As experienced bloggers we often look down our noses at some of the “silly” things newbies do, things that we did as newbies, too, we just don’t like to admit it. But now that we’re older and wiser, we’ve learned our lesson and wouldn’t be caught dead doing these things. But if we hadn’t done some of these “things” when we were newbies we wouldn’t be where we are today. Here are 5 steps a newbie blogger never misses – and maybe we should thank our lucky stars.
They’re So Easily Excited
We sit back and laugh at the newbies who buy up a dozen domain names at a time, push out three of four posts a day, and brag about their first two-dollar sale like it’s the most important thing that’s ever happened in the entire Internet Marketplace. What noobs they are!
But wouldn’t it be great to have that much excitement and enthusiasm again? To jump out of bed each morning and rush to your computer, eager to start another day?
More important, take a look at your own business. Where would you be today if you hadn’t approached your blog with excitement and enthusiasm in those early days? With everything there is to learn in the beginning, sometimes the only thing that carries you over the hurdles is your enthusiasm about building your business.
The real question is: How much better would your business be if, right this minute, you could get back that same level of excitement and enthusiasm you had when you were a newbie blogger?
They’re So Easily Distracted
Ahhh, those newbies. Show them a new $7 How To Make Money Blogging product and they snap it right up. Show them how to install and use Google Analytics and they’re staring at their stats all day. Give them a Twitter account and they start sprouting feathers. Newbies are so easily distracted!
Where would you be right now if you hadn’t been distracted by some of those Make Money Online guides? Chances are you learned at least some little nugget of information from every single guide you jumped on. The only way to really learn how to use Google Analytics is to closely watch your stats and the only time you have to do that is when you’re a newbie, before your business starts making a lot of demands.
Maybe the reason you’re not excited about your business anymore is because you don’t allow any of these distractions into your life anymore. You’re not learning anything new. You’re not challenging yourself like you did when you were a newbie. Let yourself be distracted every now and then and see what it does for your business.
They’re So Curious
We look down on newbies because they spend so much time reading other blogs and pouring through threads in the marketing forums. They’d be much better off if they’d stop reading and start working, right?
But look at all the infinite ways there are to make money blogging. A newbie coming into this with no knowledge to start with is bound to be more than a little curious. And thank goodness for curiosity. Where would your business be today if you just blindly believed the first piece of advice you landed on? Where would your business be today if you’d never said, “What if…?”
They’re So Greedy
Every new blogger does it. They clutter up their sidebars with dozens of banners, most of them totally irrelevant. They have links in their signatures, links in their emails, links all over the place and they’re grasping at every last straw trying to make that first buck. They’re so greedy they’re actually hurting their business but you can’t tell them that.
And it’s a good thing, too. Look at everything you learned while you were peppering the blogosphere with affiliate links. You learned how to get accepted to different affiliate networks, you learned how to build links, how to promote links, and how make all of it relevant.
And if you weren’t so greedy to begin with you never would have made that first sale, which means you probably wouldn’t be where you are today. It’s all part of the learning process.
But even more important, are you still as greedy today? Are you willing to take the risk, try something new, and do whatever it takes to get that next sale? Are you as brave and fearless as that newbie?
They’re So Rude
Newbies can be downright rude with their comments and questions. How much money do you make? How long did it take you to get there? Exactly how did you do it? Can you show me how…? They just assume you’re automatically going to answer their questions – the kinds of questions your mama told you never to ask because they’re personal or annoying.
You can probably see where I’m going with this already. Where would your business be today if you hadn’t asked these same rude and annoying questions? More important, where will your business be in the future if you don’t continue asking these same questions?
Bloggers come from all over the world, from all walks of life, and what’s perfectly acceptable to one person is downright rude or offensive to another. Remember those bloggers who answered your questions? They didn’t have to do it. Now it’s time for you to step up and help a newbie out. And in the meantime – keep asking your own questions.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!