How to succeed online: 50 classic cliches that actually work

I recently went to the Problogger conference and heard some of the world’s leading bloggers explain their success.

The concepts really weren’t rocket science. But the same things kept coming up over and over. Which got me thinking – on face value they may sound obvious, but something’s going on if the leaders are saying the same thing.

So I’ve collated the best of the oft-repeated tips – to remind myself for my own work and to help you with yours.

There’s some clear camps they seemed to fall into – which you can see in the headings below:

Find Your Purpose
1. what’s your why
2. be your authentic self
3. dare to dream
4. think big
5. have a vision (of where you want to be in 5 years)
6. do something meaningful
7. what’s your mission?
8. what do you need to give the world? (what’s your calling?)
9. what do you want to be known for?
10. do what you love, it won’t feel like work

Create Great Content
11. solve your audience’s problems
12. what are their burning fears?
13. what are their hopes and struggles?
14. inspire people
15. attract attention
16. tell a story
17. add value
18. be generous
19. reveal secrets
20. be useful

Connect With Your Audience
21. learn to listen
22. what is your audience interested in?
23. where are they hanging out?
24. how can you transform their lives?
25. help them
26. pay it forward
27. tell your story
28. respond and engage
29. get them to know, like and trust you
30. word of mouth works

Think Success
31. don’t fear failure
32. look at failure as feedback
33. make the most of opportunities
34. learn from others doing it well
35. don’t compare yourself
36. get creative with what you’ve got
37. try things
38. do more of the things that work and drop the things that don’t
39. do what you do well
40. think long term

Get Things Done
41. know your goals
42. break it down (into the steps that’ll get you there)
43. take imperfect action toward your goals
44. give yourself a deadline
45. plan your day (and week)
46. prioritise
47. learn to say no
48. outsource
49. focus
50. take time out (to look after yourself)

Bonus tip
51. It’s ok to be an introvert.
(This one came up many times at the conference. A good one for me. You too?)

All these tips are well and good, but at the end of the day you’ve got to get in there and do the work. This was the thing I kept thinking to myself throughout the conference. So one last cliche from me (one I’ve borrowed from my mum who used on me a lot): For goodness sake Philip, just get on with it!

If you have any other advice, I’d love to hear it. You’re welcome to share them in the comments.

Something else I got from the conference was thinking on how to present. I’ve distilled it into some simple tips on how to do a presentation well.