The 5 R’s to a Successful Blogging Career

Okay, so first off, let me say that I’m a guy that likes to make lists and stuff that you can remember easily. Why? I’m just a typical guy, and while I may be majoring in engineering, quantum physics is just as challenging to you as it is to me. So, I like to learn and remember stuff in my own way. I’m sure you do. So, just like those 5W1H writing techniques, let me introduce to you, my 5 R’s to a successful blogging career.

Before I go on any further though, these R’s are just a five that I feel are important to a blogger. Obviously blogging is a bit arduous and requires a certain degree of expertise, and thus, I believe there are more to blogging that these five R’s. However, remember how I said I like to make all these funky lists to help me remember stuff? Well, this is just another one of them which I’m sure you’ll find easy to remember and recall during your blogging career.

Revelation
Before I go and explain this one, let me say that no, we’re not talking about The Holy Bible here. Revelation here indicates that you want to be different—a unique and a one of a kind blogger. As a blogger, to gain the maximum exposure, you want to voice something unique. If you don’t write something different and just replicate the other hundred blogs in your niche, there is NO REASON for a visitor to visit your blog.

So how can you be different? How can you be a revelation in the blogosphere? How can you take the blogosphere by a storm? There are actually quite a few ways in my opinion. One of them is developing current existing information with your personal color and research. However, this is a bit more challenging as you need to know the line between plagiarizing and not. You could also be the first to announce a new discovery or some release in the niche your blog is in. This is bound to bring some traffic to you and heighten your authority in the blogosphere, but again, this is a bit challenging. What I have found to be the easiest is just being yourself and supplying the information that is in demand. By supplying here, I’m talking about giving your personal take on a certain popular incident. Usually this works pretty well, as everyone has their own view on a topic.

Reputation
I’ve said quite a few times in my blog that a blog is, in a way, a resume. Well, since there are words that employers these days are even looking at potential employees’ Facebook profiles, I don’t see why a blog should be any different. Thus, a clean record and a good reputation within the blogosphere are important. So how do you create or maintain this reputation? It’s all about being diligent. Working hard in producing great posts, not forgetting to market your blog correctly, doing business legitimately, and always making new connections are just a few ways to get your reputation up. Remember, it’s a resume that you have here that you are composing.

Reciprocation
Blogging is often a two way relationship, thus the name of this section, reciprocation. The connection is either between you, the blogger, and a reader, or you the blogger, and another blogger. Without this relationship, I don’t think you can say that you are having the best blogging experience. If you were the only one who wrote and read the posts, isn’t that more like a secret diary online? To really experience the connections bloggers can make with others, you need blog as if you are talking to someone beside you, just that with blogs, you are doing it in words.

Also, I talk quite often about reciprocating, or replying, between bloggers. An essential part of a successful blogging experience and career is networking with other bloggers within your niche. To do this, take some initiative and make some connections going. Once you have established a decent relationship, maintain that relationship by commenting on that blogger’s posts, giving link love, and just thanking the other blogger for even small things like a casual comment. Social networking is crucial and through your first initiative and then a follow-up, a connection is created. This connection can only turn out to have positive outcomes in the future.

Rejuvenation/Revitalization
Blogging can be quite hard and taxing. I’m sure that even the likes of Darren Rowse from ProBlogger gets tired of blogging from time to time. It’s just inevitable and you’re bound to burn out sooner or later. Unfortunately, you are the only one who can fix that problem, but this is how I overcome it. It could work for you, but it also might not.

Anyways, what I do to revitalize myself is I look over some goals that I set at the early stages of the blog and try to revive the enthusiasm that I had when I was just starting out. Remembering all these goals and also remembering the times that I reached some of these goals just motivates me and gives me the energy that I need to keep blogging. Knowing the feeling of achieving something just makes me keep on wanting to go forward with blogging. Of course, this is all just me, but it could be you too, so try to remember those early days in your blogging career. If you’re just starting out, just often remind yourself how blogging is like a marathon and you should always keep your goal in mind and not be distracted by any outside factors that may discourage you or stop you from blogging.

Reflection
Throughout my years of blogging, I have learned quite a lot about blogging and just the general web. I have earned quite a bit of money, but have also lost just as much due to poor decisions. I have gained a lot of friends, partners, and contacts, but I have also fell apart with a few individuals, although I did make it up to them now. Now that I think about it, these experiences helped me quite a bit as I was able to grow as a blogger and grow as a responsible individual.

If you are quite an experienced blogger, try re-reading some of your old posts. I’m sure you agree with me that some of them are pretty bad. Maybe you solved those issues already, but most of the time, you probably didn’t. Grab these chances and see how you can change and grow as a blogger. Did you use a lot of informal language? Well, it’s an indication that you should be more careful on your word choice if you’re looking to be famous. Were you only focused on growing your blog and not contributing to others’ blogs? Again, it’s an opportunity for you to realize this and go on to make a few comments or even write guest posts on other blogs. I’ve found reflection as a great way to grow in anything. Of course, reflecting as a blogger helps in growing too.

Conclusion
Revelation. Reputation. Reciprocation. Rejuvenation/Revitalization. Reflection. These are definitely five aspects of blogging which I feel can play an important role in your success as a blogger. Yeah, the “5 R’s to a Successful Blogging Career” is just a fancy way of putting all this, but if it sticks in you this way, why not?

Obviously there are more than these five that you need to be aware of to be successful. In fact, there are so many that I never would be able to write up a one complete post just on it. I doubt anyone would be able to write a book on it. After all, success can be attained in so many ways.

However, if you have any tips beyond these five that you used or kept in mind to be somewhat successful in the blogosphere, please feel free to share your account via the comments. Remember, success is relative and thus, all comments are welcome. If a post per day is a success story to you, by all means share it with us. If making a nine figure is a success to hear, I’d love to hear that too. Cheers.