Guest post by Eric Rea
You might wonder what birds have to do with blogging (besides a reference to a certain blue bird online). You know who gets the worm, right? The early bird. In blogging, as in life, it pays to be the early bird.
There’s only one chance to be first. When you’re first, two things happen. One, there’s less competition. Two, you get extra attention and buzz (and by that I mean traffic).
Here are 3 ways for bloggers to be early birds:
Be the first to participate.
Disney was the first one to advertise on Twitter’s new deal feed (called @earlybird – a charming name). In the case of the reader, the early bird gets the deal. For advertisers, the early bird gets the buzz. Just about every time someone writes a blog post about Twitter’s newest offering, Disney get mentioned. Not only do they get extra buzz, Disney’s image looks fresher because they are connected with Twitter – which makes them look very hip.
Be the first to call a trend.
People love trends. Be the first to write about a new trend (if you’re a lifestyle it could be how spices like turmeric are the newest health craze). Do it well and you might own that trend. You get to be the expert that everyone else references. Blogger Dan Zarrella did this with an in-depth post about getting retweets on Twitter. Now just about any time someone writes about retweets, Dan’s post is mentioned.
Be the first to give practical advice about the newest social media platform.
Just about every new social media site starts out the same. First, the early adopters move in. Then they tell everyone else how to best use it. For example, I know someone who wrote a book about how to use LinkedIn to find a job. Since he was the first to write about LinkedIn to find a job, his book did quite well. The next fifty books about LinkedIn, not so much.
You don’t have to get up early to get the worm. But you should look for opportunities be first. First to participate in new offerings, first to spot new trends, and first to give your readers tips on using the newest social media web site. Oh, and there’s an opportunity to be first right now – by being the first to comment on this post!
Eric Rea is a college student from Canada who loves Blogging and Sports. He spends his free time working on his own blogs and playing sports. You can follow him at @ericwilliamrea.
About Kiesha Easley
this is really going to help me with my self development blog. Good write up thanks.
Sam recently posted..James Allen As a Man Thinketh Free Book Download
I do try to do this to some degree. Especially when a new tool or service comes available that is likely to be of use to my audience.
Blogging about trends is a catch-all sort of thing. You have to consider the relevance of the trend to your readers. Otherwise you are just trying to be trendy for the sake of being trendy. It’s better, IMO, to be trendy with a purpose.
Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella recently posted..Tab Candy For Firefox Makes Browsing Sweet
Thanks Eric. I’ve got ahead of the game on a few trends, such as the new bing webmaster tools.. it seems I was the first to announce that they did away with the backlinks listing tool. That’s what I get for staying up until 2am to test things out :)
Aaron recently posted..blogReaction Introduces Revenue Sharing on Free Blogging Platform
Twitter: weblogbetter
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Hi Aaron,
That is a great discovery. Sometimes it’s those late night spur of the moment finds that produce the greatest results.
Being first definitely has it’s advantages. Great post! :)
Kevin M. recently posted..Why I chose to monetize my blog
I learnt a few years ago that if you want ot be successful at this then you need to get in there as soon as possible before too many people get in front of you.
Dean Saliba recently posted..Would You Pay To Have WordPress Installed For You
Hey Eric,
Awesome post. I never though of this.
Thanks for sharing this great Post. Really Great article.
~Dev
Dev – Technshare.com recently posted..How I increased My opt-ins By 250With Popup Domination
I agree in the power of ‘first.’ Granted, the other commenters have a point on someone with more authority getting far more attention for the same idea later, but still, getting in the practice of being a trend-setter is a good thing. It makes you think, ‘Sure, why not?” when a new idea hits your brain vs. just falling into the same-old-same-old patterns. And you never know which one of those “why not?” ideas will be the one that will gain traction and propel you to the next level.
Jean recently posted..Why Bite Size is the Right Size Content
Hi Eric!
I never thought about this! I like how you mention the spice..you have given me some ideas.
Good post!
Evelyn recently posted..Healing Naturally with Living Whole Foods
Hi Eric,
I was going to pipe in and ask “How do you get to be the early bird” but the commenters have given me some ideas on that score. Alex brings up a great point. You can try and be the first person to discuss something, but if you haven’t got the initial traffic or perceived authoriy, it may not matter that you were first. It’s important to try and be the first though, I can definitely see where it would help you in many ways.
Karen recently posted..Small Ways To Make A Big Difference
Twitter: weblogbetter
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Hi Karen,
You make a good point when it comes to the issue of traffic. I think those posts would be more beneficial if submitted as guest posts on popular sites.
One of my niches is hiking, specifically in northern California. I find that when I’m the first to write about something important that’s happened, like the opening of a new trail, I frequently rank on page 1 for it.
I also post press releases from government agencies on my hiking blog, and I find the same good results even with these.
John Soares recently posted..Why You Should Spend More Time Outdoors
Twitter: weblogbetter
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Hi John,
That’s great that you’ve been able to make that kind of progress in your niche. Keep up the great work.
Hey Eric,
You make some good points about the importance of setting the precendence (or being first) but more often than not this is easier said than done. If I write a kick arse post on SEO (which I do all the time LOL!) and then Brian Clark writes something similar, you can bet that he will be the one referenced, granted this is not a new ‘trend’ persay, but you see the problem I’m getting to right.
It’s all about your presence online IN RELATION to the ability to be the early bird.
Good post Eric.
alex recently posted..Article Marketing – Part 1 What’s a Search Engine
You are right Alex.
Presence is probably just as important as being the early bird, but a lot of great blogs have gained their presence by being the early bird over and over again.
Thanks
Hey Eric,
This is a very cool article. It’s the first time I’ve read something like for marketing. Finding a trend to be the first is a task. However, once you do find it, now you are the expert in that field. I like that!
Have a great weekend…
Josh
Josh Garcia recently posted..How To Increase Commenting On Your Blog
Twitter: weblogbetter
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Hi Josh,
I agree, but finding those ideas is the difficult part. But even if you could just discover one thing, that could potentially carve out a perfect little niche.