“Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.”
Lao Tse
Blogging has a rhythm or flow, I think that’s what tao means, and the hardest bit is getting started. I’m finding it as hard to start this article as I did to begin my first blog. Let me tell that story first and see if it helps.
I started my travel blog in 2006 because I wanted to do more writing, be braver and show people my writing. For years most of the writing I’d been doing was web copy writing for my own business and other peoples’. My writing was there on the Internet for the world to see but only me and the company who’d hired me knew I’d written it. So I could stay safely hidden away on the lovely little Waiheke Island in New Zealand where we lived, without worrying that anyone would judge me because of a badly turned sentence or cliched phrase.
As a child growing up in the UK I always wrote. I have diaries from childhood covering most years right up until today. This blog is in many ways a journal too including snippets of my personal and emotional life, my family, my journey as a writer and blogger and a record of what interests me today: people, success, life, and life on the Internet.
In 2006, my writing for pleasure had ground to a halt and I missed it. I had three young kids and a business to run so I didn’t have much time for myself and I took a creative writing class to force myself to write more. I wanted to write travel stories about my adventures and that’s what I did. Each week when I read the stories to the class of eight people I noticed two things. First how shit scared I was about sharing them and second how well received they were. When the classes finished I knew I needed to carry on writing and daring to share it with other people so that I could see what worked, what didn’t and improve my writing. Most of all I wanted to get over that fear or at least get used to it and carry on writing and showing my writing to other people anyway.
That initial foray into blogging didn’t last. I wrote just one blog post in 2006. It wasn’t until three years later that I started blogging again and committed to it.
I’ve had quite a journey over the last 14 months of blogging and I want to chronicle it here for transparency and so you can see the kind of journey you’ll also be going on as a blogger. It’s a bumpy one, full of surprises and like all the best journeys you never quite know where it will lead you. Check out this inspiration for bloggers if you’re not convinced of the possibilities blogging can bring you.
My Rocky Blogging Journey
2006- 08 – 1 post – Don’t worry if you have a false start with your blog, you can always come back to it when you’re ready or when you need it most.
Jan 2009 – 2 posts – I set up Get In the Hot Spot on Blogspot. I wanted to help people live their dream life and the topic was about how to travel more or move overseas.
Feb 2009 – 6 posts
March 2009 – 6 posts
April 2009 – 6 posts – At some point I moved the blog to WordPress.com but didn’t have my own domain name. I was depressed with the slow progress and made a page called raving readers with all the lovely comments and emails people had sent me about the blog to cheer me up and motivate me when I thought I wasn’t getting anywhere.
After 4 months of blogging
At this stage it’s not much of an exaggeration to say no one ever visited my blog. I did get a comment on just about every post from my friends Teresa and Anne-Marie – thank you, thank you, thank you! Just knowing that they read my blog and cared motivated me to carry on writing even though it seemed pointless. I tried my best to make every post as interesting and useful for them as I could. At the end of April ’09 I got my first comment from someone I didn’t know, Kathi from Austria who said:
“Thanks for giving me a glimpse of what life would/could be for us.”
A great landmark and motivator for any blogger. Kathi found my blog because I’d joined some forums for people who want to emigrate to Australia and had been actively joining in discussions and helping people when I could.
May 2009 – 10 posts – I decided my blog was failing to attract enough visitors because I wasn’t posting enough so I increased my updates to twice and then three times a week.
June 2009 – 13 posts
After 6 months of blogging
With 43 posts under my belt I still had less than 100 subscribers to my RSS feed. My blogging topic had naturally evolved to how to you live your dream and how to get the life you want which is my passion and what drives me to keep writing. But back them my enthusiasm for blogging was flagging so I set myself a goal of getting 1000 subscribers to keep me going. I knew that in the short term blogging was pointless so I needed a concrete goal to motivate me to carry on for another 6 months. Just after setting the goal one of my articles, Live Your Dream in a Material World caught Leo Babauta‘s eye and he tweeted it. I got about 600 visitors that day. More people than had visited my blog in the previous month. That was probably the moment I got hooked on blogging.
July 2009 – 11 posts – Disillusioned with blogging and overwhelmed by all the blogging guidelines I’d been reading I decided to test if numbered lists really were that popular and wrote 101 Ways to Feel Happy. Ironically it’s easily the quickest post I’ve ever written and 9 months later is still one of the most popular articles on my blog.
August 2009 – 13 posts – Changed to WordPress.org, hosted the blog on our own domain name, www.successfulblogging.com and lost a few subscribers in the process. My husband says this marks the true beginning of Get In the Hot Spot.
Sep 2009 – 9 posts
Oct 2009 – 9 posts
Nov 2009 – 8 posts – Subscribers tripled this month to almost 500 after I had a guest posts on Zen Habits and Problogger.
Dec 2009 – 8 posts – Guest post on Life Hack
Jan 2010 – 6 posts – Stressed out and over-worked (I still run a web design and copy writing business and have three young kids remember!) I cut my posts down to one a week and aimed at getting one guest post each week too.
Feb 2010 – 5 posts – Guest post on Dumb Little Man. Changed my email subscribers from Feedburner to MailChimp so I could brand the emails and get statistics on how many people read them.
After a year of blogging
March 2010 – 6 posts - Guest posts on Zen Habits and Problogger. I reached my goal of 1000 subscribers – surprised to find that about 60% of them to chose the RSS feed and 40% preferred email updates.
April 2010 – 7 posts – Guest post on Problogger and Copyblogger
May 2010 – 8 posts – Finally invested in the blog and used my web design company Mucho to brand the blog and give the site a complete redesign. Subscriber numbers continue to grow and have reached 1,400 but ironically I decided to take the subscriber counter off my blog because Feedburner is so flaky and the number varies wildly from day to day.
What’s the Tao of Blogging?
The best way to show the flow of anything is with a graph. Here’s the chart of my site statistics from Google Analytics. Make sure you install Google Analytics on your blog so you can chart your progress.
Google stats for www.successfulblogging.com 08/09-05/10
The chart shows what kind of a journey you’ll have with blogging. In the beginning you’ll feel as if you’re not getting anywhere. You’ll make progress and your blogging confidence will soar in direct proportion to the number of people who visit and leave comments. But peaks don’t last, your blog traffic will drop off and your mood will plunge. You’ll probably want to give up blogging more than once. But don’t. Just when you’re about to write your last post things will pick up, traffic will peak again and so the cycle will continue.
Sounds familiar? I think I’m getting used to the cyclical nature of blogging. Some days you love blogging, other times you despair and can’t see the point of it. Some days it feels as if people can’t get enough of your blog and other times it seems as if everyone wants a piece of the action.
It’s like life ~ the constant ebb and flow is a natural rhythm. You can’t fight it, you have to learn to go with the flow.
I think I’m getting used to the tao of blogging. I like to check the charts, and as long as the general trend is up I’m happy. As long as I have a goal I can keep writing. As long as you keep reading, commenting and telling people about the blog the rhythm will continue.
Concentrate on the general trend, not the daily ups and downs. Be a mountain, be a landmark for top content, be part of a vast mountain range and be like a river flowing, flooding, cascading or meandering. Just make sure your blogging doesn’t dry up completely.
7 Ideas to Help Make Your Blogging Journey Less Rocky
1. Pick a domain name, blog platform and theme and stick to it.
2. Set a goal.
3. Make sure your blog is well designed and that important first impression will win readers over.
4. Find some supportive friends and cheer each other on.
5. Enjoy the landmarks, for example the first post, 10th post, first comment from someone you don’t know and 100th subscriber.
6. Keep going.
7. Subscribe to Successful Blogging and check back here regularly for blogging tips, motivation and inspiration.
I Need You!
Finally a reminder that if you like my blog I need you to share the word with people. Please help me grow my blog. You can help me by sharing the blog or specific posts on Facebook, Tweeting them, emailing posts to friend, relatives and colleagues or just telling people about Successful Blogging.
Now my blog is set up properly I want to concentrate on writing the best content I can. I’m just one woman working on the blog, my business and looking after my family so I’d really appreciate it if you can help me with the sales and marketing side of things. There’s no way I can’t do it alone.
I know from experience that the best way to grow a business is word of mouth and mouse and I’d really appreciate it if you can tell someone or as many people as you can about it.
Thank you so much for helping with that. I can’t wait to see you here again next week.
Subscribe to Successful Blogging now by email or by RSS Feed.
How’s your blogging journey going? What can I write about to help you more?
Photo credit: Travis Simon
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this piece, because it shares so much of you. You’re one of the first bloggers I ever subbed to, and I thought you were up there (stats-wise) with Leo. I didn’t know you were “small”.
That’s part of what I love about cyber-space. When I add someone to my Google reader, I see how many subscribers they have and how often they post. Some that I think must have a huge following may actually only have 4!!
I just really love posts about “where I came from”.
Hi Trece, thanks for leaving your first comment ever and being one of the original subscribers too. What a journey we’ve had:) I don’t know if that thing in the Google Reader is a good indication of how many subscribers a blog has…It says 48 on my Google reader which is way out… Strange. I have to admit, I’m hopeless with feeds. I always subscribe by email to be sure I don’t miss out!
As for Leo, I don’t think he’s too worried about me catching up with him… unless that’s why he hasn’t emailed me for a while… Lol:)
What a great history.
I have been enjoying your blog since probably November 2009.
I really like the history (cronology of events) great idea.
This post does two things. It summarises your history but also gives hope to those of us who are aspiring bloggers! (So typical Annabel)
Everyone who enjoys this blog please be sure to tweet and Stumble this post!
I know I will! Once again, Thanks Annabell
Hi Randall, it’s amazing to see the progress. I hope it will inspire or motivate other bloggers to keep going even when they hit a rough patch. The main thing that’s kept me going is support and comments from you and many other amazing readers. It’s true that if it weren’t for you this blog wouldn’t exist:) Thank you so much.
So interesting to read about your blogging jounrey – thank you for sharing all you’ve learnt!
Bummed I can’t attend your event – don’t have the bandwidth here to do videos etc
Hi Kate, I hope your journey’s been equally exciting! That is a shame about the bandwidth problem… I hadn’t thought of that.
Okay, I signed up for the party and put it on my calendar
I found this post (and the other recent one about the growth of your website) very inspiring. It’s true, it’s discouraging in the beginning when no one seems to notice your blog. I felt like I was crying in the wilderness sometimes. It’s great to see that just being helpful on other websites gets you noticed and can eventually lead to influential guest posts. I am getting a few comments on my posts now so that’s a lot of fun!
Hi Jennifer, whoooopeee. I was going to be all nervous about the live vid thing but definitely more worried about the tech side. Hope it will work, Haven’t even had a chance to test drive it yet but will before the big day. Blogging gets better every day. The more you put in the more you get out of it. I hope you’ll meet some more cool people round here too:)
Great post thankyou !
This is very encouraging, Annabel. Well done!
Another thing that makes the blogging journey less rocky is to write/draw about what you love in a way that others can engage and participate.
The second I stopped trying to follow the paths of others and started doing what came naturally to me, it not only became much more enjoyable, but also much more interesting for visitors.
Best, Robin
Hi Robin, thank you! I think that’s what’s happening more to me too. Less time thinking about what people want or expect me to write and more time writing about what I think they need to know because it’s hindered me most and should therefore help them most. Sounds odd but makes sense. Am also getting more confident so hopefully less bland and more kaboom:)
Annabel,
Thanks so much for sharing the history of how your blog has grown. As a fellow blogger, I’m always curious how other people do it. It seems that the guest posts you did for other larger blogs really helped you. Keep up the great motivation!
Hi Carmen, I think people are curious and why not share it. If we all share everything we learn we can help each other more. Yes, the guest posts on big blogs are the way to go. I hope mine will be BIG one day and I can return the favor to other hot new bloggers:)
Thanks a lot, Annabel, for such a detailed story. Really inspiring and useful, I must say! Wish you even bigger success with your blog!
Thanks Roman, me too:)
What a journey.
It seems so hard in the beginning to get going, because there’s no real feedback. But you are prove that consistency pays off, just like guest posting
Hi Mars, yes, good old -fashioned hard work. It’s not the sexy advice people want to hear but it’s the truth. We make our own luck!
Another good post, Annabel. As you know, I loved your 51 Steps to Launch Your Blog, and I’ve used some pointers as inspiration to re-write my About page – it remained forgotten for too long. I would have to say that I think it would be good if serious bloggers were more aware of search engine optimisation techniques. If you’re thinking of starting your business, you should craft posts and market your blog to reach out to search engines as well as your social network. Some bloggers I know have mentioned that SEO and online marketing distracts them from writing good content, but I think that there can be awareness of SEO techniques, and that this awareness can help position the content – you were going to write anyway – better. Cheers, Colin
Hi Colin, thanks so much for raising the issue of SEO. I have a good understanding of it but can’t decide what to optimize my blog for which is losing me a lot of time and readers. Am going to prioritize making a decision on that and tweaking the blog for the search engines next week. Really happy to hear you’ve reconsidered some of your stuff after reading posts here. We all have to keep improving our blogs on an on-going basis.
You should rather think about optimising each post, rather than your blog. Deep linking should then be done across posts with the same or similar keyword themes. Each blog should not be too ‘greedy’ and know what they want to focus on. A group of blogs should consider the keywords each want to ‘own’ and help them achieve it. Would love to chat with you more about that, if you’re interested. Cheers, Colin
Re your second comment. Thank you, I need to work out what key words I want to focus on first. Offer much appreciated and do hope to talk sometime soon.
Annabel – I’ve just started a discussion on Aussie Mummy Bloggers forum titled ‘SEO for Bloggers.’ I’ve done a part 1. If a few more people go and indicate they’re interested, I’ll expand and talk more about the subject. Colin
I really enjoyed this post. I see a lot of myself in this story and it encourages me to stick to blogging and not give up. I too kept journals as a child and had a love for writing as I grew up.
I strayed from writing for some time..got married and had kids very young..work..life…etc.. I started to blog last year for the first time and got as far as 1 post. I was determined to start again this year and have now committed to at least 1 blog a week and am now going strong for a few weeks. It feels good to be able to stick to something I set out to do…even if it’s just for me right now.
Your stats were also very encouraging to me since I look at mine throughout the week and get a little discouraged after some posts receive good traffic and others…well…let’s just say they weren’t too popular.
Thanks again for your story. I appreciate the realness of it and how easily it was for me to relate to!
Hi Jennifer, I’m sure it’s a familiar story, not just with blogging. We do tend to pick things up and then tire of them and give up too quickly. I’m determined to give blogging a good go. I believe everyone should have a blog and want to help people get into it, get into the habit of posting regularly and get used to helping each other. We have a team of passionate, positive people here. Together we can achieve our goals:)
Thanks so much for joining in the conversation and sharing your journey with us.
Annabel – I really do enjoy reading your articles. They are well written and informative. I always enjoy really good writing, and your blog is really good writing. To answer your question: A big roadblock to what I consider an effective blog for myself is the technical side of blogging. Maybe I’m just too right brained. However, recipe-style instructions work for me. Also, so many blogs have so much clutter that it is hard to wade through all the widgets and ads to find the content, and I don’t want my blog to be that way. In conclusion, I really look forward to your posts.
Hi Mary-Ellen, thanks for joining in the conversation! The technical side is the main draw back for me too. Luckily my husband takes care of all the hard stuff for me. I agree, simple is good. Of course some sites have ads and are designed to get you to click on the ads:) When you don’t have your domain name what you can do with your blog’s limited but that can be a relief! You look as if you’re off to a good start with yours.
Annabel, Congratulations on coming so far. I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend your launch party — fabulous idea, though! — but I certainly look forward to hearing how it goes and and seeing what you do next.
Hi Thursday, great to see you here. If the technical side of the party goes well hopefully it will be the first of many:) It is fun to watch a blog evolve!
Annabel, i really appreciate your blog story. I know the ups and downs, well the downs part anyway, well. To just keep going when it seems no one reads your blog is the hardest part!
Blogging is the most rewarding and frustrating thing you can do, at least that’s my opinion. I love to write and put my words out there, but it would be better if I were like many successful bloggers and had thousands reading my blog. Who cares if you write the greatest novel in the history of humankind if no one reads it!
Hi Steve , re “Blogging is the most rewarding and frustrating thing you can do”. I agree and yes, writers need readers. I hope the post gave you some ideas about how you can find readers for your blog. I’ll have to write a post on that sometime but all the best ideas are mentioned here. Thanks for letting me know what you struggle with – the same thing I did. It does get easier with time:)
Annabel, I have to tell you I have been in a wonderful synchronicity vibe lately! I mentioned you in my blog today about what a strange and wonderful technological community I’ve recently entered through blogging! I definitely will sign up for the party, and pray I can view it… technology issues could be a problem.
And if I could be so bold… I would love for you to do a guest post on my blog sometime! I feel this whole positive leaning is a trend in the world, and we need to spread that word!
Thanks, and best of luck with the party!
Barbara
Hi Barbara, thanks so much for the mention on your blog. I appreciate that. I agree, it is amazing this ever-growing blogging community we’re hanging out in. We’re so lucky to be able to connect and converse with people all over the world and meet people with shared interests and outlooks. Well done for getting out there, not just reading blogs but and adding your own voice. I’d love to write for your blog sometime too. I hope you’ll enjoy as many benefits from blogging as I have:)
Nice.
This blogger’s moniker (QwkDrw) has been submitted to ‘namely Marley’. Thank you
..
Hi Qwkdrw, that should be a good story:)
Annabel, thank you for including ‘Tick Tock Timer’ in your post. Really appreciate it.
I think your blog is really starting to catch on, and the momentum will only continue to build. Your hard work is definitely paying off.
Hi Bamboo Forest, I hope momentum builds for all of us:)
Thanks Annabel for the very inspiring post on blogging. I myself just started blogging and I feel exactly every word you mentioned in this article.
I enjoyed your article very much.
Note: I have added a link to your site on my blog. Wish you more success Annabel
Dia, it’s great to hear that I’ve inspired and helped you at the beginning of your blogging adventure and thanks for adding me to your blog roll. That’s a huge recommendation. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other and I’ll have more handy tips for you in the future.
Thank you Annabel for that inspiring and helpful post. I am a new blogger myself, and it really helps to read your story to know that I’m on the right track. You’ve also given me some great ideas!
Hi Jenny Ann, great to meet you and hear your story. I’m sure I have a few more ideas up my sleeve that will keep you on track of your goals.
Dear Annabel,
Thank you for sharing your journey. I’m still learning myself and you are my hero! Plus, your redesign is fabulous. I love it!
Hi Jessica, we’re all still learning, that’s part of the fun but learning with other people makes it more fun. Glad you like the redesign too. Phew!
I can’t tell you how many times I have started then deleted blogs. lol.
I always have good intentions, then I just give it up.
Life just seems to get too busy to blog for me. I really need to learn how to make (and keep!) a schedule with blogging.
This was a great post. Thanks for sharing it. I sent out a tweet for ya.
Hi Tammy, don’t give up trying, it’s all good practice. Did you see this post about planning for success? http://www.successfulblogging.com/5-simple-steps-to-planning-for-success/ It might help you make and stick to your schedule:) Thanks for the tweet, love it!
I like your point on enjoying the landmarks. Who cares about how many roses we find, if we don’t even stop to smell one of them
Hi JD, hopefully we’ll get to smell some roses at the party. Love to see you there. Fingers crossed it all works…
I first connected to our blog via a similar guest post that you wrote out there somewhere in the internet universe. I appreciate so much the way you map out the journey for those of us who are just beginning. You rock! Thanks.
G’Day Annabel,
Hope you party was a great success. Sorry I couldn’t make it.
Years ago, we frequently used the expression “the only constant is change” when working with managers. As a business consultant, I’ve noticed that employees resist change only when it’s unexpected and and explained.I go so far as to tell managers that they should try to create a climate of change in their businesses.
Change itself isn’t necessarily good or bad. But a willingness to consider and embrace change if necessary, is a desirable characteristic for managers.
And whatever you do…..
Make sure you have fun.
Regards
Leon
This is really interesting. I too, blogged for a couple of years; post here, post there. But since July last year, I’ve been doing really well! I guess it’s my time to shine.
Hello Annabel,
All I can say is, Thank you, Thank you! Finding your blog has been a true piece of heaven. Your posts are clear, concise, and chocked full of the most wonderful information.
The Tao of Blogging is outstanding.
Again, Thank you!
Annabel–thank you for this! You completely captured my own blogging experience! The peaks, the valleys, the tech frustrations, the way one comment can cause such delight, a single mention on a prominent blog can make your stats soar (and then drop), and good blogging friends are invaluable for getting you through it all.
Excellent post Annabel, I really enjoyed your story and found it very useful. I have just subscribed to this blog.
Congratulations on getting 600 visitors on one day from Twitter; – I thought that site was a waste of time, but I am obviously wrong.
I have a similar background to you, I used to write regularly, but only for work which was boring. Unlike you I never kept a diary, but have now come to regard my blog as my on-line diary. I really like it because unlike a paper diary, a blog is multi-media. I can include films and music, both of which are passions of mine.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. Keep up the good work Annabel.
John
Annabel
Your story is a fantastic one. Congrats on all your success. How could someone like myself even approach blogs like ProBlogger, CopyBlogger and ZenHabits to do a guest post? I’ve authored 53 posts since April 2010 which is when I started my blogging tips blog. I was featured on Freshly Pressed after on 29 days of blogging, but seem so lost now. I have only seven subscribers, and get very few comments. I think in total comments and replies I have 507. Lost in the Blogosphere.
Jaco
Hi Jaco, great to see you here and thanks for commenting:)
Plenty of tips on guest posting here: http://www.successfulblogging.com/how-to-score-a-guest-post-on-a-top-blog/
Also check out my post on blogging buddies re comments: http://www.successfulblogging.com/blog-buddies-and-the-web-party/
Hope that helps. Don’t forget to subscribe for more tips and keep at it:)
It’s funny, I ran right into your article, which has amazing in content. I wouldn’t worry about the marketing aspect! I think your writing is great, the message is very clear, and your consitency will pay off!
GP