Don’t Give Up on Your Blog: Advice for First-Six Month Bloggers

Go online and you’ll find evidence of countless blog failures. Most of these

failures occur within the first six months after the first published post. Why is

this? What causes a blogger to just give up? Want my unsolicited advice? Don’t

give up! This is my advice for first-six month bloggers!

Don’t Give Up on Your Blog: Advice for First-Six Month Bloggers

I received an email from an HR Blogging contact I had met in a Google+

Community last summer. This person reached out to me seeking advice on

blogging and wanted to know how to stay motivated to continue and increase

blog performance. Honestly, I don't recall all of my suggestions. I wondered,

"Why choose me?" I was relatively new to the blogging universe. I certainly didn’t

want to give any advice that would prove harmful to this person’s blog so I chose

my words with great care.

I told the person to tell a story and that blogging centered around the need and

want to write. You must love what you do to find the story. Regardless of the

blog, I knew this to be true. I, too, echo the love to write as my nature is a

storyteller at heart.

Finding a Story

Any writer in any medium may pose the

following questions:

• What should I write?

• What topic should I choose?

• How will I know who will read what I write?

• How can I find topics?

Have you ever asked these questions? (I think, if honest, we would ALL say “yes”

to the question.)

Three Suggestions:

1. Look for stories anywhere.

2. Don't think too hard but look for them.

3. It's a story and, as The Doctor always says....We are all stories in the end.

Think of What You are Writing

When you think of writing I urge you to think of what you are writing.

No, you didn’t read it wrong.

Yes, the sentence is as I intended.

When you think of writing, I urge you to think of what you are writing.

What does this mean? It means that writers should not write what one

might THINK someone wants but what you FEEL you want to write. Don't expect

to write a 10 point how-to or an in-depth discussion of XYZ topic on every single

post.

Ø Write about you.....that is what is unique.

Ø Write about a class discussion and how it changed/did not change your

perception of the topic.

Ø Write about the paper you wrote and learning about XYZ topic during the

process.

Ø Write about the really great/really bad day you had during your HR (or any

other type of) education.

Ø Write about your first time watching a TV show (Doctor Who...hint, hint)

and your impressions of it.

Ø The lists and article posts are great but it is those who make you feel

something that you remember. It is also those that make others come

back.

Ø Also, don't be too aggressive with your posts. What I mean is - one posts

every 7-10 days...that might be enough for now. Just make a pattern and

post consistently.

Final Recommendations

Expect and embrace failure.

Don’t Expect to be perfect.