This is a guest post by Ali Luke. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
Yes, you did read that title correctly.
You need to stop learning about blogging.
Sure, there’s a wealth of great advice to be found — here on Daily Blog Tips, and on several other top blogging sites.
Sure, blogging is a huge and sometimes crazy world, where you need to know about writing, marketing, technology, design…
But you could spend years learning everything there is to know — and you still wouldn’t make any progress.
At some point, you need to stop learning and start doing.
How to Get Moving
You might feel overwhelmed right now. You’ve probably been soaking up as much advice as you can — but when you do write a blog post, you’re woefully aware that it’s not as great as it could be.
The problem is, there’s so much to learn, you don’t know where to begin.
So start small. Don’t try to write the perfect blog post — because there’s no such thing.
I know you’re busy, but you can find an hour, today or tomorrow, to put together a single post.
Here’s how to make it great:
- Write a strong introduction. You might say something surprising, like I did in this post. You might ask a question which will compel the reader to continue.
- Write about a single topic. Keep the focus on the reader, using “you” and “your”. Teach the reader how to do something, or give them some ideas.
- Finish with one call to action. Ask your reader to subscribe to your blog or newsletter, or to follow you on Twitter, or to leave a comment. It’s up to you which to ask for — but don’t give them too many options or they won’t do anything.
- Craft a great headline. (Words like “Tips”, “Secrets”, “How To” and “You” all work well here. And numbers are always going to be popular.) If you get stuck, take a look at any headline on Copyblogger for inspiration — or pick up a magazine.
Yes, there’s a lot more you could do. But really, who’s going to come out top — the blogger who reads dozens of posts every day (but only writes one post a month) or the blogger who puts great advice into practice and writes three posts a week?
You’ve read enough.
Now it’s time for you to go and do something which will really take your blogging forwards.
About the Author: Ali Luke has just released a free mini-ebook, “Ten Powerful Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Stronger”. It’s a short, fast read packed with great advice, clear examples and — most importantly — quick, high-impact exercises which will let you strengthen your existing blog posts in just a few minutes. Just click here to get your free copy.
This title shock me . But yes that you are right. You will not success if you just learn but without taking any action .
Only action taker will be success. So do not waste time on it to learn , need to be action and learn at the same time.
Entrepreneur always a action taker. Said and without action will not lead you to success . Only action taker, risk taker will be success.
Ali,
You just wrote the story of my life.
I’m the bloke who reads too many blog. However, I find it difficult even to crank out one guest post or start my own blog, etc.
I am not sure I enjoy what I write, but I enjoy your writing and the writing of a few select people.
It has been a pleasure. And this is one of my favorite blogs.
Cheerio.
Hi Ali
Great post – so true. I know at one stage when I first started my blog, I was so busy reading other people’s blogs and reading ebooks about blogging, I wasn’t actually writing enough on my own blog. It didn’t take long to realise I needed to change that.
Cheers
Thea
First you got me on the headline, second the article you posted was straight forward, third your not pushing me to subscribe but you are implying that it may help. You basically followed your advice, and
I guess I will be doing it too. Great Post!
I agree, with this to an extent, as in you do need to just go out there and just write the blog. However, you can never stop learning, for example if you write future ones, there is always a way of improving them to attract more readers.
True, one can only get so much information about something but that information will have no use unless the one who has access to that information actually starts on using that information.
Excellent advice, Ali. Too many people spend all their time reading and planning without ever doing. I used to be guilty of this before I realized that I’ll never get anywhere unless I just take action and do something. So glad I did.
Good read article Ali. So much lessons to learn. If I wouldn’t read this article, I wouldn’t learn this lessons. So, don’t stop reading, start taking action 🙂
I had spent a lot of time focusing on learning about blogging. Now I trust that I will learn what I need to at just the right time.
Hahaha. OK the post is really good and honestly does speak so much truth about the power of action, but honestly – that title – HERE.
Perfect.
Sorry, but only Daniel would be smart enough (and confident enough) to put a post about why you need to stop learning how to blog on a blog called Daily Blog Tips.
Genius that is.
Im going to write a post on my Amazon niche blog about why physical product marketing is dead! hahahaha
Hehe!
Let us know how your Amazon niche blog post goes… 😉
Are you speaking about me!!! Thanks for the welcome reminder, gotta go now and start my blog…..
Yep, Diane, YOU. Get blogging! 😉
You are saying the truth.
For those who cannot avoid reading blogs, set some mini goals like write a paragraph and read a blog post from RSS feeds or an e-mail.
Great Title it made me read the post all the way down!. You got me here!.. 🙂
I completely agree with your article, I’ve also read this from somewhere I think it was the ebook Onibalusi (the guy from youngprepro) wrote.
He said this thing is called , and that many of us are the people who know a lot about blogging but never end up writing about it, writing is the essential key to the blogosphere, no content means nothing.
Anyways, well spot on, I believe you are the first one to publish information like this.
Harrison
Oh my god, i left out the most important word, when I said this thing is called….. it was meant to be (Information Overload).
Absolutely spot on – getting doing is the vital bit. Ive seen so many people at IM seminars who make every excuse why they haven’t started – bump into them again at another seminar – same thing. Vital that you just get on with it – even if its rough round edges you can always go back and smooth them off
There is so much truth in this article. Results will come after you actually do the work. I learned this the hard way. Act now! Of course reading a blog post once or twice a day it’s fine but don’t over do it.
PS: the title of the article is really catchy!
Thanks! Glad you liked the title 😉
The title is spot on!
We see it all the time with our clients. They spend so much time worrying about crafting their first blog post that they never get anything posted! We often times tell them to make a quick “Welcome to our new blog” post to break the ice and get going.
Too many people want to be virtual experts without going any real work, and to be honest, it doesn’t work out very well. To get good, you need to try things that don’t work, learn from your mistakes, take risks, and communicate with your audience. That’s the only way you’ll become an actual expert.