5 Tips to Be a Successful Freelance Blogger Today

5 Tips to Be a Successful Freelance Blogger Today

Okay so, the last few days, our man André has been posting and asking about starting his first blog. And I wish more people would post questions like he asks as people that ask questions are people that get answers and answers beget knowledge and knowledge is power!

Anyway, his posts made me think about what it might take to start and run your own freelance blog today. And not just any old blog but an actual successful and popular and thriving blog! Especially when in order to really stand out from the crowd and be unique today does take some doing. The competition can be fierce for a freelance blogger and it can take a lot of work and heavy lifting on your behalf on your own!

But it can also be fun at the same time! And of course, if it all pays off in the long run be very richly rewarding as well! Whether you're starting your own freelance blog or you're running a niche blog on something very specific, your main intention will be to make money with that blog so you don't want to put in a lot of work and get nothing back from your work, time and troubles!

So if you're starting off in blogging for the first time, here's some newbie blogging tips you would do well to learn to be a Successful Freelance Blogger.

Tip 1: Find Your Niche
As a blogger, you'll need to know about what to write about in order to post blog posts that are informative and knowledgeable to the reader. It doesn't mean you should only blog in niches you are knowledgeable in, as you can learn a lot of stuff as you go, but it will help if your blog is based on something you're already knowledgeable in.

When you know what things you're most knowledgeable in, it will help you to better research and come up with new ideas for blog posts and ways in which you can network with other blogs and build a name for yourself in your corner of the blogosphere! Once you've decided on a niche, you'll want to follow leading blogs in that niche and other sites based on those subjects.

• Subscribe to their RSS feed and Newsletters.
  
• Follow them on their Social Media sites.
  
• Email them and just tell them you like their blog.
  
• Add them on Skype or Facebook as a friend.
  

This will help you to be able to keep a finger on the pulse of what is trending in your niche and make it easier for you to publish posts about the latest happenings and things going on in that niche. That will make it much easier for you to stay updated about that niche market and learn how to tap into it by seeing how those other blogs are tapping into it! Kapeesh!?

Tip 2: Build Your Brand
Running a professional and successful blog can carry a lot of weight with your readers and other bloggers in that same niche or any blogging niche for that matter. When you run your own blog, you can use it as a tool to show off your writing skills and all the things you know about. And in fact a blog is one of the best ways to do that as it leaves you free to say and post whatever you want.

But more than this, running a blog on something you really care about and have a passion/interest in will help you to learn more about it and stay dialed into whatever is hot, hip or trending in that niche market. Plus the more you write about it, the more you'll become a professional and expert in that niche as well amongst all your readers and other bloggers in that niche market.

Running your own blog is a great way to promote yourself as a writer or SEO/SMM whatever! But you will of course need to grow as well. A blog is a brand and like any brand, it needs to grow online too. So you'll want to start reaching out and creating homes on social media social networking sites and posting all your blogs posts to them and then working on promoting them all as well.

And you'll need to network with other people as well. Build links and get advertising and links, guest posts etc from blogs in the same niche as yours. And build high quality backlinks at least every now and then. You can make some backlinks really powerful as you know as I've shared on here recently how to make really powerful backlinks on social media sites, web 2.0, forums etc etc.

Tip 3: Blog Like a Boss!
Some people say that blogging is hard work. But how hard is it to do some research and write some articles? One of the best things about blogging is not only how rewarding it can be, but how easy it can be as well. And once you've finished your latest blog post, and you've shared it across all your social media sites. You are free to work on new blog posts and do other promotion and SEO, link building etc.

But one of the things that will help to make your freelance blog a truly successful freelance blog, is when you work on it like a boss! Most bosses got where they are by working hard. They start off as a grunt and work their way up. That's sort of how it will be for you as a freelance blogger. You'll start off as a nomark at first. But through dedication, through blood, sweat and tears, you can slowly start making a name for yourself and establishing yourself as an expert freelancer. You'll only be able to do this through posting expert blog posts that make people go wow! Instant like and subscribe!

Tip 4: Work Like a Boss!
As a freelance blogger, you'll be blogging about the freelance industry, and you'll also be blogging about the freelance jobs that you can do. And when someone hires you for one of your services, you'll need to work on it like a true boss! You'll need to make sure that you do all your clients work to an extremely high standard and treat them as they are royalty. I know you already know this but it's more for those that don't.

This will keep your clients happy and have them not only coming back for more, but also recommending their family and friends of you as well. If you go beyond the estimated time of completion. And don't update your clients all the way, they'll get the impression that you don't care about them and it's likely that you wont hear from them again as they'll go elsewhere!

Blogging like a boss means

• Being highly relevant in your blogs posts.
  
• Posting the latest news and tips on freelancing.
  
• Posting the latest freelance jobs and services.
  
• Always sticking to and meeting your clients deadlines
  
• Always settling on any important and small details well in advance.
  
• Never selling yourself short or too cheaply!
  
• Literally doing the best you can do and making a good name for yourself.
  

Tip 5: Expanding and Networking
Every successful blog of today has many other blogs that they network with. "Networking" could mean something as simple as getting a simple link on someone else's blog to yours. Or getting a full blown shebang guest post. You'll need to do this as not only will it help you build related links to your site/blog which will help your rankings, but also help boost and bolster your credibility and trust factor as well.

Nobody likes to buy something from some blog that nobody has heard about and one that nobody is linking to or isn't established on any social media sites. So in order to grow and expand your freelance blog, you'll need to reach out to other freelance bloggers in your niche. Trust me when I say that most freelance bloggers will LOVE to hear from you and be interested to hear your "pitch".

And doing that is so easy! Just search in Google for "freelance blog" or something of the sort, then make a list of all the blogs you find and their contact details. Go through them and contact them and ask if you can write for them or if they want to write for you. Make a note of all those that do and don't and keep doing this regularly and it can have a profound effect on your rankings and credibility!

Of course, you could always get someone to do that for you as well. You could create a WTB request on here asking someone to do it for your blog and pay them for each guest post deal they get you based on the quality of the site they got it on.

There are many many ways to expand and network today. Whether just searching in Google for similar blogs, making new contacts or even friends and getting to know those other bloggers. Or just searching on social media sites like LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter etc. Follow those people! Talk to them! Make yourself known to them! Find out what makes them tick! Subscribe to their blogs and keep them close to you!

By doing so you will get to learn about all the things that those other bloggers are blogging about that is hot in the freelance industry right now which will give you an endless stream of ideas and inspiration for your own blog posts and things and ways to make money from your blog too.

Okay so that's my 5 tips on how to run and be a successful freelance blog and freelancer blogger today. The great thing is, if you're already an experienced succesful dojo freelancer, you'll probably be able to make it as a freelance blogger too!

As always I hope you'll like this and find it useful.

Whether you're André or just anyone that is thinking about it!

Let me know if you have any questions on anything said here.

And if you have any more freelance blogging, or just blogging tips feel free to share.

Thanks and to your success!

Mike.