What Would I Do Different If I Had to Start My Blog Over? LBT Is Now 1 Year Old

by

24th January, 2012

I started LBT exactly 1 year back.

And what have I achieved through this blog?

Before 1 year, no one knows me, zero income, and I was the most unproductive guy on earth.

I’ve yet to achieve so many things, and I’ll stop bragging about this blog now.

Lets get into the details of what can you learn from my mistakes that I’ve done so far in 1 year of my blogging journey.

I’ll first choose a niche that is extremely focused

Lets face it. You can’t become a master of all trades.

But, you can become a master of ONE trade. You can show damn variations when you focus on ONE single topic.

Most bloggers, especially the new bloggers write about every topic under the sun. They will cover all the topics like affiliate marketing, social media, blogging tips, SEO, technology, writing tips, blah blah. No offense at all here (if you’re also one among them).

All I want to say is this, if you want to create a better blog, you must stand out from the crowd.

You’ll have more chances of getting successful when you write about less topics.

Why write about SEO when you don’t get even 100 visitors from the search engines? How can you teach others to earn $50 a day when you don’t earn even a penny?

Logic is simple here. 95 out of 100 blogs will focus on all the topics, that’s why they fail miserably.

If you stay in the remaining 5 blogs, you will CERTAINLY succeed.

I’ll develop a business model (and why you should also have it too)

This is another important task I didn’t focus on when I launched LBT.

You MUST have a business model for your blog. You should know the monetization models before you even buy your domain name.

How do you want to make money from your blog?

Rely on Google ads, banners and affiliate marketing?

Don’t just think about it.

In this Google penguin and panda world, thinking about the OLD money making methods won’t work anymore.

You should first have a clear route map about monetizing your blogs.

How to have a clear business model then?

The business model for LBT is..

  • Building thriving audience with my writing and unique content
  • Increasing the online influence both by using social media sites and guest blogging
  • Launching my products on solving TARGETED readers problems (this could be anything an eBook, video, podcasts or a membership site), till then earning money by paid writing and domain, website flipping (read my recent interview here, see question no. 5)

Now, tell me how do you want to monetize your blog the RIGHT way?

Have clear goals first. Invest enough time and money (remember I started earning money after 9 months of launching LBT). It will certainly take more time to make money online. It’s NEVER get-rich-quick-scheme.

I won’t focus on

Blog comments (they are good, but they are bad if you get addicted to getting more blog comments)

Page rank (it has nothing to do with your blog’s success)

Alexa rank (waste of time)

Facebook likes (they will slowly increase as your site gets bigger, so don’t need to worry about increasing them)

RSS suscribers (sucking!)

Traffic stats (addiction, in the beginning, you won’t get any traffic unless you’re already an expert)

I’ll focus on

Learning SEO basics (Harsh Agarwal is REALLY good at this topic, I suggest once you to skim through his SEO section)

Creating videos and podcasts

Networking with the influential bloggers

Guest blogging on top blogs

I’ll link to other bloggers more often

I’ll post more consistently

You don’t have to be everywhere, you just have to be awesome in 1 or 2 places

Be everywhere. Pat Flynn said it already.

I strongly believe that you DON’T have to be everywhere socially to succeed online.

You just have to be AWESOME in one or two places.

I repeat it again…

Be active on one or two mediums first. First create a brand for yourself in those two mediums. Then think about the other mediums.

I spend my social time on Facebook and guest blogging. I know they aren’t enough if I’ve to get more online visibility.

But..

If you show genuine interest in helping others, you will soon build a great network around your blogs even if you are not being everywhere.

And I’d like to thank YOU for helping me in the 1 year of my blogging journey.

Special thanks to:

Amit Shaw of iTechCode

Amrik Virdi of Monetizeblogging.com (his blog’s link is dead now)

Ileane Smith of BasicBlogTips

Jane Sheeba of ProbloggingSuccess

Ehsan Ullah of GuideAndNews

 

64 thoughts on “What Would I Do Different If I Had to Start My Blog Over? LBT Is Now 1 Year Old”

  1. Congratulations Rahul!

    What a wonderful achievement for a 1 year old blog – commendable indeed. :) I guess it adds another feather in your cap – great going!

    I agree, it’s better to focus on a few limited things rather than a lot many that actually get you nowhere. It matters a lot if you remain within the niche that you are good at, instead of trying to copy others or put your feet in many boats. Yes indeed, the page rank, or any other kind of rank or stats really don’t matter much nowadays with the updates that keep taking place. Instead, it’s the quality content you share, the relationships you build with fellow bloggers, either through your guest posts or visiting other blogs and commenting that helps you in the long run.

    Thanks once again for sharing, and here’s wishing you much joy and success in the years to come. :)

    • Thanks so much for the kind words Harleena :)

      You were always there in LBT’s special moments (50th post, 100th post and this one) and I can’t forget your appreciation and support. You are REALLY working great on your blogs and attracting many online readers with your awesome writing.

      Thanks so much for stopping by Harleena, I’m glad.

      • Wow! Bro. 1 Year completed. And you’re in a great position now. I wish you all the best for your future. Yes, there are many things to learn from you. You helped me a lot already with your worthy suggestions for my blog’s design and content. Always thankful to you. Congrats bro. :)

        • Thanks for the appreciation Avi.

          You’ve been doing really great things on your blog. I always keep an eye on your blog contents, you’re creating great stuff regularly and building a thriving community in your network.

          Keep rockin’ Avi

  2. “Why write about SEO when you don’t get even 100 visitors from the search engines? How can you teach others to earn $50 a day when you don’t earn even a penny? ”

    I really love this two sentences. When I start my blog ( about 6 months before) I also had written that type of post. But after few months, I understand that there in no point in writing a post about which I not achieved.

    And do you know why is Monetizeblogging not live?

    • What I wanted to convey there is, if you’re new to blogging, try to take control of what you’re talking about. You simply can’t get others attention to read your blog by talking nonsense!

      And yea, I’ve watching you over the past few months, you’ve been doing really great job on your blog, Raplus. I wish you all the best for your blogging success.

  3. Its not too long since I visited this blog for first time.
    I am amazed with this news. I thought this blog would be somewhat older at least older than a year.
    You’ve built amazing interactive community here with very less time. Just incredible work. I will request you to write a post like an overview explaining how you’ve grown this kind of community here with less time.
    Thanks and Congrats!

    • Hi Shahzad,

      Credit goes to awesome readers and commenters like you :)

      I’ll surely consider your blog post idea, bro. I’ll let you know when the post is ready. Thanks for the comment and keep visiting the blog for more info.

  5. Congratulations Rahul for 1 year of your Blogging. as well as the great achievement you have got through this blog.

    Nice to see you don’t focus on many topics where many newbies bloggers waste their time. Page rank, Alexa Rank, Blog commenting really don’t matter more. Thanks for sharing your view on Blogging..
    Once again congrats….and best of luck for your future.

  6. Congratulations @Rahul

    Really You are Great Blogger and Writer. I like Your writing style and your informative post & also your blog. you are doing well. keep it up . God bless you for your future :)

    Regards
    Rahul Kashyap

  9. Tons of congratulations to you! Yeah your blog is really a great source of live learning and for blogging knowledge also. Rahul! Wishing your blog a grand success in present and future also. Particularly not wishing you, but I am wishing your blog ;) Don’t worry will surely wish you a great success on your B’day!

  10. First Rahul Congrats bro. for completing 1 year in blogging field and you are doing awesome job mate.And i like most your words that we have to focus on selected content rather than try to cover all because it is usual also a single man can’t become perfect in all subjects means better would be to focus on any single niche.

  12. Hey Rahul,
    Congrats to you Bro. Hope you do you will achieve more success than the last year with this blog.
    This the one of the best blogs from which I am getting inspiration of Blogging. Thanks for it! and once again Congratulations :) :D
    Regards,
    Sohil Memon.

  13. First of all congrats Rahul ….. LBT has helped me and my blog grow a lot . But I don’t think focusing on multiple niches at a time is a problem .

  16. Hi Rahul,

    It’s great to be at your blog and thank you for sharing your learning experiences with us.

    When I first started blogging I just didn’t get. I used to write many blog posts and expect people to read my posts. Of course, this didn’t happen. I wouldn’t even comment at other blogs, which increased the chances even more that others wouldn’t see my content.

    It is only when I started to comment at other blogs, began to write guest posts that I began to see the popularity of my blog slowly start to increase.

  18. Congratulation Rahul.. In the one year’s journey of blogging you have learn lots more and shared most of useful tips with your little experience. Now you are going towards a perfect blogger.

  19. Congratulations Rahul for completing the successful blogging of one year,

    I’ve been an active reader of LBT from last 6 or 7 months. The one mistake I made is not focusing on a single topic for my blog from day one. I’ve been writing about topics like affiliate marketing when I never made a single penny by affiliate marketing myself. Focusing on just one topic in which you’re passionate about works best.

    I agree with you that pagerank and alexa rank has nothing to do with blog’s success and tracking them are just a waste of time, but blog comments are most important part of blogging and commenting for building relationships, connecting with others and engaging works best. It’s my secret strategy for relationship building and engaging.

    Thanks for the shout out.

  20. Good points, Rahul. Creating personal relationships with other bloggers is necessary to creating an influential blog. The one mistake that even I did is, I focused on multiple niches simultaneously which resulted in absolute failure of my blog.

  22. Hey Rahul,
    Congratulations Dear for completing your first year of Wonderful Blogging..!!
    You have achieved a lot in very short time period. And yes I know, This is just your starting…

    Best Of Luck, Rahul for you future blogging career..!!

  23. Congrats Rahul for your achievement !!!
    Another great post…u gave the answer to the most important question that bugs everyone who wants to start a blog…:-)

  24. Hi Rahul, very nice post I can learn a lot from this. Remember back in the day, you were really focused in blog comments and had a lot of posts that talk about getting more comments on each post. But you do need it when you have no comment at all and your focus was right.

    Hope you won’t regret these and Thanks for Sharing this – Ferb

  25. Wow Rahul. You rocked! Really, you were my favourite blogger when I started my blogging career, and one of the LBT’s regular reader too (still now!). I want to appreciate your hardwork, without hardwork and patience you couldn’t have achieved this success and could have made LBT a successful blog. Congrats! and I hope you will get great success in future!

  26. nice & straight forward ideas about blogging line. No doubt it is important to help people in problem solutions. They will gather around you & it will work as a network for you.

  27. Dear Rahul,

    365 days of focus and toil, mixed with fun and purpose.

    That’s the secret behind your success. If human life span can be increased I wish this goes on for 36500 more days, so that people can learn from an astute professional and a smart human being who is genuine at heart.

    Generally you reply to each of the comments and in this one I don’t see any of your replies.

    Just curious to know about this strategy…he he he..

    And finally it was an honor for me to interview you and your interview has already crossed 100 facebook likes, 29 comments and 14 linked in shares.

    More people should listen to your heart through that interview and I hope that your fans would tell people about that.

    Thank you once again for giving all your amazing writing wisdom to us and keep giving more…We are a greedy bunch, always looking for more from you….he he he..

    Do you agree with me friends??

    Sincerely,
    Inspiring Citizen Rafi

  28. Hello Rahul
    I am thankful to you that you have mentioned by name. Many many congratulation that LBT is One year old now. Many things to learn from you Rahul. You have really done wonder in this one year of time. I wish you all the success.
    Amit

  29. Hey Rahul,
    What an achievement within 1 year!
    I love this line of your post very much that “Why write about SEO when you don’t get even 100 visitors from the search engines? How can you teach others to earn $50 a day when you don’t earn even a penny?”
    Totally agree with you with that point. It is true that one may know that how to increase PR rank by researching others posts. But the problem is when one have PRO , readers won’t take his/her tips seriously. This is Common sense.
    Another good point you mentioned to stick with one topic. But I think one should cover other related topic too.
    Thanks for your Nice post!

  31. choosing a niche is very important because all the new bloggers are now aiming at a general field such as technology, we have to take a unique field, no matter how small it is and write on it. i rely on google adsense to make money, and yes rahul harsh is really the go to guy if you want to succeed in seo. thx fr the helpful guide…i wish you all the best! :)

    Cheers,
    Gautam

  32. Congratulations for 1 Year of successful Blogging.
    Very Nice Explanation about avoiding Distractions (Don’t Try to be Everywhere)
    Actually it is a basic tendency of most of the Bloggers to do so so they can get Traffic from Every Niche but this increases Bounce Rate instead. And I was no exception for this.
    Thanks

  33. Congrats… Great Success for a young age blogger.. i love the way you thought. specially when u told that u dont care about alexa rank , facebook fans etc.. yes u r right the main thing is SEO. and that’s what i am trying to learn.. Keep it up bro..

  35. hey Rahul Kuntala !
    Congratulations for 1 Year of successful Blogging. also Best of Luck for your future in blogging. waiting for your next update.Happy Blogging.

  36. Congratulations! I think my congratulatory message might be coming a bit late.
    The interesting aspect with your post is the ‘not to focus’ section. It is something many of us are guilty of.

  37. Critics will always exist Rahul, what matters most is if you and your readers think that you are doing a good job then that is more than anything. Keep up the good work…

  40. Hi, I failed a lot of time in blogging more than 10 times. I trying it just from 2008 but not succeeded do you want to know why. I never think for long term goal. When i started i thought i would be rich fast but how for that i practices in bulk way but all plan failed many time. Now When i do work online my parents don’t believe that i can make money online. For thinking short term earning its successfully passes four years. But i never defeated my self I know one day i will be successful.

    Finally i started kuldeeppal.com in 2013 having a long term goal. Now this time i don’t want to be rich fast because fast is very slow. Now this time i studied a lot for blogging and consistence rule of SEO. I came here from bloggingtips.com. You are working good. Be my friend why not to go further together with helping each other businesses.

  41. Hey Rahul,

    I think I need to take a few pages out of your book. These are some very great tips. I think I need to apply them in my life as a blogger and also on my blog.

    You have mentioned some things that you would and wouldn’t focus on, and I must say that some of these things that you wouldn’t focus on are like my main focus. This has given me a heads up and saying that I should stop.

    Time to change my focus and get back on the road to success.

    Thanks for the awesome post, Kuntala.

  42. Wow! nice shot Rahul. The best I like about LBT is its confidence-filled wordings. You can convince mate. Wish you luck and your are geting closer and closer, I feel.
    Regards

  43. I’d like to add more – email marketing. I believe this is one of the old methods but still works.
    Once you’ve got huge list of email, trust me, no people can stop you. Facebook closes down? Feedburner closes down? No problem. You can still survive. Doing email marketing makes you independents from all those third party services that will badly impact your business once they close down or change their business model.

  44. Congratulations! For Complete i year of blogging in the level of success because many of people created thousand of blog and our of few some few people are success in blogging like you.

    But your blogging tips is very useful to me too :D

    Related To Blogging :- What Is Social Bookmarking ? If Your Blogger Than Do Not Avoid This

    :D :D :D :D :D

  45. Really a very great share Rahul. I’ll surely maintain my genre and will try to follow all above discussed points.
    Basically in a blogger’s life the starting steps are of great importance, where he can loose his niche or can find his place in this new world.
    Nice post…keep sharing!!!

  46. Ohh boy!!! What an inspiring start for my day :) just stumbled upon your blog after reading today’s hindu metro plus…u r just like my little brother next door n inspired me to a great level…I blog just to express n share but after reading ur articles my thoughts are going n a diff way:) altogether u r rocking n believe me am goin through all ur articles frm past 2 hrs n it’s just 4.41am now:) god bless u Rahul!!!

  47. Rahul,

    I quite often come and read this post as I am also nearing 1 year of my blogging journey. Having said that, I know that I need to learn a lot more to scale new heights in the world of blogging.

    You seem to have mastered the art in a great manner. Looking forward for more posts from you..!

  48. Wow! Bro. 1 Year completed. And you’re in a great position now. I wish you all the best for your future. Yes, there are many things to learn from you. You helped me a lot already with your worthy suggestions for my blog’s design and content. Always thankful to you. Congrats bro.

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