It might seem like the “it” bloggers all have mad skillz: photography, writing, coding, design, x-ray vision. Okay, maybe not that last one, but they do have special vision. The best bloggers out there have a knack for spotting the next big thing. Sometimes something becomes popular because they champion it, but mostly these guys (and gals) just seem to have an eye for trends and they know where to look.
Though there is a bit of talent involved in that, most of the skills needed to develop this market insight can be learned. It takes time and experience. The good news on this is that time moves fast in the blogosphere. Six months here is like five years in the “real world,” so you won’t have to toil for long. Remember your high school teachers or your parents telling you that you just needed to apply yourself? Well, I’m going to tell you the same thing. Except, in this case, it’s going to have nothing to do with quadratic equations.
Back to the list of mad skillz. It is not actually necessary to have or acquire all those skills to be a successful blogger. It sure can help, but the key to being successful in blogging is the same as the key to being successful in business. A great businessman knows his weaknesses and hires people for whom these weaknesses are strengths. I am not suggesting that you hire a photographer, writer, programmer, designer and a superhero. At some point you might need to do just that, but for the most part all you need to do is use the internet – and the resources available therein – to pick up where your skills drop off.
This might be getting a bit fuzzy, so let me give you an example. My passion is writing. It always has been and it always will be. I also enjoy computers, but have had no formal training in any coding languages. Despite that, I am now fluent in SQL and HTML and can fake my way through writing a PHP document if necessary. All of this was possible because of the internet. I knew what I wanted to do, I searched for it, found a “how-to” and then I did it. With the internet so readily available, there has never been a better time to become a self-taught whatever-you-want-to-be.
Sometimes there are bumps in the road and you have to ask for help. So just ask. With social networks being as busy as Macy’s on Christmas, you should be able to find someone willing to give you some advice or help you work out a problem. It might seem scary to just ask someone you have never met for help. Well, get over it. Would you rather spend a week and $2,000 on a web design course or politely ask someone on a design forum what he/she thinks about purple and orange together? Just understand that most people with big knowledge have full schedules. So don’t get pissy or offended if you don’t get what you need right away. And the more you do this, the easier it will become to approach new people.
As for the x-ray vision, like I said, this skill can be developed. It takes work to strengthen your insight muscle, but you must do it or you will constantly be playing tag-along to the popular bloggers. And nobody reads a “me too!” blog for very long. Insight allows you to write unique, original posts and implement new tools that no one else has seen. You can be the first one blogging about the greatest new social network, but you need to first be able to figure out if it is, in fact, great. As you are starting out with this, you may make a few wrong moves. Don’t sweat it. Everyone makes mistakes.
The only time it really isn’t okay to make a mistake is when you are endorsing products, services or anything else that requires money. It is one thing if you say that the new YouLikeYourFriendsAndMyFriends social networking service is excellent and tell everyone to sign up (for free), but it is completely another when you endorse a $99 ebook that you have never read and turns out to be a piece of sh!t. These are the actions that will give you a bad reputation very quickly. When it comes to asking people to part with their money, never shoot from the hip. Do your research and tell the truth. It’s better to have wasted your money than wasted your credibility.
What it really comes down to is a willingness to work hard. You need to work hard to acquire or use the skills that you can. You need to work hard to find others to fill in for skills you are missing. And you need to work hard to stay on top of the game so you’re not the last to know the next big thing. My advice, if you are just starting out in a niche, is to focus on writing quality content. If you do your research and publish high-quality articles on a regular basis (preferably daily), you will learn enough about your market to truly have the insight you need to succeed. Once you have that insight, you’ll know what to do next.
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