These days it is not all that difficult to find a blog ‘expert’. And to be sure, not a few of them know what they are talking about.
Darren Rowse is arguably the best blogger there is – blogs about blogging. But then there are not a few folk who can tell you all sorts of good things about blogging: the best plug-ins, the best analytic tools, the very best place to get templates and how to optimize them. These folk even know quite well about keywords and good title structure and the like and can use words like SEO – Search Engine Optimization. But they have not done it themselves. They just know how. It reminds me of a teacher who worked for me in Japan. He knew how to do most everything…because he had read how to in a book. But he had nothing to show for himself.
What makes a good blog consultant? Who do you listen to when it comes to blogging? Here are 5 qualities I can think of.
1. A good blog consultant has put in his/her time. Ask your blog consultant how many posts they have written. And how many of those posts have received how many views? What has s/he tried that did NOT work? I have published more than 12,000 posts. I have a couple of thousand articles/posts that have received more than 1000 views each. I have some others I am embarrassed about.
2. A good blog consultant knows how to get readers.
My very first month of blogging – March ’06, I got 2,209 page views. The second month 4,595 views. Last month, my network of blogs got 1.3 million views, down a bit from December’s total of 1.6 million. As of Feb ’10 – 18.6 million total. Can your blog consultant say they have practiced what they preached and it worked? I can.
3. A good blog consultant has been through the best of times and worst of times.
I started blogging for the KnowMoreMedia blog network in March of ’06. I was with KMM till they peaked out at about 2 million views monthly at which time they fell out of love with Google and slowly died off. I wrote a lot for a lot, I have also written a lot for nothing. Ad revenues have been quite pitiful of late, but not as bad as they once were. Even so, I kept blogging away. My philosophy – when times are good I’d better work hard. When times are bad, I’d better work hard. Then when good times come back I’ll be ahead of the crowd.
4. A good blog consultant can apply his/her principles across topics.
I have taken 8 different topics to above 1 million views each. A couple to more than 2 million and a couple more to over 4 million views … EACH. India, China, Japan, Education, Christian, Cricket, Environment and Bollywood. Some bloggers know what works for them, their blog and their niche, but do they know what works across the various topics. I do.
5. A good blog consultant will be there when you need them. Here is my contact info. I’ll be starting my fifth year as a blogger, paying my sizable Silicon Valley mortgage with my blogging revenue. If you are in the area, you are welcome to come by. I’ll be there.
Still not convinced I can help?
Check out this free Webinar by yours truly, Bill Belew on:
4 Absolutes to get Serious Web Traffic
4 Obstacles to overcome to get started online
4 Reasons Why Blogs are Still King of Social Media
Tell me, please. What do you look for in a blog consultant?
Oh, and tell me how can I help you reach your blogging goals.
When is your next workshop?
The next workshop is April 24th.
Will I see you there?
Look at your first sentence….looks like a typo that needs to be fixed
“Any more there are a number of blog ‘experts’ to be found.”