How Blogging Has Changed My Life
Running your own blog is easy… creating an authority blog and one that makes money is another! Yes, everyone talks about the power of blogging and how it can make you rich or how it can provide you with exposure to people all over the world and even create a new life and business of it’s own. Yes… all of this is possible through blogging, but only if you live, eat and breath it!
With millions of new blogs going live every day, the odds of your blog standing out from the crowd is pretty slim to none. You need to find a niche and simply kill it! Keep generating amazing content, give quality stuff away for free that others would charge you for, and show that you know what you are talking about and put yourself out there to help others… all of these efforts combined, and you may become one of the next top brands and authorities in blogging.
Not to brag, but I’ve put everything into my business and online marketing efforts for over the past 15 years. When I launched my own blog, usually my own name, I had to do the same exact thing. Now five years later and the blog is still killing it and my brand is growing more and more everything.
Please don’t take this post as a means to brag, but instead to impress upon you the sheer power of what is possible through your determined efforts when combined with blogging. Whether you are looking to make money from blogging or just want to create awareness around your passion or even become a voice within your community… it’s all possible through blogging. In this post I’m going to cover just a small fraction of what I’ve been able to accomplish since launching my own blog back in 2007.
I’ve Created a Brand of My Own
For anyone that has been following the blog for a while now, you know that the design and concept is always focused on the “Zac Johnson” toon, which has been great for branding over the years. With the dollar sign shirt, the crown and the personalization of the toon, it’s the perfect way to brand myself and make a lasting impression. Even though the blog has had several blog redesigns over the past five years, the focus on the toon has always remained the same, which always continues to build on the lasting branding and impression made to visitors of the blog.
Make sure to read one of the posts I’ve written over at BloggingTips.com that walks you through the process of how to create a logo for your site. It’s actually much easier and cheaper than you think! The best way to start branding your site and making a name for yourself, is to start on day one!
“Zac Johnson” – As Seen on ABC News
What’s the price of getting coverage on a national television station like ABC News? Simply put… Priceless! Less than two years ago I made my first television appearance on ABC News on the Tory Johnson’s Job Club show. It was pretty cool to visit ABC Studios in New York City and get a behind the scenes look at what everyone else is seeing when they are watching television at home. Once again, this was all possible due to the exposure I’ve received through ZacJohnson.com.
Speaking at Conferences Around the World
One of the best ways to build a name for yourself, is through speaking at conferences and events in your area. The first conference I ever attended was CJU 2000 in California, then the first event I spoke at was during Affiliate Force 2000, which was an internet marketing cruise. Since then I’ve spoken at many well known conferences and events such as Affiliate Summit, SES NY, BlogWorld and even did a keynote in Australia for AffiliateSyd. As you continue to speak at more conferences and build a name for yourself, this will lead to more invitations and paid speaking positions… which leads to even more networking, contacts and business.
Free Products, Passes and Services
When you have a popular web site or blog that companies and people want to get exposure on, they may give you special deals, free passes to conferences and many times they will provide you with free versions of their software or memberships to their sites in exchange for a review. For anyone that already has a popular marketing blog, you probably already know what I mean. Many times you can get a free conference pass to internet marketing conferences just for applying for a free guest pass. This in itself can save you a few hundred dollars!
Winning Massive Contests and Promotions
Blogging can open up a lot of door ways and opportunities you may not even think about. In addition to continually being offered free / trial accounts to paid membership programs, software and other services, you can also enter a lot of contests and promotions that are only open to bloggers. Since going live with the blog, I’ve won a decent amount of contests and promotions I’ve participated in… winning such promotions as a all inclusive vacation to the Dominican Republic, tickets to Elite Retreat, Apple products, conference passes and much more. However, one of the most interesting things I’ve learned over the years from entering and participating in blogging contests and promotions… is that people are just too lazy to enter! Which in the end helps my chances of winning!
Building Amazing New Partnerships and Contacts
On top of everything else mentioned, you then have all of the contacts and new people you will meet through your blog. As many people as you think you may know, there are hundreds of not thousands of people who visit your blog every day and know who you are. This has been all too familiar from when I attend internet marketing conferences and people will come up to me out of no where and say they read the blog. You really never know who is reading your blog! It’s quite exciting and always a thrill to meet your readers in person.
Just from attending different marketing and blogging events over the years I’ve been able to network and meet (and become close friends with many) with not only some of the top people in the online marketing space, but also big name celebrities and bloggers like Marc Cuban, Pete Cashmore, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jalen Rose and many more.
You Need to Get a Blog of Your Own
Now just imagine if I stayed a quite affiliate marketer and just kept running my ad campaigns and minding my own business. Sure, this is a working model and a great way to make money, but look at all of the opportunities I would have missed out on had I not started my own blog… not to mention whatever will come out of the blog in the many years to come.
The bottom line is, this blog now has almost over 1,000 posts now is a massive resource and continues to grow every day. I get new emails and readers every day, and who knows what tomorrow will hold.
In all seriousness, growing a blog to the size of 1,000 posts and creating an authority site like this blog is today is no joke. It takes a ton of time, research, dedication and drive… and you can’t look ahead and try to rush the process.
If you don’t currently have a blog of your own, it’s so crucial that you get started today. It doesn’t matter if you are an affiliate marketer or a grandmother at home who would like to write about cats! Blogging is simple and can be whatever you want it to be. To make the process even more simple, after you sign up for hosting through the link below, shoot me an email through the contact form and I will set your blog up for you and give you a $79 Premium WordPress theme for free!
Here’s to the future of blogging and I hope you are ready for when the next opportunity comes knocking on your blogging door!
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Glad to hear about the abundant success you've had! Your story has inspired me and will definitely inspire many others to do what they love through a blog. 🙂 The fact is we can all achieve the same success. It may take a while, but it'll be worth it!
Thanks for sharing. 🙂 Here's to your continued success!
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Excellent, great to hear! Keep me updated on your blogging success!
Zac, great post on why it is important to have a blog. I won my first contest not long ago due to the fact that I was blogging and interacting with other bloggers.
Even though this is on a much smaller scale than the contests you have been winning, it is a start. I would like to learn more from you, keep the good posts coming!
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Awesome, it's amazing how many contests are out there for bloggers, but how small of an amount of people actually enter them!
Yes Zac, I noticed that too! It seems like number of people entering the contests are small. And those who do enter don't always follow through with the requirements. It's really interesting.
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Great post man, I would have to say getting on ABC is 100% priceless!
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Definitely, one of my highlights!
Great post! I have been following your success online for years now. I first heard about you from a co-worker who who introduced me to your dad. You came up then because I was just playing around with a personal blog and getting into AdSense and Affiliate marketing. I never put 100% into any blog project, but everything I learned from your site did give me little successes here and there. My next project will get 110% and I'll be back here for reference. I'm still subscribed to your site and admire your continued efforts and guidance. Thanks for everything!
Thanks Joe, great to hear you've been a long time reader of the blog. Keep me updated on your latest projects, I'd love to hear about them.
Really love this post. It inspired me to get off and create more content and lots of exposure to become authority in my industry. Love the free passes and products. Good luck in your next journey Zac. 😀
Being on ABC News is one of my dreams. Gonna work for it.
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Excellent, great to hear!
Zac I just found your blog and what a way to come to a new blog. Reading this is insane, I just created my first blog 9 days ago, hoping to build up some sort of following, but you making blogging sound so much more exciting. This blog post is great post to read when you are starting out as it gives you that hope that one day we, or should I say I can run as good a blog as you.
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Awesome, I'm always so glad to hear about new people who are coming across the blog. I wish you much success!
Wow! What a piece of information you have provided.Such type of posts really boast me to write something new and attractive for my blog.It filled me with lot of inspiration.I made a blog a month ago with wordpress and came to know about your blog.
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It's not always easy to write new and killer content for your blog, but it comes in waves. Having a few different blogs to write for usually keeps your mind and post ideas flowing.
Congrats Zac, Its a Prize You really deserved with all the good works you've been doing in helping others achieve the excellent works you've been able to achieve through your Blogs.
Great job.
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Thanks, glad you've like the blog and the post.
I don't have any blog but whenever I see and read success stories of bloggers, it always inspire me to start my own blog. I usually get confused while deciding the blog niche as I also consider money earning scenario of my blog.
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The best way to get started is to just go for it. If you find your blog is going in a different direction than you like, you can always start a new blog with a new focus.
Supportive utter! I think one of the good part of blogging is the chance of spreading own thoughts with others and get feedback so that he/she can know the vision of people. I like to read it for various kinds of topics which are very informative and helpful for us. Thanks for the article.
Blogs are great because they are like little niche communities… and a million times easier to develop and run instead of a forum!
Hi Zac, great article. Blogging is somehow like revealing your innermost. If you have passion about something, blogging is a great way to speak about it, share and contribute. I really like what you're saying here and it's great to know people like you. It's an inspiration.
John
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Blogging definitely puts you out there!
Zac, Digging in to a few of your other posts to see what's what. Just getting started with my own blog although I've been marketing online for years.
I think I'll do well reading here.
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Approaching 1,000 active posts on the blog, lots of stuff to read through! Let me know which you like best!
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us, and your own ideas about this influence! I guess that blogging has influenced on a huge number of people and changed somehow their lives
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Telling others about opportunities that you got can be much educational and helpful for others, especially for those people can are new in this sphere
It is really not that easy to rank your site especially competition is quite tight. This is the very reason why you should think of an approach that will help increase site visitors. I'll keep visiting for more of your posts.
Very imoactant history. You encourage my to keep going on. Thanks
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I am also a blogger from Nepal and I find this post very intereting as well as very helpful in its won way.
Always good content Zac. I am learning from you how being consistent is the key to recognition and standing out from the crowd. Thanks for leading by example.