In the age of choc-o-block mediocre blog(s) that no one reads, and the emergence of A list bloggers with book deals, it can be a difficult decision to decide to launch a new blog into an over-saturated market.
And harder still if you’re a total tech newbie? A Twitter ignoramus, and wouldn’t know CSS or HTML from a Chinese fast-food menu. Well then, you’re seriously screwed.
With all those odds stacked against you, it’s easy to understand why many people remain observers.
You’re in the stalls and watching the game, but never on the pitch.
On a practical level, the entry to market (the blogosphere) can seam daunting. A technological whirlwind. It can be hard even knowing where start.
And on an emotional level, the fear of epic failure can leave you paralyzed. Especially, if you have chosen a niche that you are passionate about and committed to.
Really smart bloggers always choose a niche they’re passionate about if they value their sanity… or so I I’ve heard.
Procrastination & the Art of Really Slow Learning
So you wait. And you consume and you consume, clicking on links and looking for new tweeps to follow like some deranged lunatic.
You write lists and do research, and think up catchy post titles.
You do awful sketches of what you would like your home page to look like, and spend hours carefully examining the blogs your love and respect, looking for all the best elements you can pilfer, so your blog can be really hot stuff.
Then finally -if you’re one of the lucky ones- you have a light bulb moment, a real road to Damascus experience, and you realize that the only thing holding you back is YOU. You and…
Double-Sized Serving of FEAR and EGO
FEAR: That you will create and work for months, maybe years, on yet another invisible blog that no one reads, comments on, or buys anything from.
EGO: That you -this competent, witty, writer, who has insight, a point of view and valuable ways in which you can help others- will not be acknowledged, appreciated and at some stage paid or at least applauded.
So what really happens when you hit this fork in the road?
Well what I have since discovered after doing and experiencing all of the above is this.
You Can Either Shit or Get Off the Pot
Yes I said it. Either get started, or go and use your time doing something far more likely to put the extra dinars, dollars or pence in your pocket.
This race is not won by the supremely clever; its won by the swift and those who work with what they’ve got.
If your goal is to launch and grow a successful blog which over time generates a solid income and after 6 months you still don’t have 1 web post…well let’s be straight here, your no longer in the learning stage, you’re in the wasting time stage.
Here are 5 things you should know, and 5 things you should do, to finally get in the Game.
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
1. Every successful blogger started somewhere.
Not all have computer science or graphic design degrees. Some knew nothing, just like you, but they learned as they went along. The best time to make your blogging mistakes is when you’re still invisible.
2. It’s very admirable to want to know how to do everything yourself.
Alas, you are not superman. If you wait until you know everything about everything, BEFORE you start, you will never start. The blogsphere is always progressing, there will always be something new to learn or improve on. If you can afford it, outsource what you can’t do yourself, its nothing to be ashamed off.
3. Every one of us suffers from an attack of fear or ego-itis from time to time.
Most A- list bloggers are afraid that one day they will screw up monumentally, there will be a mass RSS exodus and they will no longer be relevant. However fear and ego drives them forward, it doesn’t hold them back.
4. Whoever told you this was passive income was lying.
Many of us dream of having 20k subs, products flying through our e-shops, affiliate links pinging left right and centre, speaking engagements, books, all spawned from this little baby that we created.
Yet how many of us relish the idea of replying individually to 108 post comment on 3 posts per week, whilst tweeting, answering emails, creating products, talking to journalists, and God knows whatever else. All whilst CONTINUING to produce credible valuable content on the regular.
Some people may make this look easy but it’s not. Far from being passive income, blogging with benefits, is very much ‘active’ income. This will take work.
5. With great power comes great responsibility.
Being the figure-head behind a super successful blog, is much like being the CEO of a multinational.
When you are finally the leader of your ‘small army’, to some degree creativity and autonomy dies.
You must lead the troops. People will have high hopes and great expectations, and at some stage you may have to choose between playing it safe and holding up the status quo or really being an innovator and hoping for the best. Unfortunately (if your lucky) this comes with the job.
If all that hasn’t scared you half to death…
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO
1. If you don’t have the cash to hire a web designer, suck it up and use a standard template.
Sex–it-up as best you can, then upgrade latter. A blog that can be improved is better than no blog at all.
2. Stop consuming every day and start WRITING every day.
Granted, reading other blogs can give you inspiration, but if you need to read constantly for inspiration at this stage, you’re in trouble. You should be high off ideas. WRITE, WRITE, WRITE. Right?
3. Structure your learning.
No doubt you have a list of things you would like to become more knowledgeable about. Set yourself a schedule of learning in order of importance.
If you’re a new blogger you would be better off learning effective link building, than how to launch your first an e-book? I’m just saying.
4. Stop being a passive observer and join the party.
It can be scary to join the conversation on Twitter, in a comment stream, or with the blog author for the first time. But they’re just people like us, and this interaction is part of what they do. Don’t be a pain in the arse, but be present.
5. Stop waiting for a Christmas card from…
……….. insert name here, and get on the radar of much smaller bloggers in your niche, the ones with only 12 retweets but some really epic, thought provoking content.
Make friends with the bloggers who do not yet have to play it safe and see what collaborations can be had.
This is a Time to Have Fun
Fear and ego can leave so many of us on the bench. The trick is to recognize what it is that is holding you back and work out a strategy to get past it. So here is my advice to you.
Go pop that blogging cherry like the blogging slut you know you can be.
And if you’re already on your blogging journey, share with us YOUR sticking point and tell us how YOU got past it?
