When I was still a teenager in high-school, my older brother got a weight-lifting bench, a barbell and some dumbbells for working out at home.

And so began my journey of trying to build muscle at home, on my own.

Over the next 25 years I read all kinds of books on working out and tried all kind of programs, plans, systems, exercise videos etc.

I had some success with some of these programs, but nothing that produced any lasting results.

When I got a bit older I met some people who were getting great results by working out with personal trainers.

To me though, it didn’t make sense as to why someone would hire a personal trainer.

I thought that working out seemed like a simple enough thing, and I didn’t understand why someone would need to pay someone to help them with it.

Of course this probably comes from my European upbringing where we are taught to mostly try to do everything yourself, instead of paying a professional to help you with it – LOL.

Sometimes this can be a handy thing, but a lot of times having this “oh I can just do it myself” attitude can hold you back in a big way – especially as an entrepreneur.

Often times you can produce MUCH better results in life and as an entrepreneur by getting professional coaching and mentoring from someone who knows more than you and who has real-life experience that you can learn from.

I’ve learned this lesson so many times in so many ways, and again I just learned this lesson recently when I *FINALLY* decided to try working out with a personal trainer, instead of trying to do it on my own.

I’ve only done 6 workout sessions as put together by my personal trainer, but already I see how incredibly more effective they are than anything else I have tried to do on my own in the past.

If I’m feeling this way about my results after just 6 sessions, I can’t even imagine how awesome it will be when I’ve been working with my trainers for a year!

Why didn’t I start this sooner!?!!

Building a blog is very similar to this.

Back in 2007, after struggling to get any traction with my blog for over a year, I finally stopped trying to figure everything out on my own and I hired a personal blogging coach.

Back then there was a mentoring program that was available which cost $15,000 and I was paired up with a 1-on-1 coach who helped me to get my blog up and running, and producing results, and helped me to eliminate any mental and energetic blocks that were previously holding me back.

Within weeks of starting to work with my coach, I had gotten more clarity on the direction I wanted to take my Blog and online business than in the previous year and a half.

Within a few months I had a Blog that was starting to grow, starting to attract an active audience, and starting to generate an income ever month.

I had friends and met a bunch of people online who were also starting to Blog, and most of them thought I was crazy to spend $15,000 on a personal blogging coach back then.

But you know what?  My blog continued to grow, and to produce results for me, while theirs didn’t.

Eventually all of those other people’s motivation to Blog fizzled out as they didn’t produce the same results I was producing, and so they gave up and their Blogs are now part of the Blog graveyard of lost dreams.

For me, it’s been over 9 years now since I started Blogging and I’m still here continuing to blog and absolutely loving this journey.

I’m so glad I made that decision to hire a personal blogging coach when I did.

I recommend that you consider doing the same.

Why Blogging on Your Own Without a Coach Doesn’t Work

Blogging on your own, without a personal blogging coach is very similar to trying to work out on your own at home.

Yes you can go to the store and buy a set of dumbbells, or some exercise machine on TV, or pick-up some book at the book store which shows you 200 different strength training exercises you can do, but are you actually going to do it?

Chances are, probably not.

And even if you do end up doing it, are you going to do it with proper form?  Probably not.

Are you going to achieve the best results with the effort you put in?  Probably not.

It takes extreme discipline to be able to work out at home with just a few pieces of exercise equipment if you’re not working out with a personal trainer or coach.

In most cases, most people don’t have nearly enough exercise equipment at home to do an effective workout, but even if they do, it often just sits there collecting dust.

Heck, I had a TRX Suspension trainer for like 2 years and all it did was just collect dust until my personal trainer showed me how to use it effectively a few weeks ago! 🙂

To get in the best shape of your life, it’s not just about buying some book and reading it, or about buying some piece of exercise equipment which you’re probably not going to use.

You need to have the right combination of equipment to help you strengthen each area of your body, and you need proper instruction on how to use that equipment, coupled with a proper plan and guidance / coaching on how to stick with your plan!

I see Blogging the same way.

You need to have the right combination of tools to help you build a professional blog, and the right training on how to become an effective blogger, coupled with a proper plan and guidance / coaching on how to stick with that plan!

This is why I’m such a fan of Empower Network.

Empower Network provides you with the right combination of tools you’ll need to build a successful blog, and the right training as well.

Then, by joining my team in Empower Network, you can also get the guidance and coaching you’ll need to put together a proper Blogging strategy and to stick with that strategy as well.

Having a personal blogging coach can also help you to save a LOT of time, and wasted energy, by revealing to you all the pitfalls and mistakes that virtually all new bloggers make in their first few years of blogging.

By avoiding these mistakes and pitfalls you’ll start to produce results with your blog a LOT faster than if you tried to figure it out on your own.

Join My Team and Get Personally Mentored By Me

For a limited time, I am offering personal blog coaching and mentoring to anyone who joins my Empower Network team.

You will not have to pay $15,000 for the coaching like I did back in 2008.

In fact, you won’t have to pay anywhere near that.

I’m offering my personal blog coaching and mentoring to a very limited group of people who join my Empower Network team at no extra charge.

I’m most likely going to be limiting this to just 10-12 people, and as of the writing of this post I have 5 slots already filled.

The slots are offered on a first come, first serve basis so I highly recommend that you get started by clicking here.

If there are slots still available, you will see a link right here -> Click Here to Get Started

If you don’t see a  link above, this means all the slots have now been filled.

How do you tell if a Blog is successful?

There are may theories out there on various metrics we could use to determine whether or not your blog is successful.

Some people use metrics such as these to determine whether their blog is successful or not:

• Number of Page Views Per Month
• Number of New vs Returning Visitors
• Number of Shares on Social Media Sites
• Bounce Rates
• Number of Comments on Blog Posts
• Number of Email / RSS Subscribers
• etc.

The challenge with metrics like these and many others is that everything depends on what the purpose behind your Blog is in the first place.

For example, a Blog which is focused on humor, entertainment, or celebrity gossip may receive hundreds of thousands of visits a month but may not be seen as “successful” with those types of numbers.

Meanwhile, a Blog whose niche market is organic hydroponic gardening might be seen as ultra successful with the same amount of traffic.

Everything depends on what niche you’re in, what your blogging goals are and how YOU see your Blog.

I find that a lot of new bloggers want to know if they are doing the right things and if they are succeeding with their Blogs.

As a blogger for over 9 years now, I’ve spoken to and mentored many different bloggers and here’s what I’ve discovered…

How to Really Tell if Your Blog is Successful

What I’ve discovered is that a blog becomes successful the day which the blog’s author DECIDES and DECLARES that their blog is successful.

Nobody else out there can do it for you.

No “stat” or “metric” can do it for you.

YOU essentially have to declare that your Blog is successful and then go out there and find metrics, stats, and “proof” which supports your belief in your Blog.

As you do this, your blog will start to be seen as “successful” in the eyes of others as well…

… but it won’t happen until YOU start to see your blog as successful first!

For example, in my mind I believe this Blog is very successful.

I saw it as successful the minute I started it!

And then, every day I look for reasons, for “proof”, for stats and for metrics which support that belief so that I believe in the success of my blog more and more every single day.

By declaring that in my mind, and in my beliefs, other people out there start to see it that way as well.

But it always starts with YOU.

YOU have to decide, right now, that your Blog is a success!

It doesn’t matter if you have written one blog post or a thousand, or received 1 visitor or a million visitors… none of those metrics really mean anything to anyone unless YOU first start believing your Blog is a success.

Muhammad Ali declared himself “the greatest fighter” first, before anyone even saw him that way.  He first convinced himself that he was the greatest fighter and then he went out and became the greatest fighter.

It’s the same thing with Blogging.

YOU have to see yourself as a successful blogger.

Find reasons to believe that to be true, even if this is your first day blogging.

Once you start to believe this, you will manifest a reality where this is true.

You will start to see evidence and “proof” that supports your belief that your blog is successful, and it will become so!

With your thoughts, and your beliefs and your spoken and written word, you will manifest it into reality.

I believe in you!

If you enjoyed this post, leave a comment below.

Know a blogger who you think will enjoy this article?  Pass it along.

So you’ve got a blog and you’re looking for a way to get traffic to your blog for free.

In this post I’m going to share 7 ways you can get traffic to your blog absolutely free.

Free Blog Traffic Idea #1 – Comments on Other Blogs

One simple way to start getting traffic to your blog is to visit other blogs in your niche market and start participating in the conversation on those blogs.

When you leave well thought out comments, some of the people who read them will be interested in who you are and they will click on your name which will take them back to your blog.

Make sure that when you’re leaving comments you fill in the fields such as your name, email address, and your blog URL along with your comment, so that when people click on your name above the comment they will be taken to your blog.

The other benefit of this strategy is that even if nobody clicks on your name and visits your blog, Google will see and count the link to your blog which will help with your overall ranking on Google as well!

When you finish reading this post, why don’t you take advantage of this strategy by leaving a comment on this post since you’re already here!

Free Blog Traffic Idea #2 – Setup a Facebook Fan Page

Most people have a personal Facebook page where they share updates, pictures and videos from their life but when it comes to their blog posts, most people are shy about promoting them on their personal page.

Why?   Well, in most cases your friends and family may not be interested in what you blog about.

For example, on my TabletopGamer.com blog, I blog about tabletop gaming but only a few of my friends and family that I have on my personal facebook page have an interest in this hobby.

So, in such situations what most people do is they hold back from promoting their blog posts on their facebook pages.

The solution to this is to setup a Facebook Fan Page specifically for you blog where you can feel free to promote every blog post you write!

This way you can invite people to your fan page who may be interested in following your blog content, and they can decide whether they would like to see your posts on facebook or not.

Here’s a link to my Facebook Fan Page for this Blog.

You’ll notice I promote all of my posts on there, and I never worry about whether people on there are interested or not because if the aren’t they can simply “Unlike” my page and they won’t see any more updates.

Over time, you can also start to develop a fan base on facebook which will deliver more free traffic to your Blog.

Free Blog Traffic Idea #3 – Write Guest Posts for Other Bloggers

Another way to get traffic for free to your blog is to write a high-quality guest post for another blogger.

Guest blogging is still a great way to get free traffic to your blog, no matter what the critics say.

The key, however, is to take the time to create a very high quality blog post and not just slap something together without effort or thought.

One of the reasons why so many bloggers turn away guest posts is because the majority of people who write guest posts write content that is just horrible.

A blogger is not going to ruin their blogs reputation by publishing a crappy guest post, so make sure your guest posts are your best work!

Don’t be afraid of delivering your best work through guest posts.  It’s a great way to introduce yourself to a new audience.

One of the strategies that I’ve used in the past is before asking a blogger if they would like a guest post, I’ll first start reading their blog and participating in the comments and try to get a 2 way conversation going between them and I as well as between their audience and I.

When a blogger sees someone visiting their blog, reading their content, participating, leaving comments and having an honest, useful conversation, they are WAY more likely to accept a guest blog post from that person than if it’s a total stranger that just hit them up with a guest post request.

Take the time to first build some relationships with the bloggers you’d like to guest post for, and get to know their audience as well so that can write content that would resonate with their audience.

Free Blog Traffic Idea #4 – Get on Google’s Radar

If you’re running a blog on a solid blogging platform ( I recommend Kalatu ), your platform should be optimized to be Google friendly.

You’ll want to make sure that your blog posts are getting indexed by Google by having a proper sitemap setup and registered with Google Webmaster Tools.

You can also use this trick to get your blog posts indexed virtually instantly by Google.

If you’re not sure if your blog is getting indexed by Google or how many pages are getting indexed, simply go to Google.com and search for “site:yourdomain.com” (without the quotes).

Do not put a space between “site:” and your domain, and obviously replace the text “yourdomain.com” with the domain of your actual blog.

Do not put a “www.” beginning to your domain either, just everything after the “www.”

Free Blog Traffic Idea #5 – Submit Your Posts to Social Bookmarking Sites

Another great way to get some free traffic to your blog is to submit your blog posts to social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon.

Make sure to visit these sites first, and get to know the different categories of posts on them so that you can determine which would be the best category to post your blog posts in.

Also, these three sites represent just a few of the social bookmarketing sites.

You can find an article with over 50 social bookmarking sites here.

Free Blog Traffic Idea #6 – Participate in a 21 Day Blogging Challenge

Another really cool way to start getting some free traffic to your blog is to participate in a 21 Day Blogging Challenge.

By participating in one of these challenges, you’ll gain access to a private facebook group for 21 day challenge participants.

Each day for the 21 days you’ll be encouraged to post and share you blog post for that day on this facebook group, and the other participants may decide to visit your blog and leave comments.

This strategy is especially effective if you combine it with Idea #1 and visit the blogs of the other challengers and leave comments on them.

You can even tell the bloggers that you are also participating in the 21 Day Blogging Challenge when you leave your comments, and there is a high chance that they might also reciprocate and pop by your blog and leave a comment as well!

Free Blog Traffic Idea #7 – Get Free Traffic From YouTube

Another absolutely amazing free traffic source is YouTube.

You can create simple YouTube videos which answer common questions or provide value to your target audience, and encourage people to visit your blog to get more value.

For example, I could create a YouTube video where I share the first three free traffic ideas from this blog post and then at the end of the video I could say something like “I hope you enjoyed these three traffic ideas, and if you’d like to get access to 4 more free traffic ideas, simply click on the link below to visit my blog where all seven free traffic ideas are revealed.”

In this way you can capture some of the traffic from people on YouTube who are searching for an answer to a specific question, and offer them SOME of the value that you offer on your blog, but not all of it.

In order for them to get ALL the value, you encourage them to visit your Blog.

This is a very effective strategy that very few people utilize.

I highly encourage you try it out.

You can also encourage your blog readers to visit your YouTube channel and to subscribe in order to get additional content that they will not necessarily find on your Blog.

In this way you can build up your blog traffic as well as your YouTube channel traffic as well, and provide even more value to your readers.

If you’d like to check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel you can find it by clicking here.

If you enjoyed this blog post, do me a favor and take a moment to share it with someone you know!

Thanks!