Have you seen the road signs lately? Your blog may be veering off-course. That’s right. When I started this blog, I envisioned certain things, like reviews, helpful traffic analysis, writing tips, as the keystone to my writing. I don’t think I’ve gone off course, not yet at least. I can still see the markers of my original topics in the distance. What I can tell you — I have wanted to write about so much in the past few weeks. I had to employ restraint.

Can you see the path clearly? To ensure my blog stays between the guiding lines, I have developed a writing schedule, given myself time every evening to network, patterned a routine around my freelance writing, and begun various future projects that will see the light of day on this blog in the coming months.

We sometimes have to step away from our project to see it clearly. Where do we want our blog to be in a few months? Do we want to be writing poems about our lost sweetheart, conveying political ideas using haikus, or introducing the latest technology trends to our readers? We should have some idea of where we want our blogs to be in a few months. Otherwise, why have a pre-frontal cortex?

Use Your Low Beams
When I’m driving in the fog, I’m tempted to turn on my car’s brights. But doing that magnifies the mist. The blog fog affects me the same way. I need to know where I’m going, but look at each individual step as a way of getting their without crashing. My posts can and do affect each and every one of my readers. I need to be aware of the persona I’m creating, the attitude I’m conveying, and the message I’m carrying — all of which creates my path towards my destination.

We sometimes get sidetracked on our blogs. As with anything, we can always rebound by turning the obvious tangential digression into a lesson for our readers. When we admit our growing pains, we garner the respect of our readership, along with righting our path on the road to blogging success.

There are few things as rewarding as having our words and thoughts validated. We can write for ourselves all we want, but until someone claims to relate, to understand, to agree with our ideologies, then we cannot know blogging bliss.

What better way to experience this than through a competitive blog in your niche? Can you write a guest post? Do you know what it takes? I’m here to tell you it takes time to do a little homework. I’ve outlined each step I take before pursuing a guest post.

1. Read the archives - Every blog has a history. I read through topics to get a feel for the blog’s voice. As a writer, I’ve been trained that magazines and literary journals seek out similarly themed material. Every writer, who submits work to these institutions, reads the journal’s back issues to get a feel for their particular interests. It makes the likelihood of a submission’s acceptance climb much higher than a blind submission. The archives give an idea of the breadth of topics a blog engages, while the comments on each post give an idea of the audience (see number five).
2. Write as if - As a freelance writer, I’ve had the opportunity to write content on varying topics such as auto insurance, online education, stairway creation, wood types, Google applications, computer problems, travel stories, and so much more. When I write content, I focus on writing as if I’m an expert. Are any bloggers experts? Do experts even exist anymore? It doesn’t matter, because we write as if. Eventually we will be.
3. Write to the blog owner - When possible, write the blog owner a quick message to let them know you’re interested in a guest post. Certain situations dictate different approaches. If you are familiar with a blog, then you likely know the pace of the writing, the voice, and the topics that have been covered. So when you write the blog owner it may be a good idea to give them the post topic. Don’t just say, ‘I’m going to write about nuclear energy and wheaties.’ Tell them how you will tie in other posts from their blog. It will let them know you’ve done your homework.
4. Use our voice - It can be quite easy to slip into someone else’s writing style. This can happen transparently after we’ve spent hours reading past posts of another blog. We can set out to write and find ourselves falling into their idiosyncrasies without thought. I challenge you to purge other writer’s ghosts and use your own voice. While we can keep the tone and approach similar to a blog’s owner, we should ultimately use our own rhythms, idiosyncrasies and syntax.
5. Know the readers - This is one case where we can get a “read” on the readers of a blog. We literally read their posts. We can ask ourselves several questions while we do read the posts.
   • Do the readers engage the author or each other?
   • Do they compliment the post or seek to argue points?
   • Do they respond more to factual writing, emotional, or something else?
   • What topic seems to always draw out comments?
   • Do certain posts always have “0 comments”?

When we reach higher altitudes, we sometimes have to fine tune our machinery. The thing to remember on guest blogging — write with a strong, knowledgeable voice. Do it with gusto. Do it with pride. Fine tune our writing so it speaks to a new audience, for whom we may be writing in the coming months.

The most important thing, though?

Leave our flavor behind, so they know where to come when they are hungry for more.

Is there a turf war among bloggers? Do we protect our niche with the ferocity of inner city bangers? Gangs are no laughing matter - they are a violent, abhorrent part of our society. This is why I cringe a little when I ask, do bloggers have gang tendencies?

John Chow of the MMTs (Money Making Thugs) challenged Shoemoney in the recent past to a showdown for the most RSS subscribers. The classic turfwar was on. Who could amass the largest gang to lay the smack down on the other? In the end, Shoemoney was victorious.

Bloggers tend to belong to many different blogging networks, like mybloglog.com, blogcatalog.com, blogrush, entrecard to name a few. This natural instinct to survive by joining a group connects bloggers to that gang mentality. And those with killer instincts know that the middle of the pack serves as the best protection.

While a blogging network does not bring up images of Scarfaceto most, it can help you survive in this vast blogosphere. How else can we get the word out to our prospective audience? We need these services to survive. Otherwise, we’re out cold on a street corner, looking to re-up (been watching too much The Wire).

The John Chow vs. Shoemoney RSS feed contest may seem like a common contest, but in reality it was a marketing ploy for each of them to gain massive new subscribers. I’m sure they both benefited from their RSS feeds climbing so quickly.

This post, while tongue in cheek, should provide bloggers with a key understanding - we are all better in a group. We’re stronger with our homies at our back. Let’s face it - there’s been a blogger who has helped your blog immensely since you first started out in the biz. Someone who helped you fix your faulty css, create your logo, install a difficult plugin, or just link back to you from a post.

You betta recognize!

I read a day or two ago (God knows where - thanks Entrecard!) about a blogger who refused to link to his competitors, even though they were friends and he enjoyed their writing. He was afraid his readers would slink away in the night to read his competition’s writing and then never return. I’m here to tell you - if they go, then you need to step it up. Stop sheltering and start supporting your readers. Let them know what’s out there. You can’t shield them from the harsh world of the blogosphere forever.

What am I saying? I’m saying we need each other. We can’t worry about what colors the other bloggers are wearing. We must focus on our similarities and work together to survive. Regardless of rank, we can all benefit from link love, a helpful comment about stylistic material, a favorite in tehnorati, a digg, or a simple comment on a post.

Represent Bloggers! Do something for someone who helped you out recently or even when you first started out blogging. It won’t go unnoticed.

I don’t even need to finish that sentence. Many of you completed the phrase in your mind, maybe without even thinking about it. With language, we become hypnotized by phrases. We can finish the sentence just like we’re having a conversation with a lover in the park. “Good things come to those…” See what I mean? As bloggers, can’t we use this testament to the human mind to our advantage?We can try to create a viral message that catches on like the holy ghost at a rapture party, but that just won’t happen for 99% of us. I’ll give an example of what we can do.

A friend of mine in college used to wear this tshirt every once in a while. The tshirt had a common phrase on the front, from which a lot more was implied. It drew giggles, slaps on the back, faux praise, and most of all — laughs. The shirt read:

I am the man from Nantucket

Now this was genius marketing on his part. Every girl that read his shirt was being sold a fantasy, and every guy was given a wry smile. He was selling himself, and not short (sorry, had to go there). What we can do with a title, a blog post, and our whole blog’s meme can be seen through this type of message. Turn a commonality into a uniqueness. Turn a cliche on its head. Create a unique character in the reader’s mind.

Fiction writers learn early on that cliches only work for specific characters or to expose a point. What bloggers have to realize — no matter how true to life posts may be — you are still creating a character on the page. But I’m just blogging about my dinner, you say? That’s creating a character in our mind, especially if the dinner was expensive, the restaurant chic, and the photos nearly edible. What better way to create a character full of success than showing him indulging and imbibing? And if our blog carries the personal weight of our life’s journey, then the cliches probably belong alongside our workout routine.

Whether our blogs separate wholly from our natural life or recant daily activities like its their job, they do manifest in the minds of our readers a person with certain qualities. Some of my favorite blogs have all sorts of characters writing them. They range from meek and gentle to outspoken and overly confident. I read each one of them for different reasons. What type of character does your blog have? Have you created a Hemingwaybull fighter or a Carver introvert?

Our blog’s maturity - our character development - should be more than just throwing gunk at the wall then seeing what sticks. My friend knew his shirt’s slogan would raise eyebrows, bringing him attention of a far different kind than he usually received. Why not have a little fun, he would say. You only live once.

There’s someone watching. We all have traffic measurement software. We can see the peaks and valleys and equate those to numbers, but behind those soft falling crests and mesmerizing integers come human beings. (Unless of course your traffic analysis software mistakenly counts bots, but I digress.) Those humans are trained readers, and everyone of them carries their own grenades to the blog post you’re writing at this moment.

These grenades can best be described as the reader’s indifference weapons. The moment our writing veers from their scope of interest the pin might be pulled, leaving their hand flinching with anticipation. They want to toss it into your corner and go scurrying for their safe zones — those blogs they frequent. You must answer why they should stay.

We all have an audience. We want the traffic, and we want the recognition for our hard work. We think our egos are bulletproof, protected from those grenade blasts, but they are not. We need a comment — a bone, thrown.

What goals do our readers have? Can we find that out? Are they seeking to create their own webpages, learn more about pottery, fix a tire, write a letter to the great beyond? How did they find us? What role does our blog fill?

Know Thyself

We each have our experience, education, language, problems, family, and work.  Our blogs may deal with those things or completely ignore them. The visitors to our blogs have their whole package of influences. And they have their grenades poised to erase you from their environment. If we know ourselves, though, we can draw in those who can relate to our blog posts. They may come sheepishly at first, so we need to reinforce their initial impression through quality, focused writing. Those who toss their grenades and vanquish our blog from their landscape may find somewhere else they can relate. That’s fine. What should and does matter are the readers who stay, those who sign up for the RSS feeds, comment on the posts, and praise the good work of our writing.

Our writing can be expressive, tunneled outpourings that drench our readers. Or, it can be simple, instructive and concise on the topics we are passionate.  

Through blogging, we all have audiences. So look up from your keyboard, survey those reading, and, most importantly, know yourself.