Motivation During Creating Your Blog

When you launch a new blog, you’re full of energy. You might write a post every day, you might be commenting all over the place, determined that your blog is going to be a success.

But as the days and weeks go by, your motivation starts to fade. Perhaps you could count your daily hits on your fingers. Maybe getting to 100 RSS subscribers seems impossible. Your only comments are from your mom. Plus, you’ve got a busy life. Your posting schedule starts to slip. A few days go by between posts. Then you go on vacation, and its a few weeks. You end up posting an apology for not posting. No-one seems to care.

But if you quit, then you’re never going to reach any of your goals. Here’s how to find the motivation you need.

Promise Yourself Six Months

When I started my first “pro” blog, I told myself that, however few readers I had, and however hard I found it to write, I’d stick with it for at least six months. In those early months when it felt like no-one was reading my blog, I focused on that commitment.

Unless you’re either very lucky, or have previous experience blogging, it’s going to take at least six months (and probably a year or two) to build up a serious following online. But if you never make it past that six month hurdle, you’ll never succeed in your blogging aims.

You can stick with your blog and give it your best shot, for just six months. If you’re still not seeing the growth, readership or results that you want after that time, then you can reconsider.

Get Into a Writing Routine

How often have you put off writing a blog post because you weren’t in the mood to sit down and write? How often have you let a week or a month go by without blogging, because somehow you never quite found the time?

If you’re aiming to be a professional blogger, you’re also aiming to be a professional writer. This means getting into the habit of writing on a regular basis. You don’t necessarily need to write every single day, but you do need to establish a good routine.

That means working out:

· How much time you can realistically commit. Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint: don’t burn out by using up all your energy too early on.

· Your best time of day to write.

· A place where you can write without distractions.

I’d suggest trying to commit a minimum of two hours a week for just writing for your blog. (Not reading, commenting, Twittering or anything else!) If you can commit more time, that’s great – but two hours is long enough to write one or two good blog posts.

Time of day makes more difference than you might think. Even if you’re not generally a morning person, you might find it easier to write before a day’s work than after it. Alternatively, you may be able to focus best if you write in your lunch hour (when you know only have a limited amount of time – so you have to get on with it).

Finding the right place is important too. No-one can write well with the television blaring and kids running around. Or you could try your local library or just a room in your house where you can shut the door and tell the family not to disturb you.

Make it Interesting

I’ve got a poster titled “The Only 12 ½ Writing Rules You’ll Ever Need“. Rule 2 is:

If it’s boring to you, it’s boring to your reader.

If you’re lacking motivation because you’re trying to write about something which bores you, then there’s a good chance that it’s not going to be of much interest to your readers either. Unless you’ve created a blog purely for the purposes of getting search engine traffic and encouraging ad clicks, you’ll want readers who are actually going to stick around.

Sometimes, of course, you’ll be writing a post which isn’t necessarily end-to-end thrills. Perhaps you’ve been working in your particular field for years, but you’re writing a beginners’ guide. So how can you keep it interesting for you – and for your reader?

· Find a new angle. You might come up with a clever comparison which brings a fresh insight to a well-covered area.

· Make it extraordinary. Don’t just rehash the same old posts on every blog in your niche – take it to a whole new level. Write, edit and proofread so that your post is as well-written as possible. Find images or illustrations that really enhance what you’re saying.

· Tell a story. Not only do stories grab attention, they’re also memorable.

Keep Your Readers in Mind

Even if your blog only gets a handful of readers every day, there are people out there reading and enjoying your content. When you’re lacking motivation, it helps to focus on your readers. You might create an “ideal reader“—perhaps an enthusiastic beginner in your niche. When you write, you can imagine that you’re addressing this reader directly.

Sometimes, I’ve written blog posts in response to a reader’s question or a comment on my blog. These posts are often easy to write because:

* Someone else has provided me with a starting point
* I know that the answer matters to at least one person in the world!

If your reader numbers are too low to motivate you, then think about the future readers for your posts. If someone comes across this post in a year or two, when your blog has grown hugely, it could still be just as impactful as it is for someone who reads it on the day you publish it.

Most of us get a great sense of achievement and happiness from genuinely helping someone. If you write a useful, interesting, engaging blog post, you will be helping people – and you’ll see your blog grow. It’s a motivation loop: the more you can help your readers, the more readers you’ll have, and the keener you’ll be to blog!