SYLVIANE NUCCIO

Five Blogging Lessons I Learned From A Mother Bird

July 2, 2012 Blogging

Few weeks ago I’ve noticed a bird’s nest sitting on the curve of the gutter next to my entrance door.  The next time I looked at the nest, a mother bird was sitting on it.

As I have been observing that nest every day, I have learned few blogging lessons that you might be able to take advantage from as well.

Here are the five blogging lessons that I’ve learned watching a mother bird.

Mother Bird First Prepared the Place

Before anything happens, before she laid her eggs, the mother bird prepared a nest in a safe place that was protected from the element.

Before you start anything online, you should “prepare” a blog.  Whatever you may be selling or promoting online, having a blog puts you on the map of online marketing as a professional that is not shying away from giving valuable free information.

In order to start a blog you need to have a good domain name and host it in a safe place.  My blogs are hosted with Hostgator.  And yes, this is an affiliate link.  I love Hostgator because they will answer your questions 24/7 and help you with any technical issues you may have. Since I am not a technical person, I really need a type of service that basically will do everything for me if and when I need it.

The best platform you can use to blog professionally is with WordPress.org which is free. You can install your WordPress blog directly through your Hostgator panel.  If you don’t know how it’s done, you can contact me and I can give you the step by step for free.

Only when the nest was ready, did mother bird lay her eggs. Only when you blog domain name and platform are ready and set, should you start blogging. Do not make the mistake of starting your blog on some free platform thinking that you will upgrade later.  That’s bogus, and you will only be wasting your time in the process.

Mother Bird Laid her Eggs

Once the nest was ready, it was time for mama bird to lay her eggs, and sit on them religiously until the chicks were ready to come out of their shell.

Now that you have your blog ready, you need to “lay your eggs”.  You need to start writing for your blog.  Do it like mama bird; do not get distracted, just write as many posts as you can, as good as you can. Do not look for traffic at this point, just get knowledge and write about what you’ve learned and experienced until you’re ready to come out of your shell.  Sit on your blog for a while; like mama bird sat on her nest until the her chicks were ready to come out.

Baby Birds Came Out of their Shell

Because mama bird did such a great job, the baby birds were ready to finally come out of their shell, and they did, indeed.

When you’ve sat long enough on your blog, polishing super posts, it’s time for you to come out of your shell and meet other bloggers, officially introducing your blog to the blogging community.  In order to do this, you can search for blogs in your niche and comment on them.  You can also look for blog commenting groups where blogger exchange comments on each other’s blog.  If you need help finding them, shoot me a note through my contact page.

Before you start commenting on other blogs, however, you need to be aware that there are basic rules to follow to comment the right way, so you don’t annoy the owner of the blog with your comments, but rather attract visitors to your own blog.

However, this is not the end.  No.  That’s only the beginning, really. When the baby birds were born that’s when the real work started for mama bird.

Mother Bird Works Hard Every Day to Bring Food to her Chicks

Now that her babies are born, mama bird has to look for food and bring it to them constantly.  She spends her days going back and forth looking for food and bringing it to her chicks. Baby birds are always hungry and show a very large open beak. At this point they are really eating machines waiting to be fed.

You’re blog is a lot like a baby bird, it’s a eating machine too, but instead of worms and insects it eats content.  Lots of it.  Just like mama bird, you are going to have to go look for content every single day to feed  your blog.  Now, when I say look for content, I don’t mean to go fetch someone else’s content, no, I mean go look for knowledge and ideas and train yourself to get writing inspiration in everything, like I did from this mother bird near my entrance door.

Even if you don’t post every day, that doesn’t mean that you’re not looking and thinking about what you are going to write next week.  Like mama bird that is constantly on the lookout for food for her little ones, you need to be constantly on the lookout for content.

Mother Bird Rinse and Repeat

Of course the babies of the mama bird will come to be big enough and fly away from the nest, very soon, as a matter of fact.  So, what mama bird is going to do?

Well, next year she will build another nest, lay eggs, wait until the eggs hatch and feed her chicks for weeks until they are ready to fly and feed themselves.  Nature rinses and repeats from the beginning of times, and that’s what you have to do with your blog. Find the best way to create content, and bring traffic and keep doing it over and over. This is called rinse and repeat.

Now, express yourself in the comment area. Comments are free, you know!

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19 thoughts on “Five Blogging Lessons I Learned From A Mother Bird”

  1. That was so cute Sylviane, and a good analogy. I especially like the part about “coming out of the shell”. That’s where people sometimes get stuck! They plan everything, write a few things, read a lot of advice about how to do it…. and then get too scared to move forward. You made me laugh when you said that a blog is an eating machine. It’s true.. and it eats your time and energy, too! You have to be prepared to keep feeding it so it stays strong and healthy. Thanks for this Sylviane, it was a fun read! And I bet it was fun to watch the baby birds hatch, too. I love when that happens!
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    1. Hi Carol,

      Aha, now I know that you would love this style because I’ve learned it from you 🙂 Yep, that’s right this style of writing I picked it from reading your blogs hehehehe!

      That’s why I always tell people that a writer needs to read, read and read some more.

      It was a lot of fun writing this post and ideas came out so easily. I am still watching the baby birds everyday, I love animals and nature, so I check on them every day too!
      Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..The Three Main Components Of A Converting Sales PageMy Profile

  2. Hi Sylviane,

    That’s really really awesome dear 🙂 Wow… Observation into a writing. I love such piece of writing 😉 Feels like I’m watching it. This is inspiring…

    And momma always lay eggs when the time is ready, right? 😉 So timing is a crucial factor when writing. You know better than meeeee 😉 Consistency is really a key factor, like momma feeding her babies everyday. Love the way you explained it. And feed should be qualitative, else babies refuse it. no? However at the end it’s a large network built by Momma bird 🙂 A big happy successful family.

    Oops… Anyway I’m on free platform, right? 😉 Owkies… I’ll move when I’m financially possible. I mean being self-hosted using the revenue I earn from my own blog. Jus’ a crazy goal 😉

    Well done Sylviane 😉 Really love this post… I mean, really 🙂

    Cheers…
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  3. What an adorable analogy Sylviane. I was scratching my head wondering what this one would be about but you always continue to teach us something.

    This really is a great way to look at setting up your blog. We do need to plan first and take those baby steps for getting everything in place. Nothing’s going to happen overnight but it does take time.

    You know I always harp on consistency so once you have it all going just keep it up. With time everything will start happening for you and that’s the funnest part of this whole process.

    Love this post Sylviane, thanks for sharing this one with us. Now, you have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

    ~Adrienne
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    1. Hi Adrienne,

      As I was just responding to Mayura’s comment I was telling him that I knew this post would attract people’s curiosity and I had so much fun writing it.

      When I started observing this mama bird I almost instanly knew I was going to use this for a blog post. When I started writing it was all flowing so easily I had a smile on my face as I was writing.

      I know that you are a very consistent person, Adrienne, and this is most definitely one of the reasons you’ve got where you are now. Keep up the good work, Adrienne 🙂 and thanks for coming here as always 🙂
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  5. Hey Sylviane

    I loved this post…loved the lessons you learnt! 🙂

    One thing that I still have to work on is regular blogging and sticking to a schedule. I know how that has hampered my blog. Earlier my blog had good enough traffic because I used to be regular around the circuit and then I drop out for a month and I see the results. Blogging is fun but it requires some work and we have to accept that.

    But yes, there are easy steps to take and build a good audience and establish yourself as a recognized blogger.

    The post is really helpful! Hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂

  7. Hi Sylviane,

    Oh how I loved this analogy! That’s exactly the way we need to go about it. Our blog is our baby bird that needs a secure place and constant feeding and attention. I see so many people start a blog and then abandoning it after a short while. That’s not the way to go about it for sure.

    A blog is like a living thing that needs nurturing to grow….and the rewards are out of this world!!!

    Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful analogy!

    Ilka
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    1. Hi Ilka,

      I’m glad you like that analogy, I thought it would make it more interesting and fun.

      You are right, I’ve seen so many people building blogs and abandoning them, some of such people I’ve spent my own time and energy helping build their blog. Always sad to see that, but it all comes down to being prepared like the mother bird is “prepared” before the babies come out of the shell.

      Thanks for coming by, Ilka 🙂
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  8. I love your analogy Sylviane! The image caught my eye and then when I started to see all your tips related to your personal experience I thought it was brilliant. This is a great way to understand how important it is to ‘tend to that nest’ if you are looking for results.

    Thank you for sharing this in such a unique way!
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    1. Hi Lynn,

      Thank you for your feedback and I appreciate the compliment.

      For some reason as I was watching this mother bird every day for weeks I kept thinking I am going to write a post using this 🙂 And I did. It just came out of me without forcing it and I loved it myself, so I thought that if I did other people would too!

      Thanks for the feedbacks 🙂

  10. Preparation is the key to success. By preparing everything that you need, you will be able to eliminate the hassle of gathering resources while juggling your time in managing your blog. You will also be able to prepare for anything in particular that could damage your online venture. Proper research is a must.

  11. Hi Sylviane,
    Its interesting to know how can one relate blogging from daily activities of birds or something else.The title of this blog itself is enough to catch my eye and i can’t stop reading it.

    This is a great way to look forward while writing a blog.to learn is something bloggers do before coming up in the market and its not necessary that we can learn only from experts experiences.Their are a lot of things around us to learn from.

    Planing is something we should do before blogging and then implementing the plan is next step.Once your blog is up in the market you have to be regular and give feedback to your readers and maintain this consistency.

    I loved your post Sylviane….It makes me realize we can learn from everything around us.That make a good blogger.
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