It was the two year anniversary for my blog at the beginning of May and in that time I’ve published 150 blog posts.
Over that time my blog has evolved in both design and content as I’ve become more confident.
It’s definitely true that the more often you write, the easier it becomes and hopefully I’ve also become a better writer.
When I think back to when I started this blog, it’s taken me all of this time to feel comfortable with it.
Maintaining a blog isn’t easy but it does become second nature after a while.
There are some questions that I ask myself from time to time which I think everyone who writes a blog should consider.
…As a way of staying on track and keeping motivation going at the very least.
Are these questions that might help you stay focussed too? Let’s find out!
WOULD I READ MY BLOG IF IT WASN’T MINE?
At the beginning of a blog’s life, you might not think this question has any relevance.
However with the amount of people out there starting a blog at this very moment we all need to make sure we constantly produce good quality content.
That means from the outset you need to ask yourself whether what you’re producing is something that you’d actually read.
If it isn’t then you might be wasting your time because others will also feel the same way.
Sometimes you need to bite the bullet and go in a different direction or change your style of writing.
After all, if no-one’s reading or going to read your posts, what’s the point in writing them?
Either way, if you’re not happy with your current efforts, take a look at these posts for inspiration.
AM I HIDING BEHIND MY BLOG?
An interesting question this one and to a certain extent every now and again I find myself doing this.
People are interested to see the face behind your site so make sure you at least have your face image at the very least on your About Me page.
Blogging is in many ways about generating trust and if you have a faceless blog, you may find this much harder to achieve.
Following on from that, make sure if you use blog commenting as a traffic generation strategy that you get yourself a Gravatar.
There’s nothing worse than leaving a comment on a blog and you don’t have one because your comment may go straight to spam.
Signing up for a Gravatar is free and will mean that you’ve got a better chance of your comment at least getting viewed by the blog owner,
From there, it’s up to your commenting skills as to whether it will get approved.
AM I MAKING THE MOST OF OPPORTUNITIES THAT COME MY WAY?
Have you ever been asked to do a guest post, a podcast, an interview or anything similar as a blogger? Did you take those opportunities?
If you’re an introvert like me, it can be hard enough to publish a post on your own blog at times but those kind of opportunities are something that you need to take.
It’s this kind of networking and promotion that will bring more traffic, raise your profile and give you further opportunities to grow your blog.
Hiding behind your blog will more than likely bring nothing but stagnation and ultimately demotivation.
Don’t despair though, because the situation can be salvaged. The worst thing you can do is give up at the point where you’re starting to make waves!
I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve taken some opportunities but not all of them.
I need to change that but my own circumstances don’t always allow me to, although there is also anxiety behind some decisions I’ve made too.
How about you? Do you hide behind your blog sometimes?
AM I HAPPY?
The life of a blogger means spending quite a lot of time staring at a computer screen.
It’s important that you don’t become a recluse and end up being there all the time!
Recently I’ve had to spend more time away from my blog than I’d ideally like because my daughter broke her arm.
In actual fact though, it has done me good to be doing other things for a while and to switch off from the blogging scene.
Taking time out can help you restore your motivation, think up new ideas and evaluate where you’re at.
It also helped me to see that I’d become unhappy with blogging – that’s not to say that I was ready to hang up my boots.
More that I’d got stuck in a rut and needed to do something else for a couple of weeks.
So I took some time away from blogging and social media but I’m sure you’d be surprised to hear that the world didn’t end!
In all seriousness though, if you’re not happy with how things are going with your blog, maybe you need to take a break like I just have.
You’ll find that you come back with renewed vigour and energy and will be raring to go.
Have you asked yourself lately if you’re happy?
LET’S TALK IN THE COMMENT SECTION
First of all, if you’d like to, please let me know your answer to these questions.
Are they the sorts of things you ever ask yourself? What do you do about it?
Last but not least, please share this post on your favourite social media networks.
