Addicted to (successful) blogging

A Perth blogger, who has spent time developing his skills in the US, reveals his winning formula.

Content is key if you want to create a successful blog, according to Perth born and raised Joel Brown.

Back in Perth recently after stints living and working in Los Angeles and Kuala Lumpur, the self-proclaimed high school drop out and former salesman, now 27, told Business News the best blogs consistently ‘cutting through all the noise’.

“There is no substitute for consistent, valuable content,” Mr Brown said.

“Most people do not do this, and then wonder why their blog is gaining little traction or return for them.”

Mr Brown’s blog, Addicted2Success, has garnered 15 million unique visitors a year and enough Google AdSense revenue to enable him to quit his job 18 months ago.

“I think it was important that I did not try to monetise my blog for the first year, “ Mr Brown told Business News.

“Instead I concentrated on posting quality content as often as I could. When I look at what others had done they did not post regularly, or of sufficient quality, and some rushed to put ads on their pages, which then put off their readers.”

Generating a growing subscriber list is important, too. Addicted2Success has more than 25,000 subscribers, meaning they immediately receive every new post into their inbox.

“I made some mistakes with my subscriber list strategy,” Mr Brown said.

“If I’d put a free e-book or something as a giveaway at the outset, I would have had 100,000 subscribers by now. (He added the e-book idea later on, and the rate of new subscribers grew four-fold.)

“Another tip is to get covered on higher ranked, but related, blogs, as these then send links back to your blog.”

The more high-ranked sites link to your site, the higher Google ranks you, and the earlier you are found in their organic (free) search results.

Mr Brown has twice turned down offers of $US1 million for his blog site. It all seems a far cry from working in a Perth sales job three years ago, with a one-hour commute each way in an occupation even his mum said was not going anywhere.

“I loved English at school, but I got a D grade,” Mr Brown said.

“I didn’t think I could write, I had no degree, I left school in year 11, but strangely I think this seems to have released me to write and develop as I want to.”

A voracious reader of motivational books, anything by Tony Robbins and the like, Mr Brown started posting about success, and how successful people became successful.

“After a year, once my traffic was up, I turned on the Google Adsense advertisements. A week later I was surprised to see a few hundred dollars in my account,” Mr Brown said.

“I thought that would at least pay for my petrol and lunches.”

A few months later the flow of money was paying for rent, and then for holidays. As the passive income grew, so it was time to quit his sales job and become a full-time blogger.

Initially, he wrote every post himself. These days he has contributors begging to be guest bloggers, although he still posts 60 per cent of the content.

Three years on from starting the blog, Mr Brown gives keynote speeches around the world, runs a blogging academy, is writing a book and wants to go after the Cantonese and Spanish-speaking markets. He is moving to San Diego but will be back in Perth later in the year to launch a new project.

And what is his advice to businesses looking to blog?

“Don’t do it to sell, do it to engage and add value. We sites with blogs add 55 per cent to their traffic almost instantly. There is no downside,” Mr Brown said.