I hate to burst the “bubbles” or spoil the “fun”; or should I say rather – I hate to deliver bad news. But let truth be told, blogging is a freaking hard job. It requires all your energies, your attention, mind, soul and your “every” time.
Why are my telling you this, since you literally already know it?
Well, this is the main thing – Blogging is just like you getting a degree in a college. You read, read, read and read. You work hard; have a couple of sleepless nights, sorry, I mean a lot of sleepless nights (all in the name of reading and catching up with assignments.)
You work odd jobs (assuming you cater for yourself) just to make ends meet in the course of running the program. You sometimes miss lectures because you feel tired and just want to rest for a minute. Heck, you even think of giving up sometimes (but you clearly know that’s not an option) since you’ve paid your tuition fees.
Do you see the connection now??
No matter how hard college is, and how unbelievably stressful it is for you; you’d still have this “inner urge” or should I call it the “zeal” to complete the 4 years or 3 years college program.
Now, this is where those in the blogosphere miss it. If blogging is compared to a college degree, which I know perfectly well that after 3 to 4 years in it – an awesome degree certificate certifying you to work will be issued.
Then, why do people find it hard to wait for that long (just joking, not that long, but at least a little longer) for their blogging career to pick up? Why on earth do they give up so quickly?
I’ve thought about it too. In short, I’ve thought about it too much. So, I decided to churn out this article to help you identify what really makes bloggers give up and ways to make sure you stay focused on your goal alone.
Without wasting too much of your precious time any longer, so why exactly do bloggers give up?
1. No Focus – No Goals
“The poorest person is not the one without a cent, but rather the one without a dream”.
– Bill Newman
“No one is a failure until the person gives up the vision. You are only a failure when you give up the ability to achieve the set goal”
– Unknown Author
This is to me the worst thing that can ever happen to any blogger. When you lack a sense of direction, anywhere is a potential place to go.
You see, blogging without a goal is like walking through a dark street blindfolded.
And of course we all know that darkness isn’t a good thing. You stumble, lack direction, get injured, get robbed; or even end up been killed by robbers. You got it right?
That’s how blogging without a goal or not focusing on your goals will lead you to.
So, you must have a focus.
Why do you want to succeed in the niche you’re in? What are the “set plans” you’ve put in place to ensure you succeed? Where do you see yourself in 2 years time? Which goals have you instituted to make that a reality?
All these questions are integral to your success in blogging. They’re all centered on “focus and goal”. They both walk hand in hand.
How do I create goals and stay focused to it in blogging?
I know you might end up pondering this question and seriously want the answer to it. Let me show you how I create goals and stay focused on it until it I succeed –
First of all, I create a goal (a written goal. If it isn’t written, it’s a wish).
Secondly, I list down (write on paper/MS notepad) ways which I intend on accomplishing the already “written” goal.
Thirdly, I stay “focused” and begin to overly accomplish the goals.
That’s it. That’s the simple way I make my goals come to reality.
Let me illustrate the example above with my “back-linking goal” which I created for this month – May.
This is exactly how my goal looks like in real life –
Goal Topic– Build 200 Backlinks to Blog in May, 2013.
How to attain it –
(i) Find more dofollow blogs and subscribe to them in order to know when they’ll update their blog.
How do I find them?
* Through Google search for “dofollow blog list”.
*Through blog comment section.
(ii) Find more .gov and .edu blogs and subscribe to them.
How do I find them?
* Using www.dropmylink.com
* Searching on Google for “dofollow .gov and .edu blogs”
Benefit of Achieving This Goal
* High Page Rank.
* More Traffic and awareness will come.
* More jobs and advertisers.
And that’s exactly how a normal goal should look like. It must contain these embodiment above if you ever want to see it come to reality.
Now, having shown you how I set my goals, it’s time to show you “how” I stay focused to it until it comes to fulfillment.
So this is what I do in order not to miss the target (or lose focus) on my goals. I state what I will gain if I follow those goals to the end and make them come to reality.
In the “backlinking goal” above, I stated clearly that I’ll achieve this –
Benefit of Achieving This Goal
* High Page Rank of 4.
* More Traffic and awareness will come.
* More jobs and advertisers.
This is exactly what all bloggers are looking forward to get. So, when you constantly remind yourself of the benefits that the goal will accrue to your blog and you if you keep on pursuing that goal, then you’d never want to lose focus on that goal.
I’ve tried it and it works positively well. Start setting goals and stay focused to it, because without it, giving up becomes a better idea to you.
Remember this –
“Knowing exactly where you want to go (been focused); and doing the right thing (setting goals) in order to get to that place you want to be, are the only dependable way you can ever achieve any tangible thing in the blogosphere.”
2. Lacking Patience
“Be optimistic. Things are not always as HARD to accomplish as you expect”
– Bill Newman
I guess this a virtue which a lot of bloggers don’t really have. Some of them starts blogging today and wants to make it big 5 days later. This is just another BIG reason why they give up on blogging.
It just doesn’t work that way, since blogging is not just like a “business”; it is a “business”. And the last time I remembered, businesses don’t just started from the top.
You’ve got to work your way up from bottom to top – It’s that hard.
So when you don’t have the patience to wait for a real business (like blogging) to shuttle up from the ground, then you won’t really last long in the blogosphere.
So, how do you develop patience in blogging?
This might be hard, but it’s worth a try.
Firstly, look for the areas you’re seeing improvement and “hi 5” yourself a little.
(Just have a special outing to celebrate it. We all know that when you don’t appreciate the little progress you see everyday in your blogging career, it will become hard to keep on staying focused to the goal of not dropping off.)
Secondly, locate top gurus in your field and have them tell you the specific strategies they’re using that works perfectly for them on the areas you are having problems on.
(When you have a blog with low traffic, it becomes really realistic to contact a guru who’s an expert on that subject, to teach you what strategies will work and how to apply them and make them work out perfectly with evidence to show for it).
Thirdly, don’t stand there staring at me! Get to work immediately and apply the strategies the way the guru directed you to do it, and I can assure you, it will definitely work out as long as you did it right and in a consistent manner.
Fourthly, be very patient. Strategies don’t usually bring results immediately it’s applied (even if the strategy was given to you by a Darren Rowse).
Fifthly, read from the 1st step to the last again.
And that’s it. It’s quite simple – always be patient.
Exercising extreme patience will go a long way in determining whether you’d succeed or drop off eventually from blogging.
Just keep on been patient, since you don’t know when your big break will come. Don’t you know that some people give up sometimes immediately they are about to achieve something of importance in blogging?
Do you really want to end up like that?
Remember:
No man can predict to what heights you can soar. Even you will not know, until you spread your wings.
Be patient.
3. Choosing the Wrong Niche
“The Secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do”
– Unknown Author
One thing with blogging is this – when you are blogging on a niche you don’t have a passion for, you tend to give up after a while (or a while longer) if you don’t see tangible results coming from it.
This is one of the main reason people give up on blogging. When you’re not enthusiastic about the niche you are in, when you’re dragging your feet pertaining to anything related to your niche – then it clearly shows that you don’t love the niche and you can do anything just to get away from it.
So how do you make sure you don’t drop from blogging in that niche?
First of all, you need to locate something you like in the niche you’re in (even if you hate the niche, there must be something you like about it. Find it now).
Secondly, you need to build an interest around that discovery (Discover more about the things you’ve come to like about the niche).
Thirdly, you need to solve problems surrounding that discovery (This brings with itself – positive remarks from people.)
Fourthly, locate and bond with other people who also love those part you love in that niche (Bonding with people with same interest might spur you up into liking the niche wholly.)
Fifthly, please love the niche (you may end up making money from it on the long run.)
Note: If you’re about to enter into blogging; make sure to blog about what you really love and could literally discuss about it for hours on end.
The steps above are for those who are already blogging about what they don’t really like. Make sure to not follow the trend on the net or of friends, and end up blog about things which you can’t be caught dead talking about.
So you see? Niche mistakes can cause bloggers to fall of big time. This means it’s now dependent on you to not fall of from blogging. You need to hold on and not give up, no matter how hard it might be updating and solving problems in that niche.
Remember:
Sometimes, holding on to something is far better than holding on to nothing at all.
4. Laziness
“Laziness is just like a ‘rocking chair’; you’re obviously doing something (rocking back and forth on it). But you’re going nowhere.”
– Kingsley Agu
No blogger can succeed online when he or she is lazy.
That’s the ugly fact. It can’t be over-emphasized, since basically all the strategies online involves a big amount of work and consistency for it to bring forth something tangible.
Bloggers give up mainly because of laziness. So how do you stop “lazing” about and start real work?
Firstly, have a wake up time.
Secondly, have a time table about what to do that day.
Thirdly, set daily goals and strive to achieve each and every one of them.
Fourthly, overly accomplish and surpass your expectation towards each set goals.
Following these steps above will help you fight against laziness and stop you from not giving up blogging. So strive to let go of laziness, since this can single-handedly make you give up blogging.
Remember –
“Laziness is just like a ‘rocking chair’; you’re obviously doing something (rocking back and forth on it). But you’re going nowhere.”
5. Blogging for Money
“The Internet makes money for you when you build something that is real and when it matters to people.”
– Darren Rowse of problogger.net
People want to make money while they blog. In fact, nearly everybody wants this. I also want it too.
But the misconceptions which people have towards making money online are quite misleading.
Imagine a new blogger with just one post on his blog wanting to make $1,000 from Adsense every month?
He has close to zero traffic and he still believes that Adsense will drop money to his account.
He is always checking his Google Analytic account when he clearly hasn’t been doing anything to boost his blog traffic.
Is your story like the one above? Do you blog for money rather than blog for value?
This is the main reason Darren Rowse cited the quote above; and this is what he was actually saying –
“When you “add value” first to blogging; money and every other thing “all bloggers” are vying and dying to get will be automatically added to you”.
That’s the secret that brought a lot of pro bloggers to where they are now. So, instead of seeking money first, they went ahead adding value first and money came naturally to them at will.
You get it now right? You may likely end up giving up on blogging when you are so much interested in making money “FIRST” and adding value later. Because when the money isn’t forth-coming, giving up becomes an option.
Therefore, strive to add value consistently and sooner than you think, your breakthrough will come unaided.
Before I conclude this awesome post, let me show you how you can add value first to blogging.
Do this –
* Write on a specific niche –
(This will easily get you to a gurus’ level in no time).
* Make sure to solve “all the problems” pertaining to that niche-
(This will make people trust you entirely and want to buy your eBooks or any product you endorse.)
* Subscribe to numerous blogs and use their comment section to showcase your expertise-
(Curious readers astounded by your insightful words – might visit your blog just to confirm whether you’re for real. A lot of them end up becoming regular blog readers).
* Guest post frequently on the niche you cover on your blog.
(More traffic and trust will come to play here. And of course, more traffic signifies more money).
Doing all these will totally make you a problem-solver (a value adder) and a money breeder.
To round up this awesome guest post, I’ll leave you with the “wise words” from Sir Winston Churchill –
“Don’t give up. Never ever ever ever give up.”
