I am a social media guru. You may bow. And kiss my feet while you are there.

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

In all seriousness, I have been witness to some pretty shoddy “advice” lately online. While I am in absolute support of people making a buck AND finding a creative way to do so, be careful of who you are purchasing from. Much of the information that is “sold” can be easily figured out from Google or for free in exchange sites like Mom Bloggers Club, Type A Mom, and the MomDot forums.

Recently on MomDot, several girls came to the site very upset that another blogger was saying if you suck, you should just quit. Although, I think we vary on the definition of “suck” cause I think her advice sucked. No one should ever leave a session feeling bad about themselves. Its counter productive to “teaching” someone to grow.

EPIC FAIL.

My advice to you is that there is no such thing as a method to blogging. There are ways to fine tune and make your site flow better, yes, but there is no amount of technology that is going to replace personality.

If you work hard, if you find a niche, if you’re the best in that niche, if you get lucky, if you’re like-able or hate-able, and you work harder then you have ever worked before, you may pull in $500 a month and 3,000 visitors a day- a year  or two from now. It won’t happen overnight and you will probably quit or change focus before you ever get there. Think of blogging like charity…you do it because you want to, not because you expect anything back.

Don’t give up on who YOU are, your fun, your community, your willingness to share, to grow, to enjoy yourself because of some pre-bought definition of online success. And be careful (in all facets of life) of fooling yourself into thinking you can purchase that success.

You may find that you are just purchasing a hard earned lesson.

~Trisha

Oh “experts”, I haven’t left you out, here is some advice…and its free *gasp*:

1) Don’t use the word ‘retarded’ while giving out blog advice. Its insulting. And ignorant.

2) Don’t tell people to quit if they suck. You suck. You quit. You quit for saying that. Cause you suck.

3) Don’t insult the audience you are talking to by pretending you are better than them. If you were better, you wouldn’t be in the same space. If you don’t like it, LEAVE. Don’t let the red X hit you on the way out of the blogosphere.

4) Be successful BEFORE you give advice. 200 visitors a day to a site doesn’t qualify as chargeable rates.

5) Humble yourself. This one is going to be pretty hard, but I thought I would throw it out there.

P.S. I would link this person, but my links cost $25 a month.