Blogging is serious work, and if you can take a realistic approach that allows for gradual growth, you’ll be more likely to stick with it and maintain a positive outlook about the direction of the blog.
However, other blogs aren’t the only challenges to building a successful blog. In this article, we’ll take a look at 8 challenges for bloggers and some ways to overcome them.
1. Blogger’s Burnout
Blogger burnout is probably the number one reason that most bloggers give up, they simply get tired of working on their blog and bored with the tasks involved.
A new blog usually brings a lot of excitement and energy for a blogger, but over a period of time, it becomes much more of a chore and less fun.
The most important key for overcoming bloggers' block is to start with a topic that you really enjoy. If you are not passionate about the subject matter of your blog, you will have a much more difficult time staying consistently motivated.
A second key to avoid burnout is simply being realistic. Bloggers that expect or hope to make a fortune in a matter of a few months are the ones that quit in almost no time.
Burnout often happens because too much time and energy is devoted to blogging in a short period of time. A third key to avoiding burnout is scheduling.
Try to give yourself specific times to work on the blog and do your best to stick with the schedule. Spending too much time on blogging can sometimes be as bad for your blogging health as not spending enough time on it. Balance is always important.
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2. Content Creation
Content is king, and coming up with that content is a never-ending challenge. Just when you published a great post and you thought you could relax and enjoy it, your readers will be waiting and expecting another quality post.
If you want to overcome this obstacle, focus on quality rather than quantity. Don’t feel like you have to publish 4 posts a day and you’ll fail if you don’t. Content creation can be less taxing when you can take the necessary time to create your best work.
Scheduling is important again here too. Be sure to plan times for developing new content and try to work ahead whenever possible. Nothing puts more pressure on you than sitting down at the computer and knowing that you need to produce something in 40 minutes with no ideas to start from.
Planning and working ahead can relieve a lot of that pressure. Keeping a notebook of ideas is a good habit to develop. That way you’ll always have a starting point when you need an article and you won’t forget half of those great ideas that you have.
Some bloggers choose to deal with this challenge by hiring writers or using guest posts from other bloggers. If your blog is able to produce enough income to cover the expenses of hiring writers it may be a good move if you are struggling to consistently produce content on your own.
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3. Making Money
A lot of blogs have the goal of making money, and the number of these blogs is increasing every day. Blogging does not generate revenue, which is another reason why bloggers quit.
The challenge of making money can be overcome by breaking it up and earning a small amount of money from a few different sources.
For example, if you are selling banner ads, you may also want to consider doing some paid reviews or affiliate marketing to supplement your income. There are a number of different ways to make money from a blog, so don’t limit yourself to just one method that will cap your income.
Some bloggers spend all of their time and energy trying to find the best way to monetize blog, and they miss out on what’s truly important about being a successful blogger. If you want to make money with your blog, focus on serving your readers by providing the best content possible. If you are able to do this, the opportunity to make money will come as a result.
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4. Drive Traffic
Some new bloggers do not give much thought to how they are going to drive traffic to their websites. Most bloggers face this challenge every day, so most of us can relate.
In order to increase your blog traffic, you should focus on quality. You attract readers to your blog because of the quality of your content. Traffic will eventually come if the content is consistently good.
Much like the key to making money is not limiting yourself to one source, the key with traffic is to focus on building diversity.
Don’t spend all of your time obsessing over search engine rankings, get out there and build some traffic from a variety of sources. Use social media, comment on other blogs, link out to others, work on building inbound links, do all of these things and the traffic will add up.
Growing your network can also help to generate a significant amount of traffic. Make an effort to get to know other bloggers in your niche and find ways to help each other.
Those in your network will be more likely to link out to you, to refer readers to you, and vote for you at social media sites.
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5. Your Consistency
Bloggers who are successful keep their blogs updated at least somewhat regularly. Although they don't always post on schedule, they don't have long gaps in which there isn't any content.
One of the keys to overcoming the challenge of consistency is to treat your blog like a business. That’s essentially what it is, so why not give it the same respect that you would give a brick-and-mortar business?
If you see your blog as a business and an asset, you’ll have less trouble finding the time to publish new posts consistently.
Publishing consistently is much easier if you always have a few spare blog posts ready to go in case you find yourself with no time to write new content.
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6. Getting BackLinks from Other Blogs
There are many reasons to build links, including ranking higher in search engine results, attracting new visitors, and increased visibility. Many bloggers seem to be gaining a lot of new links, while others struggle to do so.
An easy way to get started with Link Building is by participating in blog roundups. A blog roundup is essentially a group of links to blog posts on a specific topic published on a host blog.
Anyone can submit a link for inclusion in the carnival, although the blog roundup organizer will make the decision on which links are included.
Linking out to other bloggers is another strategy that you will read about. The biggest and most popular blogs are often linked to by new bloggers in hopes that they will reciprocate. There is little chance of this happening. Linking to other small blogs will be much more appreciated (at least by other new bloggers), as they will notice and appreciate the gesture.
Reciprocal linking gets a bad rap from a lot of bloggers and marketers today, but when done in moderation it can still be effective. While Google may penalize those who go overboard and exchange links with hundreds of sites, a smaller number of reciprocal links can do more good than harm.
Find a few bloggers with a similar audience as yours and exchange blogroll links or links to specific blog posts.
Blog submissions are another easy way to gain some links. There are plenty of free blog submissions sites to submit to, and all it takes is a little bit of time.
7. Getting Readers' Comments
Most bloggers hope to receive a lot of comments and valuable feedback, but sometimes it's hard to get any feedback. The quantity and quality of comments on your blog will typically be an indicator of what type of community you have developed.
One of the easiest ways to get more comments is to simply ask for them. Let readers know that you value their opinions and ask them what they think about the topics discussed in your blog posts. You may be surprised at how much of a difference a simple question can make.
Commenting on other blogs is another way to generate comments on your own blog. If you comment on small blogs in your niche, many of them will click through to your blog and return the favor.
It’s also important to reply to the comments that readers leave so that you can develop more meaningful conversations and so that readers know you are paying attention to their feedback.
The topics that you write about can also have a big influence on the comments that you get. Posts that are on hot topics, breaking news, or controversial issues will usually draw significantly more comments than your average blog post.
In addition to what you write about, the frequency can also be a contributing factor. If you publish posts very frequently, readers may not have as much time to comment on anyone's post, and as a result, they’ll all get fewer comments.
8. First impressions
Bloggers often struggle to get the exposure they need in order to succeed. It really doesn't matter how high the quality of your content is if no one will read it.
Fortunately, there are a number of different ways to gain some much-needed exposure for your new blog. From my experience, connecting with pro bloggers is one of the best things you can do. When I was new to blogging this was one of my most effective methods for getting my writing in front of others and it helps to network with other bloggers.
Conclusion
As a blogger, you will face all the challenges to be continually learning and developing. Be sure to allow time to read other blogs in your niche and find great content with social media. Many bloggers find themselves subscribing to hundreds of other blogs, which of course limits how many they can actually read and digest.
In addition to learning by reading other blogs, you can also learn a lot through the posts that you write for your own blog. Be sure to choose some topics that will challenge and stretch you. Don’t settle for covering only basic topics that you could write about in your sleep. The writing and research process is a great learning tool.
You may also need to stand out somehow in addition to simply creating the best content you can. How can you make yourself stand out and make others want to follow you?
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