I Want to Subscribe to Your Blog…Now Give Me a Reason
February 22nd, 2008 by MarkIn 30 short pages my ebook shows you exactly how to set up a low-maintenance income online using free traffic from Google. You'll learn:
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Just fill out the easy form below you'll be redirected to the download page. As a bonus I'll follow up with an email mini-course that outlines some of my biggest successes, failures, and key insights I've gained over the years as a full-time internet marketer. I'll send you the first installment right away. And don't worry - all you'll ever get from me is value-packed content. I'll never share, rent, or sell your personal information. Enjoy...and thanks for visiting!
Procrastination is the Enemy
When I was in college I had a favorite quote: “The beauty of leaving things until the last minute is it only takes a minute to complete them.” Needless to say, I wasn’t a great student. Since I left college I’ve realized my mantra wasn’t exactly a recipe for success in the real world.
The real world requires a lot more foresight and preparation, and so does the blogosphere.
I read a lot of blog posts that seem, for lack of a better word, rushed. So often, people seem to be posting just to post (probably because their favorite make money online blog told them they have to post often in order to build readers). My opinion as a reader is that I’d rather see you post well than post often. Some of the greatest and most popular bloggers out there only post a couple of times each week.
Quality Over Quantity - Every Time
Great blog posts are a creative process. They’re born when you share special insight with us (your audience) that solves a problem we have based on your experience and research. I (and the rest of your readers) want to feel I’m better off for having read your post. As a reader I’ve never said “That post was junk, but at least the author posts a lot.”
There are two huge risks you’re taking by rushing through your writing process:
- You won’t say anything of substance, and there won’t be anything memorable about your points. I won’t be better off for having read your post; in fact, I’ll be annoyed about the lost time and wasted opportunity for gaining new knowledge.
- You’ll have some great ideas, but I won’t really get the benefit out of them because you were in too big a hurry to help me really grasp them. I’ll finish the post and say “Not bad.” Within a couple of days (or hours) I’ll forget your main points (and maybe your blog).
New Subscribers Are Looking for You
What you need to understand about me (and your other prospective readers) is that I want to read good blog posts. I’m looking for them. There are a few blogs I read every day because I know I can count on the authors to give me great content (whether they write it themselves or not).
So what is the solution? How can you avoid leaving the discriminating reader wanting more, instead of bored and frustrated?
Get Ahead of Your Deadlines - Way Ahead
Be more proactive and forward thinking in creating your posts. A surefire way to create a junk post is to wake up in the morning and say “I haven’t posted anything in a week, I have to get something online today for sure.” I’m here to tell you that the phrases ‘first draft’ and ‘rough draft’ are interchangeable for a reason.
Give yourself time to revise a post two, three, maybe even four times. Have a friend or regular reader review it and tell you if they were as struck by your main points as you thought they should be. Let the rough draft sit for a day or two, or maybe a week.
If you can come back after a week and you still love a post, it’s a good sign. If you come back a week later and you’re not as enthusiastic, that’s a sign that you need to revise it to make your strong points stronger, or rework the whole article.
The Art of Incubation - A 5 Step Process
Copywriting legend Joe Sugarman (Advertising Secrets of the Written Word) talks about a process he uses in copywriting called “incubation”. It’s the process of letting your subconscious mind do a lot of the work for you when you’re trying to create great pieces of writing. Joe advises something along the lines of the following:
- Think about the post you’re trying to write. What is the message you’re trying to share? Why are you excited to give valuable insight to your reader?
- Get some notes down on paper, without concern for order or relevance, of things that pop into your head as you think about your topic.
- Imagine yourself achieving a great result with the post, whether that result is lots of positive comments, a surge of social media traffic, or a jump in your RSS count. Let yourself feel the satisfaction of achieving the result.
- Walk away. This is where not procrastinating becomes essential. The incubation period is probably different for everyone, but I recommend leaving the post/notes alone for at least 24 hours. Give yourself enough time so when you come back to it you’ll have a fresh perspective.
- After an appropriate incubation period, have the discipline to sit down and work through your ideas until you have a completed rough draft. The negative stress created by procrastination will kill you, but the positive pressure created by a reasonable deadline can bring out the best in you. It’s up to you to find the balance for you. Some will be longer than others, but I will strongly challenge anybody who says this whole process can happen in less than 24 hours.
Create a Writing Schedule
Can I make a recommendation? Set up a writing schedule that looks something like this:
Let’s say you’re committed to publishing three high-quality, substantive posts per week. Start brainstorming and making notes about the posts you want to publish two weeks from now. That way, you have a week to write first drafts, a full week to incubate and edit, and then you finally publish. Does anyone doubt that would create better thought-out, better researched articles?
Yes, I understand that this kind of schedule means that you’ll always be working in all three stages of posts (brainstorming/notes, first drafts, incubation and editing). The benefit of that is you’ll never feel like what you’re trying to publish today is brand new - you will have been working on it (consciously and subconsciously) for two weeks!
Let Your Creative Flashes Work For You
Here’s another idea that fits with this philosophy: carry a small spiral notepad with you wherever you go, and when you have flashes of creativity make a quick note in your notebook. The next time you’re near your computer, write 100 or 200 words about your creative flash. Here’s the beauty of this method. When you write about your creative flashes you won’t feel pressure to turn them into a complete, well-thought out article. They can just stay ‘flashes of brilliance’ while you let them incubate.
You’ll Love the Results - And So Will Your Readers
When you come back to those notes a few days later you can massage them into full posts, or combine them with other relevant flashes you’ve had before. If you followed a method like this, you’d soon find yourself never lacking for ideas and never feeling the negative pressure associated with last minute writing.
Trust me, your prospective readers and I will thank you for it. And we’ll probably subscribe to your rss feed. 
Update: If you found this post helpful, you're going to love our new ebook: The Keyword Crash Course...it's 100% free. Enter your email here to receive the series:
This book contains the methods used by hundreds of my students and readers to create an excellent low-maintenance income online...and it will for your too - if you'll just download it and put it to work.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
My content quality has improved a great deal over the 2 or 3 months. My subscriber count is just over 200 but has been at a stand still for a couple of weeks. I’m hoping to get it rolling again by creating tutorials for the newbie bloggers. I made the mistake of paid blogging when I first started and wish I wouldn’t have started that on that particular blog. All I can do is work harder in the future. I did my first guest post the other day for ianfernando.com. It was a big step for me but I’m hoping if the readers like what they read, they’ll subscribe to me;)
Well, how’s that for rambling! Great post.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
200 subscribers means you’re doing some great work Lori! Thanks for the comment and best to you with your sites.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
What a way to get someone focused, like me! I still have no sense in my blog posts and this is a great way to create a goal for writing well thought out articles. That pressured feeling of always having to write will dissipate with a process like this. thanks.. I have a lot of soul searching to do and need to create a focus for my blog…
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Glad I could offer some helpful insight, Toki. Be patient with yourself.
You’ll find your voice and your passion if you’ll consistently go through this process and stick with it. Good luck!
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Nice article Mark. I always keep a notepad or piece of paper handy to jot down some new blogging ideas. Creating a writing schedule will definitely help get you into a blogging rhythm! Good advice.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Thanks for adding to the conversation Andrew! No doubt there are tons of people with something to say, but don’t know how to say it.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Hey, you are the subscriber I was waiting for. Do you want to see why? Come in, and take a look!
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
[…] Tuttle says that he wants to subscribe to your blog, but you have to give him a reason. The post goes at length over how you can go about getting new […]
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
“Head, meet nail”.
These are the very points I’ve been following in creating my own blog articles, focusing on quality over quantity.
Your post title also stands out, and that in itself has incredible power over whether posts will be read or not.
I’ve discussed this very topic on my most recent post as well, and far too often the bloggers I’m subscribed to have extremely vague, bland and downright boring post titles that rarely draw me to the post.
Stumbled and Zoomed man!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for the stumble and zoom Lin! Hopefully these principles help bloggers get a lot more mileage out of their posts.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Great post and I agree that quality should count over quantity but I would still recommend to post often at least for first couple month.
Give the Big G some food, train him to crawl …
Alex
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Great guide for making a blog subscribable. I def. have to remember these and possibly slow down my posting rate. Thanks!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Glad I could help Shawn. I think a good rule of thumb is if you have any doubt about the quality of a post - wait one more day and do one more revision. Should help the quality of your posts every time.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Great ideas. Something we all need to take into consideration. I am one who does note on paper, then come back later and actually write the posts before getting a friend to check them.
What I need to actually work on is writing more regularly and developing a more structured content. Having a store of articles would be very useful too.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Great, great post. I haven’t started a blog yet but the thought of updating it daily intimidated me - now I know it’s not necessary to update daily. Just update with quality. Thank you, thank you Court.
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
I think you are right. I think discipline is the keyword to get write quality post. It is important to plan your posting. Thank you for sharing. The best amounts of visitors I get from daily updating my blog. It requires fresh new ideas.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Excellent input Mark. I
Found your blog thanks to my TwitterBud @ShawnSmith
I almost always have an electronic device with me iPhone or laptop but no matter what totally agree with getting ideas down when they happen. Remembering to retrieve notes from small notebooks I carry around is a challenge but in the end it is really the act of writing the idea down that creates the memory. Transferring to the “blog prep” folder on my computer helps the most.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I have been focusing my efforts specifically on NOT rushing posts, NOT posting just for the sake of posting, and being a better blogger to attract the kind of readers and audience that will find my information valuable. I enjoy sharing what I learn and passing it on to others, which is why I started blogging to begin with. Even still, I found that there are rules I need to follow to successfully connect with people. Thank you for some great information to help me in my endeavor!
February 25th, 2008 at 2:13 am
[…] going to ignite the web on fire, but solid consistent posts will begin to make a name for yourself. Mark at Court’s Internet Marketing School has an awesome post about this. Basically, you betta slow that roll down or you’re gonna get […]
February 25th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Great tips!
I am always jotting down blogging ideas. On my spiral notepad or on a notepad file I keep on my desktop. It has helped me increase the times I post per day.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:41 am
[…] I Want to Subscribe to Your Blog… Now Give Me a Reason at Court’s Internet Marketing School. […]
February 29th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Great tips!
I am always jotting down blogging ideas. On my spiral notepad or on a notepad file I keep on my desktop. It has helped me increase the times I post per day.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:39 am
i just love a good tips to improve my blog. Thanks for the great advice! as a bloggers we need to improve our skill to blogging so that our readers will enjoy themself reading our post. Quality is important bloggers!
March 19th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
You always give the best ideas to bloggers to improve their traffic and loyal visitors, kudos!
May 12th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Yes, I agree with you. I am trying to build a high number of subscribers too. I hope that by following your tips, I can achieve my goal. Thanks.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Nice idea man! i like your ideas. it’s really bring me a number of subscribers! it’s worth to spending my time to your ideas, thanks!
May 20th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
You’re right. so many blog posts (even my own sometimes) sounds like it was written just for the sake of writing it to meet a daily quota. People (myself included) should sit down and create great posts.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Once people subscribe means they willing to come back and visit or become a loyal visitor. That’s really a good idea, i like it!
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 am
yup, you are right. Some blogger speak non-sense and I can’t find any information and entertainment from it. Bloggers should spend more time on decorating and write things that are valuable instead of making money
January 17th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Great blog. You are exactly right. I have started a blog and I am trying to be good about putting up new and good info everyday.
http://collegesportsinfo.wordpress.com