Whatever happens to the enthusiasm that we all have when we decide to create a spiffy new blog? How come it fades so quickly? We start off well but we lose our focus after awhile. It is a similar case with some of us who have joined a gym and paid the membership fees for a whole year. How likely is it that we would go to the gym on a regular basis… if set foot in it at all? Likewise, many are blogging quitters, but few are blogging winners.The greatest hindrance for bloggers is discouragement over the fact that their blog readership numbers do not soar high on eagle’s wings right from the get-go. It’s the equivalent to having the expectation that someone can develop a six-pack and great muscles within a month’s time. Not very likely.
So how can we jumpstart ourselves to get back on track with our blog and maintain the momentum?
Solution 1. Prepare your mind for the journey.
Many people lose their motivation because of extreme expectations. The reality is that if your blog does not contain content, you have nothing to offer to your readership. Remember that everything great initiative got off the ground with a small step.
Focus on what you have to work with and aim for growth. We cannot start of with the expectation that we will be completely inundated by thousands of comments on our blog when we don’t even have a more than a handful of posts.
Take small steps and aim for growth.
Solution 2. Focus on discipline.
I hate going to work out. But if I ever get to work out, it’s because I made up my mind to go even when I don’t want to go.
Choose a particular day in your week where you will be committed to seeing a blog post go up. And commit to seeing a blog post published on that day no matter what.
When I started, I began with a monthly post. Then when I got a hang of it, I moved on to one post per week. When I saw the readership increase, I decided to do move to twice a week (I admit that I was afraid, but it worked).
The results: Exponential increase! More visits. More conversations. More trial and errors. More lessons and more successes.
But it all began somewhere. So begin somewhere.
Solution 3. Build Expectation.
Let your followers begin to anticipate your post on your day of choice. (If you are serious about growth, do it at least once a week). In the beginning, I would announce on our Facebook page: Here is this Thursday’s Post. After consistently publishing a new post on Thursdays, people began to expect a post from me on Thursdays. That way, I built a following for my Thursday posts, and that in turn kept me committed to blogging.
Learn to be consistent with your publishing cycle and build expectation.
Solution 4. Become a master strategist.
One of my biggest challenges was trying to create a post against a tight deadline (e.g., on the same day or tomorrow). Talk about writer’s block!
Writing is always going to be a daunting task when you are up against a 3 p.m. deadline. I decided to overcome this hurdle by planning ahead. I began to write my posts as inspired and made use of Google Docs to store my work. Then, I would keep a record of my posts in a Google Docs Excel spreadsheet to get my posts lined up with the date that it would go up.
Soon, I had posts lined up for months and I began to enjoy writing each one of them without feeling any pressure. I was no longer writing for the sake of meeting a deadline, but I write because I have something to write about. It also allowed plenty of pressure-free time to work on a post just before it would go up as inspired…because I knew that something had been lined up in advance as backup.
Plan to work in advance and build your blog content database to draw from.
Solution 5. Hold yourself accountable.
During this time, the Lord brought some good editors in my life who give me great feedback. Additionally, I have a group of young leader friends who all got into blogging too. We exchange blog tips and strategies with each other. I found myself encouraging them to deliver on time every week and they held me accountable each week as well.
It has been a blast! The blog posts rolled out and our readers have been blessed!
Take it as a challenge for the year to build your blogging empire, and enjoy the response that you will get from your readership as you go. Never despise the humble beginnings!
Have more questions? Leave a comment here and we would love to help you. We’re all in it together.
Now before you get rolling, share a strength or weakness that you have encountered with blogging. How do you keep yourself motivated to blog? God bless!
17 Comments
Hi to all Christian Web Trends friends. Thank you for the opportunity to guest blog.
Excellent post Shyju 🙂 another tip that has worked for me is dont write too much… keep to the point and brief …
Shyju, thanks for writing today's post! Great advice for bloggers. Preparation, strategy, consistency and having realistic expectations are key to taking a blog to the next level. Even though I've been blogging for 5 years, I still struggle with #4, strategy. Christian Web Trends has seen its best engagement when I publish a post every weekday morning at 7 AM, yet I often don't plan far enough ahead & I don't write far enough ahead which results in missed or late blog posts (like last week).
Thanks Paul, its a pleasure. Great content here! We generally post at 4pm. May be I should try 7am.
I did struggle with the 4th point myself for long. I began by writing couple of posts in a day as inspired and scheduled it. And as of now we have posts ready for this whole year. And the relief and the bonus time you get to shape and fine tune the post is just pure awesome!
That is a great post on blogging. Yes consistency & discipline is required for a blogger.
Loved every point & fully agree to it. May the Lord lead you to write more & more blogs!
Thanks Twt. God bless you too.
This is an awesome post for bloggers. Yes I agree that discipline is important. All the points are very useful and encouraging.
God bless you
Thanks Nima. Good to know!
I wish to work more on the strategy part. I think trial and error helps to build an effective strategy. Loved the post, Thanks for writing, God Bless!
Most welcome Priji, I agree, trial and error. It is not necessary that what worked for someone else's blog must entirely work for your blog. One way to stay on it is not to quit 🙂
Can you share the format of your spreadsheet for those of use who need to start using tools like that? 🙂
Sure April, here is how we've done. I have two editors who help, one with the sunday post and another with the thursday post – the sunday posts are the one's in green, yet to be filled. [Then I have a third person who helps me with posting, pic selecting, scheduling, comment moderating etc. which you could use if you not well versed with wordpress or any other reasons] Here's how it looks – http://bit.ly/nt0nwm Hope this helps.
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Hi Shyju…appreciate ur input on blogging…i've just got myself restarted just 2 weeks back after a gap of almost a year. rajivhubert.blogspot.com
Blessings!
Phew..very exhaustive for me personally , but I will work on every one of it..man need to discipline myself for a timely post..hmmm..scheduling a post on time is where i usually struggle..hope i do get to do some brain storming and do some effective time table to schedule posts..i spend so much of time just on one post that it remains a draft maybe for two weeks..and I keep working on it..but yes..where there is a will there is a way!! . Awesome..Never despise the humble beginings.. I wont. Thank you!!