How I Created My Own Blogging Curriculm

Dealing with Incomplete Information

I learned in a De Bono thinking course that for some things, you will just never have complete information. So there is some point where you have to stop learning and researching and you have to move on to doing. You could research for the rest of your life and never come up with the complete answer.

Right now, without the book in front of me, I can’t exactly remember how you discover that point. But I am calling it now.

I have learned a lot of things online. The process usually goes like this:

  1. Do what I know to make money and keep that steady.
  2. Always learn a new direction. And dive straight in. Focus on it until it’s second nature.
  3. Once I feel comfortable with the new direction, add it to my list of tools and use it. Sometimes I have to check it to make sure it is getting used. I didn’t learn it for fun.
  4. Find something else I need to learn based on what I know I am weak at.

My Investigation of Blogging

For last few months, I have investigated the social aspect of blogging. My mission was to cast my net wide and see what was other there, interact and discover some of the rules of etiquette and get a general feel for how all of this works. In other words, get a definition of what blogging is.

During that time, I would keep my affiliate thing at the level it was. This I prepared ahead for. I cut time in that area of my work. I wrote a tracking system and macros so I could click and button and see results. Once a week, I would adjust my PPC campaigns and add new ones. You see, moving ahead not only gave me more to work with. It gave me a reason to cut the fat.

During this time, the feeds in my reader ballooned to over 1000. I was casting a really wide net. I would also randomly jump on any topic I could comment on because I have a lot of general knowledge rattling around in my head.

Along the way, I got really wrapped up in a few head trips, like a MyBlogLog contest, the top 100 Make Money Online list, and Entrecard. Great. Fine and dandy. But they were sidetracking me from what I really was doing.

Now it is time to clean up Google Reader and start tagging feeds, to take a little randomness out of the process. It is also time to stop being sidetracked by the latest and greatest when I know the direction I am going. The randomness allowed me to navigate and categorize. I had incomplete information to even start the research. If I had targeted too early, I would have missed big chunks of information that could have been important.

Now that I have a broad picture, I will look for targeted details when I need them. Less surfing and browsing. More directly going to what I need.

Does this mean I am quitting blogging? Not by a long shot. Does this mean I won’t be commenting as much? Nope. All it means is it’s time to tighten up the ship a bit. From the research done with this blog, I should be able to get Digital Products Review off the ground quite nicely, which will be the test. If it goes well, move on. If not, time to reevaluate things.

I have met some friends and have their blogs tagged to check daily. My reader still has 700 feeds in it. I only deleted the ones that hadn’t been updated in a month for now. I check it all the time to find the newest posts in my huge neighborhood. And for research, I search those feeds first.

Will I still learn along the way? Damn straight. But that is not the focus now. Now I will use what I learned.

Moving Ahead

Because there will be other blogs which, for now, will be going into a central WordPress MU installation, which will allow me to keep all my blogs data in one location even though the blogs are distributed across various domains. I will have a post on the general idea before the end of the week. It needs it’s own post because it involves more than just installing MU.

So where am I going in future studies. Let me just tell you the blogs that I am currently digesting post by post:

And now the weaknesses I will be hitting:

  • Social Media Marketing – I’m an SEO at heart but buzz can do wonders too. Which brings up a point that I have to beat into my head. If someone else can get effective results with an internet technology, I can too. I learned this first with Adwords which I attacked and lost money on twice in a row. After each time, I said so much shit about how Adwords sucked and was worthless, similar to the words you hear about SMM when SEO’s talk about it. Now, it is ATM that gives me $2 for every $1 I put in. It’s hard to know the learning curve going in and not one person really helped me get it. They could lead the way, but I still had to find things out for myself. Sometimes it takes a few runs. And sometimes it takes going out of my comfort zone long enough to realize I am just talking shit so I won’t have to.
  • SEO – Anyone who says they are an SEO at heart is a little arrogant. I need to brush up. Actually, I need to use it more often and stop talking about it. But if I address it through reading constantly about it, it will get stuck in my head. And if I put the software I use in my taskbar, it’s a big freakin’ reminder. The concept is very simple. It’s how far you take it that works ranking miracles.

Things I may possibly be playing with as an amateur, keeping in a holding pattern until those above have hit a steady state:

  • Video – I need to know a little about this. I am a book person. I can read the complete course while you are in taking the first lecture. If I had a chance to go to college or do it online, I would pick online because I can go at my own pace which is "See you later, I’m reading". But not everyone is like this and I need to step up. My starting point will be screencast tutorials.

A New Leaf

The newest tool in my pack is hiring freelancers. I had got some graphics done and now I have a plugin for WordPress halfway finished. Paying someone $100 to do something that would take me two weeks is more than cost effective.

Questions I ask myself now with all my activities:

  • Do I like doing this?
  • Am I efficient at doing this?
  • Is this something that requires me?
  • How much would it cost to get done?
  • How long would it take me to do it?

The End Result

Doing less of what I don’t want to do and doing more of what I want to do. I like blogging. I like writing. I like the blogoshere. I like interacting with other people there. Everything else is just a tool to make that full time. Look for my post of WordPress MU and the rough outline of building a blogging network where most of the rest is automated. I don’t want to cut out bottlenecks. I want to ask, "What’s a bottleneck?"

29 Responses to How I Created My Own Blogging Curriculm

  • I see that you have really been around and about. I would have liked you to share some key points like what not to do for those at the begining of their road. Should such bloggers NOT avoid your mistakes too? Or should they follow the money?

    Mcneri: For Bloggers’s last blog post..How do you blog, Blogger?

  • Stephan Miller says:

    If you are talking about the Money Making Blogs list, etc., the fact is I wasn’t following the money there. I was following numbers. Numbers that didn’t make me more money.

    The way I did it was about the only way I could. No one can give you the right way to do things. Another person can only give you their way.

    For example, I hate Facebook. I gives me a creepy oompa loompa vibe. Other bloggers swear by it. If I ran into a blogger who said you couldn’t blog without using Facebook for promotion and considered him a guru, I would have failed right out of the gate.

    There is a long tail to everything. I have had issues with the “tried and true” path people who say there is one way to do anything.

    Even if that were so, that “right way” is only true for the next hour or so because the internet changes that fast. Next week, there will be 20 more sites to promote your blog with and the search engines will change their algorithm.

  • I had a rough time finding freelancers myself – to help me focus on my core business. I find that posting freelancer wanted msgs on forums I frequent – twopeas, photo sites, etc – has been MUCH more effective than craigslist or Elance.

    Sandy Allen’s last blog post..little boy in blue

  • Stephan Miller says:

    Thanks, that really helps. I have been trying to pick up pointers like this as I go. If you have any more, please let me know.

  • Nice little curriculum you got there. I didn’t know you had 700 feeds in your reader! That’s a lot! That’s taking too much of your time!

    MarketingDeviant’s last blog post..Persistence to Succeed

  • Sounds like you are reading my mind. Thankyou for sharing this, I am of to clean out my reader and read what is relevant for me now,
    I like the look of Digital Products

    Looking forward to reading about your network setup

    Suzie Cheel’s last blog post..2 Must Have Image Helpers for Your Blog

  • Stephan Miller says:

    As far as the feeds go, I noticed that bloggers tend to have cliques. I didn’t want to be caught too much up in that, so I subscribed to as many as I found that dealt with something I was interested in. It gave me a wide range of voices and styles to read.

  • Another fantastic post Stephan.

    I really need to steady my #1. My monthly intake (if you want to call it that lol) still fluctuates way to much to really count on it.

    I’m creating a network too! So I really wanna hear about yours. Mine is all sub-domains off the original that you always see. This should give me excellent SEO capabilities among other things.

    :-)

    Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Don’t Just Sit on it – USE it

  • Rules?? What the Heck are Rules!!??? ;) )

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    Cheers Everybody!! Billy ;) ) Peace*

    BillyWarhol’s last blog post..Young Kentucky girl in a push up bra

  • Heidi says:

    Glad that I read this. I am pretty incompetent at the blog business so will follow you more.

    Heidi’s last blog post..Laugh Your Way To A Healthier You!

  • James says:

    Thanks for the tips… hopefully it will work out.

    James’s last blog post..Illegal Immigrants & Felons Disenfranchised

  • Phyllis V says:

    FABULOUS piece!! What a great way of laying the groundwork for novice bloggers and internet marketers. Thanks!

  • Stephan Miller says:

    It’s basically a rough draft I keep adapting in my head as I go. There will most likely be a new post at some date in the future once I start testing some of the ideas out.

  • I know, link building is the best thing one can do. Because once you post you can just lean back and rest expecting visitors to flow in. I have really experienced that wonder..

    Jobin Martin’s last blog post..Name a country starting with U !

  • Stephan Miller says:

    It’s good to know it exists. In the last month or so, I haven’t been posting or getting around as much so that I can use the time to build links, do some housecleaning and starting a couple of new site. I had been neglecting these activities to focus on blogging and get my bearings. Now hopefully I can find a good balance.

  • Jen says:

    I think it’s helpful to read other blogs that may or may not pertain to the same subject you’re writing about, simply because it helps to see how others approach the task of blogging and compare their writing style to your own.

    While it’s sometimes hard to come up with new and interesting topics, reading other blogs can often spark new ideas you may not have thought of before. Although, the task of coming up with topics has gotten slightly easier as of late with everything going on in the economy and elsewhere.

  • Stephan Miller says:

    You can never be sure when the ideas will come either. Mine come days later. Lately I have been a little lazy with posting though. But the ideas are there waiting.

  • Isabelle says:

    I think it’s always good to see what else is out there – it’s alright blogging about your views, opinions and things you know about, but half the fun for me is learning what other people think and hearing different opinions on subjects that I thought I had chosen a side for years ago.

  • Pingback: What is Pay Per Lead Affiliate Marketing? | Digital Products Review

  • KooWii says:

    This is more or less the same like how do I learn to blog. But you are way advance than me. I really love to learn this way and it gives me satisfaction once I get the skill because all the hard work has shown its result. Keep it up mate!

  • sandrar says:

    Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

  • Stephen,

    You sum it all here
    * Do I like doing this?
    * Am I efficient at doing this?
    * Is this something that requires me?
    * How much would it cost to get done?
    * How long would it take me to do it?

    I began this kind audit after I had spent 3 long years online and reached a conclusion that I was carrying too much load that was not allowing me to walk.

    Load shedding was a natural outcome and I am jogging right now. ;-)

  • Thank you for the great web site – a true resource, and one many people clearly enjoy thanks for sharing the info, keep up the good work going….

  • Learning to do blogging is easy and simple but it requires patience and passion so you will be able to come up with an appropriate post that will capture attention of your readers.

  • Shaam says:

    This is more or less the same like how do I learn to blog. But you are way advance than me. I really love to learn this way and it gives me satisfaction once I get the skill because all the hard work has shown its result. Keep it up mate!

    I have been in study to learn from blog and googled too much things. But according to me I think you are at advance level. In over all in I learned from blogs even from comments and posting, and forums also. I will really appreciate your upcoming posting.

  • shaaam says:

    Thanks Stephan Miller for good post, I always find a quality post from you, I have seen that many blogger tend to have cliques, Am some how lazy person can’nt go to caught them up in that. But your tips can really make wonders.

  • I am going to improove my own blogstyle and earn some money.
    Thanks for tips.

  • Zeeteck says:

    i think first of all we all should know that what are the basics aspects that we have to put through our blogs…and more we gonna concentrate on it more we ll gonna see results.

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