This is a guest post by Wong Chendong from TheBadBlogger.com.
Blogging is hard; it’s damn bloody hard. These days, everyone wants to be a blogger and because it’s perceived as an easy entrance into the online business world, many people are in-fact doing so.
This means that you have an eclectic mix of talent, drive, and energy, all competing for a declining dollar during an economic time where most people don’t have a lot of extra cash.
So how do you compete?
How can you be the one to get that dollar?
It’s simple…
Help People Get What They Want
This doesn’t mean that you help people get rich. Some people might not want to be rich (sad but true). It also doesn’t mean that you pay lip service to the concept. You have to believe it, to the bottom of your core, that you must actually help people.
The trick then isn’t helping people, but figuring out what they want.
Invest and Investigate
I have a friend that says he wants to move around the world and live in remote places, but all he really wants is to be empowered to live his life without feeling like others will judge him for it. He wants control.
Were I to help him, I wouldn’t try to show him how to travel, I would show him how to stop letting others control his life. This isn’t about money or travel at all.
I have other friends that want to quit their job because they are burned out and depressed. They feel like they are wasting their life. In their case, quitting their job won’t help the problem, which is that they haven’t found the talent that makes them come alive. To help them, I’d sit down and help them find it, and then do something about it.
To really help people, you have to invest in them by first caring about the outcome, and then investigate to find out how you can really help.
How Do I Blog About It?
Of course, we’re bloggers, not psychologists right? Well, if you really think about it, we’re pop culture psychologists. Our collective industry has the power to send messaging that changes the way people see the world.
Are you taking responsibility for the messages you send?
Are you thinking about the advice you give, or just giving it because it sounds good?
The way you can help as a blogger isn’t so much in writing about particular topics, but in sending a particular message.
Have you ever watched a movie that made you think really hard about your life in a certain way? Have you ever asked a friend what they thought about the same movie? They probably thought about something completely different than you did, right?
The way ahead is to be the blogger that gets people thinking about their own life in a way that facilitates change. You don’t always have to educate. Why not inspire people to self-educate?
I know this is a departure from my typical style, but it’s really important to me that bloggers, as an industry, realize that we aren’t just guys and gals with keyboards, but people who can make a difference.
Thinking product first is a bad idea. Instead, try thinking people first and see how it works for you.
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Investigation is no doubt very important! I like your last point very much. Give a message and try that more and more people follow it 🙂
Nice post!
Giving a message is not like giving advice, is almost like giving something that people reflate on their own, so that he or she may realize the truth of the message, that’s how cults are being made!
Wanting to help people from the heart is what I think is the most important factor. If you’re just doing it for the $$$ motivation wont last long. Nice post – looking out for your stuff going forward 🙂
Ya, if a person is only focusing on money alone. motivation will never last, look forward to talking to you again 🙂
Let’s not forget the other side of running a professional blog, liability. Between the liability generated by what you write, you’ll also have to deal with legal threats about comments that might appear on your site as well.
A blog is not just fun and games, it also sets you up for all the duties and responsibilities that publishers face.
Well, not just blog, almost everything we face in life is a responsibilities and duties, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are that’s how life are being process.
You do need to stand out, its like a saying that I heard while at an internet marketing conference…. “you’ve got to be the red crayon amongst the white”. It is hard to know what exactly to do with our lives… Alot of us just live life without really knowing where we are going…. I sort of have a general idea of where I want to be, but right now I am one of those floating around, and hoping I nail the target of where I want to be along the way. Its definitely not as easy and just quitting the job, gotta have the plan and the action, and follow up on it… otherwise the quitting action will be meaningless.
-Jean
Ya, it’s better to do it step by step, if it fails do it again and do it better, if it fails, do it again and do it much better and so on, if still fails that means the plan had to change, in life tomorrow is promise to nobody, some people can get rich over night but some people may lost everything overnight, life meant to be live but how we live is not important… the most important is how to control it and that’s the plan for moving forward…
Hi Wong,
Really like this touchy line “Bloggers aren’t just guys and gals with keyboards, but people who can make a difference.” Everyone knows that bloggers are bloggers because they are earning as a blogger or can earn as a blogger…. but you can only earn by having a strong base of loyal readers.
You can make loyal readers if you really show them how careful or responsible you are towards them. By answering their questions or by giving them right suggestions according to you.
Not really according to me, I don’t teach but make people think about what they think they should do, it’s really complicated to follow someone’s foot step, though we could but as we know environment and status can affect the outcome, so is best to give suggestion to let them think rather then follow according to me.
I think you’re right here. Don’t follow them but give them suggestion that is helpful or make them think.
Yes figuring out what peope want is the key. Take a look at your competitors and cover whatever they are missing that people are searching for.
Sometimes, even the way you present the information makes a whole lot of difference. It may take time but those who find you will stay with you as long as you keep presenting the information in the way they understand it.
Well, I always do my best in writing content and researching information on the internet and share them with my readers, although I cannot 100% be unique but at least I believe I’m the 10% that’s special among them.
In my opinion the best way to stand out in any niche it’s to love what you are writing about and be passionate about it, because if you love what you are writing you will for sure write quality content and you will networking with other bloggers on your niche since you will love to talk to people who love this niche!
Ya, writing about what you love and passionate about is what almost every teaching always tell us, but there are also a lot of blogger who just write where the money is, but if the fact is, the money wasn’t there. So, it’s best to realize what you love in the beginning rather then wondering out there for too long till you lost everything…
Well, the more I read your and a few other blogs, the more I realize that I need to make a WordPress blog instead of Blogger.
Hell, after all maybe I just leave blogging aside and go for static sites. I really thought I had it, but seems like I was wrong, there is just too much of it, and I feel like I don’t have anything at least slightly different to offer.
I am just an average dude…
Everyone is an average dude even me, the difference everyone had is the asset, but I will recommend you to go for a self-hosted wordpress if you are serious about blogging!
maybe it takes more time for me to stand out from other bloggers but I am still in the process of making this come true. I know in due time, i can make myself standout. 🙂
You definitely can stand out as long as you do not give up and always ready to failed more and try out new tactics and strategies to overcome your competitor…
It’s true – you have to listen to what your customer wants. Don’t be that guy who just says the same stuff everyone does or markets the same thing everyone else does. Stand out by using your own voice, your own views, And please, don’t just SPAM your list with offers – try and connect with them.
I never spam my list, though I hate it when well known marketers do that, but still I never follow them for the reason, I put myself in the list, if I hate, surely my list will hate, but having an offer or two is not much a spam but a recommendation and being personal in writing, views and voice is sure to stand out from the crowd.