Hard work does in fact pay off

Sorry to go all Field of Dreams on you today but I wanted to give the up and coming bloggers some motivation to keep working away on your own projects. Just because your blog might not be where you want it to be yet, don’t worry that much. I wanted to share with you proof that you do not have to toil away for several months before seeing substantial growth.

Cuzoogle has been around for a few years but it used to be on the free wordpress platform and really was a daily journal of what I was up to and what I wanted to share with friends and family. As my career in online media grew so did my interest in making Cuzoogle something more, something that would become a money maker and climb the charts on must see blogs.

In February I finally made the plunge and got on my own domain and host and really started to build the content beyond my personal life. I know this is where I lost some of my hardcore fans but it was a necessary move for growth.

It is now close to the end of June and Cuzoogle is at a point where ideas like monthly newsletters, media kits and posting forums are starting to be worked on. I would of never thought that a few months ago but all of these avenues are a strong possibility very soon.

I am not trying to toot my own horn here because I am probably my biggest critic and am always obsessing on how to make the blog better (ask my girlfriend). What I am trying to point out is you don’t need to have magical online skills or know how to code your way into success. The everyday person person can have a successful blog and not need any type of degree, expert knowledge or strong marketing skills. That being said, everyone of those attributes will help and knowing how to use them in relation to your blog will push you higher much faster.

What you truly need to survive as a blogger is drive, patience and the ability to think of fresh ideas. A desire to do what it takes and put in the hours to build your blog. A passion to really push yourself to produce great content everyday that voices your opinion and stays in tune with what is the hottest water cooler talk.

If you can find these characteristics in yourself, I honestly can’t see how your blog cannot succeed no matter the niche or topic. Like I said, if you build it, they will come.

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For a different take, you can always check out one of my favorite blogs for helpful tips over at The Sports Dollar. This week they posted a great list of 80 ways to build a better sports blog.

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If you build it they will come

It sounds so simple but I always tell friends who are starting out that if you provide something worth reading, people will slowly get on board. The Internet is so vast with so many sites popping up everyday, you have to think to yourself, why would someone spend their free time checking out what I have to offer?

Attention spans decrease by the day and that makes it even harder to grab a piece of the giant blog pie. So just like many things in life, first impressions are key. If someone stumbles upon your blog and likes what they see, most likely they will look around for few more seconds hoping that something else catches their eye. Have enough of these interesting links to click on and then there is a good chance that person will subscribe to your RSS feed.

Then the situation grows where you have to wait and see if that person sticks with your feed and becomes a regular reader. My RSS reader is like a rollar coaster. It has been as high as 334 and can drop by half the next day. That has to do with huge traffic spikes for one post usually.

The good news is, you always take a drop but in fact you are making gradual ground. I have been following the pattern of big jumps and small fall backs meaning some are sticking around and checking out your feed. That is growth I like to see. I know that you should not put that much stock into your RSS reader but it is always nice to see a jump and know more people are adding you to their readers.

If you can show readers that you are in it for the long haul, they will take you seriously and follow you. So many times I have seen a blog or website start out with such promise and then after a few weeks, it dies.

There of course are many factors and it could be as simple as the person’s life changed and they don’t have time anymore.

I have been lucky to have the time to build up Cuzoogle and now it has reached a point where it can sustain a break here and there if I don’t have the time. But with most projects, the first few months are critical so really try your best to get things up and running before taking that well earned break.

June has been a record setting and overwhelming month for traffic, rankings and of course all of the good and bad press that goes with it. The more you move up the chain, the more people want to beat you down.

Just remember those are the people who can’t do what you are doing. They don’t have a site or blog that they can call their own and be proud of.

They just want to take shots at you from the cheap seats. It can hurt and make you question what you are doing but don’t focus on those people. Focus on your readers who leave good comments, who subscribe to your RSS feed and those who want to exchange links.

Here is just a small list of sites that Cuzoogle has been showcased on, linked to or scraped by.

  • Front page of Digg
  • Front page of Fark
  • Front page of Ball Hype
  • Front page of Yardbarker
  • SI.com’s Extra Mustard, several times
  • Maxim’s website
  • USA Today
  • Chicago Sun-Times

Ways to improve

So what would I suggest to new bloggers starting out? Well other than hard work, great ideas and having patience you should:

1. Network as much as possible. Build link groups like my Rolling the Blog Joint. It is a great way to build backlinks and reach new audiences. I can’t say enough about the guys in my link group. I have not only benefitted from the traffic their sites bring but the tips and suggestions the offer is unmeasurable. We all have ideas on how to better our blogs and sharing is the best way to go.

2. Get into the search engines. If you have not submitted your blog to google, yahoo etc. do it now. Add a site map to your blog and watch the easy traffic of google flow in. Keywords in titles, the right tags added and of course pictures help to. I have had a lot of traffic just from random photos showing up in google images. I am not a SEO wizard and to be honest I forget about it most of the time. I want to learn more but you can waste a lot of valuable time focusing on that that too much.

3. Send your best stuff to as many social sites as possible. Cuzoogle is listed as a sports blog so I need to go where the sports readers are. I submit my good posts to Ball Hype, Yard Barker and Extra Mustard all of the time. It is the best way to build up your community and get a feel for what does well. There is also Fark, Propellar, Show Hype and many other sites worth using. Whatever niche you are in, I am sure there are the exact same groups to submit posts to. Be careful not to spam these sites because you don’t want the masses seeing work that in fact is not that good.

There are so many other helpful tips out there that I am sure work well but these are the main ones that have helped me out over the past few months.

Luck plays a big factor as well but I like to think you at least have to keep yourself in position for that luck to happen.

Happy blogging and I am always around to answer questions or share my experiences.

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