As we all know, there is more to building a blog than installing software, putting up a design, writing some posts and crossing your fingers for a ton of comments and readers. There are a lot of difficulties and challenges that you will face along the way to a successful blog. I feel like I’m repeating myself by saying that, but it’s the god honest truth.
I can’t list for you every single challenge you will face, because the situations and scenarios you get into are going to be different for each person. But I came up with a few very common problems I think are pretty important. Think of this as a Part II to our recent post “Overcoming Blogging Barriers.”
1. Something That Has Been Constant On Your Blog Loses Momentum
Anything on your blog that has to do with numbers (statistical information basically) is always changing. The number of unique visitors you get a day, subscriber counts, comments per post, etc. are all things that will be different every day. However, these things can all remain within the same ballpark with each passing day.
Over time however, you will start to notice that the numbers you are seeing change more drastically — lower or higher. If you see those once constant numbers start to drop, you have a problem.
Steps to regaining that momentum
- Take notes while still at a constant rate
- Analyze those numbers
- Make use of your data
Keep a note of anything you are doing for your blog. Take into account anywhere you advertise your blog, how long you write your posts, how you communicate with commentators, everything. What’s a better way to get back to into a consistent state than using the methods that got you there in the first place?
Look at that number when it was at its highest and still going consistently if you keep logs. Stuff like traffic, RSS count, comments, downloads, etc. are all things that can monitored.
You took your notes on how you kept going strong, and you analyzed your top days. Now put into effect what you have learned from your past and try to get back to your better days.
2. Much Effort Goes Unnoticed, While Lesser Effort Takes the Spotlight
This isn’t something that is 100% negative. I see it as more of a positive thing, but the one thing I find to be bad about seeing this occurring very often on your blog is the idea of “less work with great reward” will start to grow on you too early.
I see this as a kind of depressing thing too. Think about it, you spend all of this time and put in all of this thought into something and it doesn’t get the response that something with much less effort gets.
Tips for reversing this (if you want)
- Take that “small idea” that got so much popularity and add a lot more detail to it. If you wrote a small post that got a lot of attention, try expanding it into something larger.
- Market your effort better. Spread the word about your unnoticed post and try some experimental stuff along with it. You never know, it may have done bad the first time around, but round two could be where you get the attention you think you deserve.
- ANALYZE. For example, it is astounding how something like little posts we make can do so much better than the big posts we do. Obviously you over thought something and it didn’t work for you. Take whatever it is from your smaller venture, and apply the first tip to it!
3. The Underdog Catches You
You may have been blogging for months about a certain topic, and then one day you visit a new blog covering the same stuff as you. Have you ever seen that blog, and thought that they are nothing compared to you? You beat them in everything — design, content, community, traffic, EVERYTHING. It’s quite an ego builder honestly, and over inflated egos never work out well!
A few months pass, and you end up at that underdog blog again. And they’re kicking your ass, or are catching up to your status in just about every category. Talk about embarrassing right?
Tips for controlling that ego when it comes to smaller bloggers
- Don’t ever see yourself as better than anyone else. Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone does eventually get somewhere. Just because they are your competition doesn’t mean for a second that it is okay to compare yourself.
- Try and become friends with them. If you’re interested in their blog, drop a few comments. It doesn’t hurt to build a relationship with new bloggers. Plus, don’t you remember when you first started blogging how amazingly accomplished you felt to get even one comment on a post?
- Don’t look at it as competition, but motivation and appreciation. How cool is it that someone who has been blogging for a less amount of time for you has better statistics than you? Sure, it may be a little discouraging, but it is just another discouragement I think you should see as an encouragement.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Some things that happen on your blog are just things you could have never predicted to happen. Some of these things can just be a total let down to you, but no sane person ever said that building a successful blog came without challenges.
Let me know how you deal with these types of situations, and feel free to share any stories of how something you thought would never happen to you happened!
Photo by zetson
19 Discussions
It is so easy to take our eye off the ball when everything is going great and we fail to notice that we are losing momentum until it is too late. I love your point about taking notes when things are going well!
Tom – StandOutBlogger.com’s last blog post..FREE EBOOK: ‘7 Traits Of A Successful Blogger’
You’re dead on with that statement Tom. I have been slacking on promoting this blog because the traffic that has been coming to it over the past few weeks has been very good and just started slacking.
Thanks for stopping by, and I like the new design on StandOutBlogger. Good luck with everything, and congrats on the engagement!
Great, inspiring, eyeopener post Alex. Tweeted it.
Impressed by just these two posts, Part I and II, I’m adding this blog to my watch list of “Blogs On Blogging Tips That New Bloggers Should Not Miss Reading” (See link below) and to my feed reader. Keep pouring great contents and thoughts Alex.
Rajasekharan’s last blog post..Blogs On Blogging Tips That New Bloggers Should Not Miss Reading
Thanks for the tweet, really appreciate it!
Thanks for adding us to the list. We do our best to dish out some awesome stuff, so I know I will be doing my best to come up with content at least.
Hi Alex, well I think you can add something related to monetizing…
Many people start blogging expecting to make money out of it… and end up empty pocket! Many didn’t see that one coming!
Nicolas Prudhon’s last blog post..Targeting your Market with Google Trends
Awesome point Nicolas. Yeah, there are tons of unforeseen things that can hit you. Another thing I thought about but didn’t include in the post was getting your blog cracked. No one ever sees that coming!
I always look at my stats on statcounter.com to see what works, and use the stats to plan out a strategy to increase traffic to my blog. I got rid of the banner ads on the side, and just focus on building traffic. When something is seriously not going right and I can’t fix the problem, I’ll go look for help!
Kai Lo’s last blog post..Interview With Dean Hunt – Buzz Marketing Guru
That’s how it should be Kai. You can’t really expect yourself to do everything, sometimes you need help. Whether it’s from another person, or a tool.
As a new blogger I will keep all these tips at hand. Thanks for the advise.
Social Press’s last blog post..Quick Tip for the Blogosphere
That’s great, has anything shocked you on your blog?
This is Truly Professional piece of post in order to share Blogging challenges one blogger needs to face on day to day basis. One of the most impressive in the post was Tips for controlling that ego when it comes to small bloggers. It is always good to keep an eye on numbers which are coming on blog on daily basis against the efforts being put by the Blogger. Blogging is something every one is trying to do these days but very few individuals have actually got true success in this field.
Thanks for sharing once again.
Ricky Peterson’s last blog post..Sick of no page ranks?
I always keep an eye out on my competitors. To know how they’re doing can give you an advantage in dominating the niche. But, you know, there’s a line between analyzing and ego building so it’s something that always needs to be kept in mind there.
I used to get quite obsessed with my stats, would check them every hour.
Dean Saliba’s last blog post..Follow Me On Twitter
Dude, me too.
I check the stats here at least once or twice an hour as well.
You sound like me when I used to use Adsense a lot. Literally everytime I got on a computer, the first thing I would do is to login to Adsense and usually see it’d gone up a few cents :p lol
Simon | Teenius’s last blog post..Things To Remember When Using Twitter
Thanks, really helpful for new bloggers. Keeping momentum is very important.
teenwebguru’s last blog post..Why Wordpress Sucks
Awesome post Alex, hope you enjoyed your holiday
I think the point about the underdog is so true. On one of my old blogs that I sold I completely overtook another blog that had been there for a few months, but then my ego got to me and after a week or two he was back ahead
Just don’t get too cocky, guys! 
Simon | Teenius’s last blog post..Things To Remember When Using Twitter
Thanks Simon, I really did have a blast at Florida.
I am not exactly sure if I have ever felt that way about another blog in my niche before. Maybe when I was just starting out blogging, I could have. But I definitely don’t think that about other blogs now, so I guess that will keep me out of trouble.
Interesting topic. I recently started noticing my Alexa going up and my Technorati going down…both of which are not good.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Business Mentors, Advisers & Coaches
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