Blogussion » blog authority

You Are the P.I.C. of Your Blog

Chris Palmer — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:08 +0000

Today, Chris Palmer of Angle of Attack Blog briefly, but powerfully speaks about taking a better leadership role in the community of your blog and what taking command of that position can bring to you. Want to write for us too?

As pilot-in-command during my flights, I am responsible for the souls on board my aircraft. I am also liable for whatever happens while that aircraft is in movement.

Your blog is no different. You are the P.I.C. of Your blog.

We’ve all been in the situation. Stuck in the terminal with grumpy and smelly passengers all around… and the news isn’t good. “Best case scenario…”, the gate agent explains, “…is the weather will clear and your aircraft can get in in about 4 hours. We apologize…blah blah blah.”

As a blogger, you face the same situation every day. No one said blogging was easy. But it is worth it.

What happens if you are “under the weather,” so to speak, when it comes to blogging? What has you delayed?

This could happen in several ways:

Full time job takes much of your time
Can’t come up with post ideas
Feel disconnected and distant from users
There just isn’t a whole lot of interaction with content
Distraction
Lack of motivation

The list goes on.

Do you really believe your readers will forgive you for these weather delays? Do you believe they’ll be cool if you say, “better luck tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be clear skies.”

Unless you already have a stellar reputation and you can afford a get-out-of-jail-free card, I doubt it.

For the rest of us, it’s a bit more cut and dry.

The truth is that this blogging thing, although a great passion, also takes a lot of hard work, determination, perseverance and patience. If you really live from a space as a blogger where you envelope these traits in your strategy and mindset, your success as a blogger is inevitable.

You are the P.I.C. of Your blog

The internet as we know it is growing more every day. There is someone out there that deserves your message. Someone that can learn from your experiences and knowledge. Are you really going to deny them that opportunity because your priorities aren’t set up right?

I respect that fact that we all have responsibilities. I do as well. But I certainly can’t expect my businesses and blogs to succeed if they aren’t given some sort of priority. They are only given priority because they are a part of my larger plan for the future.

One thing I’ve learned early on in my blogging career is that by working hard, being determined and possessing perseverance and patience, I always turn a corner.

I treat my blog like a job.

In Hugh MacLeod’s book “Ignore Everybody” he says;

Eventually the fish will start biting. Just remember that it doesn’t happen overnight. It usually takes a couple of years of continual posting to build up enough trust to where people are willing to invest in you financially.

At the end of the day, the financial part of this all is easy to achieve.

As the pilot-in-command, I’m seeking out happy passengers. In other words, I strive more to have my readers become believers and members of my tribe than I do for fiscal gains. Are gains important? Sure! But if your purpose is to make money and that’s it, you’re missing a larger picture.

And maybe that’s why you can’t push through the weather.

Let’s be slightly negative for a moment and list some consequences of not pushing through the weather:

Losing Loyal Readers
Poor Reputation
Stagnant Growth

Wouldn’t you rather?

Gain Readers and Keep Them Loyal?
Develop a reputation as a leader in your Niche?
Have measurable growth?

The answers are obvious.

As the pilot-in-command of your blog, you are in the leadership position. You lead your readers to inspiration within your niche. You lead your readers through difficult times, rough topics, and personal problems.

It’s no longer acceptable to do things half cocked. It’s all or nothing, throttles to the firewall. It’s time to push through the weather.

How are you going to be a better P.I.C. for your blog?

Let’s face it, blogging with age makes us better at blogging

Alex — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:58:20 +0000

I realized something a while ago, and today I have decided to write about it. Janith and I have been managing Blogussions for almost 6 months now, and both of us have not only had a great time with it, but have became better at blogging in the process. The reason why I think that is is because of having this blog for so long, it just kind of grew on us.

Now, 6 months doesn’t seem like a long time for something right? I feel like that having a blog for 6 months is an absolute accomplishment on our part. Look at us, I am 15 and Janith is 16. We always find time to work between school, social lives, and updating our blog consistently. So with that being said, 6 months seems like a long time doesn’t it? At least it is for blogging, since most blogs today don’t last longer than a few weeks.

Online, having age on anything is always preferred. Domain age, blog age – it all matters because of how it benefits you. Even having a blog for a whole month is a very long time, considering the ridiculously low lifespan of a blog today. With a sense of accomplishment, comes a sense of pride – the best kind of feeling a blogger can feel.

Phrases you will hear from proud, accomplished bloggers

I have noticed, and even used a few common phrases that indicate how proud we are of our blog. I see them a lot, and I am sure if you have had your blog for even a week or two that you have used at least one of these below:

“I have been blogging for X months now, and…
If someone asks you your favorite thing about blogging, or how you first got started blogging, I am sure that somewhere in your answer you will include how long you have been blogging for. Even if it only be for a week or two, I feel that it really says a lot about you if you include how long you have been blogging as any kind of response.
“Back in February, I wrote about…”
“I’ve talked about this in the past…”
Both of these sayings are used when we are referring to an older post on our blog. Now, I don’t know if it’s just me, but the fact that we tend to include the specific date opposed to just saying “the past” sometimes is, again, really showing off our pride for the blog.
“Back when I first started doing…”
A common saying that a lot of use to indicate when we started our blog. You can usually see this phrase in use when you are outlining something that you have personally been through like the mistakes you made, the things you didn’t know, and hardships of your blog. That was all in the past, and that all refers to your blogging age.
“I realized something a while ago”
Look familiar? It is the very first sentence of this post. This one I think shows the most pride out of any of the ones I listed above because it basically says that you have learned something about your niche that you didn’t know before, and you are now going to talk about it. It’s kind of like how in real life when we learn how to do something like ride a bike, or learn how to swim; we inadvertently brag about it.

Do you agree with me that by us saying those on our blogs, we are admitting how proud we are about our blog? What phrases do you often use to show off the age of your blog?

With Age Comes Authority, and Labeling

Once we really get far into our niche, we have wrote about a ton of topics and think we have become really knowledgeable. It’s very true, and usually if we write good content we will become a top blog in our niche, and that means we have a lot of authority.

But of course, it is possible that we get ahead of ourselves and start using labels. We may call ourselves “gurus”, “pros”, “masters”, “leaders”, etc. Age does bring a lot of great things I have said, but it is always possible for us to get ahead of ourselves. Really, anything good can turn out bad due to ego building.

How old is your blog?

So, how old is your blog? How proud of you of your blogs age? Let’s talk about it all, and even where you think your blog will be in the next month, if your blog is going to be there next month!

Don’t you just love that image by James Woldhuis?