Do you know why you are blogging? Do you have a plan? A vision, a goal? Can you write a paragraph that describes exactly where you want to be as a blogger in a year’s time? Five years time?
Are you blogging with purpose, to further that plan? Are you moving towards your goals every day? Are you happy with the way that the journey is going, to the extent that you can say that the journey is the best part and you love every single day that you are on this path? Can you enjoy the setbacks as well as the successes? Is it worth it every single day as you set down to post? Does it make you happy?
The one piece of advice that I am qualified to give you, as one human to another, is that if you truly decide that blogging is not for you - really believe deep in your heart, after due diligence on the decision, then you should walk away. Blogging without purpose is OK, even if the purpose is purely to get stuff off your chest.
If you would like to know how to articulate your blogging vision, let me know, and I’ll run through some ways to do just that.
Andrew
Thought you might enjoy this, which is very relevant.
http://www.alistercameron.com/2007/04/28/if-you-dont-have-passion-and-purpose-greater-productivity-wont-help-you/
Hi Meg,
thank you for your comment.
Alister’s article is a good one - it seems to go off the rails towards the end, but to be fair, it is better than most.
Best regards, Andrew
I had a clearly defined vision before I even contracted with a web host and started making content. Everything is coming along after the first 6 weeks, but I am a little impatient and it’s tough sometimes seeing small improvements when your aspirations are so much higher.
Hi mlankton,
thank you for your comment.
Most explosive growth in blogging is on the back of a lot of smaller incremental improvement - for most of us, growth only becomes noticeable after a couple of months. I like technorati because it allows me as a relatively new blogger to track changes in inbound links - and google analytics because it shows me daily traffic levels. These are not indications of success in and of themselves when the numbers are still low, but they do show progress (which is encouraging).
Best regards, Andrew