Becoming a blogger is no easy feat. Many will attempt this uphill climb but not everyone will make it. In order to succeed you will need to avoid dangerous pitfalls, have a strong character, and a healthy helping of luck. Avoid the sins below while sticking to the virtues and make your blogging journey a positive experience.
The Sins
Pride
Pride will rob you of valuable knowledge and leave you ignorant. In blogging, pride occurs when we ignore the advice of others because we believe we know best. There is a fine line between pride and determination and it takes a lot of finess to walk it. On one hand, it is important to stay determined in spite of criticism; on the other hand one cannot be blind to it either. The difference between pride and determination lies in how you interpret others’ opinions. The proud person is apprehensive towards criticism and outside opinion. As a result they hear the things that are pleasant and dismiss information that is contradictory to their beliefs. The determined person accepts different points of views and although criticism is never pleasant, they understand that it is a positive experience giving them the opportunity to improve.
Laziness
As a blogger you most likely won’t have an authority figure to report to. This is an incredibly attractive proposition and is what makes managing your own blog so appealing. The downside to this is that without this pressure it becomes really easy to lose focus. Since your office is at home, it becomes tempting to wake up a bit later or watch an episode of (insert temptation here). Working on the internet also does not make things any easier as there are countless distractions out there waiting for you. Often times we may vail our laziness with excuses like “I need that extra thirty minutes of rest to be more productive later” or ”watching the Puppy Can’t Get Up video on YouTube was essential to my research”. If we act on our laziness enough times, it becomes part of who we are and is that much harder to cut out. Laziness is seductive: it lures you in with the promise of instant gratification. What laziness won’t tell you is that the high is short-lived and what follows is a state of despair and disappointment.
Envy
Having envy in your heart is a sure path to failure. Being envious of other blogs that have a nicer looking theme or more commenters suggests that you are not in the right frame of mind to see these people as valuable resources for learning and development. Others’ success should not be seen as a sign of our inability or lack of knowledge and should not be a target for resentment. Instead, you can choose to view these examples as possibilities of what you can achieve or as potential allies to guide you on your path to success.
The Virtues
Determination
Writing can be difficult because it often asks you to reduce the infinite world, full of complex concepts, ideas and points of view, into one concrete, consistent, and coherent output. No easy feat. It can be down right agonizing to stare at the blinking cursor as one cr*ppy idea replaces another. Many times you might even hear the voice inside your head telling you to give up, that your efforts are futile. At these moments it takes a lot of resolve and strength to trust in your abilities and find belief in yourself because no one will do it for you. People may give you encouragement or they may criticize you but is important to not get attached to the subjectivity of these comments. A determined blogger knows that they can change and adapt to the circumstances and that accomplishment of their goals is a matter of when rather than if.
Patience
Determination is essential to blogging success, but without patience it’s just stubbornness. With the evolution of our communication tools we have become accustomed to instant access to information. When it takes more than 5 seconds for a page to load, we begin to grumble about how miserable this makes us feel. Our obsession with instant results could really discourage us when we don’t observe instant success for our blogging endeavors. When we are impatient we act impatiently. When we are patient we act patiently. What do you believe will get you better results?
I for one have been a victim to my impatience. Being obsessed with getting more traffic to my site, I wasted countless moments obsessing over my numbers on Google’s Web Analytics or WooRank. And when I wouldn’t receive thousands of hits to my site the next day, even after writing what I thought was a pulitzer-prize worthy article on ideas for men’s homes, I would get discouraged and think about giving up. It may seem difficult to be patient at first, but after you acquire the ability you won’t be able to imagine how you survived before.
Inquisitiveness
Inquisitiveness will be important if you want to keep growing as an individual and as a blogger. With so much information out there you cannot afford to remain a hermit blogger. Reading, sharing, communicating, these are the things that are going to make the experience of blogging rewarding. A blogger needs to want to learn how their world works. they need to try things. To fail, and then to try again. This process cannot be achieved by sticking to our comfort zone.
What have you observed to be true in your experience?
Image Courtesy: Self Made Scholar
Twitter: lavenderuses
says:
Wow lots in this post to take in. I am finding as a fairly newbie blogger that I need to have patience and perseverence as there are a few bumps in the road on this journey.
Being helped along the way by more experienced bloggers who encourage me sure helps.
Also visiting other people’s blogs and learning from them, commenting on their blog and interacting builds community and certainly stops the feeling of isolation as I sit tapping away on my keyboard.
Heaps to learn but having fun along the way. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia´s recent blog post ..Lavender Recipes-Flower Power in the Kitchen
Twitter: menteriors
says:
Thanks for your comment Patricia,
I find that the blogging community is very receptive and willing to help others because all of us, at one point or another, relied on the help of someone else.
Nikita
menteriors´s recent blog post ..Breakfast In Style
Great article! I’ve been blogging for about 1 year, and still feel like a newbie, so these certainly come in handy. And, I can TOTALLY relate with checking my site’s stats WAY too often! It can easily become an obsession! Also, I think envy can actually be a good thing, though, as it can be motivation to make your blog even better. I know it is for me!
Lisa Brown´s recent blog post ..Song Title Fun- Christina Aguilera
Great points you make Nikita, especially about Envy and how successful bloggers are those who instead of envying other’s success, try to learn for them.
I think part of the laziness especially for beginners is the procrastination. I myself battled with it for long and still do. We always say I’ll do it the next day, the next day and it never comes.
And its true that working hard and having patience and determination is one of the most important part of any successful blogging experience.
We start working on say article marketing. Most of us want immediate results. We do it for a while and since there is no results we give it up. Patience is the key to seeing resulst and not giving up.
satrap´s recent blog post ..RSS Submission- More backlinks- Higher Rank and More Traffic
It is advice for all that vanity and conceit are constant source of danger for the progress of every one. Determination and humbleness is a quality that always open doors of progress. These two qualities are key for eternal progress.
mincir´s recent blog post ..La Meilleure Méthode du Moment -
Twitter: andrewrondeau
says:
Expectations Management
That is one virtue you must have if you are blogging. Expect little growth / traffic and income in the first few months.
Andrew
Andrew Rondeau´s recent blog post ..Blog Statistics- Pro Blog Stats WordPress Plugin
Twitter: menteriors
says:
One other observation I have made is that this is a never ending process. Just because we had patience one day, or we wrote an article about being patient, doesn’t mean that we are safe in the future. Making the most of your blogging experience requires constant vigilance and some X factor I can’t quite put my finger on at this point.
Thanks for the discussion guys.
menteriors´s recent blog post ..Breakfast In Style
You are an excellent writer! I’ll admit that in the beginning, I often became envious when I read blogs written by those who can actually write. The words seems to flow and multiply, whereas I’d struggle to write a few paragraphs. Once I came to grips with this, I decided to put on my blinders and stick to what I did best – blogging in a voice that was completely my own and one that was able to engage my readers – albeit in a few rather short paragraphs with lots of pictures sprinkled in between
GAH – I’m also envious of good proofreaders – meant to say “seemed”
carma´s recent blog post ..500 Worth of Makeup That’s Crazy!
Twitter: menteriors
says:
Carna,
I think you have mentioned something rather interesting and very familiar to many bloggers, or at least myself. I think sometimes we look at a shiny finished product and assume that it was always like this. We can’t see through the creator’s eyes, nor are we aware of their own internal struggles on the way to creating the product.
It took me hours of agony and grasping at straws just to come up with a topic for this post, so although I am pleased that you find my writing style expressive, please know that your struggle is probably shared by more than you think.
menteriors´s recent blog post ..Breakfast In Style
For me, it’s remembering why I started blogging in the first place. I’m an introvert by nature and blogging not only helps me to be more “extroverted” but also to develop really good connections with other bloggers and my readers. Plus, have fun! I know I can take life too seriously but all the bloggers I really admire seem to have fun and like what they’re doing. Great points in this post to remember. Thank you.
Twitter: margaret_river_
says:
Thank you. Very wise words. I believe with a positive, persistent and proactive attitude I will see success for my blog as anyone can.
margaretriverguide´s recent blog post ..Paige Trantham Sunday Session at Caves House
Thank you for this very inspirational post. I stole this quote from you and put in on my facebook wall – “Laziness is seductive: it lures you in with the promise of instant gratification. What laziness won’t tell you is that the high is short-lived and what follows is a state of despair and disappointment.”
Laziness is very seductive and we can strengthen ourselves from this temptation by reminding ourselves of the worthiness of what we’re doing.
hncworld´s recent blog post ..Folding Bath Tub for the Baby Traveler
I enjoyed reading your response – it has given me hope
Twitter: yodisphere
says:
Bless me for I have committed those two sins – laziness and envy. Instead of focusing on writing content for my blog, I often end up surfing other sites and watching videos online, so my pending blog posts just pile up. I’m just blogging for pleasure though but I recently started a project to monetize this hobby so thanks for this wonderful article — just exactly what I need right now.
yodz´s recent blog post ..Ten Ways to Escape Work and Afford a Vacation
I am a kinda new blogess. Thanks for the very simple advice. 6 items. Easy to read and then delve into. Nice!
I am your typically Leo with type-A tendencies. I think I may be guilty of #1. boo.
Twitter: feliciagopaul
says:
Inquisitiveness is related to two “other” deadly sins – analysis paralysis and it’s cousin, perfection. When I first started blogging, I wanted to read, enroll, know everything before I could do anything on the web. And once I knew something, I didn’t want to put it up until it was perfect. In the meantime, lots of other people were making money with their imperfect sites by following the Nike slogan – Just Do It! Thanks for your post, it was a reminder that I needed today.
Felicia
Felicia Gopaul´s recent blog post ..001 CFR Interview with Jacqueline Wisner Alumni Recruiter for Brown University
Twitter: marketsecrets
says:
I believe overcoming laziness will take over the other two because it alone will cause you to work through your pride and envy.
Caleb´s recent blog post ..Does it Take Money To Make Money
I think inquisitiveness is one of the most important thing you need to have. You’re right unless you plan to be a hermit blogger than the big BIG world of blogging does not apply to you. I think not matter how good your blog is, if you don’t interact with others in the community, you won’t succeed. Definitely a SIN
bryanps´s recent blog post ..The Newbie Blogger Checklist and Guide- 21 Things You Need To KNOW
I like blogging. It’s nice if others enjoy what I write but not essential. It’s fun trying to make sense of all the mess around one – especially the mess you yourself make.
Blogging means I read a lot.Just to get ideas to spin off. That’s real fun because you start with one idea and it morphs into something completely different.
I keep my posts short: it’s the way I write and I never have too much to say about anything!
I try to write short sentences in short paragraphs. That’s so important.
There is nothing more disheartening than being confronted by a wall of type. You know there’s a gem hidden in there somewhere but I ain’t going to ruin my eyes trying to find it.
And humour, it makes so much so much nicer!!
bazzac1´s recent blog post ..Songs of Tragedy and Disaster
I love writing. I think that is why I started my blog; a way to express what is going on in my head. I too am introverted as someone previously mentioned and I guess I write instead of blab on the phone to my friends.
I think my biggest hang up is over thinking what to write about. I think of a topic then wonder if anyone would want to read about it. Maybe, maybe not. Is it too personal? Do I want to go into all the back story? Could I make it entertaining enough without giving away too much information?
Sometimes I talk myself out of writing something that probably would have been a good post. Then by the time I decide I really should have written about it the moment has passed and I have missed the opportunity.
Linda´s recent blog post ..Is what you write free for the taking