7 Simple Methods to Blog Like a Pro Even if you’re Not an Expert [Part 1]

If you’re like me, there are at least one or two things you’re really passionate about. You love doing them, and you’re actually pretty good at them. But here’s the thing: While there seem to be so many experts out there with years of experience, connections, speaking gigs, published books and a squillion fans raving about them like 12 year old girls in a Bieber’s concert, you feel a bit left out. After all, you’re just starting out and you have no track record, no authority, and no products to your name. And that’s when doubts settle in. “Why would anyone even listen to me?” you’re asking yourself as you’re firing up WordPress.

Well, I’m here to tell you to shake those doubts away and listen for a second. There are actually many things you can do to get started with blogging about your passion and not come across as unintelligent, even when you’re not an expert in that area. Some of these ideas I’m using myself and some will be brought into action in future posts. Hope you find these tips helpful…

Method #1: Interview experts

Doing interviews is one of the ultimate ways of generating fresh, quality content. You leverage the knowledge and experience of experts in your niche so your own expertise becomes irrelevant. Moreover, interviews are great way to create products (if you’re not using them for posts, that is) and to form fruitful relationships with experts. But the icing on the cake is that you come across as an expert by association. As you share the interviews with your audience, you are associated with the interviewees and, over time, gain expert status yourself.

Action steps:
Find experts in your industry in one of these 3 ways:

1. Google ‘[niche market] + blog’ (if it’s a popular blog, its owner is likely an expert in the relevant niche) or ‘[niche market] + expert’
2. Use any of these Twitter related resources to find influencers and then approach them on Twitter: Listorious.com, Wefollow.com, Twellow.com.
3. Look for Amazon best-sellers in your niche market. Authors of best-sellers are probably experts as well. Try to Google them and if they have a website, contact them there. Alternatively, Search for them on Search.twitter.com [LINK] or on other social sites like LinkedIn or Facebook.

Method #2: Create resource posts and pages

Are you using WordPress? Well, in that case there’s probably a boatload of plug-ins you’ve tested. Why not post about 20 of them? People love to read and share this kind of articles.  Another common (and profitable) way is to put together a Resource Page. Here you can review a few of the tools and services you’re actually using in your blog, with affiliate links to the product sites, just like Ana from the Traffic Generation Cafe did so beautifully. As your blog community grows, your resource posts and pages will attract more eyeballs and become a major source of revenue for you.

Action steps:

1. Go to your WordPress admin panel, and make a list of the 10 or 20 plug-ins you’re using and you’re happy with. Write a few lines about why you’d recommend it, with a link to the download page. Here’s a good example from Michael’s Income Diary.
2. Alternatively, make a list of the 30 most successful marketers today, the 20 most converting email headlines or anything else relevant to your nic.

Method #3: Display infographics

Unless you’ve been living under a virtual rock, you’re well aware of how infographics have been taking the Internet by storm over the last few years. Basically, they are a visual way of conveying data. Here’s a good example. Call me medieval, but I find it odd that with the rising popularity of video and dynamic websites, people marvel at a static image with fancy numbers, vector shapes and designer fonts, but that’s me. Fact is, peeps love data and numbers with a bit of eye-candy, and so everyday a gazillion of infographics spring up like mushrooms after rain. Heck, there’s even a startup company all about meeting the massive demand for these little fellas. So why not jump on that bandwagon?

Action steps:

1. Use Visual.ly to find great infographics to share with your audience. (since the copyright issue is often vague, either ask the infographic creator for permission to republish it or just show a screenshot of part of it and link to it from your blog).
2. You can also create your own infographic. Use Wikipedia and Google to find other reputable data sources. Visual.ly will soon have their in-house infographic creation tool. Alternatively, you can design your own infographic or outsource it to a designer, and upload it to Flickr and to Visual.ly for more exposure. These posts give great tips on growing your traffic with infographics and pitching them to other blogger.

Method #4: Analyze relevant blogs

If you are passionate about a certain topic, you probably read blogs about it on a regular basis. Why not take, say, 5 or 10 of your favorite blogs, or search for the top 10 blogs on that subject matter, and analyze them? This could make for an insightful article. You can search for similarities between them, e.g. layout , design, monetization methods and posting frequency. You can craft a whole article or even shoot a video going through what makes these blogs so popular. Who wouldn’t want to know that?

Action steps:

1. Use Google, Technorati, AllTop, 9rules or even Alexa to find popular blogs in your niche market. Make a list of the 10 highest ranked blogs.
2. Look for common traits among these blogs. For example: How often do they post? What are their monetization techniques? Does the blog owner reply to comments? Are there similarities in the layout of the sites?
3. When putting together the article, include a list with the blog names and relevant links. Then you can go through 5-10 questions and answer them. Try to include a takeaway at the end of each paragraph, to make it relevant to your readers. A summery with your key conclusions would be an excellent way to wrap up the article.

Part 2 of the article will be published on Thursday. Watch this space…

What about you?

How long have you been blogging for?

What methods are you using to show your experise?

Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

If this post has been of value to you, why not share the love by tweeting it +1-ing it, or sharing it on Facebook? Thanks…