When Blogging Doesn’t Go As Planned

“But I think it is always difficult to have high expectations of yourself or anyone else.”~ Uma Thurman

DEAR NEW BLOGGERS:

So you’ve had a blog for an extended period of time. And your own personal goals are not being met. Frustration has settled in for what seems to be a permanent vacation inside of your head, and is staying there rent free.

Your personal reasons as to why you began to blog in the first place are yours and yours alone. Nobody can take that away from you.

But it just seems unfair that it appears that you are not getting what you were hoping for to begin with.

I have also experienced the same frustrations and confusion over my own personal blog. I’ve had up to five different blogs at one time, and now I am down to three. Two of which are honestly seeing any kind of creativity or usage at any given time.

Three and a half years later after beginning DAMBREAKER which is the first and original blog, there’s only 125 subscribers/followers. Nearly 142,000 total views in that time, but I honestly would have thought that if  in three years or more I would have thousands of people reading, viewing, commenting, and participating. But I don’t. Not publicly at least.

Is it the content? Is it that I am not writing about the right things? Am I focused on things that are just boring?

Well, all that can be said in response to that is that there are different strokes for different folks.

I cannot count or remember how many times that I had thought about trashing the entire blog. DAMBREAKER was going to be complete and total history and I would have sat here in front of my computer fuming about how it would have been a huge waste of my time to have ever been involved in blogging in the first place.

But hold on!!! Before you go tapping away at that DELETE button you should probably consider a few things. 

This posted image is something I relate to when dealing with the so-called “success or failure” of my blog, DAMBREAKER.  The same could be related to your own blog in deciding whether or not YOUR page is succeeding or failing.

Let’s keep things simple for right now though.

#1- LIKES. There is (at least for WordPress) a “LIKE” button. We’ve all seen it on other social media websites. It works the same way on WordPress. If someone enjoys the post, they can click the “LIKE” button. Ask yourself: Have I received any of these “LIKES” to any of my posts that I’ve written on my own blog? If the answer is YES- You are successful.

#2- COMMENTS. Again, the same as social media websites there is the option for the reader to leave a comment. Some people use it for compliments to whatever it is that you have written. Others are adding their own opinions. Some still will relate to your post and will tell you about it, which allows for further discussion on the topic. Ask yourself: Have I received any comments on any of my posts? If the answer is YES- You are successful.

#3- FOLLOWERS. Ask yourself: Do I have anyone following my blog? Is there anyone that signed up to have anything that I put on my blog immediately directed into their e-mail inbox? If the answer is YES … even if the number is ONE- You are successful. It tells you that at least one person is interested in what you are writing about and want to know and read about more and more and more. And wish to keep in touch that way.

#4- PERSONAL FEEDBACK. Sometimes people do not subscribe to your blog or follow your blog. Sometimes your blog doesn’t go to someone’s e-mail inbox directly. They don’t leave you comments. They don’t click the “LIKE” button if one is available or rate your post. But they come to you in other ways and forms of communication and provide you with feedback. They either found it on their own or you have published the post publicly somewhere else and they followed the link to your blog and now they are talking about it. Good or bad- whatever it is that they have to say is evidence that they are at least reading your blog. If they are reading your blog- You are successful.

You don’t need thousands of followers with thousands of comments and thousands of people clicking “LIKE” to know that you are doing something good.

Yes it would be nice to have those things, but they are not completely necessary to have success.

As a matter of fact, I’ve come across a lot of personal feedback in which the person admitted to reading this blog and then gave their feedback in what they did like about it or how I have been such an inspiration to them which caused them to change their lives for good in some certain way. When you hear things like that ….. you know that its all worth it in the end. And sometimes that’s really all that you need.

These kinds of things are what we as bloggers should remember whenever we get down about what we are doing with our blog posts and thinking that its not doing anyone any good because there’s no “activity” and we assume its a failure. To remember this checklist is all the validation that we will ever need.

Money For Blogging & The Chicks For Free!

“The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.”~
Benjamin Franklin

So in the past few days, I’ve received several comments about my blog as a whole. The overall opinion was that my blog is good and enjoyable. And just recently I was told that I should be proud of my blog. It was probably the best compliment about it that I have received since the Great Adulation E-mail of May of 2011.

I was also told that it is consistent. Thank you!

Don’t get me wrong, I AM very proud of my blog. I just sometimes wonder just how well it is doing. Not so much by how many times a day its being viewed but if whether or not the information that is within each post is actually helping someone out there in this world. It is very much so consistent as I have more time to work with it than others do. That’s just the way it is.

Millions of people have blogs. I know several people who do. But they don’t have the opportunity to write as much as they want. And I think that is okay. There are no rules when it comes to what a blogger must do and how often they must do it.

But because I am in a very unique situation, it got me thinking. So I did some research about getting paid for blogging. Sadly though, there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to the thought of getting paid for your blog posts.

There are numerous people that will pay you for your blog. But it is not as simple as writing, submitting, and getting paid. Almost all of the websites that I searched are looking for specific material within a blog post, and your post has to be reviewed then ACCEPTED before they even pay. The key there is that your blog post submission must be approved first. And chances are that you might not even be considered. There’s always that possibility.

Most that I saw said that you would get paid “within two weeks” or even “in about a month”. Which is fine if you have the patience to wait. But it is for sure that not everyone who is going to accept your blog post will be desperately trying to get to the post office to mail you a check that very moment. If you are hoping to receive a quick and immediate response then you are probably going to be disappointed.

The other thing that I found is that your dreams of making tons of cash aren’t really all that realistic. A majority of those companies and websites that are willing to pay you for your blog posts offer “up to $100 per post.”

$100 could be a lot of money to someone. But there is no guarantee that you are going to receive $100 for each post, the catch is in the phrase: UP TO that much money. So they could accept your blog post, decide to pay you, send a check in the mail, and you have received only $10. And that will put a damper on your dreams about becoming rich within a year having lots of cash and a myriad of girlfriends at your disposal.

Suddenly, your hidden desires of starting a harem don’t seem all that obtainable.

None of this is to say that you WON’T make good money for blogging. Only that you won’t become instantly rich. A person probably could make a decent amount of money in blogging, but they’ve got to have the patience and the fortitude to keep at it all of the time, even if they are rejected. Sending submissions to more than one place would be the thing to do. The more you send, the better your chances of becoming approved.

Being discouraged at constant rejection will not get you anywhere. You have to be able to dust yourself off from each rejection and keep trying until you are able to be approved. Your goals should be reasonable as well. If you are okay with making a few hundred dollars over the span of several months, then it could be very beneficial for you.

As always, you must always read the fine print before submitting. Certain websites have certain guidelines. If you don’t abide by their guidelines then you won’t get paid. So always read everything you can about the website and what they are looking for in a paid blog post. Make sure you have followed everything as they are expecting and you will be fine.

Like I said, I do not know if I have ever helped anyone in any situation from them reading any of my blog posts. I do know that a few people enjoy reading it because it gives them the opportunity to get to know me better. I’m not sure if I could say that I’ve made someone’s life better because they read it one of my posts.

And I have not made up my mind about whether or not I will try submit a blog for pay. I would not want to end up having this blog become lacking. I just realize the fact that I’m not going to end up being able to buy a new home and have tons of money to spend. And the women won’t be knocking down my door either.