Apparently, one of the most visited posts of my blog during this summer was Want To Make Money With A Blog? Build Reputation!. There were a lot of comments, social media interactions and emails going on after I published it. One of my friends, Steven Aitchison, suggested that I should write a more detailed post on how to build reputation. I followed the advice, and, to my surprise, I realized I can’t do it. I can’t write a blog post on how to build reputation with a blog. What I can do, though, is to write a whole series on this topic. And, to be honest, after I drafted the series, I feel like I still have a lot more to say about this. But, who knows, after the series, maybe an ebook will follow. Just let me know in the comments if this topic interests you enough for pushing me to write an entire ebook on it.
What Is Reputation And Why Do You Need It
Reputation is a combination of Authority and Authenticity. But if you’ve read the article which ignited this series, (the one linked in the first paragraph) you already know this. You also know that those are 2 of the 7 traits of the highly successful bloggers. Reputation is what makes you believed and respected.
But reputation is also the thing that drives potential customers to your blog over and over again. It’s the fundamental ingredient of personal branding. It’s the main reason behind any kind of value transfer between you and your readers, being it a click on a banner in your sidebar, or an ebook purchase.
As such, reputation is the fundamental ingredient in building a business based on your blog. It’s hard for me to imagine a successful (read it: profitable) blog, without a lot of reputation behind its writer(s). Yes, you can make some money without it, and the previous article tells a little bit about display and contextual advertising, but these are weakly linked monetization strategies, and they are working in a weak way. It won’t be a lot of money from that pipe. If you want serious money, you have to back it up with reputation.
One final word about online reputation: keep in mind that you need it only if you want to create sustainable value through your blog. If you want your blog to form a solid foundation for your business, then reputation should be a serious concern for you. But truth is you can blog for various reasons. It’s perfectly ok to blog for pleasure, or like a hobby, or every once in a while, as long as you don’t expect a steady financial income from this activity. Just because you blog every once in a while, it doesn’t necessarily means you’re going to make some money out of it. But the vast majority of bloggers do enter this field in order to generate some revenue. This series is for them.
The How To Build Reputation With A Blog Series Structure
The series will have 7 chapters. I will update the links on this page as I will publish the corresponding articles, so feel free to bookmark this page as a reference.
1. Openly State Your Expertise On Your Blog
What you are good at and what you can make others become good at by reading your blog. This is a fundamental part in building reputation, yet so often overlooked. We will go through the basic steps of making obvious what you are obviously good at it.
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2. Write On Your Blog Constantly
Reputation is about what you know to do best, but is also about your reachability. It doesn’t really matter if you know how to do things, if you’re at the North Pole and nobody can reach to you. By writing constantly you will prove at least you’re there and available.
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3. Interact With Your Audience
Respond to comments, tweet your moods and mingle on Facebook. Interaction is all about creating sustainable communication channels with your audience. If you don’t interact with them, chances are they won’t interact with you either, and that will lead to a stale communication process.
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4. Interact With Your Peers
Chances are that other bloggers are acting on the same niche as yours. The biggest mistake is to treat them as competition. Befriend them instead. Try to build a strong and genuine bond with them. Help them and ask for their help. Participate in collaborative projects as often as you can.
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5. Differentiate
You clearly stated your expertise, you write constantly on your blog from some time now, you interact with your readers and with your peers. But that’s not enough. It’s time to differentiate. It’s time to let out the most different (and sometimes awkward) part of yourself. People usually identifies other people by difference.
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6. Create And Promote Value
As soon as you have your blogging routine going on more or less on auto-pilot, you should escape it. You should start to create new products outside your blog. If you really are an expert, people will soon need a proof of that. A proof outside your blog. The blog is your distribution channel.
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7. Be Patient
I left this part at the end for two reasons. First, if you had the patience to read through the first six articles, then you’ll understand the seventh. And second, because it took me years to understand this for myself. It’s probably the most important part of all.
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So, stay tuned, and while we’re all waiting for the first article, let me know in the comments what do you think about this series. There is something missing from it? There is something you think I should add, based on your own experience? Is reputation valuable for you, not only as a blogger, but as a regular person? If yes, those principles can be applied in other areas too?
Reputation is a gem that must be treasured up and reputation should be earned and kept. We’ll thank you for good tips as this.
I am a newbie to blogging and found your post very helpful and comprehensive. I am inspired and will surely keep these facts in mind while venturing into blogging. Thanks.
Dear Dragos,
I have read several of your posts today and since they are in English I feel like posting a comment in the same language. I’ve been thinking of starting a blog myself for some time and your ideas are very helpful. Apart from this, I appreciate the subtlety of your comments and the way you phrase ideas. I really feel inspired! Thank you 🙂
Carmen
Draogs,
Excellent, really well done.
Perfect timing with this post Dragos! My blog has been mostly personal with some encouragement and personal development thrown in, but I am getting ready to ramp it up a bit and this series will be great!
Well, happy to have you around 🙂
Hi Dragos,
It sounds like this topic really touched a nerve and there is a high demand for more information. It will be great to read the upcoming articles.
I think that your reputation is vitally important. I know that it’s always in the back of my mind, especially when I recommend products or link to other sites. You have to be careful about retweeting or linking to sites without checking them out first. An innocuous link may be sending someone to a NSFW site or a totally spammy site. It takes a long time to build up your reputation and be trusted, but it only takes one careless act to destroy it. That’s why corporations pay a lot of money to protect their reputations and we should have the same mindset as it’s a powerful asset that we have.
Karen
Totally agree with you. Once you got a little bit of credibility, it’s so easy to ruin it with an unhappy incident, like you said. It’s one more reason to treat reputation like an asset, not like a goal. An asset will provide you value as you go along, while a goal will become obsolete once you reached it.
Agree, especially as you become a little more well-known. People come out of the woodwork who want you to publish their guest-posts or link to them or partner with them (or whatever) and you have to be careful what you decide (and not decide0 to showcase on your site. It can be a vicious trap and a danger to your reputation and credibility (particularly if you are only after the quick buck). You really have a lot to consider in protecting your assets.
Hi Dragos – This should be a very interesting series to follow esp. considering your writing style, insights and the tons of value added posts you have already written. I want you to write in depth on how Authority and Authenticity should genuinely reflect in each part of the series…..Thanks and Rgds -Dev
Got that, will put a chapter or two about Authenticity and Authority in the ebook. Meanwhile, you can read the initial post about The 7 Traits Of Highly Successful Bloggers.
Dragos this is a great post and one that is flying already. I think you totally nailed it when you said “Reputation is a combination of Authority and Authenticity”. If we are deemed not to be authentic then that will immediately come through in the blog posts. You have authenticity in abundance Dragos and I think an guide on the subject is a great idea, better yet a guide along with interviews of top bloggers who have already established a reputation with their blog (thinking along the lines of Dave Navarro’s Mastermind products)
Great idea! I’ll try to brainstorm something as I go along, but it looks like a definite go for me. I’ll make the ebook free, hopefully, with all the advice from other blogger, it could become a good, valuable resource for beginners or intermediate bloggers.
Oh, and always happy to see you around here, Steven 🙂
Thanks Dragos. Could not agree more with your points-especially standing out and being patient. I am beginning to get the hang of this by focusing on Discovering your own path to personal freedom as my blog niche. Showing people how to find success off the beaten path. Looking forward to reporting back as I progress.
Awesome work and thanks so much for your contributions to The Daily Brainstorm.
Scott
Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it. Yes, The Daily Brainstorm is a great resource and I’m proud to be part of. I look forward for your reports too 🙂
Dear Dragos, one of your gem posts. I loved it because I learned something – and I thought I already knew most of these rules so there is my ego learning a lesson. Differentiating, patience and escaping the routine of the blog to go to the next level! You my dear friend are getting to the next and next level and it’s beautiful to see the progress. I am very interested in this topic since you asked and thank you!
Ok, so I have at least one reader for the ebook 🙂 Will do it, then!
Dragos, I’m really excited about this series. I’m look forward to all of it, but in particular I am curious about 2 and 5. What does constantly means? How do you differentiate yourself? I know you will answer these questions in your series.
You asked – is there something missing? Maybe…how do you balance it all time-wise? Maybe you will cover that in “patience.” What’s is the optimal progression of these 7 steps, especially if you aren’t able to do everything at once?
Of course, I completely agree. Reputation is crucial in everything we do in life. I’m really looking forward to the series.
Happy to have you on board, Sandra. All the steps are required, there isn’t any precedence involved, at least in my perspective. Constantly writing is fundamental in the first year. After you break the 100 blog posts threshold, everything will feel smoother.
Hey Dragos!
Hope all is well w. ya… I couldn’t agree more with every tip you’ve mentioned above. My biggest sticking point willl always be “constantly posting entries.”
I find that I write my best when I’m inspired, but of course, that doesn’t happen often….
It’s always an ongoing struggle for me to write even tho’ it feels more than work sometimes…
This tensions is not uncommon. This is why I jot down my ideas as they come and later on I put those ideas in what I call a “blog incubator”. It’s very rare for me to not be able to write on some topic. I have more than 100 ideas in my “blog incubator” now.
Dragos,
I think the importance of patience is something that can not be talked about enough. It’s such a fundamental key to blogging success. In my own experience of reaching 1000 readers, it’s taken much longer than it has for other people and yet by sticking with it and being patient I finally broke that milestone this week. I always say nature rewards patience (while I’m waiting for another wave to come).
Yes of course, Srinavas. I read in of Yaro Starak’s book that says this. He says that building the platform is the toughest, dancing on it is tough, but relatively easy.
Congrats for reaching that milestone. From now on, you’ll see a progressive increase of this metric They’ll start to grow faster. 😉
Hi Dragos,
Yes, I think this is a great series. I like the principles you are laying out. I think what overwhelms most beginning bloggers is that there are so many tips, tricks, widgets, plugins etc. that one can not see the forest through the trees. I think, there is no substitute for excellence over time (patience). If one were to focus on the fundamentals you lay out, I think all the minutia will happen quite naturally.
Thanks for the welcoming words and yes, I’ve been there too. In the beginning, everything looks like a “must” and you feel you have to do everything. This is why I started this series. It all goes down to persistence and commitment. As in any other area.
Building a reputation for your blog don’t happen avvae. It has to be worked upon. While yes, what you say is true, there is one more thing that build blogger a reputation – it’s time. It’s not about posting continuously for a year and then giving just one or three post posts per week. Building a reputed blog taking time with your blog and patiently letting your readers (and potential advertisers, etc) know that they can spend money on your blog to earn their own profit.
To me, reputation is all about continuity and time. Just let them you you’re not quitting anytime soon and that they can profit from you.
It’s number 7: be patient. Although I agree with what you say, there are a few more reasons why time is of crucial importance, and it’s about our cultural bias, our physical perceptions and our psychological mechanisms for building trust. More on that in the 7th post of this series 😉
Yeah. Jaky Astik will wait till then 🙂