Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Are You at a Blogging Crossroads?

August 31, 2009 | Advice

This is a guest post from Nathan Hangen, a webrepreneur, social media consultant, and triathlete. He authors the Webrepreneur Blog.

I remember some time ago when I was thinking about giving up blogging. I wasn’t getting many comments and my page views were inconsistent. It seemed like I was putting more work in than I was getting out and although I wasn’t really dying to make money with it, I wanted to at least feel like I was contributing something.

confusing_directions6 months later, things are moving in my direction and I’m extremely grateful that I stayed with it. Looking back, I can see where the crossroads occurred and I know exactly what I did to get passed it. I’d like to share that experience with you so that you can do the same.

The first thing I did was to hone my niche down to a much narrower range so that people knew what they would get when they came to my blog. Previously, I was blogging about anything that came to mind. Although that was fun, it wasn’t productive and led to an inconsistent readership. Narrowing my focus to motivational posts about making money online and starting your own business started bringing people around much more often.

The next thing I did was to sign up for every blog newsletter in my niche and comment as often as I could using relevant and professional posts. I didn’t comment if I didn’t have anything to say, but I tried to comment as often as I could. I wasn’t worried about being first, but I tried to respond to replies and stay as active on as many fronts as I could. Although this didn’t bring me a ton of traffic, it did help me get to know the bloggers I commented on and their readers.

Next, I started submitting guest posts, some would say I did this too often. I started giving away my best content to other blogs. If I wrote a post that I thought was better than my normal stuff, I set it aside and found a blog to give it to. I’m a firm believer that giving content away is the best way to attract others, and it really worked well for me. The backlinks were great, but the relationship I built with bloggers and new readers was what made this worthwhile. I still (obviously) do this as often as I can. Getting heard is more important than bringing people back to your site. Creating an authority presence works wonders for long term success.

Now that I had posts all over the web, I realized that my own blog had to live up to those I submitted to. This meant I had to start posting regularly on my own blog, so I started posting 3 times per week on the same day of every week. I started working harder to make sure my posts were worth reading, and I tried to clean up my look. Having congruency in messaging is important for keeping people around past that first click to your blog.

Lastly, I made sure to spend time meeting new people online via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I try to spend time on the social web as often as possible and although my time is limited, I’ve found that connections are worth their virtual weight in gold. I’ve made more great connections in the past few months than I did in the previous year. All from reaching out, connecting, and trying to contribute to the community.

I’m still not where I want to be, but I’m certainly getting closer than I’ve ever been. The key is to not give up, realize where you are at, and find a way to get to the next stop in the road. It isn’t hard, but it is hard work. Then again, working this hard has never been so fun.

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  • I have been doing pretty much everything you have mentioned in your post the last few months (except for guest posting) and have seen a dramatic increase in visitors and commentors to our site, as well as moving up quickly in the search engines.
  • I think people definitely go through stages of blogging - it evolves organically as people figure out what they want to do. Seems like a natural, although somewhat painful process!
  • darn it, the form filled in the wrong URL for my last comment. It was supposed to be my Niche Site. Not the painkillers site.
    oh well..
    Larry
  • David, Listeneed to the podcast at Yaros site, and then got your blueprint and the audio version. been listening to the audio over and over. Funny as hell. I'm in Yaros mastermind course and I might come over adn do your course after his.
    I really liked the audio version and you are just my style. Yaros good, but theres personal style and you hit mine on the nose. Don't take this wrong I am not frowning on Yaro at all, your style hits a button.
    anyway I really enjoyed the blueprint and I will be back for more.
    Thanks,
    Larry C.
  • Great article Nathan.

    You touched many of us newbies here. Some days it can be hard to get bye or over those road bumps. But like you say the key is not to give up. Road bumps usually tells you to slow down and look around. If we give up by every road bump we experience then it is not a road bump any more but a road block.

    This article is bookmarked and I give it a tweet.

    Cheers.. Are
  • Great article, sometimes its hard to see the wood for the trees, with so much conflicting info you can get lost the whirl of it all, how do you get through the info to establish the correct route?
  • Thanks for the article, Nathan.

    I can surely relate to this, having been there a time or two. You've got a few strategic gems embedded in that article.

    Thanks again for sharing.
  • Thanks for the comments everyone. A perfectionist like me is probably never going to be happy with how things are, but there is something to be said for just sticking it out and never giving up. If you aren't getting the experience you want, then you can seek to change the experience.
  • Great post, I think everyone comes to that crossroads in their blogging career, but when you are there is seems like a lonely place.
  • I have definitely been at those crossroads several times in my career Nathan. Those are usually the defining moments between success and failure. If people can make it down the road just a little further, often success is there with open arms. Unfortunately, most people give up and take another path and have to start all over again doing something else, and most of the time come to another crossroad eventually.

    I have been doing pretty much everything you have mentioned in your post the last few months (except for guest posting) and have seen a dramatic increase in visitors and commentors to our site, as well as moving up quickly in the search engines. Now I think I need to start Guest Posting as well! Thanks!
  • gregellison
    Keep on trying and never give up that is the key in life. Greg Ellison
  • Right. But again most of the times you'd get into a crossroad, you'd probably pick the wrong way and fail. The point is just never stop learning and trying. Everytime I look back on how I got started, I always find myself shaking my head but that's always part of it..
  • This is a very timely reminder. I'm not disappointed with where my blog is at the moment, but I am trying to take it to the next level. Up to this point, I haven't used A LOT of social media, but have used other methods for driving traffic.

    These tips that you gave are definitely solid tips and I plan on using them more. I mean, it has obviously worked because right after writing this comment, I will be clicking on that link and heading over to your blog :)

    Thanks for the article!
  • Thank you for this article. That is exactly what i feel often. to much choices. to much possibilities. and the feeling - there isn't enough time.

    These thoughts may help me. And hopefully some other to. Not only Bloggers...
    So I will stay (more) focused.

    Greetings from Germany
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