Jonathan Milligan is a professional blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, life coach, social media expert, and all around great guy! I met him via Michael Hyatt’s Platform University in the forum there. He threw out an invitation to join a mastermind group, and I jumped. So glad I did.

Jonathan was in the “head hunter” recruitment world when he started a career blog on the side. A little while later he started another blog called Blogging Your Passion as well as a podcast with the same name, and the rest is history. He’s been a full-time professional blogger for several years now, passionate about helping people become successful bloggers/entrepreneurs. He has a bunch of other things going on too, like his uber popular Simple Life Habits podcast, his Blogging Your Passion University membership site, and his Evernote and Mastermind courses. Dude produces.

He’s also just a dear friend–someone who’s helped me make my way through this blogging maze on numerous occasions. More than once I’ve called in distress, and he’s taken the time to help me out.

Jonathan just released his first book. It’s called The 15 Success Traits of Pro Bloggers, and you can grab it on Kindle for less than $6. Here’s a guy who has made his living from blogging for several years, and he’s offering the best of what he knows for the price of two cups of coffee. I love this country! His book’s release struck me as the perfect opportunity to throw him my most pressing questions about blogging to see what he had to say. Enjoy!

Jonathan, what’s the best piece of blogging advice you have ever received?

I had a mentor early on who told me the only thing you can take with you to the grave is your reputation and your email list. Those two things became a priority for me from that day forward. I believe your brand is what people think of when they think of you. That’s your reputation.

I also know that if Google suddenly took away all of my search traffic, I’d be fine. I have an email list of customers I can communicate with anytime I want.

What do you do to keep your blog post idea queue full?

The main thing I do is make reading a priority. It’s so important to me I schedule it into my work week. Anytime I’m inspired by a blog post idea, I capture it. I write a few sentences explaining my idea so I’ll recall my thoughts later when I’m ready to write. [Editor’s note: For more great blog post ideas, check out this helpful post.]

Do you have any blog post templates that you go back to again and again?

I do. I use a simple acronym for almost every blog post I write. It’s the word P.O.S.T. The letter “p” stands for purpose. This usually comes in the form of a blog post title. Doing this first also helps me to stay on track while writing. A mistake many bloggers make is they ramble when writing their blog posts. They write whatever is on their mind. You lose your readers when you do this. You need a purpose.

The letter “o” stands for outline. Once I have my purpose, I sketch out the subheadings, which are my sub points. Each sub point should point back to the main purpose. This helps me stay on track.

The letter “s” represents the word scannable. Another mistake many bloggers make is their paragraphs are too long. Your readers have a short attention span. They will more than likely scan your post and then decide if they want to read it from top to bottom.

The last letter in my acronym is the letter “t.” This reminds me to add a “teaser question” at the end. While blog comments are trending down as a whole, I still believe that a blog post should be interactive. It’s just the beginning of a conversation. I’ve learned a great deal on a topic just from hearing the perspectives of my readers.

What advice do you have about blog post titles?

They are super important. You need to treat them like a magazine or newspaper title. Especially since we live in a social media culture. People will visit your site or not visit your site based on your blog post title alone.

If you could give only one piece of advice to a new blogger, what would it be?

Settle in for the long haul. It will more than likely take you longer than you expect to become a success. Remember, every successful blogger once wrote in obscurity. They published post after post with very little feedback. Success can happen faster these days than in the past, but it’s still a journey.

At Blogging Your Passion University, we teach our blogging students the “brick by brick” philosophy. Instead of measuring your results, measure your actions. Each blog post, podcast, or video you create is like laying another brick into an amazing foundation you are building.

What if I’m a regular blogger, and I’m just beginning to think about monetizing. What advice do you have for me?

Start monetizing sooner than you think you can. One of the best ways is through creating your own online course. I think having an online course not only officially opens you for business, it also draws the traffic to you.

Where can people connect with you and learn more about your new book?

The 15 Success Traits of Pro Bloggers is a book that has been four years in the making. I’m very encouraged by the positive feedback I’ve received so far. It’s the roadmap to becoming a full-time blogger that I wish I would have had when first starting out. You can find out more about the book and get some bonus video training by going to http://BloggingYourPassion.com/book

Question: If you were to sit down for coffee with Jonathan, what question would you ask? You can leave a comment by clicking here.