The biggest piece of advice I offer new or prospective bloggers is simple: the best way to grow a successful blog is to be willing to experiment, try new things, take risks and learn by doing.

That may mean that you start multiple blogs as you get closer to discovering what you’re really passionate about, or it may mean that your site goes through a metamorphosis over time.

And that’s how it should be!

Rather than holding back because you don’t have the technical or design skills to customize your blog or the money to pay someone else to do it, pour yourself into the content and learning more everyday.

Your skills will grow over time through doing, and you’ll be in a much better place in six months if you’ve been learning and discovering and trying all that time then you will be if you’ve allowed yourself to remain stuck by perfection paralysis.

Last week, Amy from Blogging with Amy talked about knowing when to declare blog bankruptcy. There’s nothing wrong with quitting a blog when it’s not working for you, reinventing an existing blog or starting a new blog as your passions and focus shift.

I speak from experience! Here’s a look at the evolution of my blogs over time:

Family News

I started my first blog in 2004, before the birth of our oldest daughter, solely as a means of keeping friends and family updated. Those early years include lots and lots of pictures, cute stories and memorable phrases with plenty of introspection thrown in.

Doodles' Place, Take 1

In early 2008, I discovered this idea of “professional” blogging after I stumbled across Money Saving Mom. My first attempt at a professional mommy blog included this very green site….apropos, no?

(It didn’t quite look like this at the time, but at some point after I moved from Blogger to my own domain, it stopped working correctly, and I never had a reason to fix it!)

Transcription Talk

At about the same time, Shaina, Tara and I also started a general transcription blog. We learned a lot through running this blog but eventually walked away from it because the niche was so small that we really weren’t seeing much income from it, especially by the time we split the earnings by three.

Doodles' Place, Take 2

Eventually, I moved Doodles’ Place to its own domain and gave “mommy blogging” one more shot before realizing that my heart just really wasn’t in it.

In December of 2008, I launched Organizing Your Way, a blog I’d been thinking about for many months and the one that would eventually make doing this full time possible.

I am so sad that I cannot find a screenshot of Organizing Your Way before the expansion to Life…Your Way. It played such a pivotal role in my journey as a blogger that I’m disappointed not to have a record of it for posterity’s sake!

Life...Your Way

In September 2010, I expanded Organizing Your Way into Life…Your Way as we know it.

Life…Your Way is still undergoing a metamorphosis — that will continue as long as it’s around — as I work toward my vision for 2012 and beyond, hence the double social media icons (for now!), but I hope it’s here to stay!

Jungle Deals & Steals

And then, most recently, my mom and I launched Jungle Deals & Steals. Of all my launches, it was the smoothest, helped by years of experience not just with the technical side of things but also with knowing what I wanted from the beginning!

How has your blog(s) changed over time? Is perfection paralysis stopping you from getting started?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

The Evolution of a Blog is a post from Life...Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Blogging Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

The following post is from James of Google+ Tutorials:

Source:Google

As many of you know, I primarily blog on a blog that I co-founded called GPlusTuts. From that you might gather that I am quite passionate about Google+.

Actually I have been passionate about Google+ for quite a while now, from the moment it was released in fact, as I did and still do truly believe that Google is finally going to crack the social network market.

Well, Google+ is gathering momentum and attracting crazy amounts of new users every single day and although I have been on Google+ right from the very beginning, it’s only recently I have realized it’s true potential when it comes to sharing (and finding) great content.

You see, Google+’s main user base right now is enthusiastic people who are excited about the new social network, want to see it flourish and are spending large amounts of time consuming and sharing great content. If you are someone who puts out great content on your blog, does this seem to you that there might be a decent opportunity here?

Here are the steps that I would recommend taking to get involved with Google+ and get your content out there.

Get Your Profile Set Up

If you haven’t already, join Google+, once you are there make sure that you have a good quality profile. Upload a nice picture of yourself, give a succinct explanation of who you are, what you are about and the sorts of things you are going to be posting about. This will make a big difference when it comes to people deciding whether to circle you or not! Who wants to follow someone who can’t be bothered to fill in their profile, right?

Make Some Connections

It is most likely that you already know some people that are on Google+ already, which is great. The more people you can reach the better though, and there are ways that you can make connections with a lot of people who are relevant to your interests very quickly. My friend and co-founder of GPlusTuts, Dustin Stout, has developed a process called the “Gather, Rinse and Repeat” for making new and valuable connections on Google+.

I have been using it for the last week, and the amount of people who have circled me has tripled. Plus, I have as a result ended up circling a load of new people who are posting some amazing stuff that is of interest to me. Daily I go on to Google+ and get to interact with new friends and get constantly inspired to write new content to my blog by what other people are posting. It truly is a win-win situation!

Stop Posting From Twitter

What?! That’s right, you heard me! Stop posting from Twitter!

A short while ago I discovered a little tool from the guys at ManageFlitter which allows you to send all public posts on Google+ from Twitter also. Since then,  I have pretty much posted everything from Google+ and duplicated to Twitter. This saves me time, but also means that I might get some extra traffic to my Google+ profile from Twitter users – as longer posts get shortened for Twitter with a link for the full post on Google+.

This step is by no means necessary but if it’s something you will find handy – check out my tutorial on how to use the ManageFlitter tool on GPlusTuts.

Post Your Awesome Content

Great content spreads like wildfire on Google+. So,  make sure that you post some awesome stuff. Obviously, you can post links to your blog posts, but why not post some other, perhaps shorter, insights throughout the day? You can either share these publicly or to relevant, targeted circles who you know are going to appreciate the topic of the content you are putting out.

Personally, I am currently running an experiment by blogging about my weight loss journey purely through YouTube and Google+. Some people might see this as strange, but why not? Google allows the flexibility to post long posts with formatting to an extent, photos, video, etc – what more could you want? Plus, Google+ posts show up in Google search results, and from what I have seen they seem to rate really well. Don’t miss out – experiment today!

Realize The Power of +1′s

Google is getting serious about using Google+ data for general Google search. Heck, they recently released a feature which literally fuses the two together.

I highly recommend that you get a Google +1 button (which is Google’s answer to Facebook Like) on your blog ASAP! There are various plugins around – or you can get code directly from Google.

I hope that that gives you some helpful tips to get started and be as effective as you can be on Google+. I really think that it is a great social network for bloggers to interact with their communities, share great content, find great content, and forge valuable relationships.

Where are you at? Do you use Google+ already? Are you planning on using it? What are your feelings about Google+?

	James Brooks is a professional blogger and social media consultant based on the South West coast of England. As well as being a co-founder of Google+ Tutorials James also enjoys blogging about tea, food, and technology.

See Your Content Spread On Google+ is a post from Life...Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Blogging Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

source: ThisIsIt2

I’ve been blogging in this space — first Organizing Your Way and then Life…Your Way — for over three years now, and there are some great posts in the archives that don’t get much attention anymore. This week, I’ll be sharing some of my favorites. Whether you’ve been around since the beginning or are a new reader, I think you’ll enjoy them!

Why do you blog?

Defining your goals and identifying strategies to achieve them is just as important for your blog as for any other area of life. Today, as part of the Maximize Your Blogging series, we’re going to look at the importance of setting goals and making a plan to take your blog to the next level.

1. Identify the purpose of your blog.

There are dozens of reasons people blog, and identifying which ones motivate and drive you to keep writing and publishing your words is an important part of goal setting.

Do you blog as to keep a record of your family memories? Because you hope to one day secure a book deal? As a creative outlet? To earn money? To share a message? As a ministry? To connect with other people and build community? For another reason?

You may have answered yes to more than one of these, but keep in mind that if you try to claim all of them as your purpose, your efforts to work toward achieving each of them will be diluted. It’s better to choose just a couple core purposes and focus on those rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

2. Define your vision.

Once you’ve identified the reason you blog, think through your vision for your site. Do you want it to become an accepted authority in its niche, like Simple Mom? Do you want to build a community where your readers interact with each other on a personal level and develop real friendships? Do you want to earn a full-time income?

Sit down and dream about what you’d ultimately like to achieve with your blog. This vision will help you stay passionate about blogging and meeting your goals even when you’re tired and don’t feel like writing. It may change over time, but it gives you something to work toward and helps you decide between various activities, posts and opportunities that come along.

3. Set short- and long-term goals.

Now that you’ve defined your vision for your blog, it’s time to set some goals to help you move toward that vision. What would you like to achieve by the end of this month? In three months? In six months? By the end of the year?

Set goals for traffic, content, networking, comments, advertising, other revenue and more. Although I haven’t read this book, I love the title, and I think it’s true for blogging as well: If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere Else.

Setting goals doesn’t mean there’s no room for changing your mind or going in a different direction; it means you have something to work toward. We all adjust our goals as we grow, learn more and react to a changing industry, but it’s important to always have goals that you’re aiming for.

4. Think through strategies to achieve your goals.

Setting goals for your blog is not enough. Next, identify strategies and activities to help you achieve them. If you want to increase your readership, how will you attract readers? How will you keep them? If you want to be featured on a local or national news program, what steps will you take to get their attention?

There are thousands of different things you could be doing today to take your blog to the next level, but obviously it’s not feasible to do all of them. Instead, identify your most important tasks — plugins you want to install, series/posts you want to write, other bloggers you want to connect with, etc. — and keep a running list that you can work from as you have time. 5.

5. Make time for your blog.

How you spend your time should reflect your priorities in life. Maybe your blog is just a hobby, and the time you spend on it when life gets busy reflects that. But if you’re blogging as a business — or even as a ministry — you may need to prioritize the time you spend blogging. I don’t mean neglecting your children or husband to pour hours and hours into your blog, but you should set aside scheduled time each day to write content and work on the tasks you outlined above.

In most cases, you can easily see the difference between a hobby blogger and a “professional” blogger. While there’s nothing wrong with blogging just as a hobby, if your vision and goals are to be a problogger, you will need to make a commitment to your blog and invest more time in it.

Why do you blog? What other tips do you have for setting goals for your blog?

	Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life…Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Maximize Your Blogging: Set & Work Toward Goals is a post from Life...Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Blogging Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

The following post is from James of Google+ Tutorials:

Source:smileham

We are now well into 2012, the Christmas music has stopped playing; the Christmas tree is a distant memory; we have already broken our new year’s resolutions, and the stores are now selling Easter eggs.

One thing that I wish for all of you this year is huge success with your blogs. I truly believe that success is much less of a science than many would make you believe, and I am confident that whatever your blogging goals are for this year, you can most certainly reach them!

Here are some thoughts that I have about being successful this year with your blog:

Define Success

Every one of us are going to have different goals this year when it comes to our blogs. For some, it will simply be about increasing the number of readers we have.  For others, it might be to make a few extra dollars every month to treat ourselves with, and for others it could be the more serious goal of earning a full time income from our blogs by the end of the year.

Let’s not go at this year blind and confused.  Whether you blog for fun, profit or both, define success for your blog this year. Write it down and reflect upon it. This will give you something to work towards and might help you make some important decisions when certain situations arise surrounding your blog throughout the year.

Be Consistent

Do what you do and do it consistently. Anyone is capable of creating awesome content that they are passionate about, but most people haven’t got the self control and organizational skills to put that content out consistently. This is such an important factor when it comes to the success of your blog.

Be realistic about how often you can put out a quality blog post and stick to that posting schedule. Then everyone knows what to expect. If you are sloppy and posting 10 posts one week and none the next, readers won’t feel secure and may not stick around. You need to build a brand that people can rely on and feel secure associating with.

Engage With Your Community

Don’t just see replying to a couple of comments on your blog as quality engagement with your community. Make an effort to interact with the people who make your blog what it is, and who are going to continue to make your blog a success. Tweet with them, hangout with them on Google+ from time to time, seek them out! Guest post on their blogs, offer them the opportunity to guest post on yours. Build valuable relations.

Don’t Give Up

Though this may sound like a huge generalization, I do believe that the main reason that a few win and most fall by the waste side is that most give up.

Building a successful blog isn’t always easy, and there will be times you will feel like giving up. Whether through lack of readers, lack of inspiration, or lack of income, don’t give up. The winners never give up, even when it feels rough.

I wish all of you the best with your blogs this year. It is going to be an exciting year for those who are ready to take up the challenge and “keep on keeping on”.

Here at Blogging Your Way we want to do everything we can to help you have success with your blog in 2012. Therefore I want to leave you with one question at the end of this post:

What topics can we cover here at Blogging Your Way this year to support you in your blogging efforts? 

	James Brooks is a professional blogger and social media consultant based on the South West coast of England. As well as being a co-founder of Google+ Tutorials James also enjoys blogging about tea, food, and technology.

Blogging Success for 2012 is a post from Life...Your Way

© 2010-2012 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Blogging Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.