Dream A Dream Of Blogging With Susan Boyle

Imagine having amazing talent but never getting the opportunity to express it. Imagine now, that you did take the first step and you did become an overnight success.

Susan Boyle, the 47-year-old Scot who appeared on the “Britain’s Got Talent” television show took her first step on 11 April 2009 with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables.

In the first week of being featured on YouTube in many uploaded videos, views of her performance topped 30 million!

In less than a week, she has become the most viewed video on YouTube ever to date.

The final song-line “…my life has killed the dreams I dreamed” was thought by many I’m sure to be reflective of how her life has hindered her success – but more specifically her appearance and circumstances.

Without further ado – that is if you haven’t yet seen Susan’s performance – you need to watch and listen to Susan’s performance.

10 Ways The Susan Boyle Story Can Inspire Your Blog

If you Dream a Dream of Having a Great Blog, but just can’t crack it, you could learn some lessons from Susan Boyle.

1. Appearances Aren’t Everything

Susan Boyle… is not a beauty-queen on the outside, but has amazing inner beauty. When given a chance to shine, this inner beauty emerged and radiated out. People now find her beautiful in their own way. People now relate to her as beautiful.

Your blog… may be an ugly duckling now, but when your blog becomes famous, people will see through the unattractiveness and love the content, what you have to say, show and offer as an experience.

2. After A Makeover

Susan Boyle…may have a makeover – stay tuned – and when she does, the remaining naysayers who don’t want to share and enjoy her success until such time, will jump on board and give her another go. Fame will no doubt provide many opportunities for financial backing and volunteers to support her improving her appearance. Even just an eyebrow waxing will go a long way.

Your blog…once you have been discovered, you too will have the opportunity to leverage your traffic and use some advertising, affiliate or sales revenue – donations even – to update your blog’s appearance and give your site a makeover. Pay for some css styling, upgrade to a new theme – I recommend Thesis Theme – or buy some graphic design professional expertise.

3. Undiscovered Talent

Susan Boyle…waited until she was 47 before she “Gave it a shot”, trying her luck with a TV show that has only been around for a few years now. Susan has been singing since she was 12 and has always wanted to perform in front of a large audience.

Your blog…may be a recent creation, taking advantage of WordPress to skip over the coding formerly required of websites. You may have only recently discovered the world of blogging or you may have waited until now before you tried your hand at sharing your thoughts publicly or making money in the online world of opportunity.

• It is never too late to start!
• The internet is the largest audience you can find.

4. Looking For Work & Money Making Opportunities

Susan Boyle…up until her appearance was unemployed and looking for work. I don’t doubt that she will have so many opportunities now – more than most would have in an entire lifetime. She just needed to show the world what she has to offer.

Your blog…needs to at least cover the costs of hosting and domain registration to be economically viable. If you want the internet to support you or replace an income or two, then you need to find money making opportunities.

Often, just by starting and showing the world a glimpse of what you have to offer, they will come and they will come back. Repeat visitors, subscribers and readers who speak about your site and recommend it to others – will result in more visitors and greater popularity. If what you have to offer is good quality, Google and the other search engines will give you preference for your keywords and content over other similar offerings.

• If you need to make money now, you need to look at popular, credible, quality products and services to sell and to promote yourself through. I cover the costs of running this blog by simply recommending the Thesis Theme for WordPress – an excellent, credible and reliable product that I use and love.

Put yourself on YouTube and don’t forget to embed your videos on your site.

• I use the WP YouTube plugin because all you need to do is copy and paste the YouTube code between some brackets and an abbreviation you create, for example [vid]9lp0IWv8QZY[/vid].

5. Make The Audience Rock

Susan Boyle…walked on to the stage with ATTITUDE! Her intention was to make the audience rock and she certainly did that. Her strut onto the stage, her hippy swing and her confident manner, made the judges flinch at first because they didn’t know what to expect. They had no idea what talent Susan had within her. By the end of the performance, the audience was applauding, crying and simply reveling in her success.

Your blog…needs to excite and move your visitors and readers. Do not be boring! You need to spice it up somehow whether it be in your appearance, your words, your headlines, the graphic design or all of the above. Your audience needs to get engaged and want you to succeed. There are many ways to engage your readers (article coming soon!)

6. Come Out From Your Anonymity & Be Yourself

Susan Boyle…was ‘Contestant 432′. She was just another number until her name ‘Susan Boyle’ became a Google search term phenomenon. If you want to be famous, people need to know who you are.

Your blog…may suddenly become popular and people will expect you to share some of yourself with them. If you do not have an About page or similar, you might be limiting your chances of success. Many successful blogs have a photograph of the blog author or at least some personal information like their name. While many use an alias, when it comes down to it, a pen-name will not allow you to take full advantage of your success.

• If people are really curious they will do what they can to “out you”.

Do not attempt to hide, you cannot truly hide these days. If you are not willing to become famous, that is truly successful in your blogging niche, then you need to ask yourself “Is blogging really for me?”

If you do want to become truly famous and take full advantage of your potential success – get your mug out, tell them your name, share some of yourself as appropriate. A human being running a blog is more powerful than a corporation or a nameless person expecting people to give some stranger their time and money.

7. Your Naysayers Will Get What’s Coming To Them

Susan Boyle…was less than 1 minute into her appearance on stage, when the camera zoomed in on a young female with long brown hair and eyes surrounded by way too much eye-liner. The girl screwed up her face, rolled her eyes and looked to her friend with distaste literally painted all over her face. Boy was she shown up! By the end of the show she sure had a shake-up. I still feel embarrassed for her and the millions of people who have watched the show and who have commented on YouTube in not such an encouraging manner. If ever an apology was needed…

Your blog…may be criticized by some people who have no established credibility, ‘nobodies’, people with no talent themselves other than knowing how to drive a keyboard in the comments field. On the other hand, you may well be criticized by other blog owners, competitors and people who mean well but still hurt your feelings when they offer ‘advice’. This is natural but still hurts. I believe in Karma. What goes around comes around. Like the girl in the crowd with the raccoon eyes – show them what for! Be resilient. Get up when you fall down.

8. Identify Your Dream

Susan Boyle…has the dream of being a professional singer. It hasn’t worked out so far because, she says, “I haven’t been given the chance before, but here’s hoping it will change!” Susan said this so humbly, that she had my vote at that point in time – regardless of how much talent she had.

Your blog…is an extension of your dream – whatever that is. Identify your dream. Articulate your dream in simple words…“To be a professional blogger…To show the world what a fantastic artist I am…To help people around the world find tranquility in their daily lives…” Whatever it is, this dream has to drive your time online. Your blog needs to ooze your dream. Make it obvious. Tell people what it is. Be true to your dream and don’t try and make your blog achieve more than one dream unless they are closely linked. Do not give up!

9. Have A Role Model

Susan Boyle…wants to be like Elaine Page…“The First Lady of British Musical Theatre”. Susan’s role model is one of the best in the music industry.

Your blog…exists as part of a wider body of knowledge (the internet is about information) on a particular subject, in a certain industry or market. In blogging, role models abound.

• Do your research by checking out 10 of the top professional bloggers and see what they do well and work out why they do well.
• How can you adapt your blog to become more successful? Some things will work, others wont. It is often a case of trial and error.
• Aspire to be your best – if not the best. Coming close to what these guys and girls achieve is your goal. You might be the next number 1 in your realm.

10. Prepare For Your Encore Performance Now

Susan Boyle…is Googled on a regular basis. People are hungry to hear more of what she has sung.

When people get a taste of what you have to offer and want more – you need to be prepared to deliver. Do not lose your fans by closing shop just as you get started.

Here is another song by Susan, “Cry Me A River“. It is amazing! Prepare for the goose-bumps…

Your blog…may become a hit overnight. You only need one fantastic post to “go viral” (spread around the internet at a great pace!) and you will be launched like a rocket into the spotlight. If you do not have an encore act, your fame will be short-lived indeed. You may not get a second chance for so much traffic = fame , or fortune. Have an encore performance ready, or have one that “you prepared earlier”.

Susan prepared her encore performance  in 1999 for a charity CD “The Millenium Celebration“. She just didn’t have the power of the internet to drive her into the spotlight and find ultimate success. There is a lesson in there. Go for it!

Susan Boyle, You Are Beautiful

On a personal note…

Susan, you have more beauty within, than most people have on the outside, and a voice to go along with it.

I wish you the very best in life, in love and longevity.

Update

Due to the large number of YouTube viewers, YouTube have disabled the video embeds and you have to visit YouTube to watch the videos.