Robby G is a blogger from ShiteILike.com and explains the benefits of pushing your blog through good and through bad.
I was doing some research recently, wondering if my blog would ever take off and what it really depended on. I was a little bit discouraged about writing lots of content for two months on my blog, but having a significant amount of less traffic than on my friend’s blog which is only two months older than mine.
To see if my blog would ever receive any readers that would get interested, and hopefully raise my hopes, I went on ProBlogger. I looked through his much older posts and went through the comment list. I clicked on a bunch of commentators’ names that took me back to their blogs and recorded how many of them were still blogging today. Their comments were from 2006 and I noticed that most of the bloggers had either just abandoned their blog or quit paying for hosting completely.
Now the interesting stuff I learnt from my research was that the ones that actually held on to their blogs and kept posting through good and through bad on topics that they found dear to them, they in fact had a pretty decent following with many RSS Subscribers and were receiving quite a few comments on each post. I also ran their blogs through a Link Checker and saw that the older the blog, the more backlinks they had.
The great thing about perseverance when it comes to blogging is that the longer you push your blog, the more you get out of it. It doesn’t matter what topic you write about, because there are a lot of people out there that have the same interests as you no matter what they are.
Perseverance gives your blog backlinks, it gives your blog a higher rating on search engines, and it gives people time to learn more about you and spread your blog’s name through word of mouth. If you read this blog and a bunch of other “making money online” blogs, it opens your mind out to how to market your blog properly, and if you connect perseverance to marketing, there is no stopping you. All that’s left is time to allow someone big and famous to come along and mention your blog in a review or just mention a little bit about your post to really help you explode onto the Super Blogger level.
So all in all, in my opinion, there are really just two things every blogger should keep in mind when either starting a new blog or whenever they’re discouraged about their own blog:
- Make sure you’re blogging about a topic you really love (I know this one has been said before by almost everyone, but it’s true. Shite I Like is my second blog for a reason.)
- Whatever you do, don’t give up. Keep blogging and blogging, and reading, and blogging. The more time you put into it will really come back to help you 100 times more in the long-run. And you just might never know when your blog will turn huge.
Also, if you’ve got the time to blog on a topic on an almost daily basis, you more than likely have the time to do research of your own on how to market and make your blog popular without having to really spend much money on it.
Many people’s biggest flaw in life is entering into something thinking that easy money will just flow their way, and once the going gets even a little bit difficult, they abandon ship. For example, when I was going to University and Real Estate College at the same time, I thought I’d become a Real Estate Salesperson in no time and start selling houses in the summer time while everybody from University would be working some landscaping summer job. Becoming a Real Estate person was harder than I thought and took much more time than initially planned. At many points I thought about quitting that and just focusing on Univ, but perseverance got me through College to get into the field of Real Estate as a part-time job while still continuing with my Univ studies. I’m happy I pushed myself, because now I see that if I could keep a weekend job while going to University and College all at the same time, while also learning about blogging, then I can push myself to blog on a regular basis.
Keep those 2 points I outlined above in mind and make sure to always keep pushing yourself, because without perseverance you’ll never see any glory. I hope this post really gave you a motivation to keep blogging and reading and most importantly believing that all you need to reach your goal with blogging is constant determination, time, and a little bit of luck.
being able to bear difficulties during your first year of blogging is really important after that it’s gonna be easy. Thanks for reminding us.
Absolutely correct! In fact i think the best basis for blog authority is time, quality time you spend on your blog. true, it will com back 100 times!
I really needed to read this. I wasn’t ever planning to give up on my blogging (I’ve only been doing so for three months), but it’s hard to see that my readership is not what I want it to be, even though the blogs are useful.
Another point I want to make is this: I found that I have a few loyal fans, and I’ve accepted that this is fine. The fact that some people love my blog helps me persevere.
Like your other readers, I’m in it for the long haul.
Thanks for inspiring me!
I think that you made 2 terrific points:
one, don’t give up if there isn’t much traffic to begin with, the traffice will eventually come
two: passionate about the subject you are writing
great post, thanks for inspiration!
Checking through comments from a couple of years ago is a really interesting method of looking at how people may have persevered (or not) with their blogs.
Can’t agree more with this. Patience does pay, whether in blogging or in a relationship.
Mostly bloggers loose hope and give up.
Robby, thank you for the nudge and encouraging advice! It is what a struggling blogger needs to hear from time to time. For myself, I already know that I would blog for free, because I have done that for so long, just for the love of it.
Sounds like this post has encouraged many people, myself included. I find it helps me when I can avoid the urge to compare, and just focus on how I can continue to provide quality content.
I figure, if the content is good, people will come to read it!
Jamie
In the race between the tortise and the hare, the tortise wins.
I will be that tortise.
Robby, thaks for a great post.
I completely agree with you. Persevere is the key to success. The same rules apply if you wish to become a freelance writer. Just keep plugging away, and it will happen.
Grat post.
Is a personal blog that touches on various interests enough of a “topic?” Interests on my blog are primarily spiritual, home & family, and love of writing. Is that specific enough, or for personal type blogs are we better off abandoning and becoming more selective? Would appreciate input. Thanks!
This was a great post with very good points. I am still learning patience and persistence. I see that it really is important to hang in there.
Great post! I agree with you 100%.
I’ve had many blogs over the years, and most of them died a slow and painful death. Then almost 3 years ago I began my current blog about 2 things I loved: Writing and literature. Today it’s still going strong.
I don’t make much from my blog and it doesn’t have a huge readership (like Problogger does), but I really enjoy writing posts and keeping up with news/trends in my specialty.
Being passionate about your topic really is key. Without that passion, my blog would have been one of those that went prematurely to the blog graveyard.
Thanks for the post!
@Sheryl Tuttle: When choosing a blog topic, I believe Darren gives a good idea of what kind of blog you should run. The reasons people read a blog is to receive something out of it. Either advice, entertainment, or news. So reading about what you named your new pet dog today might not make it unless you’re someone famous like Johnny Depp. Unless you can make it really entertaining then I take Darren’s advice and focus a blog topic to give some sort of advice. Hope that helps.
Yea, perseverance is key, but just make sure you are blogging about a topic that people really want to read about, and keep in mind a long term monetization plan. Good post.
Thanks for the kick up the arse, when the sun starts to shine, my thoughts move away from my blog. Another post coming right up!!
it is so true..i first started blogging in 2005 after 6 months with no increase of visitors i abandoned ..i was hoping for quick results …
but now i am blogging for fun and results are awesome…
and
perseverance is absolute key to save blog
I always say that those who are successful in blogging are those who refuse to give up.
Everyone will be tempted to quit at some point before success rolls in.
Will you give in, or will you keep going no matter what?
Thanks for the great post!
Thanks for the advice, I agree if perseverance is important matter to build a blog, sometimes I also feel that I want to quit because it seems that my blog is going nowhere, well just see … usually the first year is the toughest one.
To check the old comments at Problogger…. This is really a brilliant way of blog demographics research. Good job!
Hi Robby, I loved your post, and since I just started blogging, it will really come in handy if I ever feel demotivated and feel like giving up. Perseverance is key for every goal we want to achieve in our lives. I hope you keep on being successful doing what you love.
Thanks for this article! I have a long row to hoe as my new blog is LESS THAN A WEEK old!
I chose a topic of which I was passionate, and I really do enjoy righting about.
Great post.
Persevearance, dedication and persistence
are needed in order to become a pro blogger.
Blogging definitely takes time and you just can’t push it.
Be consistent, provide unique valuable information and
you’ll get your share of the subscribers pie.
Igor
I think the most important lesson that I learned about blogging is that the blogosphere in general suffers from severe ADD – just because I wrote what I consider to be a really good blog post today that was well researched and well thought out doesn’t mean that anyone is going to come back tomorrow. I burned out several times with different blogs until I learned the lesson of patience and perseverance.
What we have to remember is that we are creating a business with the help of blogging. A successful and profitable business doesn’t happen over night.
Great post and very encouraging!
It’s one thing to tell yourself to persevere, but to have someone echo your sentiments and then read all of the comments about the same struggle is quite comforting.
Thanks, I needed to read an article like this today. Good luck all!
Well said! Giving up on something is the easy way out. Everything is hard at first, but you work hard and keep at it and you will see success in your future. It is best to make sure what you blog about is something you are passionate about. Don’t force yourself to do a topic you don’t have much knowledge in or one that you feel you should do because everyone else does. My blog is very young and I will always blog because I am very passionate about it regardless of how many readers I have. People have to remember, blogging should be fun and over time you will have a larger following!
i agree with u on this. A few times i had bordered on the thought of giving up one of my blogs as it took too much time. But now I’m happy that I didn’t!
I agree. I just started with my blog about entrepreneurs. You have to keep going and never give up. Building traffic takes time.
Thanks
I agree totally. It’s not easy to keep the blog going day after day, but pushing through has helped to increase my page rank and search results. Investing so much time and then letting it go is beyond me!
I agree fully . I started my blog 2 yrs back with almost no traffic, but now after 2yrs of persistence I am seeing decent traffic with almost 0 marketing.
Persistance overcomes resistance. Some four years after starting two blogs I not only still write regularly on them I have even produced two books that I’m now pleased to say have started to sell so just keep on in there and results will happen in time.
Thanks for this. I think many of us become disillusioned like you said and it’s hard to keep going. Also blog community is really important. Here’s to never giving up!
it does get discourageing sometimes but you have to keep just pluging along with it
Quitting earlier is indeed a major issue with many things including blogs. The same could be said for other things like school, home businesses and other ventures where if immediate gratification is not seen things just seem too hard. Stick with it and probably the best thing to come of it will be a sense of satisfaction that you gave it your all.
I really like you idea of going back through the problogger archives and finding out how well the bloggers and websites are doing now.
I liked it so much that I did a whole post about it. I took your idea but took it a step further.
I discovered that problogger commentors have a 72% chance of their blog/website failing. But that is good news because before I thought it was 99% of all blogs fail.
@Roman: Thanks for that extra info and I’m happy that this post inspired another blogger to take the idea I supplied and took it to the next level.
Have a passion to create. You WILL fail…at first. It is at this time you will see what you are made of. Do you go on? Change? Or Quit?
Adapt, learn and grow.
We don’t need anymore quitters in the world.
Thanks for this. It motivates me. I have been blogging for just 7-8 months now and even though I see progress (every month more visitors than the month before and even a few cents coming in) I get worried sometimes as to… when is it going to happen?
I keep telling myself to just keep on going. Rome wasn’t built overnight and I plan to build an empire here.
Thanks everyone for your responses. I saw the success of this post and have written a follow up post for those who are interested: http://www.shiteilike.com/sustain-a-prosperous-future/
Enjoy!
I completely agree!! Most people do just quit. Probably the main key in my success story is perseverence. Heck, I still use blogger.com!
Learn more about making moneyhttp://www.e-zonlinemoney.blogspot.com/
Great post – i just upgraded my blog from a wordpress.com to a .org and am hoping to hang on to my few visitors. I’m only about 3 months into this and i’m glad i made the move now, not later.
Some days tho I think I’m blogging to myself.
Totally agree with you!!
When I came to know all about blogging, and got interested in it, the first question I asked to myself was – what I blog on?
There were many topic to choose from, which could have earned me lots of money. But, I then I thought those were not the topics that I was interested in.
I am a big Excel enthusiast and have learned most of it myself. Now I am quite comfortable with it and have the confidence to even share my knowledge (though limited) with everyone. Now I blog on Excel through Excel Matic (name of my blog).
Perseverance and patience can really earn you lots of credibility and traffic, too.
I agree, writing about something you love is key. That way, you won’t grow tired of continuously writing new posts, like some bloggers do. Patience is key when it comes to blogging, and that patience will eventually gain you more readers.
That was exactly what I needed today! I am the type that gets easily discouraged and have been feeling lately like my blog is going to get nowhere. Thanks for reminding me to just keep doing it for me. And if I write it, they’ll eventually come!
i guess it depends why you get into bloggin’. if it’s to make a million bagillion zillion dollars and 3 months go by and you’ve only made a nickle form serving remnant ads from whatever ad network you’ve signed up for, i think you’ll quit pretty soon. if you’re more like into bloggin’ for because you just love to write, play with cool cms’s (drupal), and you have a lot to say and don’t care about who hears it, then you’ve got a better chance of survival. ephman is my third blog. basically because i couldn’t stick to a single topic. so this blog is a few months old but it’s about everything from anime series, broadway shows, nyc concert reviews, top 10 lists, and events. basically it’s about everything. so i’m never at a loss to find something to write.