300 Days of Blogging

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#the warrior path #blogging #journey
  • If I may;

    I too blog.

    I've found that producing a really great piece of content and then promoting it until it's successful is the way to go.

    I've found that, producing more content, was not as successful as producing less, but promoting more.

    Just my findings.
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    • Thank you for the input!

      I agree that promoting your content is just as important, if not even more important, than producing it. And I will be promoting my content too. Your findings just emphasized that point for me.

      Here's why I still believe this challenge is beneficial:

      1) Writing 500 words is not exactly spending all day writing. I haven't noted how much time I have spent so far, but it's definitely less than one hour a day.

      2) I want to improve my writing. I'm not exactly stoked about my level right now. How do I get better? I write. Every day.

      3) More content can also be used for promoting my blog. Distribution, guest posts, etc.

      Cheers,

      Mathias
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    • Enfusia I am curious though. Do you see any correlation with more content helping or would it be possible from your stand point that even with a just a few great posts you could pull in a lot of traffic?
    • I agree. One great piece of content promoted well can go much further than 100 average pieces of content with very little promotion.
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    • I was taught by a good mentor in my early blogging days that for every hour I spend creating a piece of content, I should spend 8 to 10 hours promoting it. I didn't follow that advice initially, and that was a huge mistake. I now try to spend about 10:1 ratio and it has led to a lot more traffic, leads and sales.

      Great content is just the beginning, not the end goal. You must equally committed to promoting and marketing that content. Just my two cents.
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  • I want to commend you on your challenge and progress. I understand that a good writer can write a 500 word article in 15-20 minutes, so the time you spend on this isn't the issue.

    Your challenge is being consistent and improving your skills. I need to do the same thing. Inconsistent is my middle name. I can only guess where I would be if I had just written one article a day, 5 days a week when I first got started. I would have quite a PLR library set aside.

    Thanks for keeping us updated. I'll be watching and encouraged by your success.
  • Try writing more. A few years ago I was in The Keyword Academy. I think I averaged 8,000 words a day. They had a thing for logging our daily totals, which was really motivating. I even broke my keyboard.

    Sure, half of what I wrote was junk but I launched a whole load of niche sites that kept generating money year after year.
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    • I also use the free WordFence firewall to protect my sites. I had over 500 attacks one day on one site in just 12 hours. Wordfence automatically banned and blocked the ips for 30-60 days each, depending on the offence. I have never had a successful hack since I started using it.

      I also use a 404-301 plugin so when someone misses a page, it takes them to either the home page. Some people send it an opt-in form, sales page or squeeze page. Sometimes they say "I'm sorry, we couldn't find that page, but you here is ....."
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  • I hope this doesn't sound presumptuous - but as a full-time freelance writer, I tend to write around 500 words per 30 minutes, including researching the keywords needed. In order to pay the bills, I need to write (churn out) at least 7 or 8 articles per day for various Warrior clients.

    That's 3,500 - 4,000 words per DAY on other people's keywords and topics just to pay the bills - either that, or I increase my rates to the point where no Warriors will bother to hire me any longer. Sad, isn't it? Everyone here wants super-cheap rates and lots of quantity, but not many are concerned about quality these days. Sigh. The trials of being a freelance writer when everyone's hunting for bargain pricing can be tiring. Then there's the issue of trying to keep up with writing for my own blog when I barely have the mental energy to keep going.

    So... a minimum of 500 words per day on your own blog. That's hard work when it's for your own blog. Not only does your content need to stay relevant, but you need to keep finding new topics to blog about for a consistent 300 days. Then you need to find time to promote those posts.

    Then there are those days where you have a cold, or your kids are at home at being just painful little wretches for six hours straight or your brain is so fried ... whatever other distractions you have going on in your life.

    I sincerely hope you achieve your goals. The biggest lesson I've learned writing full-time is consistency can be hard. Yes, there are days where you just don't feel like it. There are also days when you can't think of anything to write.

    You already said it best - even when you really can't find the motivation to keep going, the smallest push is usually enough to get the words flowing. Remember your own words on those difficult days. Just get started writing anything at all, Before you know it, your post is complete and you're done for the day!

    I wish you the best of luck.
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    • If you position yourself as a commodity, people treat you as one.

      If everyone here on WarriorForum wants cheap, and you do not, you might want to find other sources.

      There have been a few good discussions about writers positioning themselves better and/or competing in different arenas on WarriorForum. You might find them useful.

      I have been offered, on this Forum, articles at $5 for 400-500 word, $10 for 500 words, $17 for 500 words and $24 for 500 words. I bought 1 from all sources. The $17 was good enough to use as filler, the $24 was the best, good enough to use on my blog without changes, the other 2 not good for anything I do.

      The $17 guy, I ordered again. The $24 guy, I would have paid up to 4 times that, considered it a great bargain. (Outside the forum, if you came upon his site directly, the guy was selling them for more, from $35 and up for 500 words.

      This was a while ago, so their prices might have gone up. The point, on this Forum, the same month, there were different writing markets. I am willing to bet that there are different markets now.

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    • Thank you for the encouraging words BiancaRaven.

      I've had a cold for the last two days but somehow managed to write my daily words. I think this challenge thread helps a lot. Especially with kind posts like yours.

      I don't think I could do what you are doing, so hats off to you. Freelancing sounds like a rough environment. If you are doing 7-8 articles a day then you are leaps and bounds ahead of me when it comes to consistency and efficiency.

      But I'm getting there. Slowly

      Maybe you need to look outside the forum for clients willing to pay more? I don't know anything about freelancing so I guess you have already considered this

      I wish you all the success with your writing,

      Mathias
  • awesome...i too blog but i don't writer regularly, i had tried regularly to write on tech news niches but i am too lazy
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    • I've been there too. Plenty of times.

      I don't think you are lazy, you just need a better system. I can recommend a writing challenge if that is what it takes

      If you are struggling, it may also be because you have not found the right "fit" yet. I've started many failed websites, and most of them had this is common. I wasn't that interested in the topic.

      That's not to say that staying consistent is easy once you find something interesting. It's still hard. But when it's about something you care about, it's worth the hard work and struggle.

      Mathias
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  • Suiteup.

    There's the notion that content is king going around. By which, most people mean, among other things, that content has to be long and produced often and regularly.

    And someone's done 'studies' to show that articles with over X amount of words perform better in search engine results than articles with fewer than X words. X was around 1100 in one, around 2000 in another.

    If you have long articles, you have the opportunity to stick in many long-tail keywords, and, therefore, increase the chances that your article will show up high in results for many long-tailed keywords. Which, usually, means you get more visitors.

    However, it is possible to rank articles titles only at the top of the search.

    In addition, a bunch of people think that Google wants fresh content, no matter what. Which makes sense if you're dealing with news but does not make sense if you're selling, say, anything related to die-casting.

    And, some confuse Google showing their articles higher up the first few days after they get published with ranking higher and with 'a good strategy' for being in front of whoever they want to be in front of.

    For many, it is possible to be more profitable by sending visitors to the site via Facebook ads or some other type of advertising.

    If you really want to know what's the best approach for you, make a list of your skills and resources and activities you like/hate and study a few successful bloggers. Compare what they do against your list. If you like, incorporate. If you hate, toss (assuming you find enough activities/strategies/tactics you like to produce the kind of income you're after).
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    • I agree with all your points DABK.

      I actually read up on some basic SEO for 2018 just a few days ago. As far as I can tell, it boils down to:

      1) Have users spend more time on your page. A user spending a lot of time on your site means that the user found what she was looking for. Google likes that.

      2) Have a good click-through rate (CTR) on your search results. If people click on your link in the search results, Google considers this an indicator that your page is relevant to the search term.

      3) Write comprehensive, in-depth content. Your page should cover everything relevant to a topic so users do not have to jump to other sites to get the full overview. This means at least 2000 words as you also point out.

      4) Content and links are still key. SEO is still all about high-quality content with good backlinks.

      Other than that, you also need to seriously consider how your website loads and shows on mobile devices. Google is really looking to promote mobile friendly search results.

      Please note that I'm not interested in making this thread an in-depth SEO discussion. I only do some very basic SEO for my site and I believe beginners should use the same approach starting out. Feel free to disagree with views on SEO views. But if you want advanced SEO discussions, I suggest you head over to the SEO section. I won't be of much help

      I also agree that you should consider other options that just search rankings. Most of the money I've made has been from other traffic sources. Paid advertising being the top performer.
  • Thanks for your sharing, It's a good start for newbie.
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    • Thank you for reading.

      I'm glad you found it valuable. Make sure to stick around as I have much more to share
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  • Hi Mathias, this is a little similar to my challenge although I think you are way ahead of me. Is there any news on traffic yet ?
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    • Hello Dave,

      I just looked at your challenge. It looks like we have very similar goals when it comes to writing daily

      Best of luck with your challenge. I will be following your progress.

      My own site doesn't have any traffic worth celebrating just yet. Primarily some referral traffic from social media and email marketing.

      The site is not really set up to capitalize on any traffic yet so this is fine for now.

      I'm not looking for a quick success with this website (and I don't think anyone should with a blog). It's more of a long term project. I'm already making money from WSOs, so I don't need revenue to fuel this online adventure immediately.

      The plan is to use this site to expand beyond the Warrior Forum and also have some content to share with my customers and email list (it's nice to finally have something to mail about again).

      I hope this challenge will give me momentum to get the ball rolling for the website.

      - Mathias
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    • And, besides writing and posting for 78 days, what have you accomplished?

      I mean, what are the results of all this writing and posting?

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  • Sounds Good
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  • Congrats on your first 100 days Mathias! I've just completed 65 days since launch myself. I've been trying to follow the method of 20/80 whereby you focus on promotion for 80% of your time, which is actually starting to work pretty well for me - I even get top bloggers sometimes commenting on my posts now. I've just written a post on my favorite methods of driving traffic if interested:
    https://wordsbyjustin.com/ways-to-bo...ic-like-crazy/

    (Pardon the spammy looking title but I'm also experimenting with 'Listicles' )

    Justin
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    • Thank you, Justin.

      80/20 promotion-to-writing sounds like a good ratio. A lot of people have encouraged me to start promoting more and I'm starting to listen.

      Good luck with your blog,

      - Mathias
  • this is very important for all of us.
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  • this is a really difficult challenge - how do you come up with new topics all the time?
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    • Hello crackhouse,

      Thank you for checking out my challenge. It will be a difficult one to complete, but I'll have gained a lot even if I fail (I have gained plenty already and I'm not even halfway there).

      Getting ideas has been one of the more difficult challenges. Writing is really hard if I don't have a good idea to write about.

      Here are some of my previous posts about getting ideas:

      My writing system (idea generation included)

      A post about generating ideas.

      I hope this helps,

      - Mat
  • Thanks for inspiring me with idea of 500 words blog post for 300 days. I am joining you today for doing the same.
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    • Awesome. I'm glad if my challenge can inspire others to write more!

      Are you also doing a long challenge like me or just 500 words today? I'd love to follow your journey if you are documenting your progress here in the Warrior Path section.

      Anyway, thanks for the reply.

      Mat
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  • Hi Mat,


    I just found this thread and am curious:
    1. What is the marketplace (niche) of your writing?
    2. What is the purpose or mission of your blog?
    3. When do you plan to monetize your writing (or have you already)?
    4. Are you cross-linking and promoting individual posts (articles)?
    5. Is you blog like a diary (personal feelings, happenings, activities) or more like a "how to" or educational resource?
    The very best to you in this challenge.


    Steve
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    • Hello Steve,

      Thank you for visiting my thread - and for the encouragement. I'll do my best to answer your questions:

      1) I write about my internet marketing experiences and personal growth challenges that follow. This is really the only angle that has kept me hooked for a longer period of time.

      2) The purpose of my blog is to help other people make money from their websites. But I also write for myself. Writing down lessons, experiences and struggles can really help you deal with things.

      3) I haven't monetized the blog yet. I expect it will be a gradual process as I build out the website over time. I'm in it for the long term and it's not worth the effort to spend time monetizing yet as I need a bigger platform.

      4) Definitely cross-linking my posts. Whenever I refer to something I have already written about, I add a link to it. I link where it's natural. I've also done some guest posts on other sites linking back to my posts as I have written about earlier in the challenge.

      5) It's a mix. Posts should be educational and/or inspiring. But at the same time, I want to write about what interests me and from a personal standpoint. Writing general how-to guides bores me quickly. From a strictly marketing perspective, this may not be the ideal way to blog. However, I also want the personal benefits and joy of writing. I'm more focused on making money here and now through my marketing reports and other products.

      Thank you for the reply. I hope my answers satisfy some of your curiosity.

      Mat
  • Awesome challenge. Happy to see you are rocking it out.

    I was doing 20,000 words daily a few years ago when writing and self-publishing an eBook daily, in addition to client work and blog work. Now I am down to publishing 3 posts a day but do a bunch of writing via blog commenting. Best way to become a skilled blogger; write your booty off.
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    • Hey Ryan,

      Thank you for checking out my thread.

      Man, that's a lot of daily words. At times I wish I had your drive

      But as you say yourself, write to become better. That's the plan.

      Mat
  • Challenging yourself is so important. Keep us posted and let us know how it goes! We're all rooting for ya.
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    • Hey wirriam,

      Thank you for rooting for me. I'll do my best to not let you down

      Mat
  • Hey,
    First I like to mention that your an inspiration!
    Way to go.
    I like your honesty that even when you have your
    days when you don't follow through you share it,
    that takes courage.

    I really appreciate you, man.

    About taking more ideas I have a couple of suggestion for you.
    1) you can find some good Podcats like the school of greatness,
    gray v and many more.
    (if you want you can pm me and I will send you a big list
    of people that I follow)

    2)You can use blinkist which is an app a unique app for an audiobook.
    they give you the summary of the book with the keynotes of the book
    in just ten to 15 minutes.

    3) You can listen to Tony Robbins courses it will give some more inspiration on what to write.

    I started a Youtube channel not long ago and it really helps me to always find some more inspiration.

    (because I prefer to make a video, as you can see my English is not perfect but still working on it )

    And don't you get discouraged when there days that you don't do a thing.
    Because it happened to all of us even the greatest people, mentors etc...

    Just keep on going, and when it does happen to you try to learn from it. Observe what made you not do it. most of the time is the pain, pain that we associate with the action we do. but remember this and maybe it would help you, what is more, painful: do it or not do it? what will make you feel worse?
    I'm doing it with my business and that's what I did with my weight (I was around 240 pounds).
    It helps me get up every time. (Won't lie I got those days as well, but this tool help me to see progress
    and to follow through)

    Hope that helps.
    To your success,
    Eden.
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    • Hello Eden,

      Thank you very much for the kind words and tips.

      1) I'll try listening to more podcasts. Thanks for the suggestions

      2) Yeah, blinkist is a nice app for brief book summaries. I use it from time to time. I've actually used it to find books too.

      Mistakes, failures, bad days, setbacks, etc., happen and we should learn from them. I completely agree. It doesn't help to feel bad or punish yourself. Ups and downs happen.

      I feel like you when it comes to doing vs not doing. Working may feel difficult at first, but when I complete a task I feel so much better that I ever could if I just avoided it.

      Doing meaningful work beats any Netflix series or computer game (although I make time for these things too. You can't work all the time).

      Best of luck with your channel,

      Mathias
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  • I wish you all the luck !
    Remember: Self-discipline = Success !
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    • Thank you Shana!

      Thank you patrickvfisher!

      Funny you mention self-discipline. I've just been thinking about discipline for the last few days (and the idea that "discipline equals freedom" from the Extreme Ownership book).
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  • Keep going and get successful by making the shit done.
  • I'm on my 100 day motivation challenge to start writing 500 words a day for 1 year.



    To be serious, I highly appreciate you sharing your story here. That's what I'm planning to do for many years.
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  • There's immense value in blogging given that, for years now, SEO practice has revolved around the saying, "Content is King." This means that what really gives a site authority, and what attracts viewership and generates leads, is frequently publishing content that viewers want to read. Blogs still serve as one of the most effective ways to communicate valuable content to viewers, but only if they're interesting, informative, and engaging. Consider: 140 million people read blogs in the United States alone.
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    • Doing my best

      Best of luck with your challenge Jegor. And thank you for checking out mine.

      Indeed. Content is my first priority. Once I have learned how to consistently product it (with sufficient quality), I can start thinking about other things - like monetization, collecting leads, and getting more traffic through marketing.

      ---

      Thank you all for the feedback and thoughts. Really appreciate it.
  • Setting a challenge and then declaring it in public is a great motivator - well done!


    Curious, how have you found it and are you still keeping up with the posts?
  • That sounds like the Jerry Seinfeld method of being consistent. He has a calendar on the wall and marks an X on each day when he has done some writing.


    Funnily enough he has said that he never invented this method, but it's still know as the Seinfeld method.


    Whoever invented it, it's very effective.
  • How much you have made out of blogs. I am really interested to listen more this.
  • thank you all for the valuable information
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    • You are on point, that's exactly the method that inspired me. I even have monthly calendars with days marked and all!

      The method works wonderfully well. Once you reach a streak of a few days, you are much more motivated to not break the chain. (For anyone interested, search "Jerry Seinfeld method" on Google and you'll see what it's all about.)

      Thank you for your interest. I have not monetized this blog so the direct revenue number is at zero still.

      Thank you for reading and commenting!
  • Thanks for your sharing.

    Great work and keep it up!
  • Thank you for your sharing.

    That is an inspiration to me and others.
  • So inspirational journey. I am learning the patience from you.
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    • I'm glad you enjoy the challenge. Thank you for the nice words
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  • Great Journey! I really want to know what this challenge has done for you traffic? Do you see a huge increase?
  • How much have you spent so far?
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    • Thank you for following the journey GiorgioGD I have not really focused on traffic and as the challenge started with a completely new site, the traffic results are still quite low.

      So if your goal is mainly traffic, I would not recommend this challenge

      Very little. I already had hosting so I think I have only spent money on the domain name so far.
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  • consistency is the key man even though you are not great at it in the beginning! Great job by the way
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    • Indeed. It's all about tiny steps and small wins every day.

      Thanks for the reply.
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    • Congrats. You're Awesome!!
  • That's a rough mountain to climb so I'm going to climb it with you.

    I'm blogging everyday in 2019, NO MATTER WHAT!

    Even if I'm sick with the flu and in jail. I'll still going to, somehow get to the infirmary, then finesse the nurse, to get me into the library so I can post to my blog.

    No BS Mindset In 2019!
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