by Edie Melson @EdieMelson
It's almost October and in honor of Halloween, I just couldn't resist a tongue-in-cheek post about the scarier parts of blogging. After spending the year traveling and teaching writers about blogging, I have heard about every fear—heck, I’ve suffered from most of them. So today we’re going to look at some common fears about blogging and how to overcome them!
Remember, none of us is born knowing how to do this stuff. So let's find a way to combat our phobias together!
Overcome These 8 Common Blogging Fears
1. An Effective Title. I know that the title of a blog post has a huge impact on whether someone can find it in a Google search. Truthfully, I spend as much time coming up with a title as I do writing a post. But here’s an excellent tool—shared by the amazing Susan U. Neal: ADVANCED MARKETING INSTITUTE HEADLINE ANALYZER. The key to using this too is try for a score of 40 or higher!
2. Search Engine Optimization. Once I figured out how to do it, it was easy. But it just sounds super technical and super scary. I’ve broken down the process step-by-step here in the post, HOW TO APPLY SEO TO YOUR BLOG—ONE BLOGGER’S PROCESS to help take the scary out of this skill.
3. Blog Formatting. Formatting a blog is critical to getting post read and found. But this skill can be overwhelming, so this blog post, BLOG FORMATTING TIPS will help you figure out what you need to do to make sure it’s easy to read!
4. Sticking with a schedule. I am absolutely adamant about staying on a schedule with this site. But it's something that hasn't always been easy for me. I can tell you that keeping a schedule is something that separates the professionals from the hobbyists. Our own Katy Kauffman has this one covered in her post, MAP OUT YOUR BLOGGING CALENDAR WITH THESE 10 TIPS.
5. Finding free/copyright free images. I used to agonize over finding just the right picture to illustrate my site and NOT infringe on someone else's copyright. Now I have 2 places I use to find images. HTTP://WWW.PIXABAY.COM/ and HTTP://WWW.UNSPLASH.COM/. Both have only Creative Common License 0 images and are easy to use. They have the highest quality images and I recommend both sites without reservation.
6. Getting Comments. I used to struggle with this one. But I discovered one key was to use open-ended questions or a call to action. But knowing the solution still left me struggling. It was hard to come up with questions that were natural and encouraged conversation. In the blog post, 7 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE CONVERSATION ON YOUR BLOG, I share the basics of how to get more comments.
7. Fighting burnout. Yep, been there, done that. Blogging sounds like a good idea—and is a great way to connect with our audience. But after about 3 or 4 posts it becomes work. Life interferes, it's hard to come up with what to write about, and it feels like we're writing to an audience of zero. When this happens we've have to find the way to persevere through the hard times. For this one, I recommend the blog post, WHEN A WRITER IS STRESSED, A LIST OF WHAT NOT TO DO.
8. Inconsistent numbers. I used to think that if I was doing it right, my blog would grow—consistently. The truth is there's nothing consistent about blogging numbers. They're impacted by the seasons, the weather, even what's happening in our world. I've learned to remember that each number is represented by a person, and every single person deserves my best. I have two blog posts regarding this issue, first, BLOG NUMBERS DROPPING? And second, HOW FAST SHOULD MY BLOG GROW?
These are the things I've struggled with over my years of blogging. I'd love to now what you'd add to my list of Reasons Blogging Can Be Scary.
Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
TWEETABLE
These are always valuable tips, but sometimes we forget to use them all. Thanks for this reminder, Edie!
ReplyDelete