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The Secret To Growing Your Blog to Its Potential

Posted By Darren Rowse 17th of October 2013 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

I recently had a blogger sidle up to me at a conference and ask me to share ‘the secret’ technique that would allow see their blog grow to its potential.

While the blogger was asking with tongue planted firmly in his cheek (he understood that there was no single thing that would transform his blog) I do sometimes wonder if some bloggers are looking for ‘the secret’.

The reality is that looking for a single technique to make your blog grow to its potential is as crazy as looking for a single technique to make your child grow to its potential.

Actually I like the analogy of children growing to their potential… lets go down that path for a moment.

I have 3 boys. They’re 2, 5 and 7.

They started small (of course). Here’s our 2 year old a few minutes after he was born.

IMG 2688 2

He was little (although like all Rowses had a quite large head for his age).

I look back on that photo today and can barely believe that the 2 year old that runs around our house talking up a storm is the same person that I saw born just a couple of years ago.

I look at my 7 year old and am even more amazed at who he’s become already! He has grown so much – physically, emotionally, socially and so much more.

But how did he grow to become the 7 year old he is today?

The reality is that while it seems just yesterday that he was born, his growth has been little by little thing – every day since.

He certainly has had growth spurts where he’s shot up at a faster rate over a month than other months but he’s grown gradually and as a result of consistent feeding, exercise, sleep and nurturing.

As parents we can’t identify a single thing that has resulted in him reaching the point he’s at – it’s a result of small consistent and regular actions over time.

The same is true with your blog.

There’s nothing you can do that will suddenly make your blog reach its potential.

It will grow as you regularly add content, as you regularly look after the readers you have and grow community, as you regularly participate in places off your blog to find new readers and as you regularly nurture it by keeping its design and technical side up to date and working.

You will probably go through growth spurts where you see bursts of activity that results in growth in one way or another – but its what happens between the growth spurts that is just as important.

The key to success in blogging (and in many areas of life) is small but regular and consistent actions over a long period of time.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I hope you every Blogger who think they are not getting enough of their work have read this post and came to know why exactly they are not getting what they are expecting. Consistency, Hard work, being always motivated (even when no-one comes to blog) is enough to get and touch any height in Blogging, I have experienced it and I believe everyone can easily get dream result but for that they need to DO.
    I must say this is another great article Darren, you’re 101% true, keep writing this kind of stuff for me & Us :)

  2. Blog is really new and written every well manner i like the author concept with family and blog this is unique and something informative.

  3. People always think blogging is easy and full of quick wins. It is same as seed. Slowly Slowly seed grows to plant and then tree, but it is possible only when you water the seed regularly. Similarly, like water, content is the main part of blog.

  4. Yeh Darren, I have learned a lesson about being patient.Because it you want to be a successful blogger then you must have patient otherwise it will create lots of difficulties in your blogging carrier. Thanks for the article .. Keep Posting !

  5. For the past few months I was not able to publish a single blog post. The blog is not my main business, nor the second or the third one, but I always enjoyed writing on my blog. It let me to express myself after I accumulate anger and disappointment.

    But now I’ve tried to compare my blog with a kid. If you do not have a good relationship with you kid, then it will be harder for you to play with him and to teach him. You hardly know him and you always feel like starting over and over again.

    It is the same with my blog. In the days when I posted at least 2-3 articles every week, I had the required relation with my blog, a connection that made me to write a new post again and again. I just wanted to finish other tasks so I can express myself on the blog so I can relax and get things out of my head.

  6. I enjoyed a lot.I got great info & I would love to visit again this blog.

  7. “There is nothing you can do…” This is the truth and I am glad you said it. I have seen so many bloggers that started like a meteorite, like an explosion, sometimes a big blast. They advanced so rapidly that it seems what you said is not true. However, after a few months their blogs started to fade away and slowly died. Probably 90% of those who are now shining like supernovas on the blogosphere’s sky will be gone forever at this time, next year.

    One example. A “supernova” blogger I know started to guest post 2-3 weeks after launching his blog (!!). For two months he kept a furious pace, guest posting on many blogs and creating content for this blog. Then it started to grow tired. The pace slowed down and he started to complain he was not getting the success he wanted. Why no engagement on his blog? Why no comments? People are bad. Really bad.

    When I checked his blog, it was full of generic content but peppered with magnetic headlines, super pictures, cool videos with fancy intros etc. He also used the newest theme and the best plugins available. He did everything to attract attention and succeeded. However, at the end of the day, the generic content he posted on his blog was not enough to solve people’s problems.

    He wasn’t able to really teach people: how to drive traffic, how to attract subscribers, how to make money etc. The content attracted like a magnet but was empty and useless. When the generic content wash exhausted, he was left with nothing to write about and the decay began. I guess the blog will disappear in a few months.

    There is time for everything. A blog is like a being. There is a natural rhythm for every plant, animal, human on Earth. If you accelerate beyond the natural growth rhythm, you will get exponential results for a short period of time but in the end you will kill that living thing (your blog).

    Have a wonderful day

  8. What a great analogy and I’m sure this is so true. What I often wonder is how food bloggers like myself have so many followers? Do they pay to have 16,000 when I have 300+ followers and they started blogging after me? Or is that possible and I’m just missing the boat?

    I realize there are many variables especially in food blogging – consistency, creative recipes and photos are at the top of the list.

    Do people really pay to inflate the numbers that follow them? It seems so dishonest. Does it pay to Boost my post on Facebook, and place ads on Google? All questions I’ve been pondering lately. I’d love some feedback.

    • Vicki, perhaps someone using ads can chime in.

      Until then, I want to tell you that the number does not really matter, what matters is to find your tribe and people who are your loyal readers and perhaps customers one day. If that’s the purpose of your blog ;) Hope this helps!

  9. Posting regularly is probably one of the most basic, yet most effective ways of slowing growing your blog. It is exactly what Google wants. Constant, fresh content. I’ve seen a lot of people just smash out 10, 20, or 50 posts within a week and then not post for another few months. It would be much better to just schedule these posts to be published once a week or every few days.

    I’ve found that having a strict schedule works wonders too. If you are always going to be posting a new blog at the same time each day, week or month, it will help retain some readers. Just like people tune into their favorite TV show every day, for example, they can end up visiting your blog around the same time every day to find that new blog post. If you are randomly posting then you’ll have less returning visitors or just not as many frequently visiting readers.

    When I started posting just once a week I saw my rankings literally go through the roof. I’d been focusing too much on link building and so on, when really focusing on just getting more fresh content out on my blog was the most beneficial in terms of SEO. Of course off-page SEO is also important but without a blog that has tonnes of high quality content you won’t get anywhere.

  10. I know this is an “older” post but I needed to go back and re-read this one. And unfortunately I’m getting green eyes over other blogs that are doing so, so well (especially those that started off around the same time as me). There are days when I seem stuck in a rut, despite the effort. So thanks for the motivation :)

  11. So true, so true. Great advice. Loved the analogy of blog and children. The behind-the-scenes work is the key.

  12. I love this analogy. It has worked for me. As a teacher, I find it difficult at times to have a quiet space to sit and write constantly but I have seen it grow over time. I am amazed and never thought anyone would read it. It took me a year to start. Now I am ready to launch my second blog. Thanks for sharing.

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