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If Marilyn Monroe was a Blogger What Would She Do?

Posted: 20 Dec 2008 06:09 AM PST

Today Mara Rogers from Secrets for Money looks at how Marilyn Monroe would blog.

If Marilyn Monroe was a Blogger, what would she do? Here are some quotations from famous classic silver screen stars, and what I imagine their advice to all us bloggers would be.

So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

(1) “I just want to be wonderful.”—Marilyn Monroe

For bloggers: I highly recommend that among the goals of your blog should be that you “want to be wonderful.”

At http://www.SecretsForMoney.com I want our visitors to say “I want more of you!” I want them to be excited for the next post, and I always want them to want to read more content from us, more, more, and more!

How do you get to hear from your visitors “I want more of you!” at your blog? There are several internal-world mindset shifts and external-world actions that together can change the “silver screen” of your blog!

Here’s how~

(2) “Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”—James Stewart (Jimmy Stewart)

For bloggers: This is a crucial mindset to have. Even if your blog is monetized, your visitors—who make up your audience—are your “partners.”

Always ask yourself: What do my visitors need? What benefits can I bring to them?

Know the difference between a fad and a trend. A fad comes and goes very quickly, but a trend lasts. You want to be positioned and ready to ride the trend as it rises. Become a ‘trend-forecaster’—know a trend is coming before it arrives so you can take advantage of it with your blog.

One way to learn how to do this is by analyzing certain online resources such as Amazon —what book subjects do you think will become popular in the future based on what book subjects you see are popular now? Book subjects and topics are also blog subjects and topics.

If you sell products on your blog go to http://www.pulse.ebay.com and see the section on the Home Page of the most “Popular Searches” on ebay.

I also recommend researching “Keywords” and how they apply to your blog’s URL. You can type in your blog’s URL using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to do this: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

When you review the “stats” of your blog what articles are people responding to? In the “comments’ they post on your blog, what are they asking you for? All of this is very revealing and tells you what your “partners” want and need.

At http://www.SecretsForMoney.com I ask the visitors what kinds of articles they would like us to report on. That doesn’t mean every suggestion a visitor makes will be appropriate for the vision or branding of my blog, but it is very important that I evaluate what the visitors—my “partners” say.

After all, as you will read in the “About” page of my site, the entire purpose of the blog is for the visitors. Of course the blog is monetized with ads, but I wouldn’t be setting a very good example if my personal development blog about making money, saving money and getting wealthy wasn’t also monetized!

(3) “The more things you do, the more you can do.” –Lucille Ball

For bloggers: The importance of stretching your comfort zone cannot be emphasized enough. When you do stretch your comfort zone, you can accomplish much more since you are taking more of what you perceive to be risks—”stretches”—not avoiding them

As a result, you will then act in spite of discomfort, and try something new, whether that is a new way of writing, or learning a new piece of technology, or approaching a very famous person to interview for an article.

Once your comfort zone is stretched, what used to be new, scary, and uncomfortable to you, is now something you have done before, therefore it has become comfortable, so you end up achieving more. Your world becomes bigger, because you are not keeping it small.

The more you stretch your comfort zone the wider it becomes, therefore you end up doing more, easily and effortlessly.

(4) “It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn’t, and when it does, we may well reject it”–Spencer Tracy

For bloggers: Your reason for blogging and your mindset cannot come from a place of insecurity, with the goal of getting recognition and approval from others. The most popular blogs are those that are spearheaded by empowered bloggers, bloggers who blog because they love it.

Yes, you should blog for your audience and your future audience, and your blog should have a market value—it should fill a need and supply benefits to your audience and also have timely posts—but you must avoid the ‘recognition trap.’

How do you avoid the ‘recognition trap’? Don’t seek approval from others, this is trying to people-please and it is a dead-end. Why? Well, first of all, it is impossible to please everyone or convince everyone of your perspective. Secondly, if you are blogging and looking for positive feedback in order to feel worthy then it is a waste of your precious energy. Your self-esteem cannot rise or fall based on whether or not you receive positive recognition, or you are in for a miserable rollercoaster ride as a blogger.

You want to be an information-specialist with your own strong position and voice and have a backbone, not a blogger who twists themselves into a pretzel and alters their stance and written words or opinion each time they get negative feedback—this will influence and taint your performance. No one can avoid disapproval and criticism. Be unflappable.

(5) “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”—Judy Garland

For bloggers: Do not be afraid to buck the trend, to have your blog look different in terms of design, layout, color palette etc. from others blogs, or to have your blog read differently from other blogs.

Stop comparing your blog to other peoples’ blogs, let your blog be different, that is what will make people be drawn to it.

You want to be unconventional, not mediocre.

Who knows, maybe what you do and write in your blog will actually set the latest blog trend!

(6) “An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.”—Mae West

For bloggers: ‘Over deliver’ in your blog posts, but I do not mean adding superfluous words. Be concise, and make each word count.

Ask yourself: How can I add overwhelming amounts of value to my site visitors and blog subscribers?

How can I influence, effect, and inspire other people?

Providing value is the key factor that determines the success of your blog.

(7) “You must train your intuition — you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide.”—Ingrid Bergman

For bloggers: Do not listen to the “noise” around you.

Listen to the inner voice within you; your heart’s wisdom.

(8) “Is there anything better than to be longing for something, when you know it is within reach?”—Greta Garbo

For bloggers: O.K. So, you might have to forget the ‘microwave-mentality’—your blog may not get the following you want in a microcook second. But it is the journey after all, not the destination.

I bet all these timeless silver screen superstars would say the same to you—you can do it! And the anticipation knowing that you can achieve all that you want and have a great time along the way is everything—believe in yourself! It is just a matter of time!

As Marilyn Monroe said: “We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”

Go forth and shine bright fellow bloggers—you are unstoppable!

Mara Rogers is the Founder of http://www.SecretsForMoney.com where she and her team work to empower you to freedom by helping you increase your capacity for all the wealth currencies: money, time, health, and love.