As bloggers, we have our ups and then we have our downs. Hey we have moments when we go backwards, so if anyone tells you blogging is easy they're crazy! By far blogging has been the most engaging and interactive activity I've done online. If I was asked right now, Brian if you had to start over would you do it all again; I would say yes!
I have many reasons to why I would say yes some more important than others but at the end of the day I love blogging and I would never stop or change for anything. In fact it may sound strange but blogging makes me happy. I've meet so many intelligent and amazing people since I've started blogging online. I've built relationships with people from America, India, Australia, China and many other countries around the world.
I've learned that creating relationships, just like in real life, is key to our success and without it we have little to show for. I know it takes time, energy and consistency but trust me when I say it's worth every little bit of energy you put into it.
Keep Your Head Up!
Get ready to be discouraged and down on yourself. You will spend hours and hours writing new content only to have no one comment on your articles. Then out of nowhere you will see tons of comments on articles you put little to no energy in to. This is the way blogging works and you rarely get to pick the popular articles. My point here is to keep your head up, don't worry about comments, just maintain good quality content and things will work out.
This is why I say it's important to build on your relationships. Bloggers are most likely to engage with your blog if you have done the same with them. Get to know other bloggers and spend time learning about what they like and what's important to them. Again like in real life blogging is real and full of people like you and me. They have families, jobs and have real life responsibilities.
So get ready I'm warning you now blogging is not easy, you will be discouraged but you will slowly build thick skin. Keep moving forward, keep your head up and try your hardest. I actually have a great song I would like to share with you all when you're feeling down about blogging and perhaps lack of growth.
So when you feel down and you're getting no comments don't be so hard on yourself, things will work out. Continue building on your relationships. Create a brand for yourself and get an image out there with a picture of you for people to relate to. I just know for a fact if you don't quit you will become a success.
I would love to hear some feedback and discussions about how difficult blogging has been for you. Share your experience so others know they're not alone when it comes to creating an active and popular blog online. Thanks for reading everyone and remember you have to keep your head up but you can let your hair down.
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Just knowing it’s tough, Brian, can help keeping a beginning blogger from getting discouraged. What gets to me: the progress forward seems to be punctuated by backsliding. Get a bunch of hits one day — and these are organic search engine hits — followed by a traffic drop the next day. Oh well, it happens to everyone. Comments? Comments are definitely improved by CommentLuv and DoFollow settings.
Hi Astro, Traffic goes up and comes down just as fast. Google changes ranking rules and next thing you know we’re starting over again building backlinks and working hard. I have Comment Luv and it’s helped a lot specifically for our guest bloggers as they can leave different links while engaging with all their comments. I also agree with do follow that will help big time with increase in comments. Thank you for leaving feedback and joining the discussions.
I thought It was only in that gets lots of traffic one day and then none the next. By find out I get drops in traffic on Sunday, I get us to savour of.
I have found out that the more I contribute on other people’s blogs the more my traffic seems increase.
Hi Robert, when you contribute on other blogs your build some really solid relatisonhsip and hence the traffic increases. This is by far the best way to create a successful blog. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Brian,
it really a good motivating article.I loved it. As you can see, my blog is brand new and I am trying my best to build relationships and interact with other bloggers. About getting comment we shouldn’t get disappointed. As you said “things will work out”
I will never give up !!
Hello Salah, I just love your attitude. I went and checked out your blog and I think it’s awesome! I tweeted a couple of your articles for ya! I can see why you enjoyed my article so much as it really hits hard to what you personally believe in. I’m happy we got to connect on this level it’s very rare you know.
A very inspiring and motivating post Brian. Failure is a stepping stone to success. Failure is not a person but an event. What is important is that one learns from each failed attempt. As the saying goes, its insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Its acceptable to fail but its not acceptable to keep making the same mistakes. We need to learn from our mistakes.
Hi Rob, yes failure can also be very hard to deal with. But many people say it’s just a step into the right direction and perhaps a learning curve in your life.
Brian, a very good topic needed for bloggers, especially newbies. Actually, while it is true that comments are a good measure of popularity it can also become an obsessed measure, just like page rank.
We cannot judge the quality of a content by the number of comments a blog post gets. As you’ve said, your best posts can go without getting noticed while some “announcement” post can get lots of comments. Its all in the game.
If we just provide quality without worrying about these metrics, we should be fine 🙂
Hi Jane, Thanks for stopping by and posting. When I first started blogging I saw everyone else getting comments and always wondered how I could increase my own to that level but the fact is it simply takes time and good quality content.
Great insight Brian. Blogging can be a lot of work. If you don’t get results right away, it can get frustrating. Gotta just keep at it and the results will always follow!
Hi Larry, if the content is good quality and on a consistent basis I would agree if you work hard it will eventuality work out. With that said I’m a huge advocate of consistency and quality without these two a blog will take way longer to reach its goals. Thanks for visiting and engaging with me.
I think you hit it right on the head with this post. Blogging is full of ups and downs. Bloggers do need to be resilient and to have thick skin. Another reason I think bloggers have to have thick skin is for the times they get negative feedback. That is so demoralizing. I hate having no comments – but would rather have that than to have vitriolic feedback.
Hi Mindy, it’s very nice meeting you I’m not too sure if we ever meet before. I wrote an article about getting some “negative or constructive” feedback. It’s hard to take it the right way especially when it’s in an insulting format. Just keep our heads up and take in into consideration that is all we need to do.
Hi Brian,
Love this post! This makes me remember when I was really serious about quitting my blog. I had been blogging for about 6 months and was so discouraged. The day I decided to quit, I went to Twitter and someone had tweeted a new post, “So you want to quit your blog. Read this first.” Then later that night, my fellow blogger from Formerly Fluffy, Maria Fitzpatrick called and asked me if she cold use one of my posts on her blog.
This is the reason I continued my blog and now, I really love blogging. It makes me happy! Great article, Brian
Hi Sally, I’m so happy you never stopped blogging. What would the blog engage community be without our dedicated members like you? Also would you really want me to be the blog engage top user? Thanks for posting Sally and I’m really happy to see you never stopped blogging.
Hey Brian,
Thank you for the kind words. You are the reason that I and all the other active members love BE! You have made the site so “engaging”! Sally
Don’t pay attention to the latest post thing. My site is messed up, and I’m working with hosting company to fix it.
Great post and very encouraging. I think the way that you feel about blogging is likely to be really influenced by your expectations. I imagine that if it is your only source of income or your only method of socializing then it might be really tough to have a bad period or a really negative comment…
Hello Kristen, you’re correct, if you set your goals to high or make them unreachable then yes when you fail or come up short this can cause much negativity about your blog or blogging in general. This i why I see many other bloggers suggesting creating small goals but more of them. Nice meeting you and thanks for the comment.
Hello Brian, I think many people can relate to this. It is good for someone starting out to realize to just persist and enjoy it, the natural way.
Hi Steve, that’s exactly my point. Take what you’re given and work hard to get more. If you can enjoy blogging for what it is then you have it made. Thanks for the comment and its nice meeting you.
Thanks Brian, I almost couldn’t find your blog again, but I did today, obviously. I hate to use this common phrase in comments, but, I am bookmarking it now.
Mostly, you have to blog for your own internal satisfaction. If you are letting all the external factors such as your comments or analytics, you’ll be on an emotional rollarcoaster running a blog. However, if you enjoy the act of writing and just making connections and you are consistent, then you won’t be as easily discouraged.
Hello Richard, see this is probably one of my bigger issues to overcome. I enjoy engaging with the reader in comments and I’m also a big Analytics guy. I have however curved that behavior and rarely check my stats now.
Hi Brian,
Love this article, You’ve depicted a true picture of blogging and after reading this article any one can understand that starting would be really slow and discouraging but you need to continue put your efforts and must build your strong relationships, only then you’ll see the difference.
That’s right Aanchal, when I first started blog engage do you think people came back for the traffic? The answer was no as we had little to no traffic back them. People cam e because they liked me and they liked other members in the community. This is why building relationship is so important. So at the end of the day you need to know people by their names, comment on their blogs and really get to know them.
Agreed, No matter how long is your following you must know your have to put your hard work to convert them into your loyal readers. Following them on twitter, facebook and Google+ are common ways to build strong relations.
I consistently publish new articles on my blog. Although, i get next to no visitors OR comments, if anything it’s good for fresh content and SEO. Hopefully some day my writing skills get better and i can get at least a couple of followers. I think my main issue is i write articles targeted only to the city i do business in.
Hi Chris, geo targeting your content will have a lot to do with the lack of comments. So don’t feel down on yourself. It’s very hard to find bloggers interested in content written specific to a geographical area. Continue writing and doing your thing just do not give up. Perhaps you should consider putting a banner ad on your car so people can see it and visit it locally.
Blogging is not only for a job. But for me it is also my life’s happiness. Sharing your thoughts and your sorrounding’s ideas, is a priceless job that gives us a delightful days and life. Your posts have good insides. Keep Up!
Hi cuzUcan, that’ so amazing you can say that with such confidence. I think you’re very lucky to truly love blogging and not worry about the small things such as comments etc. good for you my friend you will have success soon with that attitude! It’s nice meeting you, thank for the comment.
Yes blogging is a roller coaster to say the least.
Be positive. It’s the only way to be. Being positive shortens your learning curve by years. Why? You will be so high energy and clear-thinking that you avoid the mistakes many newbie and seasoned blogging vets make, which causes them to spin their wheels for years. You see opportunities instead of obstacles, count blogging milestones instead of mistakes, and see the bright side of any situation when you are positive.
Work on your mental tools frequently. Visualize, affirm, meditate. Be positive, and watch the wonderful world which opens up before your eyes.
Thanks Brian!
RB
Hi Ryan, thanks for the feedback and comment. If life was as easy as you mention no one would be stressed. I like your advice however with regards to work on your mental tools frequently. This is a great suggestion and could help avoid stressful situation as they arise or at least prepare you self mentally.
What a beautiful post Brian!
This is indeed so very true! Among all odds, you should stay positive and keep your head up. There will always be ups and downs in life, and all those new to blogging or those of us who had started off, have all undergone this phase.
There are times when some posts get just a few comments, which may discourage people, while there are times when a post receives too many comments and takes you right on cloud-9! However, we need to remain consistent with our writing and post blogs that we believe in.
Slow and steady wins the race as the saying goes, so keep the hope and faith, and things do fall well into line, sooner or later.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hello Harleena nice to see you visiting and comment thanks so much. I’m sure with hard work and dedication we can somehow achieve that could 9 feeling more than we think. thanks so much for visiting and commenting.
That’s great that you decided to write such an incentive and persuasive article. It seems to me that every writer sometimes has such moments when we don’t know if we should write further and if we are doing the right things. In this case we should remember to keep our heads up!
Hi Jeanie, thanks for following me over and supporting my guest post. I really appreciate it. All my ideas are real and based on experience. I know how it feels to write a killer article and have no one even comment. this is why I wanted to share this article so other knew hey if the owner of blog engage has these moments then Hi Jeanie, thanks for following me over and supporting my guest post. I really appreciate it. All my ideas are real and based on experience. I know how it feels to write a killer article and have no one even comment. This is why I wanted to share this article so other knew hey if the owner of blog engage has these moments then maybe its okay for me as well.
What a very encouraging post, Brian! As a new blogger, one of the most frustrating things I’ve experienced is writing a post and not getting the response that I was hoping for. Your post has re-ignited my determination not to give up and to keep on trying until I get the “right” posts for my target audience. Many thanks!
Hi Adeline, I’m so happy my article was able to build up your morale and help you to keep moving forward. It’s not only happening to you I see it every day. We have to remember sometimes people are busy or maybe you didn’t reach them. Thanks for commenting and letting the reader know again they are not along and this is happening to everyone.
Its good to read a post that is honest about how hard blogging can be. Lots of people (me included) reckon tat the beginning hat you can just post any old thing and people will come. Fraid not.
You have to find your style, be honest and blog from the heart. It can take time and readers may come and go but it’s all worth it….
Hi Debbie, I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I’ve been lucky to have a successful website and I’m very thanks full for it. Hard work and determination always pays off.
Yes, in fact keeping your head up, continue giving quality contents and also be optimistic and everything will be ok
Hi Ricardus, thanks for posting and engaging with the article! I hope you keep your head up and continue to work hard on your blog.
Thank you for sharing this very honest and wonderful post! Here in the Philippines, I have lots of friends who wants to know how to start a blog. Some of them just want to learn, and earn at the same time. Others, just simply wanna give it a shot. I always tell them that blogging is fun, but, not that easy, because, that’s the truth. Even if you have all the time in the world, there are times that you would feel discourage. Especially if you have a very long post, where you spent hours for it, and, weeks have passed and still no comments. I just really love blogging, that’s why I don’t easily get discouraged. You are correct, once you start building relationship with your fellow bloggers, comments will start flowing! Happy Blogging!
Hi JoMi, I love your attitude! Your right it’s all about building the relationship. I feel it’s the key to having a successful online relationship. If you love blogging then you never have to worry!
Great article Brian! I agree with you Blogging is NOT easy but it is simple. Many people want things too easy and they’re in for a big surprise. 🙂
Good post Brian!
I think as with a lot of things, people need to realize what they are getting themselves into. Not to be negative or discourage people, but it is better to know beforehand that it won’t be easy money, and it takes a lot of work. Then you are better prepared and don’t get disappointed when something doesn’t go as you expected.
Like driving a bumpy road. If you know it’s going to be bumpy then the bumps aren’t that bad, but if you get surprised by every bump then it will be very annoying.
Hi Danny, thanks for the great comment. I loved the bump road analogy. Many people go into blogging as if the road will always be smooth but in fact it’s very difficult and requires a lot of hard work.
Hello Brian. It’s always refreshing reading a post by someone with your experience. And I have to agree with you, blogging is a blast! An amazing roller-coaster ride that just provides the greatest ups (and downs, unfortunately). I have been blogging for a long time, but never really had a lot of success until I took up a coaching/mastermind program, started interacting, building relationships and collaborating with other bloggers. But once I got to doing things right, before I opened my eyes, I was up to my fifth blog, running and producing content regularly. It’s damn hard work, no-one will tell me different. But, it’s also the most rewarding experience for me, seeing creations coming to life, building audiences and friendships etc.
Hi Ivin, I’ve watched your blog and followed you over the past year and you have been doing amazing work. Perhaps at times you’re a little aggressive but in my books that’s a good thing. I think if you continue working hard and producing quality content you will be successful in no time. Thanks for posting a comment bud!
It sure is a roller coaster but you will feel the thrill when you finally made it. I have being blogging for more than close to five years now and it took me a while to reach a steady income and only this year I quit my job as a software engineer and became a full time Internet marketer. But there were so many moment in the beginning where I just wanted to quit, but I’m glad that I held on 🙂 .
Hello Nishadha, I wish I seen you around blog engage more you use to always come hang out! Thanks for the comment and supporting my article here on Ileane’s blog. I’m also glad yo never gave up I’ve enjoyed watching you grow over the last two years!
I agree Brian blogging is tough. Especially if you get some harsh criticism on your blogs. Also coming up with posts day after day can be difficult. I suffered some burnout before and had to stop for awhile. Blogging is great though and it definitely has given me a thicker skin!
Hi Tim, I’ve gotten a lot of criticism about blog engage and my writing but hey I knew going into this project my poor language skills would be talked about and I expected this.
it is a great article, some days I feel like ” what the hell am I doing!” other days anything his rosy (“,). But comes a conclusion that success doesn’t come overnight you just have to get on with it. But like you mentioned in your article When it’s good it’s great, it’s bad it’s bad.
Hi Robert, I bet many of the times when you don’t have the best of days your actually not in a very positive mood. I know this affect me big time. If I’m tired or in a lazy mood I literally get nothing done online.
I totally agree Brian, quitting is the worst thing you can do. There is no way to succeed if you’ve given up already.
When I first started I wanted to get into Adsense, I created a forum website for an online game I played for the past 7 years, I focused on coding the site and it was so good that I did get accepted into Adsense. I thought I can easily get traffic to it because I knew too much about the game. I didn’t even get a single person to register on the forums.
I quit then when I came back I started a blog. It was slow in the beginning but then I started to get comments on my posts and that made me push myself to the limit and continue posting every week.
I’m still not at where I want to be, but I will get there soon. 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Sayed, is it safe to assume your got trapped into the world of war craft? If not that’s fine I just don’t know any other game that could hold the attention of anyone for 7 years. I played for about 3 and still want to play but it’s just too time consuming lol. By the way thanks for the follow on twitter I appreciate. Hopefully we will see you joining us on blog engage someday!
HAHA you’re absolutely right Brian, it was World of Warcraft, that game is just too awesome man, I played a pally with a legendary ThunderFury, how can I possibly quit? 😀
Hey Brian, great post to come back to since I have been gone. Thanks for sharing these tips. sometimes it is discouraging to see how much work it takes, but the rewards are huge when you get it right.
Nice post, Brian.
I think it’s safe to say everything is tough these days. A crowded field like blogging requires a great deal of effort to stand out in. Like you said, the real key is persisting and keeping on your path.
Darren
Hi Darren, your right blogging is crowed but I think it’s just the start. I’m sure there will be a future where almost everyone has their own blog. I’m very excited for the day when everyone has a blog!
Right on Brian. Blogging is really though. I do remember, me first few months, the emotional roller coaster was crazy. I would spend hours and days writing content and publishing it, hoping people would like it, comment on it an share it with others. And that wouldn’t happen, I just felt like giving up.
Thankfully I never gave up totally, maybe for a few hours or so, until I got my motivation back. But I always kept going and finally I had my success with my site and that was the turning point, where I realized this thing works.
Hi Darren, your right blogging is crowed but I think it’s just the start. I’m sure there will be a future where almost everyone has their own blog. I’m very excited for the day when everyone has a blog! Hello satrap, thanks for stopping by and posting a comment. Good for you keeping at it and working hard. You’re a perfect example of how blogging can be fun and can be successful. I remember when you first stared at blog engage! The good old days!
Yeah, good old days. I have to say, BlogEngage and its wonderful community was one of my main motivation and help sources. So, I do owe a big thank you to you and BlogEngage community. Thanks Brian.
My small biz has started blogging more consistently lately but are still not getting the amount of followers or feedback that we’d like. I understand it takes a while to receive subscribers, but I’m also having a hard time with the layout of our blog. Our blog is attached to the website and looks amateur to me. Would it be best to have a separation between website and blog, and just tab to take people to the site so it looks better?
Hi Megan S, sometimes it’s just the niche your in and it’s hard to find target readers. Blogs that post about less popular topics always take longer to grow. Also if your gdoing this for your buisienss it’s not about readers right nwo ti’s about driving search engine traffic and converting that traffic into sales.
Hi Brian,
I had the same feeling where I pump in long hours post but get no comment. I thought it was a great post but after several days without any comments, feel like I’ve wasted my effort to create a pillar post…
The other thing is traffic. Most of the traffic are from fresh new posts. The old good ones are not getting much…Not sure if it is quite common for blogging. To me, it is such a waste…and kinda a problem to grow the blog traffic if the old posts do not get ranked on Google.
1 thing that can do is to interlink some good old posts on the fresh posts so that they always get exposure…Also, organize a page to summarize the blog posts will help too.
Do you have any suggestion?
Cheers
Ming
Hi Ming, you know if you have old posts that haven’t gotten much attention you can always re post them as if they were written today. I know some bloggers do this because maybe they had less viewers back then and more now. Personally I don’t see anything wrong with this as long as the articles are timeless and still apply today.
Thanks for the tip Brian. I never thought about re-post before. I might try this 🙂
Cheers,
Ming
Blogging should be fun… It is also a source to de-stress. I think its a nice way to express your feelings, like an online diary. 🙂 Followers will love reading it and would be sharing their opinions and advices.
I have been pretty consistent but right now, I’m not feeling it. I get like this around the holiday. Also, I feel like I need to step back, review and see what I can do differently next year because I’d really like to see a financial turn on my blogging investment. And I know I need to really define my target market. However, I may just use live blogging as my differentiation tool. But, yeah, totally not feeling blogging these days even though I love it.
Blogging is not for the week of heart. I have been doing it for several years with several websites. This past year has been real brutal for a couple of my main sites. I have gotten them ranked for their topic on the first page of google twice now only to be hit with an alogrithm update that sets me back several pages. It is pretty frustrating, but I keep pushing on.
Good advise and tips, I like the video, had it playing as I was reading.
Great advice Brian. Blogging is definitely not the easiest “job/activity” in the world and we all need to keep our heads up high. Building a popular blog is one thing, building a profitable one is another – both take a long time and we need to keep our heads up high until we get where we want to be.
Hi Brian,
Thank you for this spirit. My blog is still new, therefore I need to work hard to bring visitors to my blog, and first I was bored, but after reading this article, my spirits rose again.
“Where there is a will, there is a way”
Hi Clara,
I just visited your site and liked it very much. I am an RN so your site is of interest to me. I would be glad to help in any way I can because I know how it is when you are first starting out. Feel free to email me anytime. Keep up the good work! Sally
Thank you so much Sally 🙂
Your article is so on point. I guess we have to relax and realize people read information and digest it and don’t always comment. I get people who say I love your blog and have been reading them…but they never commented. So, it’s all good!
Setting goal for whole year is really a great approach. I have seen many bloggers who fix a topic for each month in advance. thanks for your comment.
Somehow this article reminds all the bloggers to keep on blogging intelligently by just writing quality and useful article. Thanks for this great information sir. This will help me in my blogging venture.
Hey Brian. You’re right with the title – blogging is actually an ’emotional roller coaster.’ This article is quite motivating. I will definitely imply most of the points you shared here. Thanks and yes I will ‘keep my head up.’
Hi Mario, you will find, when you love what you do, you will do it forever at ease. Find what you love the most, and blog about it. Thanks for the comment I hope the article helps you keep moving forward.
I certainly can relate to your post Brian. You feel like you are gaining some ground then some big company like google or facebook decides to change the rule, and they take the carpet right from under your feet. Ouch this was very apinful for me, the thought of doing all the hard work of finding relevant blogs and sites all over again was highly stress inducing even for me ( I am a psychotherapist ). The experience did however teach me to not put all my seo offorts in one basket though.
Thanks again for your post