J. R. Swab

How To Keep New Blogger Motivation

Categories: [Content Creation]
Tags: [ideas], [writing], [blogging]

This marks my sixtieth consecutive day posting on this blog and want to share some things I have learned about starting a new blog. As a blogger of over 15 years on several platforms these basic motivation tips work every time.

If you start a blog, you will find that no one is reading your work for a very long time. This lack of readers leads to many new creators giving up, but if they had only stuck with it, they would see the snowball start to compound.

I blame the instant gratification we get daily from the internet and our mobile devices. Want to learn a fact? Look it up online. Want a hit of dopamine to curb your boredom? Scroll through your favorite social media site from your mobile.

It's just that easy.

But this leads us to expecting everything to happen fast and without much effort. That is why I began to challenge myself in unique ways. To do things that not many people do because they are hard to achieve from a mental standpoint. One such was relearning how to type by switching to the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard.

Now that I can type at the speed of thought again after having to rewire my brain and retrain all my muscle memory I moved on to a new challenge. This time it is to learn how to speak a second language (not counting the programming ones I know).

The language I chose is known as Esperanto.

These things are weird and quirky but help me stand out and also help me get used the grind of the effort needed to succeed at these challenges. The same goes for starting your first blog or a new blog. You will write many posts that see zero traffic because of your still an unknown blogger.

But don't let that get you down! You can be a successful blogger with the right mindset and strategies. That's why I write these types of posts so that everyone struggling can find the motivation they need to keep the effort at a maximum.

5 Ways To Stay Motivated When No One Reads Your Blog

1: Focus on Your Niche

If you do not have a niche, or at least have it narrowed down to a few, this is the place to start. We all have different passions, and when we know what the best niche is for us, we can focus on creating the best content we can.

To find the best niche, think back on the hobbies or interests you had throughout your life. What are the top three that always come back? For me, it's Technology, self-improvement, and my faith. This is why I set these three to be the focus of this blog and why I'll never have a post about some food my wife made the night before.

Also, being in the right niche makes it much easier to write content even when we know that no one is reading. Having a niche works because we love what we blog about and it's entertaining to us, and we can spill our passion into the canvas that is our blog post.

2: Plan Ahead

Get a weeks worth of content and a piece of paper, in a notebook, or whatever. When you do not plan out your posts, you are more likely to come up with an excuse to not write at all. Mostly because no one seems to read your work, but this is the issue.

If you do not write when no one is reading, then you have no chance to gain followers who will read your work. It's a cycle that breaks slowly over time as you write more and more. As you increase the number of blog posts that your blog holds the number of potential readers increases.

3: Make It A Habit

Making blogging a habit ties in with the above because as you plan out your posts, you will find a time that works best for you to write said posts. As each day passes you build up the mental connection and the habit cycle. Then when you break that habit, you are left with an odd, empty feeling.

Forming a habit is an excellent goal for any new blogger that finds them self-unable to sit down and write out their blog post. Find a way to make it a habit, and as you stick to your schedule, the habit becomes ingrained deeper. Before you know it, you will not be able to skip the blogging session even when your motivation is empty.

Showing up is more than half the battle.

4: Mix Your Passion (Within Reason)

If you have more than one niche, like me, and you are finding it hard to think up a topic try mixing your niches. It's a great way to cross over your readers from one niche to another while still fitting within your content schedule. Mixing works best on a self-branded blog, but I'm sure you can find a way if you focus on one niche with a topic focused brand.

When mixing your niches, make sure to tie it all together well. The last thing you want is to have two separate blog topics in one post. That makes your work feel choppy and unprofessional which will, in turn, keep you from gaining new readers.

5: Don't Look At The Statistics

If you blog with a Content Management System, like WordPress or Grav, stay off the statistic pages. The numbers will only discourage you when you one view and that single reader probably your mother. This is especially true if you spend a lot of time writing out your post, editing, having someone proofread, and formatting your images and text to look impressive.

The effort matters, the numbers don't.

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