Hurdles

What’s the best tip that anyone can give you for writing a successful blog? It’s the same advice that your High School track coach gave you when you lost your first meet, “work hard and be patient.”

The second part of this statement is really powerful. The single most important tool in a blogger’s arsenal is patience. Time is really on your side.


Rolling Stones Pick Up Moss And People

The web is a momentum game. You might wonder how huge blogs pull in tens of thousands of hits per day. Well, a lot of it is because they are still feeding off of the traffic they received from articles months beforehand. The worst thing you can possibly do as a blogger is to give up before you have time to build momentum.

Here are a few facts,

Your first three months will be painful

Hurt
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  • No search engine traffic.
  • No credibility.
  • No content.

Get used to it, this is where you will live for a while.

Things will get better

Sunrise

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Aim a few posts for the social media sites, they will anchor your traffic when nothing else is.

If you get out and explore, you will be rewarded

Road

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The Internet never forgets. Every comment, every email and every mention counts. You never know when that Facebook note you posted with a link to your site will go viral.

Posts are like a fine wine

Wine

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Content gets better with age. It takes a while for articles to pick up PageRank, once they do you’ll notice your search engine traffic jump.

You should get a little help from your friends

Beatles

Even if you’re not a Beatle. What most “build your traffic” sites neglect is the fact that the people visiting your site are people. It takes some time to start trusting an author, but once you do a drive by night guest can become a loyal reader.

The rich do get richer

Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous

Once you have traffic it’s a lot easier to get more of it. Between word of mouth and feed subscribers, eventually your blog will start selling itself.


Web 2.0 Roundup

Many blogs fail because their writers don’t realize that just by keeping up with their venture, they are moving towards success. Of course, without a lot of work and a little luck you won’t be pulling in Engadget numbers but for most of us that doesn’t matter. Next time blogging gets you down take a look at your numbers from months past. The growth you have managed to achieve may just surprise you.

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