Biggest mistakes i made in 2007
I made a lot of mistakes in 2007. I’m a newb so it makes sense that i goofed on a few things. I consider failure or mistakes as the best educational tool. The important thing is to fail and restart and keep pushing. Just don’t give up and you’ll win/success one of these days. I wanted other newbies to learn from my mistakes, so i’ll list se7en things i would do different if i could turn back time.
1. Don’t pay for shit
I paid for links on Text Link Ads. What a waste of money and what a terrible site. I mentioned this before but i want to mention it again cause it was money thrown away. I bought a link on tylercruz dot com and a few other medium and small blogs. I used the buy $125 worth of links for 25 dollars. Only reason i did it but still a waste of money. I think i got a total of around 30 visitors from that transaction. I almost paid a dollar per visit. Not good! I later reviewed tyler’s blog and he reviewed mine in return. That was free and it brought me more visitors. My point is, don’t spend money in the beginning, cause you’ll learn that there are plenty of free ways to get what you were trying to pay for.
2. Don’t wait or put off things
Joing affiliates and communities ASAP. It wasn’t until my third week that i joined mybloglog. And it wasn’t until a couple of weeks after that when i joined blogcatalog. These communities are crucial for developing relationships with other bloggers and for getting your initial free traffic. Join Digitalforum ASAP cause you’ll have to build up your status to be able to post anything good on their threads. You won’t be able to put your signiture or show off your blog until you pass the 7-14 day probation period. Don’t think you’ll become a better blogger and then start posting. It doesn’t work that way. You have to blog to become a better blogger. Learn as you go.
3. Get your own theme
Nothing says noob more then using a popular wordpress theme. If you customize it, you’ll look more professional. But if you really want to stand out, get your own unique wordpress theme. You can find a programmer to make one for you on scriptlance or elance. Don’t do this until you get more comfortable with these sites. First get a free theme and mess around with it. Then after a couple of months, use your earning to invest in a unique theme.
4. Don’t neglect your rankings
I guess it’s excusable cause i didn’t really know much about all the different ranking systems when i started. But even after i found out that technorati and alexa is important, i didn’t try to move up the ranks. I am now focused on upping all of my stats. Do so when you first start a blog.
5. Write Drafts
I didn’t start doing this until a month ago. If you hadn’t noticed, i have a lot of posts on this site. I wrote half of those on the fly. Do you know how stressful and time consuming that is. If you write drafts, you’ll have posts ready for weekends and holidays. You’ll also save time on days when you have writer’s block.
6. Don’t read the wrong blogs
3 months ago, I only knew of 5 make money blogs. Only 1 was really useful and the other four were informercials disquised as blogs. I got swept away by the picture of the large check. I loved reading about how easy it was to make money online. I was seduced. I continued to reference these wrong blogs. I should have researched more, and found smaller and medium blogs that actually gave practical and specific advice.
7. Don’t get Jealous
I’m a highly competitive person so i naturally compare my blog with others. I sometimes get jealous reading income reports or traffic reports. Instead of fueling me, jealousy got me a little down. I would lose confidence and thought about quiting a few times. Instead of getting jealous, get even. Be confident. Don’t lose hope and just keep changing it up. Continue to do things that bring in traffic and money, and change up on things that seem to hold your blog down. Don’t think that there are only a few pieces of this internet pie. There are billions of people who have never heard or blogging for money. Be the one to tell them about it. It doesn’t only have to be johnchow that cashes in on these people. You have to take on a different approach and work harder. Think of it as a large retail change vs your mom and pop shop. You have to give customer service cause you won’t be able to match the price or reach. Noob bloggers feel unnoticed and neglected by johnchow. Be there to comfort and personally help these people, and before you know it, you’ll have a small but loyal reader base.
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January 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
[…] Neonizer.net - Neonize Your Life wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt […]
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I believe you are the only money making blog I read, at least regularly. I am not interested in getting full on out there in the bloggy world making money, I am just interested in keeping my position as a personal blogger who has some post in between that make me a few bucks here and there. I know right now that my pagerank is 0, and I think it was -1 before.
I think qwith the way your blogging, you’ll “seduce” others into what you do as well, because you keep it real, and don’t sound like a broken record, like so many other blogs.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for the helpful tips. Although I am not really out to make money, I would like to up my traffic. Another good tip would be to take some time to choose a blog name, and to post your link policy.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
That jealousy is something I feel pretty frequently too. I’m working on trying *not* to see every other blogger as competition, but it’s tough.
Thanks for this list dude!
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Great tips man. I’ve been trying to start up a blog and I’m not sure what to use or what to write about, but I am highly interested in this world. I love this blog, I read it every day. Keep it up BloggerNoob!
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Great post.
Re #6, what are the blogs you think are worth reading?
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for the tips.
I am trying to soak up positive info to start 08 in the right way.
Happy new year.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Very insightful. Those are very hepful hints, thank you
January 4th, 2008 at 12:20 am
You have an interestingly honest approach to blogging I like. I didn’t have the privilege of reading about rankings when I first started mostly because I didn’t really have much time to commit to research. I thus was lucky to stumble upon Mybloglog and my journey began. I made some friends who bothered to let me know when something new came into the blogosphere like Entrecard. With all these working, my ranking gradually grew. I started blogging in Aug 07. My Alexa then was about 4.5 million, today its 700 thousand plus and dropping. Really refreshing and all without paying for any hype and just few posts. Whats my secret?…hmm
January 4th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Thanks for the tips. I grabbed MyBlogLog and BlogCatalogue because it intrigued me to see my avatar on someone’s site. I thought others might enjoy it as well. I have quite a few extra visitors from social networking sites, and have discovered some new blogs along the way. I’m getting some from StumbleUpon as well.
January 4th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Hey this is excellent advice. Two more that might be useful, get involved with Entrecard as soon as possible and Stumble early and often. Thanks for the post.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am
chica- wow. u flatter me. you really flatter me. you’ve left me speechless. without speech. thanks chica.
missburrows- yes. blog name is very important. what do you mean by link policy? like disclosure?
ton- yeah, the biggest challenge is with yourself. just don’t quit.
dceast- thanks for your kind words. hope to see ur blog up and running soon
tom- hmm. off the top of my head, doshdosh, but sometimes it gets pretty long and boring, garryconn is pretty good. bloggerunleashed is good. it all depends on your personal taste. oh yeah. johncow is good.
forest parks- merry new year to you too. no problem. hopefully you’ll start making some nice pocket change soon.
tondy- you’re very welcome tondy
felix- good to hear felix. thanks for saying i have an honest approach. i think it’s cause i don’t give a shit. don’t want to make this blog corny or i don’t want to be a kiss ass to other bloggers or visitors of this blog. just trying to be straight and keeping it real word up G
witchypoo- yeah, i should have mentioned that too. it’s fun to see your mug on someone else’s blog.
kexbrown- yup. entrecard is good. and of course stumble. thanks for the comment
January 4th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Awesome tips, especially number two. Thanks a lot, am on my way right now and signing up at MyBlogLog!
January 5th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
letmeinterpretyourdreams- you’re welcome, blogcatalog is better. so join that as well
January 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am
that was a very useful post, will be your loyal reader
January 27th, 2008 at 1:48 am
tondy- thanks tondy. i appreciate your support
February 24th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
You should add #8 - BE UNIQUE! Find something to set yourself apart and “brand” yourself to be all about that all the time. Sure you can be a “make money online” blog - but what’s your specialty? Niche sites? Adsense? Affiliate programs? eBooks? Audio or Video? Wordpress themes? There is always a way to be unique and be successful by setting yourself apart from the rest of the blogging world (100 million+ blogs and counting!).
February 25th, 2008 at 12:03 am
jtpratt- thanks for the add. yeah, in my next mistakes post, i will include ur suggested number 8. thanks
February 28th, 2008 at 2:39 am
[…] of noob blogs. I visit blogs of some of the people who left me comments and i still see the same mistakes i made when i was a noob. I know not everyone has the time to maintain a blog that makes money, but […]
February 28th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Am still fine-tuning my own to make more $$
February 28th, 2008 at 3:45 am
jewelle-
you’ll get there as long as you keep trying.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Unique tips, loved them. I think I’m in the same boat as Chica up there because I don’t think I can handle all-in niche blogging as a hobby. It’ll be like having a parttime job with a few thousand people out there judging you, don’t think I’ll survive. But you certainly did, congrats.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Great advice and suggestions! I am going to enjoy reading more of your Blog and learning from someone who has become a PRO!!!
Best,
Christine
May 12th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
“4. Don’t neglect your rankings”
how do you move up your ranking?
Thanks.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
crystal- i get your point, but the way i look at it…why not get paid for blogging. If you enjoy blogging(most days i do) wouldn’t it be a plus to get paid.
christine- i’m still learning as i go here, but thanks for your encouraging words
almakos- depends on what ranking system. for example, google pr- i think you need to slowly build up links to your site. Also, it helps to have a lot of posts. updating frequently and not being obvious with your link sales usually helps. alexa, it is also a combination of traffic and links, technorati, links…so basically, you need links, links, and more links.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:36 am
[…] made a lot of mistakes online. And i can tell you right now, i will make plenty more in the future. I like to stay positive. I […]
May 16th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
We hope to learn from your mistakes and not to make them in future.