Blogging can be an exciting and rewarding journey, but it can also lead to burnout and frustration, especially when results don’t meet expectations. This even leads some to consider simply giving up on their blog. But if you ask those who have successful blogs, they’ll tell you that staying motivated when you’re in the “valleys” will allow you to reach the “peaks” we’re all searching for.
How can you stay motivated and avoid giving up, even when your blog’s future looks bleak?
Why Staying Motivated Is So Important
If you’re going through a dry spell or having a hard time motivating yourself generally, you might wonder why you should even spend the effort to motivate yourself and keep your blog going in the first place.
Here are some critical things to remember:
You’re in it for more than just success.
Your primary reason for blogging might be to make money or generate more attention on a particular topic of interest. But you’re also in it for the love of blogging. In moments where success seems like a distant impossibility, remind yourself that even if your blog isn’t conventionally successful, it still has value to you and others.
Success takes a long time.
Also, remember that success usually takes a long time to achieve. It’s extremely rare for blogs to explode in popularity overnight, especially when they’ve only been around for a few days or a few weeks. Most bloggers spend years on their craft before they start seeing the full results of their work.
Most setbacks are temporary.
Finally, remember that most setbacks in the blogging world are temporary. Maybe your traffic levels are down. Or, maybe your most recent post didn’t have the impact you thought it would. Maybe a significant collaboration fell through. Whatever it is, remember that these are temporary moments in time that will have very little bearing on the success of your blog in the future.
Strategies for Staying Motivated in Your Blog
These are some of the best strategies for staying motivated – and not giving up on your blog.
Get involved with other bloggers.
According to The Blog Starter, you should “find other blogs in your community and engage with them. Using the comment section, introduce yourself and leave engaging and constructive comments. Many will allow you to leave a link to your blog. You will find yourself within their ranks quickly after creating relationships with prominent bloggers in your community.” One of the best ways to get over your slump is to reach out to bloggers in similar spaces. It’s a great way to find inspiration, learn from people skilled in this craft, and cross-pollinate with other communities to grow your audience. If you continue building relationships with other bloggers, you may be able to collaborate in the future as well.
Look for inspiration in unlikely places.
If you’re having trouble developing ideas for your blog, consider looking for inspiration in unlikely places. Even mundane activities, like going to the grocery store or doing yard work, can provide meaningful opportunities for content creation. For example, they may provide ample opportunities for creative brainstorming, serve as metaphors for complex concepts, or give you anecdotes that function as springboards to other topics. Finding inspiration for new topics should be much easier if you open your mind and have more diverse daily experiences.
Take a break.
That said, if you’re constantly working on brainstorming blog ideas or generating ways to promote your blog, your problem might be overworking. If that’s the case, the best thing you can do is take a break. It’s a bad idea to give up on your blog, but there’s nothing wrong with walking away for a few weeks and returning to your project with fresh eyes. Since you can schedule posts to publish in the future, consider working ahead for a few weeks to take a break without interrupting your public-facing publication schedule. With your extra time, consider taking a vacation, going somewhere new, or participating in new activities to stimulate the creative centers of your mind.
Remind yourself why you got started.
Whenever you consider giving up on your blog, take a moment to remind yourself of why you got started. Were you only interested in generating a certain number of monthly visitors? Were you purely motivated by profit? Or were you initially excited about the possibility of expressing your thoughts publicly? If you can tap into your initial motivations, you might find a surge of energy that helps to propel you forward.
Collaborate.
You don’t have to do it all by yourself. If you’re struggling to keep up with the mental or productive demands of blogging, consider collaborating with other people. That could mean working with another person on a new piece of content, hiring other writers or staff members to help you with specific responsibilities, or even collaboratively brainstorming with someone you know and trust. This can be incredibly motivating for several reasons. It’s an opportunity to bounce ideas off someone else. It’s a chance to learn from someone else’s unique style and thinking. And in some cases, it’s a way of capitalizing on someone else’s existing blog audience and position.
Commit to a daily habit.
Habits are incredibly powerful tools for shaping human behavior. If you can turn something into a daily habit, you’ll be much more likely to preserve that behavior even years into the future. It’s one reason it’s so important to exercise every day if physical exercise is essential to you. If you transform it into a daily habit, you can make blogging less of a burden and more of a consistent pursuit. That doesn’t necessarily mean writing a new post every day, but it does mean doing at least some work on your blog during a prescribed time every day.
Audit and correct.
Instead of blindly moving forward, take a moment to look backward. What were some of your most successful blog posts? Which ones fell flat? Which strategies seem to be working, and which are more trouble than they’re worth? Auditing your current strategy can help you brainstorm new solutions, find renewed motivation to continue your blog, and, ultimately, avoid giving up on it.
Learn something new.
Tired of regurgitating stale opinions? Learn something new to share with your audience. Read a new book, take a new class, or learn a new skill to expand your perspectives and capabilities.
Experiment with a new medium or style.
You can also generate new motivation for yourself by experimenting with a new medium or style, especially if you are tired of the same old formula. If you’ve historically only produced written work, consider making a video. If your work is usually serious, try something humorous. Don’t deviate from your established blog standards, but do be willing to push the envelope and reach out of your comfort zone.
Revisit old, successful works.
Similarly, consider revisiting your older, most successful blog posts with a fresh take. That could mean reinforcing your old opinions with new knowledge, condemning your previous views based on what you know now, or simply updating your work with new perspectives and with the context of societal updates like new technologies. It’s a way of getting in touch with your past self while connecting with your audience using something you know they love.
Engage with your audience in new ways.
You likely know that audience engagement is critical for success in blogging (and in any content creator role). But it’s also vital for your sense of motivation and satisfaction. Accordingly, you should try engaging with your audience in new ways, such as live streaming, coaching sessions, or even an in-person meetup. For the best results, ask your audience members how they would like to engage with you – and give them what they want.
Ask for support from family and friends.
Finally, don’t be afraid to lean on family members and friends for support. They can help you feel like your work means something and provide the emotional support necessary to overcome these hard times. They may also be willing to share your work with new people to expand your audience.
In some cases, it does make sense to throw in the towel. If you no longer feel good about working on your blog, if your goals have entirely changed, or if there are signs that there won’t be any demand for a blog like yours in the future, it could make sense to pull out and invest your efforts elsewhere. But if you still believe in your ideas and you still believe in yourself, you owe it to both yourself and your audience to do whatever it takes to stay motivated and keep writing.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Cottonbro Studio; Pexels; Thank you.
Deanna Ritchie
Editor-in-Chief at Calendar. Former Editor-in-Chief and writer at Startup Grind. Freelance editor at Entrepreneur.com. Deanna loves to help build startups, and guide them to discover the business value of their online content and social media marketing.