I am subscribed to half a gazillion newsletters from other bloggers. I rarely get a chance to read them, but this title caught my eye:
Why Blogging Without a Plan Leads to Failure
While this is actually a great article, the title got me thinking: I can’t say I’ve ever felt failure with a blog, and I’ve rarely planned anything.
When I sold Randomosity, I actually felt extremely accomplished. I had only owned it for about 7 months, and it was just supposed to be a hobby but it made me thousands of dollars. No complaints there, right? :) And guess what? It was a blog without a plan. That was the whole point of Randomosity, and it’s the whole point of my new blog – Slap Dash Mom. That is what people love about my blogs! They’re not like everyone else’s. They’re not scheduled. They’re not planned. But I provide unique, high quality content on a regular basis and my readers know what to expect.
This blog has been neglected a bit lately, but within a month of creation it was up to a 2 on page rank via Google. I’d say that’s a pretty big accomplishment. I’d say it’s at least a little bit of success, and is definitely the farthest thing from failure.
I think the only way your blog can fail is if you let it. Willpower, determination, hard work, research, and unique high quality content will keep your blog going, and going, and going… until you are ready to stop.
I’m not about to let any of my blogs fail, are you?
Now, I’m not saying you should start a blog half-cocked, or that every blog you create will be successful without a plan. If you want to make your blog a business, eventually some planning will be involved. Sometimes I’ll wake up and create a to-do list and it will look something like this:
- participate in blog groups
- write controversial post for Slap Dash Mom blog
- write helpful post for Sadie Lankford blog
- promote giveaway
- write lens for Squidoo
- promote for friends
Other days it will look like this:
- write post about making money with Squidoo
- create 3 threads in blog groups
- promote giveaway via the Ultimate Giveaway List
- create plan for improving sales on Squidoo
And still other days it will just say “get shit done”. So, sometimes there’s a plan and sometimes there’s not. The purpose of this post is just to let you know that it’s okay to not have an exact plan. It’s okay to not have your posts scheduled out 300 days in advance. When you read these blog posts, ones that are supposed to help you on your blogging path, just keep in mind that what works for them may not work for you. Find your own way, and take their advice along the way but in the end what works for you, works for you.
For more reading on this subject, try Don’t Clog the Blog: Dos and Dont’s of Blogging – it covers lots of tips that will work for pretty much everyone and it even includes 10 topic ideas to get you started with the brainstorming process. For $3.99 I’d say that’s a steal, but I may be a bit biased. :)
It all comes down to content, and traffic. Create great content, promote it, and they will come. If they don’t, go back to the drawing board.
My favorite places to promote my blog posts:
- StumbleUpon
- Blog Groups
It’s important that you don’t only promote your posts on these networks or people are going to get sick of you, really fast. You need to give in order to receive. Promote a friend’s post and they may return the favor. Heck, promote my post and I will return the favor if I see it! Email me and let me know that you promoted it and I’ll be sure to help you out in some way. When people see how generous you are about promoting posts, they will be more inclined to help you out when you need it.
Check out 21 Quick Actions for Massive Blog Success.
Stay determined. Stay focused. Never give up. If you want your blog to be successful, it will be! Just keep working on it.
If this post helped you, consider tweeting about it, and don’t forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter. Thanks!
Why #Blogging Without a Plan is Absolutely Fine sadielankford.com/2012/03/why-bl…
— Sadie Lankford (@sadie_lankford) March 30, 2012
Retweeted! Girl, we need to talk…you were making 1,000′s of dollars with a blog that was only 7 months old?? Hail to you!
Jodi recently posted..Save on Eversave: Space Saving Bags
Technically I made between $600-$1500 a month after about 3 months, but sold it for quite a bit more than that, so that made it thousands. ;)
Great advice Sadie. I especially like the line “promote for friends” on one of your to-do lists; something I’ve been preaching for years.
I can’t function without a to-do list. My biggest problem is they carry on into the next day because I keep adding new tasks throughout the day.
I noticed you included Reddit, a place I’ve all but been avoiding. In fact, I just submitted my first link in months there this morning. Are you getting traffic from Reddit?
Brian D. Hawkins recently posted..Connecting Google Plus And YouTube
I have gotten traffic on my other blog from reddit (about 1,600 views in one day, and now about 100 views a day since then), but haven’t had as much luck on the techy topics yet.