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The Three Ds That Will Make or Break Your Blogging Career - Desire

Painting miniatures.
Photo by brilliantdandy.

In a few years this blog will be two years old. In internet terms, it’s not young anymore, and nobody would consider me a ‘new’ blogger. Now that the buzz of being discovered and rapid growth is moving into a new stage of maintaining and trying to build upon what has already been established, I’ve started to reflect on some of the insights I’ve gained through the successes and failures I’ve experienced as a blogger.

At its most basic, I believe what it takes to reach your full potential as a blogger is split into three key areas, or what I call ‘The Three Ds’. Like me, you’ll probably find that you’re strong in some areas and weak in others - and if you’re not hitting the goals you would like, it is probably these weaknesses that are holding you back.

I hope that you will go beyond reading the theme word of the post and assuming you know what it means, to digging deeper into the content. You might find some unconventional tips and ideas inside!

For the Next 7 Days, Stop Trying to Get New Readers

Blogging, Growth

Finding new readers.
Photo by A Chilling Soul.

Seriously. For 7 days, don’t do any link-building or guest-posting. Don’t leave comments on other blogs. Don’t tweet your stuff. Don’t do SEO. Don’t do a single action intended to bring a new reader to your blog.

You can keep posting as usual, but that should be the extent of your marketing.

Do I want to show you that writing good content is all you need to grow your blog’s readership? Nope, that’s not it. It’s also not true.

So what am I getting at?

5 Content Strategies That Top Bloggers Use + 3 Things That Set Them Apart

Blogging

Photo by Tony Frissell, 1947.

When I’m in a healthy blogging mindset, I write long posts every few days. I’ve tried short and newsy in the past, but have realized I’m no Seth Godin. If I’m going to say something important and useful, I need plenty of words to do so. That’s the style that works for me, but it won’t work for everyone.

By studying some of the bloggers I admire I’ve realized that there are five dominant content ’strategies’ they use, and that each one is very different from the others. This is good news, because it means that there is (mostly) no right or wrong way to do content. I’ll talk more about that ‘mostly’ caveat later.

Despite the many differences, the similarities are more telling. I think I’ve been able to work-out some factors that are must-haves for your content. Without them, you simply can’t grow your blog into a niche leader.