The Price of Success

Happy Monday everyone! Mondays are going to be thought pieces/blogs or short stories from now on to kick the week off. As I’m sure you’ve already figured out, Wednesdays are poetry days and Fridays will see American Adventure updates.

Today’s thought piece is about what it takes to succeed. I will bow my head in shame as I say it, but the other day I did a google search:

‘should I stop blogging?’

I imagine I’m not the only person who’s asked the all-knowing depths of the internet whether or not to surrender to the depressing realities of trying to build a sustainable, interesting and worthwhile blog that people want to read. Google is rife with people writing articles and blog posts addressing this question; an excellent one by Mike over at Fevered Mutterings (http://feveredmutterings.com/95-percent-bloggers-give-up) notes that in 2009, it was estimated that 95% of people abandon their blogs.

NINETY-FIVE PERCENT. That is an insane strikeout rate: and why? Because building an online community who are not only a) genuinely interested in your work but also b) interact with you about what you’re creating, is incredibly difficult. The amount of blogs out there in the wide web is absolutely staggering and yours is just a tiny paper boat floating helplessly in the vast hungry ocean of blogs and motivation-devouring sharks that look like low visit stats. If you’ve just started out, it feels overwhelming. Here you are, dedicating your time and energy to creating content, and it seems that no one in the whole world is interested in it. Why bother, right?

I will be the first person to put up my hand and confess: I too have wanted to surrender. I am a month into blogging and I have seriously considered giving up. Why? Because it isn’t easy. You have to turn up, turn up, turn up with good content over and over again, with no validation or assistance (so how do you even know if your content is any good?) and it’s exhausting. But another of the great blog posts I came upon during this shameful search was called ‘ The insanely slow road to building a blog (and why most people give up)’ by a blogger called Belle Beth Cooper. In this post, Belle refers to a cautionary tale told by Rand Fishkin about his wife, Geraldine, and her travel blog, Everywhereist; for two years she was consistently blogging and never seemed to get past 100 visits per day. [Admittedly, that seems like a lot of visits to me, but the point is that it was a period of stagnation]. It’s a long period of time to feel like no one is reading what you’re writing, to feel like no one cares. It’s a long time to see no discernible changes in your circle of influence, and keep pushing through… But nowadays, Geraldine is routinely getting over 100 000 visits a month at Everywhereist.

That means that there is success out there and we can achieve it, so here are a few questions to ask yourself if you’re getting down about your blog:

1. Why did you start blogging? This can be a hard one. Some people start blogging in order to tell stories (*waves* that’s me!), some people start blogging in order to build a client base for distribution of services and products, some people blog in order to build an online profile that will enable them to showcase their work for future professional use. Regardless of what it is, it’s crucial to be able to identify your reason for blogging; if you can’t identify why you started, it’ll be far more difficult to motivate yourself to continue through the periods of self-doubt.

2. What do you want to achieve with your blog? It makes a difference what you’re trying to achieve with your blog. Wanting to build a client base and distribute a product (whatever that product may be) is very different from blogging in order to share tips and tricks, which is different from a blog used to publish your own experiences and stories. If your motive is primarily a business tool in order to make money, then your approach will necessarily need to be different to someone who is trying to build an online profile for their career as a writer; both require a different level of time commitment and a different initial investment. If you’re going to use your blog to make money and sell or distribute a product, you might be wise to invest in some professional help to optimise your content and your reach (if this is you, onsider checking out Mike at the link above and see if you think he can help you. He’s got some great content and a lot of know-how to teach people how best to maximise their blogging potential). Regardless, you need to have a clear understanding of what your end goal is.

3. Are you employing any other forms of social media to promote your blog? There are varying schools of thoughts on this one, but there is a strong argument for employing multiple social media forums to increase your reach. Maybe your ideal reader is a Pinterest buff; maybe they prefer to use Twitter; perhaps they’re a Facebook fanatic. If you’re pursuing blogging for a business/professional end goal, then LinkedIn can provide an excellent platform to allow you to connect with professional associates and widen your network. This article from Kissmetrics about which social media platform to use (https://blog.kissmetrics.com/which-social-accounts-matter/) argues for involvement in the four major social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) and the criteria for selecting which platform you’ll employ. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Twitter for finding writers, authors, editors and publishers to connect with and trade ideas with! I’ve met some amazing people this way.

4. What does your online community look like? This ties strongly into the above point. If your online community consists of your friends and family on your personal Facebook page, you’ll likely struggle to get viewers for your page. This doesn’t mean your content isn’t worthwhile, it might simply mean that a lot of these people don’t share your interests, and thus won’t be interested in reading what you write about. Broadening your horizons a bit and getting involved in other social media platforms, will increase your likelihood of reaching people who are interested in your niche and having them get involved in your work. A strong online community is essential to getting your work out and in the world for reading!

So those are a few questions to think about if you’re blogging and feeling disheartened: and, if you’re feeling down and out about your blog, let me know! I’d love to read some of your stuff and join your online community; we’re all here to help one another. Also have a look at the two articles that I’ve posted in here (they are truly excellent!) and do some research of your own about how to achieve your blog goals. See you on Wednesday for some poetry!

— Ana