play on the synergy: last week, the wp-weekend (☜ check it out) email list helped promote Larry Herrin’s post on the Top 10 Reasons WordPress Rules the Universe. I can’t say this post truly went viral. It did get more traffic in one day (by far) than any other article on Website In A Weekend. And rightly so, it’s an excellent article. Thanks guys, you rule! ♚

As a result of this great experience, AWeber is my next “blogging tree” to climb. If you want to watch me get really, really good with mailing lists, send an empty email to wp-weekend.forest@aweber.com. Warning: I might sell you something!

Let’s hear from you

What’s your field of expertise in the blogging field? Do you have one? Would you like to have one?

What do you intend on NOT mastering.

What do you intend on outsourcing completely?

Even better, how can Website In A Weekend help you?

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Tagged as: Inspiration, Online business