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Written by Michael Wayne
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Thursday, 14 May 2009 17:44 |
So you want to be a successful Blogger huh? Blogging is exploding in popularity and the number of new blogs started each day continues to grow at an astronomical rate. Since it is still a new and emerging media, there are certain common pitfalls that often discourage bloggers, causing them to abandon or cease publishing their blogs. I’ll go over some of the most common reasons here, with tips on how you can overcome these pitfalls.
Lack of Updates
One of the basic requirements of a good blog is frequent updates. Many new and veteran bloggers face this issue, the good news is that with a little planning and determination this can be avoided. We've got Job's, School, Family, and Significant Others that also require our time, which all eat into our updating time. This is why I recommend writing a good 30 days of updates in advance. It may seem like a lot, but in the long run, it will only help to bring that repeat traffic and increase your rankings on Search Engines, like Google.
Writers Block
Just like "traditional" writers, we Bloggers also face this challenge. For a solution to this, I actually am taking a cue from the music industry - pay homage to a old blog post. Find an old post from your blog, or even another blog and revisit it from a fresh perspective. Maybe the technolgy or conditions have changed - an article on mySpace's popularity would now be an article on Twitter's rise in popularity. There is always a way to cast a freh perspective on old content. Just look at the Summer Movies this year - Terminator, Star Trek, Transformers and GI Joe! All new takes on old concepts. It can work for blogs too!
Lack of Traffic
I addressed how to increase traffic in may other posts, but I'll summarize my thoughts here.
You need to create a strategy for gaining traffic and stick to your plan. You need to make your content shareable, create outposts on the social networks, network with other bloggers and you needs a newsletter/mailing list. Read this for more on this.
Loss of Motivation
There is no easy cure for this. There are options to deal with it though. If you have a sizeable queue of prewritten articles (like the 30 i suggested) you have at least a month to recharge your creative batteries. Another option would be to reformat your blog into a new form and change your niche, but that's a bit extreme. You could research other blogs, content management systems, and web tools to spice up your site. Take the down time to focus on upgrading your skills and technology. Just don't waste it!
Lack of Technical Skills
In this day and age, it gets easier by the day for a "newbie" to get up and running. Even if your lost, there are tons of free websites and resources to help you get along. There are sites like htmldog, compassdesigns, wpdesigner and yahoo answers to help you learn the ropes of web technology. You could even ask the coolest geek you know, Mike Wayne if you really get stumped!
While i know these issues can't be easily solved by reading one blog post, you can use them as a starting point to help you get ahead of the game. You won't be taken by surprised if you know what your up against (this article is geared for the new blogger, you vets already know what i'm talking about). The main point is that blogging is just like any activity - you have to remain consistent and focused if you want to succeed at it!
Leave a comment, and let me know if you have any suggestions for new bloggers or need some advice yourself!
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