I would never blame anyone but myself for my failures. I realize my issue list is long. In my younger days I was always seeking that magic bullet. In recent years I have a real problem with sticking to an idea long term. I am constantly spreading myself too thin by launching into a new idea while still trying to manage forty others.
Whenever I’ve launched blogs in the past, I’ve made an honest effort to research and employ the methods mentioned by the more successful blogs out there. Maybe not all of them, but I have tried quite a few things I came across. For the most part I was trusting what I read because I enjoyed the writing of the experts and I trusted they knew more than I did. I figured if they say they employ a technique with success, and they are making decent money, it must be worth trying.
Here’s a short list of some blog building tips I’ve found that only seem to add confusion to building a new blog.
Social Media: Is it wise to build a social media following or not?
Darren Rowse from ProBlogger has an entire page dedicated to growing your blogs traffic with social media.
Jon Morrow at BoostBlogTraffic says don’t waste time on Social Media sites as his #10 of 20 lessons to go from 0 to 100K a month.
Is content king or not?
Nicholas at IncomeDiary says to Write a Ton of Posts as #9 of 10 things to do on day one.
Derek of SocialTriggers lists Creating Too Much Content as his #1 time waster.
Should I put ads on my blog?
John Chow of JohnChow is a proponent of placing blogs ads from day one and doesn’t worry about placing too many ads on his site.
Sarah Peterson at BoostBlogTraffic gives 13 reasons why blog ads are a silly monetization strategy.
Should I write long posts, or short posts?
Jim Estill in his post at CopyBlogger thinks Shorter is Better.
Marcus Sheridan at TheSalesLion believes Long Content and Blog Posts are the Future.
These four are just surface issues. There’s a ton more to consider for each one. For example, I bet we could get into a lot more detail and have a lively debate on how much should be written and how often, but imagine for a moment the new blogger trying to wade through these contradictions during their initial blog writing self education. No wonder so many people fail.
Perhaps the length of a post depends on the topic, or maybe it’s less about the content and more dependent on the intended audience. In creative writing, a novel is longer because it includes the inner thoughts and emotions of the characters, while the screenplay is the shorter version of the story that only includes what you will see on the screen. You can tell the same story two different ways, but the question is, who am I writing for besides myself?
It might also relate to where the authors strengths lie. If a blogger has the ability to weave magic with words while getting the point across and still managing to keep the readers entertained, I’d consider that a novel blogger. If you find you can get your point across completely by saying less and still leaving a lasting impression from a poignant message, you’re a screenwriting blogger.
Then there’s the post-it note type blogger like me who needs to keep things incredibly brief to avoid jumping into a different post before the previous one is even finished. I’ve started about 6 posts since I began this one and before I finished it. True story. Sad though. Hey, look, a butterfly.