Not if you want to succeed, it’s not.

Once you enter the club, there’s no time to dilly dally. The second you get there, you have to step onto the dance floor, pronto. Then you got to pull some serious dance moves. You hear what I’m saying?

In the early days of your blogging career, your readers are going to be your mom and maybe your stalker if you’re lucky. And this creates a real problem: You’re going to write post after post, many of them are going to be excellent and no one’s going to see them. What a waste!

And what’s worse, this can go on for months.

Let’s face it. You need an audience. You need to do what I’m doing right now. I’m getting in the middle of the dance floor and pulling some serious moves while enthusiastic crowds surround me clapping and hollering, “Go Bamboo, it’s your birthday! … you da’ man!” At least that’s how it plays out in the movie in my mind.

But I wasn’t always this bold. I used to sit on the sidelines sipping margaritas (which wasn’t so bad) while all the other guys were getting their dance on with all the pretty honeys.

I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve come to realize that it’s downright foolish to create quality content with only a small audience to appreciate it. When you’re first starting out, that’s when you’ve got to get your hustle on, and not a second later.

Glen Allsopp of Viperchill writes,

“Focus on getting over the 500 / 1,000 subscriber hurdle (depends on the niche) as quickly as possible. Based on what happens, you could find this to be the hardest part of your blogging life. Especially if you’re a “nobody”. However, if you can just keep going and get over this hurdle, your blog is going to start growing exponentially from there.”

Here’s the deal: before you hit a certain number of subscribers, it’s really hard to get your material promoted. So you have to dig deep and do whatever it is you have to do to attain that core audience that will promote your material naturally. And the most vital time to do this is when you have next to no subscribers.

Though there’s various ways to get your hustle on and to get those subscribers, there’s no one way that’s more in your control than writing guest posts. And this is why, of late, I’ve been getting circles around me while pulling spectacular moves all across the blogosphere and I gotta be honest: I make this look good.

I may not know where all this guest posting is going to take me. I do know, however, that it ensures I won’t be on the sidelines watching all the other cats get their moves on. I’ll be one of them. I’ll be busting mad, wicked moves. And everyone, including you, will see it all go down.

So take it from me… go get yo’ ass on the dance floor and start strutting your stuff. Aight?

Bamboo Forest creates the funk over at Pun Intended, where he blogs on humor and inspiration. He also created an online timer that helps you KILL procrastination. Word?

It’s no surprise that a good rant on your blog will make you feel better. Releasing all that pent up anger, frustration and confusion just seems to purge the body of whatever injustice or wrong is plaguing you – and it can seem like such a release to get it out and on paper (or screen) – but is a rant really a good idea in the long run?

Some of the most famous bloggers have the pull to actually rant and get things done. A great one to learn from is 37Signals’ Get Satisfaction…or Else.” It details Get Satisfaction’s attempt at becoming the go-to site for everyone’s customer service instead of letting the business owner control it on their own site. With nearly 300 comments on that post alone, 37Signals is a force to be reckoned with. It’s interesting to note that on this follow-up post, you can see where Get Satisfaction took the issue seriously and wrote an apology. It may very well have spurred them on to make other changes in the way they use other companies’ names to promote themselves – only time will tell.

But What If You Don’t Have the Pull?

“I’m just one blogger – what can I do?” is often where we find ourselves. Wondering “will a company even listen to me?” is one of our many doubts. Your blog is your voice and you should never feel afraid to make yourself known. Sometimes one blogger’s voice is all it takes to get the attention of even the major media and force action to be taken.

A good rant will almost always stir debate too – and with that comes traffic. Let your personality shine through on your blog and people will notice and respond. They’ll tell their friends to add their two cents – and so on. Turning every post into a rant just for the sake of controversy isn’t a good idea unless you want that to be your blogging hallmark (and you can take the heat!)

When Good Rants Go Bad

The downside to a rant on your blog is two-fold. First, unless you choose to delete it (which will stir even MORE controversy), it will always be there in your archives. You’ll need to ask yourself if that’s something you want following you around next year or 5 years from now. If the problem is solved, you can always write a follow-up, but leave the original post for posterity.

Secondly, and this could be even more important, is that you clearly have your facts together before you write. Nothing looks worse than a blogger who “got served” by the company offering the real facts of the matter.

Bottom line — before you rant, make sure you do your homework and that your rant is well-founded before you jump into a firefight that might end up with you getting burned! On the other hand, it could be the spark the company needs to take action and make things happen. So the question ultimately remains – will you be the fire-starter or the firefighter?

The Collective Question: So, where do you stand? Do you rant on your blog? Feel free to dish about a particularly good rant or one that backfired miserably.

Sherice Jacob is a web designer, copywriter, and author of Get Niche Quick. Don’t forget to follow Sherice on Twitter.

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NOTE: This a Collective Inkwell guest post, written by Sherice Jacob of ielectrify.

You might not think of journalists as creative — after all, they’re conditioned to report “just the facts.”  But their approach to doing just that has some interesting points to help anyone become a more creative writer.

If you’ve ever written a report in school (and who hasn’t?) – you’re taught from the very beginning to examine the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the topic.  You may be thinking “My product doesn’t have a WHERE” or “My Service doesn’t have a WHEN”, but bear with me – because you’re about to see some fresh new angles that will jumpstart anyone’s creative gears!

The WHO - Beyond your musical tastes, the WHO goes well beyond the maker of the product or service.  Who will use it? Who won’t?  Who needs to know about it? Who doesn’t?  The who part of your question helps you narrow down your specific audience when coming up with creative solutions.

The WHAT - Possibly the hardest one to tackle, the WHAT part of your solution centers on the problem.  What is it about this obstacle that makes it so difficult?  What can we do about it? What is out of our control? What could go wrong? What could go right?  This question forces you to examine the current and future status of the problem so that you can break free from the common complaints that are holding you back.

The WHERE - This isn’t just about location, but its effect on the product or service.  Where will this be sold/shared?  Is there anywhere else that could work just as well?  Where have my competitors sold/shared a similar item?  Does the location affect the brand or how the product/problem is perceived?

The WHEN - This is all about timing.  When did (or will) this problem happen?  What will happen if we speed things up or slow them down? When will you know the time is right to launch?

The WHY - This is the question that most often leads to other questions (and some very creative answers!)  Much like the 4 year old who constantly asks WHY?! It’s about breaking down what seems to be the simplest explanation into more manageable parts.  Why does your product or service exist?  Why should people know about it? Why sell it the way you’re currently trying to?  Why choose that location or timeframe? Why did you come up against this problem in the first place?

The HOW - Here’s where the real solutions come from. Once you’ve nailed down all the W’s, it’s time to take a closer look at the answers.  How do you describe your product or service? How could you prevent problems from happening next time? How can you be even better?  How did you come up with it to start with? How can it be improved on? How are other products different?

It’s a lot of questions, but even things that are crystal clear to you may be overwhelmingly difficult to your customers or users.  Take the time to ask yourself these same questions so that no matter what you’re up against, you can always tap into your creative reservoir to come up with simpler facts that help you sell.

Good luck!

Sherice Jacob is a web designer, copywriter, and author of Get Niche Quick! You can follow her @Sherice