Find the experts in your field.

Have you read The Speed of Trust by  Stephen Covey? The bottom line is that trusting someone speeds up your ability to accomplish things.

If you want to improve how you blog, sew, ride a motorcycle, recondition a car, plant a garden, you need to rely on experts. You need to trust that they can help you. 

Where do you find them?

Everyone knows that word of mouth sells. That’s why you can make an impact on others by blogging. Your word about a topic or product you love is important. When you read a book, magazine article, or blog post about any topic, check the bibliography. 

I am interested in blogging as a hobby. When I started in 2012, I knew nothing about blogging. As I learned little by little, I found people who blogged better than I did who taught me how to improve my blog. 

One of the most responsive people I knew wrote a book about blogging, and how to build a better blog. In a roundabout style, she named blogs she thought did a great job of blogging. I trusted her,  used her book, and followed many of the people she followed.  

I wrote this article while I read the book. I am still friends with Janice and she has won many awards for her blog. Today she is an influencer in the field of blogging.

Find Amazing Blogs in Books with Tips

That’s right, I reviewed Janice Wald’s new book, An Insider’s Guide to Building a Successful Blog about blogging. Even though I’ve blogged for four years, I’m learning too much to keep reading. 

Whaaaaaat?

One chapter contained over 80 blogs with one tip about successful blogging from each of them.

That created a conundrum for me. I wondered, who were all these bloggers, and why should I trust their tips?

Right? You wonder that too, don’t you?

Journal to Find Amazing Blogs

If I start today and read ten blogs a day, I can visit all her recommended blogs in Chapter Three in five days. I hope you read faster than I do. I wonder if I will ever finish all 69 chapters. Every page of her book is packed with ideas, some of which you can put into play immediately. Except for a couple of blogs that no longer exist, so far I am impressed with her list.

The blogs in her book Insider’s Guide to Building a Successful Blog did not have links, thanks to a recommendation from her publisher, so I cut and pasted the names of the blogs into my blogging journal, then linked them. Google Docs works well for this finding blogs online from their creator’s name or a partial web address.

Today I started visiting and following them on Twitter. I retweeted some of their posts along the way. Janice recommends that, too.

Find Amazing Blogs – My Findings

1. Jason Cushman (a.k.a. Opinionated Man) This is my second or third time back to Jason’s blog. He has the sticky kind of friend blog. In other words, it’s not just advice. Today I found over 1,100 posts that are a picture promotion of a book of one of his readers. He doesn’t review them at all.
2. Living with Batman.com, Janice advises her readers to follow Elena Peters on Facebook. I followed her on Twitter, too. Of course, when you read a linky blogger, you don’t just read their posts. Professional bloggers increase their traffic hosting guest posts. The first article I read today was written by a guest blogger. Since Janice raved about Pinterest, and I know little about it, I chose guest blogger, Jennifer Koshak from UnfoldAndBegin.com. Jennifer’s blog also includes pertinent blogging information. Even her commenters added ideas. One commenter wrote, “I also wish that bloggers would include in the ABOUT contents the following: Their age, and the city and state they are from. I have been searching for bloggers in my area that are in my age group, with no luck. But then again, I’m new to this blogging thing.”
3. Learn to Blog.com, is a professional blogging website whom I followed on Twitter The first guest post I read I should send to Carol. http://learntoblog.com/becoming-a-part-time-travel-blogger/ She makes $6,000 a month travel writing. The blog hosting this article isger, Jennifer Koshak. 
4. CoSchedule – problogger survey 20% of bloggers struggle with content, 22% struggle with time This is a blog you join to buy their products, primarily a scheduling program. I love their headline analyzer more than almost every product on the market for bloggers. And it is free.
5. AllTop.com This professional blog links to other bloggers by category. AllTop is more like a digital library for research than a best friend blog. 
6. Jon Morrow is a problogger – not someone who will follow you, but for research, he is great! He publishes the work of others and offers a content-writing course that is probably top-notch. Here is one of his tips. “Stop obsessing over your search engine rankings, share counts, the size of your email list, or any of the normal metrics. Sure, it’s all interesting, but none of it matters unless you inspire the reader to do something. Not with one post, not by demanding they do what you want, but by creating a flow of content that subtly nudges them down the path to victory.” https://smartblogger.com/content-marketing/#more-6908 He is one of the easiest pro bloggers to read.
7. AdriansCrazyLife.com: is a professional blogger with tips about social media that you can buy. I read an article about Pinterest. I also liked her article about FB tips. She is a busy woman who is serious about upgrading her skills. She attended a conference and plans to share what she learned through her blog. 
8. AnnetteRochelleAben.wordpress.com: Annette made a gratitude video. This is someone who is more philosophical, I think. She has her own radio station, Blog Talk Radio. She does have a clear voice and she created an inspiring video. What she did is doable for most of us who take pictures. I am grateful, too, but I never thought of putting it to music and adding photography. “One of the things the staff of The Magic Happens prides itself on is not just providing space for writers to present their works but it also helping those who are trying to find themselves as writers, grow and flourish” Annette is one of six editors. This might be a place to sell writing or at least posting a guest blog. “It is DIVINE! and we are having the time of our lives!! Contact our fearless leader, Ms. Kathleen Anne McCarty via email kat@themagichappens.com and let her know what you’d like to do.” It’s an online magazine
9. BloggingWithBeth.com She recommends this article “297 Flabby Words and Phrases That Rob Your Writing of All Its Power.” This is a Smart Blogger piece. I may even already have it. 🙂 I did not spend much time on her site. She does consultation work on websites. She has only been blogging for 3 years. Beth provides a great service. I wonder how far along I need to develop my blog before I’m qualified to advise others? What are her qualifications? I did not read far enough to discover them, but I love the idea of blog coaching. 
10. BlondeWriteMore.wordpress.com I have visited and liked her blog before. She is seriously funny. She is an author, but I think would be a good sticky friend.

Summary

• Which amazing blogs have you visited?
• When you find amazing blogs, do you recommend to others as experts in writing, blogging or photography? Maybe you are the expert – feel free to link one of your expert posts in the comment section.
• Be sure to visit the those who link.

Please share if you checked out a new blog.