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58 Tips for Transforming Your Blog and Dazzling Your Readers
Let’s face it…
We’ve all been deceived.
Once upon a time, we looked at blogging and thought, “Oh, I can do that. Writing a few posts a week? Piece of cake.” From the outside, it looks so simple, so easy, so fun, and so we rushed off to start a blog of our own.
But then we get a rude awakening:
This stuff is complicated. Blogging isn’t so much about writing blog posts as juggling dozens of little odds and ends, all of them important, all of them demanding your attention, and all of them requiring you to learn something.
And it’s easy to drop the ball, so to speak, or even all of them. Not because you want to neglect anything, but because it’s too much to keep track of.
What you really need is a checklist of sorts – an itemized breakdown of everything you need to do to transform your blog and dazzle your readers. That way, you can stop trying to handle everything all at once and just go through it one step at a time.
So, that’s what I created for you. Here are 58 things you need to do, along with some links to help you learn how to do them well.
Enjoy. 
Suicide, Shame, and the Painful Truth about Accomplishing Your Goals
I was in agony.
Waves of pain unimaginable shot down my spine, causing every muscle in my body to contract as if I’d been shocked with 20,000 volts of electricity. My back arched up at an unnatural angle. My arms and legs began to shake.
One moment, I was on a webinar talking to a few hundred people about traffic, walking them through exactly how to build a popular blog. The next, everything went dark. I was still conscious, but just barely.
Underneath the layers of pain, I remember thinking, “You can’t pass out. You have to finish talking about how to build an email list.” Of course, the pain was so bad I’d forgotten how to freaking see, much less pontificate on the intricacies of opt in pages.
So, I stopped. I waited a few seconds. My vision slowly returned, and I was able to wiggle the mouse up to the “Mute” button again.
For the next several minutes, I just sat there, quivering and trying to catch my breath as waves of pain continued up and down my spine. Eventually, the pain receded somewhat, and I wiggled the mouse back up to the “Mute” button again.
“Sorry folks,” I said. “Looks like GoToWebinar is having some technical difficulties. Can everyone hear me now?”
They said they could. We finished the webinar. Immediately afterward, I went to bed and stayed there for the next 16 hours.
And the worst part?
It was a normal day. I’d nearly collapsed on several webinars, not just that one. You might’ve even been on one of them.
Part of me worried if I was about to die. Another part hoped I would, just to be free of the pain.
I was at the end of my rope. One way or another, things were about to change.
Hold on, though. Let’s back up a bit.
read more7 Ways to Fascinate Your Readers and Build a Hugely Loyal Following
Are you spellbinding?
Let’s be honest.
It’s a huuuuge challenge.
Probably the biggest challenge each blogger faces.
Because your readers suffer from many distractions.
Social media. Email. Other blogs. TV. Radio. Phone calls. Texts. A car driving past. People talking. Music.Thoughts popping up.
How the hell can you keep your readers spellbound?
How can you keep your readers glued to your content until your last sentence?
How can you keep them yearning for more?
It’s not easy.
But you can learn how to master the art of being fascinating. Enchanting. Captivating. Almost mesmerizing.
How?
You just need to understand the triggers to being fascinating. Once you apply these triggers, your readers will hang on to every word you write.
read moreThe Brad Pitt School of Blogging Superstardom
This is a guest post by Johnny B. Truant. Johnny is offering a great deal right now for anyone who hasn’t yet launched their blog or is looking to start a new one: Until November 30th, Johnny will set up your blog for free.
Let me ask you a question…
Do you think people would pay Brad Pitt $1,000 to fix a toilet?
Of course they would.
Because he’s Brad Pitt.
It doesn’t even matter if Brad knows how to fix a toilet. He’s Brad Freakin’ Pitt.
Thousands of people would pay simply to have him hang out in their bathrooms — and, honestly, probably break their toilets even further. They’d pay because Brad is famous, and fame makes us like people.
When we like people, we want to be around them… and then, if those likable people have products and services, we want to work with them and buy things from them.
read moreJoin Me in Las Vegas? I’ll Be Speaking at NMX 2013
Well, it finally happened.
For the first time ever, I’ve been persuaded to show my face in public. I’ll be speaking at New Media Expo 2013 in January.
Heaven help us all.
If you’re not familiar with NMX, still sometimes referred to as BlogWorld, it’s one of the two big conferences every year many of the big bloggers attend. It’s a fantastic place to network, as well as pick up tips from some of the smartest people online.
Get more info, along with a 10% discount, by clicking here.
I’ll be speaking about how to write viral posts. We’ll walk through three of my posts that have each gotten more than 100,000 visitors, and I’ll show you how I did it.
Also, depending on how many of you guys show, I’m pondering throwing a little party for Boost Blog Traffic readers. Nothing big, just a get-together so we can all gab a bit.
So, I guess that leaves only one question…
Who’s coming?
read more5 Steps to Creating an Everlasting Gobstopper of Traffic
Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Traffic that never runs out, just as the fictional candy never ran out in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Too bad it’s impossible.
Or is it?
Well, consider the evidence:
It happened here with our illustrious Jon Morrow. It happened here with Jennifer Gresham. It happened here with Corbett Barr.
In fact, you’ll find examples of it all over the web. Most popular bloggers can point to a handful of posts that people never stop talking about, that never stop getting traffic, and that never stop bringing them new fans. Traffic shot up, and it never quite came back down.
And the really good news?
The same thing can happen to you. Let’s talk about how…
read moreWhy Your Blog Is Going Nowhere (and the Truth about Getting Traffic)
Note from Jon: This is a post by Johnny B. Truant. Aside from being a close friend, he’s also one hell of a writer, and I don’t say that lightly. You should listen to everything he says, both here and on his own blog. In fact, do yourself a favor and grab his How to Be Legendary e-book. It’s free, and you can dissect everything he’s doing to learn the proper way to succeed online. Worth every minute.
Ever feel like your blog is stuck in quicksand?
You’re writing lots of posts. You’re promoting them. You’re responding to each and every commenter like they’re your best friend.
But it’s not working. The more you work, the harder you struggle, the deeper you sink.
Why?
Well, it might be a little tough to swallow, but here you go:
You could suck at writing.
That’s not the only reason people fail. Some people are just lazy, thinking it’s going to happen without doing any work. Other people never learn how to promote their posts. Still others are totally anonymous, and they need to improve their connections before they can succeed.
But there are also bloggers who do all of that right, and they’re still stuck.
They are working their butts off, doing everything imaginable to promote their blogs, and they’re even networking masters who know everybody, but they’re still failing. And it’s because they suck at writing.
Think about that for a second.
You build it and they come … but it sucks, so they leave.
And another potentially great blog bites the dust.
read more
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