I suppose it’s relatively easy for me to constantly stay motivated while blogging because I enjoy writing and before this became a business, it was just a passion project that I thought I could make a quick buck from.
However, if you don’t like blogging it can really seem like a chore or boring to you. It may seem like yet another task on your never-ending to-do list. Think about what you love and write about that. Think of blogging as a way to inform your audience, your clients/potential clients. Or think about your story. Everyone has a unique story to tell and why not share it with the online world. Most likely there will be someone out there who will be truly grateful for it.
Here are some tips/ideas to help you stay motivated while blogging.
Focus on your personal blogging goals and be realistic with them. Save yourself some time and stop comparing yourself to others. Seriously.
JUST.
STOP.
RIGHT.
NOW.
Be consistent but don’t be hard on yourself if you miss a post here and there. Life happens. The reality is, is that it’s difficult to be consistent ALL the time, on EVERYTHING.
Know that just like with any habit, it may take a bit of time before you get into that blogging groove. Think about the last good habit you picked up. Did it come to you naturally right away and were you able to implement it into your schedule within the first week or two? Be honest.
Motivating others is easy. I’ve been doing it for over 8 years. We all know self-motivation can be difficult. We also know that success is never achieved alone. Not without a lot of help. Mentors and mastermind groups help provide support and accountability. Another option is to hire a blogging coach to help you work through the hurdles and provide that same support and accountability for your blog.
Meet up with a fellow blogger and bounce ideas off of each other. Long gone are the days when it was considered creepy or dangerous to meet people from the internet. There are a lot of nice, normal people out there.
If you’re feeling stuck, take a break from writing. There’s no sense in trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.
Sometimes just starting to write whatever comes to mind helps. I have several blog post drafts on the go and an ongoing list of topics. If the words aren’t flowing for one topic, I’ll stop and move on to the next.
It may help you to track your progress by checking your Google Analytics stats. But be careful not to become obsessed with them like you are obsessed with checking your Facebook, or in my case, Instagram. Check them on a monthly basis instead.
Be realistic and focus on the growth of the blog first. Growth, then monetization. It doesn’t make sense to try and monetize when you only have 10 followers and 2 blog posts up. Another way of looking at it is to see the idea of monetization as a long-term goal that can help motivate you to grow your blog.
While we’re on the subject of monetizing, know that there are SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS to monetize. Your blog is a gateway to a wide variety of online income such as services, products, affiliate marketing, etc. While it can help to have a large following, that is not the be all, end all. Maybe small businesses and brands might be a better fit for a partnership and for your audience. The important thing is that you can show businesses and brands how you can provide value to their respective audiences, regardless of the size of your following.
Follow other blogs that inspire you. Read blog posts that inspire you.
You hear and read the stories about people who are able to generate a significant income or a full-time income. And that’s absolutely amazing. It’s important to note that is not the only way to have a successful blog or become a successful blogger. At least I don’t believe so. For transparency sake, I am not making a full-time income from my blog (yet).
However, this is what’s happened since I’ve started the blog back in 2012 (the majority of these events have happened over the past 7 months)and helps me stay motivated while blogging:
- I’ve been able to accumulate a wide variety of skills and go from a monotonous job to a tech job at a startup with no formal background/education/experience in tech
- I’ve been able to partner with various brands such as Meridian Credit Union, Supperworks and Camp Tech
- I’ve been featured on a podcast
- I am now teaching blogging and social media strategies to small business owners
- I’ve been a guest speaker at several networking events: OSBN and Oakville Alliance.
- I became an instructor at Sheridan College for the Effective Strategies For Social Media course
“Success is what you make it to be.”
If this isn’t enough motivation for you, then I don’t know what is. 😉
I am extremely guilty of comparing myself to other bloggers. Especially since I’ve been blogging since 2011 and I see all these “new” bloggers surpass me. But then I remind myself that just because I’ve had a blog for this long doesn’t mean I’m better at it then they are. Just like at my day job, there are some people that have worked here forever – but they are TERRIBLE at their job!
It can be really hard to stay motivated while blogging. There are too many “excuses”! At least that’s my biggest problem.
I think taking blogging breaks has been the best thing for me. Sure I feel guilty for not writing more and breaking those goals I’ve set for myself, but it helps. I come back to it more refreshed, more inspired, and with lots of ideas 🙂
Yes, I’ve compared myself to other bloggers more often than I should during my first few years of blogging. When you think about it though, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Everyone is on a completely different journey. I started back in 2012 and I wasn’t as committed or focused right from the start. It took me so many times to get into the groove of things just because one of my jobs took up way too much time and left me beyond exhausted to focus on the blog. I feel like mindset is huge though. When I was working at the startup, I was in a much better place and felt more motivated to work on my blog. You should give yourself credit for even starting a blog and continuing to do so after all this time. So many people start blogs and then fall off the bandwagon just several months later.
Hi Karen, you’re right about reading blog posts that inspire. I’m a blogger in the personal development niche, and sometimes it is difficult to come up with ideas and inspiration to write. And I discovered that whenever I read about stories of how people build and grow their blogs, I feel inspired and motivated.
Even when reading your post, I feel like I can do it as well and this is why I’m leaving my thoughts here. And to stop comparing with others, as what you said, helps too. Thanks for this article. Cheers. 🙂
No problem Shawn and best of luck to you on your blogging journey in the personal development niche. Yes, I find once you focus on your own goals, you achieve more. It makes more sense to compare yourself to your previous year vs someone else’s year.
Since 2017, I’ve started working on a blog and it has been one of the most bitter-sweet experience I’ve ever had. Some days, ideas just pour in but there are also days that it’s just constant streak of blocks.
I’ve learnt to let it go and just allow inspiration to flow. It works best for me this way.
Let your imagination run. Never limit yourself.
Yes! Bitter-sweet is definitely a great way to describe the journey. I think letting creativity and inspiration run its own course is really the only way we can create our best work. Thank you so much for your comment!