Hey you. Yeah you the blogger. Are you feeling down about your blog? Does it feel pointless right now? You may just be in what Seth Godin calls the dip.
When you first start a new blog everything is so exciting. There is so much hope with a new blog.
Then there comes the hard part.
The Doubt
There is this moment when blogging starts to suck. You start to doubt yourself.
You start wonder if you picked the wrong niche. Be honest, have you ever asked yourself this question? I have asked this question a lot lately. Heck, I have been having phone calls with branding experts asking this question. Seriously!
You start think that you just aren’t good enough to grow a blog. Have you had these thoughts?
If only I was a better writer
If only I had a better theme
If only I had used that other WordPress plugin
If only I was cooler
If only I could network more
If only _________
The fact is that sometimes it is better to pack up your toys and go home. Some blogs fail. Even the best bloggers fail sometimes. I watched Chris Brogan try something and end something because it didn’t work. It happens.
BUT, Brogan is still going strong. His brand lives on, as does his business. It was just that one thing that failed.
More often than not though, a blogger just gives up. So if you are feeling down about your blog, know that it is normal. This is part of the growth process. This is more than likely your moment to ignore the questions and the bad feelings and just keep working.
This is your sophomore year. This is that time when high school is terrible but you know that you will eventually be a senior. Your prom is coming. If you keep giving your blog more than you you thought that you had in you, you will eventually be the cool kid in town.
Now, it isn’t all roses. There are likely some pivots in your future. There are likely some serious growing pains. You may come to the hard truth that you do need a better theme. You may come to the hard truth that you aren’t a great writer. At the same time you may discover that you rock on video instead. That is ok. That is part of the process.
So while there has been a lot of talk about failure lately just know that it isn’t all bad. Like I said recently:
You have to earn failure. You can’t claim failure if you have only been blogging or at your business for a few months. You can’t claim failure after 30 days or even 6 months. Failure has to be earned over time. If you haven’t given it everything that you got and then gotten yourself off of the floor and given more than that once more, you haven’t failed. If you haven’t done that then you are just giving up.
So ask yourself have you failed or have you given up?
If this isn’t encouraging you, step back and analyze where you are. If you aren’t believing in your blog or your business right now that is likely normal and completely ok. This is that moment when you gotta do the work even when it isn’t fun. You gotta do the work even when it feels futile. This is how you get good. This is how you grow.
Hang in there. It will get better. By simply not giving up you are already ahead of millions of other bloggers.
As per Technorati(search engine for blogs), only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs had been updated in the past 120 days.
So 95% of blogs are abandoned.
So yeah when I say millions I mean it. You are doing a great job. Hang in there. Keep blogging. Keep creating content and over time it will matter. You can do this. I believe in you.
Source: B2C
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