Five Dimensions for the Growth of Your Blog (Part 3)

So we’ve talked in this series about how to grow warmer and how to grow deeper with your blog. Today, we’re going to touch on how to grow stronger in your blogging.

I want to expand a bit here on a subject that means a lot to me, but seems to be highly controversial in some circles – personal branding. I think making a blog stronger is simple – better hosting, better design, and better articles. But I think our focus needs to be on making the blogger stronger. Why? Because you are bigger than your blog and even though people subscribe to your feed, they’re really subscribing to you.

In other words – improve your personal brand and your blog is sure to grow along with it. I want to be careful here because I realize that there are some grave dangers when it comes to ego and personal branding, so listen to this disclaimer loud and clear – you are not “all that.” You haven’t arrived. The universe can go right on without you. Don’t forget this and don’t get full of yourself.

With that off my chest, let me explain how I think your blog and you can grow stronger through personal branding…

Authenticity Matters

We grow stronger in our personal brand (our “identity” as others perceive us) as we open ourselves up and become public, with sane limits. I don’t think anyone cares if you put ketchup on your eggs this morning (…but I did, just fyi). I do think people care about what you’re involved in, what work you’re doing, and most importantly, how you can help them.

There are limits to how much detail about our lives should be shared, but the goal is to allow the world to get to know the real you. Why? Because you’re the center of the universe? No, I already corrected that above. It’s because of the word trust. People trust whom they know intimately.

Blogging affords a nice way to show people the real us. So when I say authenticity makes you and your blog stronger, I’m primarily referring to your sincerity, truthfulness, and willingness to be open about the “real you.”

Being authentic comes with a cost. You’re going to have to field criticism instead of ignoring it. You’ll need to reveal your faults and errors along the way. And even in the details, you need to be honest in the content and monetization of your blog.

Authority Matters

There is a single reason why I recommend that every business in America, small or large, have a blog run by someone within the company. It’s because your blog is your sharepoint with the world around you – the place where you get to become the authority on some subject. I have a friend who is starting a blog about the retail industry to support his company that trains people within that industry. When his firm is seen as the authority on retail, he’s bound to attract more clients.

Your blog grows stronger as you do, and you grow stronger as you increase your authority. There are several ways to do this and I hope you’ll suggest more in the comments, but here are three highly important things to remember:

• Listen and learn. Monitor your niche or industry. Subscribe to valuable blogs and take in inspiration and information.
• Publish great content. I know this is elementary, but it fits into the flow here. Every post you publish says something about your brand and one post might be the first (and only) that a potential reader has from which to assess whether your blog is valuable or not.
• Be a resource provider. This is a combination of the first two. Take what you find of value from your industry, combine it with your own quality content, and push it out to the world for the benefit of others.

Traffic isn’t everything. Grow personally and grow in your skills and expertise. When you do, influence is sure to follow!