Successful Blogging 101 - Learning from Mistakes

I will never claim to be an expert in successful blogging but I am an expert at what doesn’t work. Two key factors in outlining a “successful” blog.

First we have to understand what a successful blog is. I tend to lean towards selfpreservation in that, each blog should have individual goals… and if you meet those goals, then you are a success. Nothing more, nothing less.

Persistence Pays:

You will never succeed with blogging if you don’t constantly blog. Set a personal goal for yourself, no matter the product you pitch, set a blogging goal. The point is to pick something that works for you, not what other people say is right for you.

• 1 post everyday = 365 posts a year
• 1 post every week = 52 posts a year
• 2 posts every week = 104 posts a year
• 3 posts every week = 156 posts a year

If you fall off the blogging horse, don’t fret… just get back on as soon as possible. The comes a time in nearly most people’s lives that they feel a lack of motivation or drive to do something. I’ve experienced it, you’ve experienced it, but in the end if you focus on the end results it’s much easier to motivate yourself.

After you’ve established a few posts (more than 50) you begin to feel it. Ideally you will receive a slight upswing in comments per post and an email or two from your readers.

Avoid Statistics:

DO NOT let statistics decide your success… don’t even look at your stats for the first couple of weeks, I know this is hard but don’t look at your stats everyday either! There is an upside and a downside to statistics (as there is with anything).

Upsides:
• If your blog is doing well it be a motivational factor.
• If your blog is doing poorly, it might also serve as a motivational tool to beef up your content.

Downsides:
• If you are doing poorly it will affect your attitude towards blogging
• Also if you are doing poorly or it might motivate you try that much harder
• If your blog is doing great, it might appear okay to “slack off”.

It both cases, the human condition is that it’s easier to believe the bad things… and as such, statistics in general lean towards the bad. I ask that you wait and check your stats maybe once every 2 weeks, maybe more.

If you check everyday you’ll see a fluctuation of visitors. However, if you are blogging pretty steady if you check 2 weeks from now, you’ll almost definately see a rise.

What are some key mistakes you’ve made as a blogger?

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