Why Most Bloggers Give Up After a Month
While it is possible to create quite a name for yourself by blogging, the truth is this: it can take a lot of time for that name to be created. It is very rare that a blog becomes an overnight sensation. This is why so many bloggers probably pack it in after a month.Â
Creating a blog takes seconds. A good blog design can take a little bit longer. Creating a single post takes…well, that takes as long as it takes. Building a reputation, however, can take months or even years. This is what many people do not count on when they start a blog. The blog world is becoming saturated with “one hit wonders,” or people who want to put together a page in hopes of bringing in scads of passive income. What they do not realize is that nobody is going to visit these pages unless they put some work into them.
Other bloggers quit because they think that blogging is easy. While blogging can certainly be fun, and that enjoyment can take a lot of the irritation out of doing it—blogging is hard work; especially if you have chosen a blog topic that does not see a lot of action. The truth is that while you might be very passionate about tree frogs, and while there is research being done on tree frogs, up to date and new information might become hard to find.Â
Finally, one of the biggest reasons that most bloggers give up after a month is this: time. Building a successful blog and keeping it running can take up quite a bit of your time. If you are blogging simply as a hobby, you might begin to resent the amount of time it takes to create a successful blog. Many people give up because they weren’t ready for the time commitment to running a successful blog.Â
If you are thinking about starting a blog, make sure that you are ready to commit to it. This makes blogging sound like something huge and serious which, in many cases, it isn’t. If you want to be successful, however, and create a site whose readership extends beyond your family members, you have to be ready for the commitment…and be sure that you are blogging for the right reasons. There is nothing wrong with blogging for fun, in fact, we highly recommend it. If you want to blog professionally, however, make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into.
Filed under: Blogging tips, Miscellaneous
Patience is virtue
I read a post by Nate Whitehill on this a while back, and he suggested that there were 5 main reasons most blogs don’t last.
1)Blogging consistently is not easy
2)New blogs see little or no financial return
3)Traffic takes time to build
4)No passion for their blog topic
5)Time management must be practiced seriously
yeah.. good reasons.. I know Nate and it’s a very nice guy
An interesting poll would be “How many blogs have you given up on?”. I can think of at least three or four in the past two years. Usually, I start out strong, writing a number of really high quality articles (well, imo they’re high quality). Then the next time I think about posting I realize how much time those first posts took and I end up not posting. I think I just need to pace myself better. Quality posts surrounded by small filler posts (or something).
As a fairly new blogger, I think the hardest thing for me is consistently coming up with ideas for new posts. Its very difficult to come up with a regular stream of posts that other people might actually want to read. I think if you start out blogging and try to post every day, you are liable to burn out and use up all your good ideas for the blogging posts. So I think like 99% of the population, just doesn’t have what it takes to make posts that are unique, interesting and consistent.
Most people don’t have the persistence or passion to continue blogging when they aren’t getting any visitors. Like you said, most people think it is the easiest thing in the world. They quickly discover it’s not.
It is very difficult to stay motivated if you aren’t getting any traffic or comments left at your site. If you just keep plugging along it will all work out. Great post!
great post
Yes! It is always a balancing act between enjoying what you are doing and being willing to work at it. I liked what you had to say here: “…and be sure that you are blogging for the right reasons. There is nothing wrong with blogging for fun, in fact, we highly recommend it.”
Good Post-I think one of the hardest challenges getting traffic. It takes time and you have to have patients. You can have the greatest blog in the world. But it doesn’t do you any good if no one knows you are their.
Thanks for the advice!
It takes sometimes upto an year before you can really start getting returns on you blog else you will need to invest maybe
A month is too early to call it quits! It takes patience, determination, and of course, interesting posts. Building up traffic typically won’t happen overnight.
Nice post! I do agree with you…No short cut way to success. Hard working and persistance are the keys.
It depends on mentality.The mentality of every people is not same.
Nate’s got some great advice. I agree with most of his reasons…
That would definitely be an interesting poll. Though somedays everyone feels like giving up, it’s important to keep pushing and stick with 1 topic to be successful.
There is nothing wrong with blogging for fun. When you can have fun and make $, you have accomplished what most bloggers strive for!
Definitely Ashwin, you can’t be in it for the “short term” if you expect to make $.
I agree, mentality is huge at determining the success of someone’s blog.
Yes Leslie, “hard work” can be difficult for a lot of people, but will create success.
It can definitely be difficult to get good, quality traffic, but there’s a lot you can do to increase your traffic. Like you said, a blog does ZERO good if nobody visits it.
Definitely Bret, never giving up and maybe re-evaluating your plan of action is key to success
Hey Mike, you may want to stop by my blog and check out this post: http://andrewpavelski.com/archives/114 — It will help you think of some ideas to write about.
Most people are drawn to blogging because it does seem “easy,” but it actually is a lot of hard work
A month is WAY TOO EARLY to call it quits. I agree beth, it takes some great traits like patience, determination, and ability to generate interesting posts to be successful!
Appealing to the world is one thing. That takes time. Appealing to your local market is something else entirely, and can be done quite quickly - especially with a little creative marketing. Blogs are perfect for that, and my customers will be the first to chime in with agreement.
Great post.
Like every thing in life you have to work at it.Nothing comes easy(well not in my experience anyway)
Many people jump on the “make money” theme but as soon as it does not materialise they give up and move to the next scheme.
Persistance pays.
Rich
I think the majority of bloggers quite because they find out it’s not as easy as they thought. A lot of work goes into a blog.
most bloggers expect faster results instead of seeing the bigger picture and how long it takes to establish a good blog :/
~Mike
Some one has to give up when the situation in need off. So in my opinion its been a healthy one for all of us to stimulate to do our work effortlessly.
some great advice. I agree with most of his reasons…Like every thing in life you have to work at it.Nothing comes easy
Tree Frogs? love it! I was brainstorming ideas for blogs today as a matter of fact. But what you said it key: be up for the commitment. If one knows that they have problems with committing in any other areas of their lives, they might want to think extra hard on blogging.
http://www.india-dictionary.com/
And his designs are great. I`m thinking about getting a design from UBD.
Yeah I’ve considered it for one of my other blogs and have seen that they do a nice job!
Definitely ASEO, local will always be quicker than trying to appeal to everybody.
Things can come easy when you’ve put in the necessary work and have learned from experience and gained knowledge.
Definitely, I’ve seen many bloggers quit after just 1 - 2 months!
You summed it up perfectly Mike, you’ve got to look at the long-term results and not expect overnight success in the blogosphere!
Definitely AJ, balancing blogging and life can be tough. Discipline and consistency are 2 key traits that you must have to become a successful blogger. Posting a few times one week, then taking a month break will not make anyone successful.
I think that if you want to be successful in the bloging business, you have to write original stuff on a new popular and captivating theme.
If someone quits after a month, that’d be a month waste. They should take lessons of what they experienced in that month and develop something new or improve their efforts, instead of stopping at all.
you’re right… keeping a blog alive for a long time is in no way an easy task
Most bloggers have good ideas for 5-10 articles. Then their ideas run out, they write some boring posts just to keep the blog running and then they slowly fade out.
For many people it would be better to join in some blogger-community where they share the blog with others who can bring interesting posts and then it is enough for every blogger to write once a month.
And the blog stays interesting and alive. Most blogs i subscribe to have more than one blogger.