Just recently I made my first attempt ever at a blog, or even a
website for that matter. While looking for information and advice on
blogging I've been in touch with many helpful and encouraging
individuals. On the other hand, I've also run into nearly just as many
negative individuals. These negative people seem to have a goal of
driving any hope of having a successful blog right into the ground. It
is one thing to offer constructive criticism, it is quite another to
bash or insult another person's idea.
If you've done any research on blogging, most advise you find a niche in which there is an immediate problem or need. Your job is to offer a solution to that problem and in turn you will have a successful blog. I wholeheartedly agree that this is a good strategy; however that is not the goal of the blog I created. The goal of the blog I created is to inspire others. I want to be able to demonstrate that the seemingly impossible can be achieved if you stick with it.
Now I'll step down off my imaginary soap box and get to the point. In my experience, starting a blog can be discouraging. You are putting a lot of effort into something that provides very few immediate results. I wanted to share what I've been doing to keep myself motivated while in the early stages of my blogging journey. I'm doing this in hopes that it will keep others from giving up on what they're striving to achieve. While this post is geared more towards blogging, it can really be applied to anything:
1. Use negativity as fuel: As briefly mentioned above, I made several posts on several different forums related to blogging. I shared my blog idea on some of them in hopes of receiving some help or creative feedback. Often times I was met with negativity or others suggesting I give up on the blog, saying it has no potential. I've also run into the same thing with a few friends and family I've shared my idea with. Don't let someone else's negativity cause you to give up before you ever really get going. Instead, use this as motivation to prove them wrong. This might sound a little nutty, but write down these comments and refer to them whenever you need to get fired up. It sounds repetitive, but as I said, use them to fuel your motivation, not to stomp out your flame.
2. Don't listen to the statistics: There's tons of statistics on the internet regarding how many blogs or websites are started and the percentage of them that fail. What do these statistics really mean to you? They mean nothing. You can't assume that just because other people gave up or weren't successful, that your website or blog will fail. Do you know the details of every website or blog in in those statistics? Do you know the details of why they failed? Maybe they didn't fail at all; perhaps they just gave up after not seeing any results. How many blogs do you see out there that have tons of blog posts and don't have anyone visiting? I haven't come across any. On the other hand, how many blogs do you see with 5 or 6 posts that are insanely popular? I haven't come across any of these either. One thing I have run across quite often is a blog with 5 or 6 posts that someone has given up on, sometimes even though it had great content. What if these bloggers would have continued? Who knows what would have happened?
3. Celebrate every success no matter how small: As previously mentioned this blog was started about a month ago. To be completely honest, it's been rough as I haven't seen much traffic, only a few visitors here and there. Initially this was very disappointing. After thinking about it further, I decided to view these as successes, not disappointments. If I tried a strategy to drive traffic and it resulted in 3 people visiting my site, that's 3 more people that now know my site exists. As I continue to work on my efforts to drive traffic, a few visitors here and there will eventually start to add up. What if 1 of those 3 visitors really enjoyed the site and perhaps shared it with a few others. In other words, every little success gets you closer to your ultimate goal no matter what it might be.
Keep referring back to this article whenever you need a little kick in the pants. No matter what, just keep going and over time you will achieve success.
If you've done any research on blogging, most advise you find a niche in which there is an immediate problem or need. Your job is to offer a solution to that problem and in turn you will have a successful blog. I wholeheartedly agree that this is a good strategy; however that is not the goal of the blog I created. The goal of the blog I created is to inspire others. I want to be able to demonstrate that the seemingly impossible can be achieved if you stick with it.
Now I'll step down off my imaginary soap box and get to the point. In my experience, starting a blog can be discouraging. You are putting a lot of effort into something that provides very few immediate results. I wanted to share what I've been doing to keep myself motivated while in the early stages of my blogging journey. I'm doing this in hopes that it will keep others from giving up on what they're striving to achieve. While this post is geared more towards blogging, it can really be applied to anything:
1. Use negativity as fuel: As briefly mentioned above, I made several posts on several different forums related to blogging. I shared my blog idea on some of them in hopes of receiving some help or creative feedback. Often times I was met with negativity or others suggesting I give up on the blog, saying it has no potential. I've also run into the same thing with a few friends and family I've shared my idea with. Don't let someone else's negativity cause you to give up before you ever really get going. Instead, use this as motivation to prove them wrong. This might sound a little nutty, but write down these comments and refer to them whenever you need to get fired up. It sounds repetitive, but as I said, use them to fuel your motivation, not to stomp out your flame.
2. Don't listen to the statistics: There's tons of statistics on the internet regarding how many blogs or websites are started and the percentage of them that fail. What do these statistics really mean to you? They mean nothing. You can't assume that just because other people gave up or weren't successful, that your website or blog will fail. Do you know the details of every website or blog in in those statistics? Do you know the details of why they failed? Maybe they didn't fail at all; perhaps they just gave up after not seeing any results. How many blogs do you see out there that have tons of blog posts and don't have anyone visiting? I haven't come across any. On the other hand, how many blogs do you see with 5 or 6 posts that are insanely popular? I haven't come across any of these either. One thing I have run across quite often is a blog with 5 or 6 posts that someone has given up on, sometimes even though it had great content. What if these bloggers would have continued? Who knows what would have happened?
3. Celebrate every success no matter how small: As previously mentioned this blog was started about a month ago. To be completely honest, it's been rough as I haven't seen much traffic, only a few visitors here and there. Initially this was very disappointing. After thinking about it further, I decided to view these as successes, not disappointments. If I tried a strategy to drive traffic and it resulted in 3 people visiting my site, that's 3 more people that now know my site exists. As I continue to work on my efforts to drive traffic, a few visitors here and there will eventually start to add up. What if 1 of those 3 visitors really enjoyed the site and perhaps shared it with a few others. In other words, every little success gets you closer to your ultimate goal no matter what it might be.
Keep referring back to this article whenever you need a little kick in the pants. No matter what, just keep going and over time you will achieve success.
