The 5 Survival Tips Cycling Can Teach You About Blogging

This is a guest post by Paul Singh. Enjoy!

Cycling is incredibly simple and, like blogging, it’s not exactly rocket science. The lessons I’ve learned over five years of near-daily cycling have given me an edge in blogging and they can do the same for you, too. Here are five key survival tips to help you become a better blogger:

1. Look and listen. Cyclists invariably need to ride close to vehicles on the road — it’s a fact of life. In order to survive, you’ve got to pay 100% attention and use your senses to hear an engine of an oncoming car around the next corner or see a person about to step into an upcoming crosswalk. To become a better blogger, you need to pay attention to what’s going on out there in the real world. Use RSS to subscribe to your favorite blogs or use something like alltop.com or 9rules.com to stay on top of developments in the blogosphere. After all, there’s no better way to become a better blogger than to watch and learn from the established blogs out there.
2. Pick smart routes. The best roads have few cars, low speed limits and no blind corners. Often, a slightly longer route with fewer cars will be faster than shorter, busier one. Regardless, it’s important to make sure you ride on roads with shoulder — better to avoid getting in the way of cars whenever possible. I often wonder why new bloggers jump head-first into new blogs within industries that are dominated by a few big blog already. Rather, they should put a spin on the topic with their own experiences and focus on dominating a niche topic with little competition. This way, they ride on the shoulder while the more established blog stays within the mainstream.
3. Don’t keep secrets. When I’m cycling, I use hand signals to indicate where I intend to go. At intersections, I make eye contact with other drivers to ensure that they see me. I frequently wave to a quick thank-you to drivers that give me the right of way. Blogging is no different — you’ve got to communicate with other bloggers constantly. Share an interesting post or invite a guest post on yours, just keep the lines of communication open. Do other bloggers a favor (and do it genuinely) — you never know when you’ll need to call in a favor.
4. Stay steady. Looking behing you without swerving is an essential cycling skill. New riders often keep both hands on the hoods while looking behind them and inevitably end up turning the bike in the direction they looked. This way is better: To look left, move your right hand toward the center of the handlebar near the stem, then drop your left hand off the bar as you turn your head to look back. Bingo — no more swerving. All too often, we see bloggers that get enticed into the latest fads and gimmicks. They see the latest monetization technique and dive in headfirst and inevitably swerve their blog off course. Remember to keep your experiments small. That is, make small changes and assess the results. Your readers are visiting your blog to read up on niche topics of importance to them, keep the blog on a steady course and your readers are unlikely to go looking elsewhere.
5. Hook your thumbs. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a rider go down after his hands were jarred off the bar when he hit a bump. Experienced riders know that it’s important to wrap your thumbs around the bars rather than lay them across the top. Blogging is hard work and with life’s unpredictability, it’s easy to let go of your blog when you hit a bump in the road. Plan for this by breaking up your blogging into small, manageable chunks throughout the week. Take it one step further by publicly committing yourself to blogging, you’ll be less likely to let your blog go when your friends and family are waiting for your next post.

As with most things in life, you’ve got to understand that there are proven systems to get ahead in whatever you’re doing. Avoid reinventing the wheel and you’ll be just fine. You’ll undoubtedly hit some bumps along the way but I can almost guarantee you that others have overcome their own blogging challenges. Just remember: Successful blogging is really about doing a few simple things right and avoiding serious mistakes along the way. I have a feeling that you’ll be just fine.

Paul Singh is an entrepreneur based in San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC. You can read more of his tips, tricks and thoughts about getting ahead in life on his blog: Results Junkies.