Do you blog as a newbie?

Put one idea at the front of your mind.

Follow advice from pro bloggers resonant with you. Dwell on this idea to understand the first successful step to take. Absolutely, positively do not try to wing it. Never try to figure out blogging on your own. Do not experiment by trying to figure out blogging from the perspective of a new blogger. What do new bloggers know about blogging? Nothing! Let this idea simmer in your mind for a bit to get why winging it as a beginner is a foolish blogging idea.

Did you try to wing in at your prior 2, 5 or 7 jobs? Or did someone with experience teach you how to execute the job successfully? Did you wing it in school? Or did someone – aka a teacher – give you some structure to learn topics successfully? No one wings it solely, and succeeds. Even though we honor the intuition to figure out when to deviate a bit we also know that listening to people with experience in our chosen discipline is the way to become increasingly successful.

Focus on this idea to deeply understand why almost all new bloggers fail. Few even bother to listen to the advice of pro bloggers. Even fewer invest money in courses and coaching. Even fewer follow coaching and courses diligently for years, spanning 1000’s of hours. Since few follow pro blogger advice for a sustained period of time few bloggers go pro. This is not rocket science. Nor does the idea flummox anyone who thinks for a few moments, even.

Picture yourself the moment you began the 1st grade. Did a fellow 6 year old throw a textbook at you? Or did a teacher help you understand subject matter? Little kids have no experience in the subject matter presented in school. How can someone with no experience know how to understand topics alien to these individuals? Humans young and old learn from experienced humans bursting at the seams with knowledge, compassion, understanding and a willingness to teach.

Frame blogging in the same prism. See blogging in the same perspective. New bloggers know nothing about blogging. Learn from pro bloggers how to blog the right way to become a pro blogger, yourself. Mentoring is beyond critical since you have no idea how to blog. See pro bloggers as teachers, mentors or even managers on the job, to learn from. Blogging is simple but a highly uncomfortable activity at times because blogging is a nuanced skill with many moving parts. Pros teach you how to master each skill to tie it all together into a professional blogging career.

Observe blog commenting. I scanned my spam folder to observe another 20 fresh spam comments. No blogger taught any of these bloggers that spamming never works. But these bloggers never learned this harsh lesson because they did not choose to follow advice from pro bloggers. If ya snooze, ya lose. Blogging is simple. Blogging feels highly uncomfortable sometimes, though; listening to pro blogger advice helps you glide through uncomfortable periods because pros know how to blog the right way. Blogging the right way gets you through struggle, positioning you to experience increased blogging success.

Do you need help as a new blogger? Be open to pro counsel. Select a few pros you seem to vibe with. Follow their blog. Read posts. Take notes. Zero in on a few pros whose style resonates with you. As you dial in, finding a mentor or 2 feels seamless. From there, as you nibble on advice from a few pros, focus most attention and energy on following advice from 1-2 skilled pros. Note parallels between pro blogging fundamentals taught by seasoned veterans. Most focus on creating and connecting to blog the right way.

Listen, learn and put pro advice into action.

Beware winging it as a newbie blogger.

Find a blogging teacher to begin blogging the right way.