Professional Blogging: Susan Getgood describes…
professional blogging as a blogger with “an interest in a subject…” to the point that the professional blogger, “has an interest, a professional objective, and a plan to achieve it.”
We’ve discussed the idea of planning more than once, on this blog. I recommend a plan – not always a full-blown business plan to get you started, but a plan that includes what you want to do, how you will do it, and why it’s worth doing. That goes for being a professional blogger, also. Planning is vital to your success. Those who stumble along without a plan…will be trailing behind those who sit down and think it through.
Susan rightly notes that blogging isn’t for everyone. While it helps connect you to a bigger network, if you blog consistently, and it can help establish you as a thought-leader, a blog requires almost daily attention. It’s not an “either/or” task – either I write today or I do my bookkeeping. Either I answer comments or I make phone calls. You must do both. Professionals know how important that is. You do what needs to be done, and blogging/answering comments should be a daily event – IMHO.
Susan gets into the nitty-gritty, which I’m not going to do, here, today. You should read her book and take note of her advice. She gives GREAT examples of success stories and outlines some ways others have tripped into professional blogging, almost by accident. Today, the landscape is full of bloggers trying to make money with their blog – forgetting that it isn’t the blog people will pay for.
It’s you. Your blog is you. Treat it with the care and attention it deserves, and you, too, can move into the realm of paid, professional blogger. Which has different meanings to different people, btw. Starting with this book will give you a leg up on your competition. Check out a review of the book here, and you’ll begin to understand.
Read chapter one of Susan Getgood’s book, Professional Blogging for Dummies (Wiley) and come on back to share your thoughts on what it teaches.
Come on back next Tuesday and I’ll discuss Chapter 2 – Finding Your Niche in the Blogoshere.
Related posts: