Here are 10 blogging habits for success from a veteran blogger of 15 years. These tips can help you with your lifestyle or hyper-local blog.

1. Contact:
Twitter: @Neil_Lemons,
@ILiveInDallas
Instagram: @ILiveInDallas
Email: neil.lemons@gmail.com
neil@iliveindallas.com
Web: www.NeilLemons.com
www.ILiveInDallas.com

2. •10 years in Digital Marketing
•Agencies, In-House, Independent Consultant
•Arts and entertainment publisher on the side
•Day job – Director of Digital Strategy

5. Lesson Learned:
Own your own domain.

6. THE ILIVEINDALLAS.COM STORY
• Started in 2008 by Jennifer Conley over a beer at Frankie’s.
• I helped her install WordPress & hosted the site for free.
• We worked together at local agency LevelTen Interactive.
• Two years and 250 posts later, in Jan. 2010, she wanted a co-
founder. I said yes.
• I wrote two articles which increased traffic 100% year-over-year.
• Over six years recruited more than a 60 guest bloggers. Grew
social accounts exponentially.
• Record month of 131,000 visitors over 30 days with more than
875 articles (300,000 – 800,000 a year)
• In March 2015, I became sole Founder.

13. FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WINERY
PRESENTS
‘DIAMOND IN THE DARK’
WITH HOST HOBY WEDLER
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
2 P.M.
SĒR STEAK + SPIRITS
Hilton Anatole
2201 N. Stemmons Freeway, Floor 27
Dallas, TX 75207

31. Lessons Learned: Make friends with
content producers (don’t see them as
competitors) & appeal to their self – interest .
Other words – create community.
Statistics:
6 authors (including me)
5,186 words
2,472 visits in 36 hours
100 Facebook Likes & Shares in 2.25 hours
614 Facebook Likes & Shares to date
112 Retweets to date
174 comments
440,436 views to date
The article had five sub-articles written by the expert
Dallas foodies.
Goal: Rank for Best Dallas Restaurants
Key points:
Each foodie had their own blog, or a reason
to want to participate.
It was a fun, subjective, topic in which there
could be several valid opinions.
There was a team attitude about the
whole thing,

38. Question:
What do you think are some of the best ways to
attract awesome guest bloggers?
Goal: Recruit different “beat” editors for consistent
content in different categories.
Have a constant supply of content to publish
and optimize using people power.
Key points:
Think about what the guest blogger wants first.

41. In 1984, professor Robert Cialdini, published Influence, one of the
all-time classics on changing minds, in which he describes six
principles that have stood the test of time.
Reciprocity: Obligation to repay.
Consistency and Commitment: Need for personal alignment.
Social Proof: The power of what others do.
Liking: The obligations of friendship.
Authority: We obey those in charge.
Scarcity: We want what may not be available.

50. Relationships
Dating
Healthy Marriage
Dating in your 30s
Dating in your 40s
Dating after 50
Health
Fitness
Eating clean/organic
Dieting
Home remedies
Building muscle
Wealth
Starting a business
Real Estate
Personal Finance
Personal Development
Lifestyle/Status/Travel

51. •Find what’ s “hot” all the time –
Evergreen Topics. Example: eHow.com,
not TMZ.
•Be very specific
•Use keyword research tools
•SEOBook .com’s Tool: Wordtracker
•Google AdWords keyword tool (take
with a grain of salt)
•Popular, but not too popular (KEI, low
competition high volume)
•Four – Seven word long target phrase
•Blog about timely events only AFTER you
have a large following

52. Lessons Learned: Take the time for quality,
have a methodology or criteria for your
content.
Statistics:
1.1 Million views over five years
1,800 Facebook Likes & Shares to date
100+ Retweets to date
Tip:
When making a list article, leave the number out of
any list post URL in case it goes viral.
Goal: Rank for Fun Things to Do in Dallas, Free
Things to Do in Dallas
Key points:
This article took two and a half months
to research and write.
This was an Evergreen article which included
only things that met three criteria 1) strictly in
Dallas, 2) Year- round 3) Under 15 dollars to do

56. Join me on meetup!
Contact:
Twitter: @Neil_Lemons,
@ILiveInDallas
Instagram: @ILiveInDallas
Email: neil.lemons@gmail.com
neil@iliveindallas.com
Web: www.NeilLemons.com
www.ILiveInDallas.com