This guest post is by Brandon Yanofsky of B-List Marketing.
Admit it: blogging is an overwhelmingly confusing endeavor. There’s so much to learn that, for a beginner, it can literally drive you crazy.
You need to know how to create a blog. How to properly design it. How to write well. How to write persuasively. How to market and promote your blog.
The list of things to know and do is infinite.
Am I stressing you out? Because I’m stressing myself out. There’s so much involved. And yet, all the expert bloggers make it look so easy. How can that be?
They’re actually using an age old technique, made famous by notable porn stars.
Copyright by kylemac, licensed under Creative Commons
If you were to watch porn (which, of course, none of us ever would), you might notice that porn stars make sex look very, very easy—at least, that’s what I’ve been told!
But behind the scenes, so they say, it’s a completely different story. Apparently, life as a porn star is incredibly difficult and demanding. All day long, they’re having sex. The normal person might tire of this particular pursuit after a while, but a porn star might have to keep going for longer than eight hours—after all, that’s his or her job.
Like any actor, these movie stars might have to repeat a scene over, and over, and over again until the exact shot the director wants is captured. And yet, like any actor, the porn star doesn’t look fatigued in the finished work. They push through the exhaustion—again, that’s all part of the job.
The blogger’s job
As a blogger, you also need to learn how to push through any obstacles you face. That’s just part of your job.
There will be times when you feel like giving up—when everything seems to be going wrong. Maybe you just can’t seem to get your blog past 50 visitors a month. You may start telling yourself, “I’ll never make it. I should just give up.”
You’ll look at bloggers like Darren Rowse, and Chris Brogan, and Brian Clark, and you’ll say to yourself, “Man, they have it so easy. They write a post and it’s a viral sensation.”
But I’ve heard their stories, and they don’t have it any easier than you or I. Every night, they stay up late working on a new article, just like they did when they first started.
On the surface, it seems like success comes easily. But behind the scenes, they are toiling. Instead of spending weekends watching TV, they’re at their computers writing. Instead of going out for drinks on Friday nights, they are meeting on Skype to record a new podcast.
Even successful, big-time entrepreneurs like Richard Branson—who makes it seem like starting a multi-billion-dollar company is as easy as tying a shoe—will admit there were times when they considered completely giving up.
The path to success is paved with hardship. But the successful people push through.
Don’t give up.
I’ve had clients come to me, complaining about their lack of traffic, or telling me they can’t get anyone to join their email list. I ask them, “How many articles have you written?” Their response? “Well, I’ve been writing one a month.”
“Well, start writing one a week, or even one a day. You’ll see a drastic increase in traffic.”
“But it’s just too much work.”
That attitude right there is what separates the successful from the failures. The ones like you and I who are willing to go the extra mile, to push through obstacles and never give up—we’re the ones who will succeed. We are the ones who, in another year, the beginning bloggers will look to and say, “Man, those bloggers just have it so easy.” Remember to think like a porn star, and push through the exhaustion.
As an aexample, it took me days to write this article. I felt like giving up on it, but I pushed through. And now, I have an article published on ProBlogger. I pushed through the obstacle and achieved one more instance of success.
So can you. What obstacles are you pushing through?
If you’d like to read more by Brandon Yanofsky, check out his blog on small business marketing. You can also send him a tweet: @byanofsky.
