Has the penny dropped yet?
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I’m going through a very interesting part of my journey with blogging at the moment, and as you may have noticed in my posts I am writing about what I am going through. As much for me as anyone else, as it helps cement my ideas and what I am thinking in my mind when I see them in print.
What’s been the problem?
I became a bit stagnant with my blogs and I was having trouble deciding what I should post about next, which in turn has affected how often I posted. So of course I started to look at my blogs as a whole and check my direction, which resulted in being a little bit off. I then set myself a 30 day challenge to try and get myself back on track and focussed.
I’m now reaching the middle of that challenge and I’ve found it’s been incredibly easy to get side tracked and absorbed into some of the blogs I’ve been commenting on, instead of getting on with the job in hand. Like Problogger starting a series looking at top bloggers tipping points for instance. I was getting side tracked mainly because there are some fantastic blogs out there with really absorbing content, so much so that I found myself reading the blogs far too much. And also I was looking for answers…
What did I find
Then I came across the Blogging Experiment, a blog that has recently been bought by Max Davis, he has made some changes and been putting out some interesting content, in other words he’s really turned the blog around. Before the other day I think I had maybe visited the site once when under the previous owner. But now there was something different in the content that stopped me dead in my tracks and made me read on.
He is showing how to turn the blog around and how to make money on the internet, all stuff I have read before (a lot) and it’s never impacted me like it did this day. It wasn’t so much the content although that helped, it was more the timing of when I read the post. It’s really affected me in a positive way.
I was being cautious and just trying different things out going from one post to the next without moving on with my plans, I wanted to build more readers first. That was just an excuse, I didn’t believe in myself. I don’t feel the need to wait anymore, the kick I was waiting for has happened. I wasn’t aiming high enough, but a shift in my mindset and how I look at my blogging has given me the belief I was lacking.
I knew the answer already!
It’s been like the penny has dropped. I have to start seeing my blogs as a business and look at the planning and growth of them first and foremost. Instead of concentrating on the blogging part alone by that I mean SEO, posting, traffic, design, commenting etc… and losing sight of the plan I originally had for the blogs. I need to look at the plan first, what do I want to accomplish and achieve? Then write it down and base the blogging around that. If I get my mindset and plan for the blogs right first, then everything else will follow. It may sound confusing, it sounds like they are all part of the same process, but it is a subtle mindset change. And that’s what’s going to be important and really make the difference to my blogging.
The Blogging Experiment does focus on the money side and how to make it, and I’m not going to hide that I want to make money from my blogging, but that is only part of what I want to achieve.
What are the odds on that…
For that moment in time all the planets must have been aligned or something, because it must be a million to one chance of me finding that post just when I needed it like that. I have read tons on having the right mindset and it’s simply not sunk in like this. But by just reading that one article I was able to adapt it to my situation and how I was feeling, and my brain seems to have switched on like a light bulb.
It’s not that I’ve got lots of new ideas, it’s just that I’ve remembered my old ones and got a new perspective on my way forward. I’m now itching to get to my computer and have a long to do list.
Have you felt like this?
I want to share this, I so often read how people got to where they are and how they did it. But it’s not easily replicated. You do have to do it for yourself and find your own way through the blogging minefield, there’s no definitive right or wrong way to do it. It’s individual and that’s the attraction to blogging for many, the fact you can mold a blog into whatever you want it to be. And that’s why I want to share the hardest part of the journey and not pretend it didn’t happen, to show everyone goes through difficult times but it’s possible to come out the other side. I get my strength from the hard parts, and I hope others will too from reading this.
Mandy
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4 Responses to “Has the penny dropped yet?”
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Hi Mandy,
Just read your post, great stuff! It’s funny how one thing can make it all “click”. I’m glad you were able to get value out of that post and wish you all the best…
Max
Thanks Max,
I’ll be able to refer to that post again when I write my success post!!!
Mandy
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