Blogging as Farming - How to Grow a Bumper Blogging Crop

On the weekend I was speaking with a friend, Alex, who is a Farmer about blogging and the more we talked the more we realized that there is a lot of similarities between what we do. I thought I'd rehash some of the main points from our conversation here:

ProBlogger is becoming a useful part of that process for more than just me. Seasons - Farming is obviously a game of playing the seasons - timing is everything and learning to read the environment is a skill that a farmer relies heavily upon. Alex makes calls all through the year about which crops to plant in which fields at which times, about when to harvest, when to irrigate, when to fertilize etc. Blogging can be similar. I look at my earnings graph for the past 12 months and I notice some definitely swings up and down. If I break down my performance on a blob by blog basis the swings differ vastly between blogs also as different events. A skill I'd recommend you develop as a blogger is being a good observer of what is happening around you. If you can anticipate environmental changes and trends you can position yourself nicely for harvest time. There is no one size fits all' approach to entrepreneurial blogging - each blogger and topic takes a different blend of skills, income sources, design etc to make it fruitful. Patience - Alex is one of the most patient people I know. He has persisted in his work for many years - sometimes through very lean periods in the belief that if he continues to employ the knowledge that he has that his work will be beneficial to him and his family. He works at producing quality crops rather than taking short cuts, he puts in many hours of work and the result is that he's built himself a farm that is not only sustaining him but that is a thriving business in a time where many farmers are struggling. Alex is smart - he plans and he persists. These are all strengths that we as bloggers would do well to learn from as we seek to grow our own blogging crops. PS: yes the picture is of me - its a from about 8 years ago when i did a trip around Australia. I used to do a little bit of farming myself! Darren Rowse is the founder of Digital Photography Blog and Breaking News Blog Collective.