Learn but do not follow bloggers. Do your thing your way – it’s what matters most as a blogger.

I have gathered an internet philosophy over the years that resulted from growing up with the “web”.

As people were trying to figure it out, I pretty much decided it was best to “do your own thing” because there were no guidelines to follow – per say.

When I created my very first website in 1998, WordPress was also just spreading its wings and you had to know html code to develop a website (early blogs) on their platform. “User friendly” became a huge design element and then Social Media came along “web 2.0”.

SEO and “linking” started to rule the way things were done online so people could find your website. And then as Google blossomed into a mega star and an internet dictator, it changed search algorithms, again, and again, and still again today.

What we have eased into today is the “Human”  and “Personal” development of the internet, specifically the search engines – which I think is a good thing and yet, I think it’s causing more anxiety than ever when it comes to content creation.

Here’s why I think it’s good:

• people socialize with people – not links
• people like to get answers to their questions
• most people like to learn new things
• people like quality content, not crap
• people want access to true and meaningful information

The challenge?

• Competition

As the internet has become more “human”, competition has grown immensely in delivering “valuable content”  to internet readers. In fact new job descriptions and careers have been created just to deal with the competition of writing quality content for websites. If you ever thought content is dead – wrong.

So, for most of us, who are not working for a company, but for ourselves, we deal with “what to write” usually on a daily basis 

I certainly did and still do. But I’ve ways to zap those thoughts of what to write and move on. But you may be new to blogging and then “BOOM” you have to write a post. Insecurities, doubts about your ability to write well and inspire others creep in,  and then the worst – “what if people don’t like this”

Who cares!

Here’s what I want you to remember – there are millions of thousands of people on the internet. Because of this, you will always have an audience based on who YOU are

This is why self-branding is so important! You don’t want to create a blog and start writing about the same stuff everyone else is writing about .. SEO, marketing, etc. That’s one direction I took and hated it. My “heart” wasn’t in it. You want to become THE person people will look for .

How does THAT happen?

• quality content
• posting often
• self-branding
• using Social Media for “self-marketing”
• posting your content on Social Media platforms
• learning something then teaching others

You want to write about things you’re passionate about – THEN turn it into a kind of “educational” post. Writing about your experiences and what you learned from it … when you write from this point of view you are generating useful information that someone can learn from.

Yes. It’s the classic “What’s in it for me” and when you write, answer that question which  relates to your post. 

So, What is “Quality” Content?

Here’s a great article on exactly this which goes into more detail. But here are the suggestions for writing quality content (Search Engine Land):

1. Help The User Complete A Specific Task
2. Make Sure It’s “Made To Stick”
3. Write A Strong Title & H1
4. Organize Thematic Subsections
5. Make Sure It Inspires, Educates And/Or Entertains
6. Ask Yourself If You Would Share It
7. Make Sure It’s Relevant (topic matches your website niche or theme)
8. Watch Your Word Count (debatable)

And Here’s what I’m adding to the list:

1. Build your vocabulary (use a dictionary to get different words that can say the same thing)
2. Use correct spelling and grammar
3. Avoid repeating the same words

After all this sinks in, now, how can you be different?

Be yourself!  You have your own way of explaining things, your own perceptions of life, your own opinions. The way you interpret information is unique to you. There’s NO ONE like you on the planet.

So.

Think about all of the above and start “morphing” what you know, learn, study, read, that builds your knowledge in a particular area, and share it all in your own words. Don’t copy – morph.

Like this post? Comment, like, and share… would love to hear what you think …