I started blogging to share my ideas but now I’m questioning whether I should continue
I have less than 355 days to save my blog. If that doesn’t happen, I’m shutting it down permanently.
After getting punched in the face with ridiculously high web hosting fees, I’m on a last ditch effort to save my blog and drive more website traffic to it before I shut it down.
My three year term expired and the current cost of running a blog ($1,248.08 CAD per year to be exact) is freaking me out. Shelling out more than $100 per month for a blog where I only post sporadically doesn’t make any sense.
I started my blog more than three years ago. Overly optimistic, with lofty, high flying ideas and aspirations, only to find out that it’s hard work. A day in a blogger’s life is full of hard work but I didn’t know it when I started blogging.
This probably happens a lot. Aspirational blogger sets up website only to discover that blogging is hard. Rather than giving up and losing face, I’m trying to save this sinking ship and give it one more go before I completely stop.
My goal was to solve a problem for readers
Some people blog to earn money. That might not be the best and only reason to blog, but it’s a completely valid reason.
Some people do it so they can become overnight social media influencers. They picture a day in a blogger’s life as lying on a beach, blithely tapping out blog post after blog post and gaining hundreds of followers as soon as the post goes live. They picture six-figure sponsorships and deals.
But the truth is, blogging hasn’t been a rollicking adventure. If I knew that my reach would be modest, why did I start blogging? Why was I motivated to start one and what was my goal?
Was money a motivating factor? Possibly. I had the greenest of ideas that I could turn this into a side hustle and make myself some money off of it. I thought I would give it a try to flex that entrepreneurial muscle. Because at the end of the day, running a blog is like running a business.
But the main reason I blog is to help solve a problem. That’s one of the reasons that’s consistently touted as the secret to a successful blog.
What kinds of problems does this blog solve? I had an inkling that people would read it and be inspired. You can also say it was naivety and a lot of wishful thinking on my part, but naivety and wishful thinking are what got me started in the first place.
I kept it as a secret blog for over three years, fear of judgement and ridicule holding me back from attaching my name to the website. What if someone I knew read it and hated it?
But like most fears, my fears were unfounded. Most people have the memory of a goldfish. That’s when I realized I was just projecting my insecurities on an imaginary audience. In reality, most people would think it was weird and move onto the next thing.
Do people really care? Probably not. Really, everyone is too busy to care.
Reasons that bloggers quit
Most people don’t blog and there’s a reason why. It’s hard to keep blogging when you don’t have a community. You ask yourself, why should I blog when no one else I know is doing it? You don’t have anyone to keep you accountable and that’s the most challenging.
Posting consistently and thinking of new ideas to share isn’t easy. Especially when the rewards are few and far in between.
You find it hard to keep blogging when there are a million other priorities on your to-do list. A day in a blogger’s life is full of struggles but there are rewards and that’s why I started blogging.
Blogging is hard to keep up when you’re talking and no one is listening.
Indifference is a double-edged sword. On one side, it can let you do anything without risking public opinion, but getting people to care is a constant hurdle.
I wanted to share my ideas and reach more readers
I’m not even sure that I like the name of my blog. When I first started, I envisioned it as an “ideas and business” blog.
Why did I call it “ideapictogram”? Good question. Instead of answering this question, just Google “idea pictogram.”
In the early days I was obsessively watching Google search rankings like it was the stock market. Depending on where you are in the world, I’m on the first page of Google search results for the search words “The best things in life that are for free“, “The seven benefits of being frugal that will surprise you” and “The smart way to fail: how to fail often and fail fast.” I know. Ironic, right? These are blog posts I wrote almost a year ago and it’s still on the first page of search results.
Granted, I doubt that people are constantly searching for those exact same words, but I still get a kick out of it anyway.
Landing on the first page of Google search results is the gold standard for any blogger. It means more eyes on the blog. If a reader can’t find you, your efforts are wasted.
Sometimes, my blog posts will even show up in the AI powered feature snippets you see on the top of the search results. This is good, I thought. These small wins don’t seem like much, but when it validates my efforts, it gives me a reason to keep on going. It’s the benchmark for a successful blog. Plus, it’s gratifying to have external approval. It’s a great boost to morale.
Some of my posts do better than others but it’s a mystery why. It’s a hit and miss. How-to articles and top ten “listicles” perform best so that’s often the format of my blog posts.
However, some of my posts don’t rank at all on search results. The mysteries of the search engine algorithm is the only explanation I have. Some people would find it limiting to be at the mercy of a search engine, hacking your way to the top. That’s why some bloggers quit.
But I didn’t. I wanted to share my ideas and be creative. A day in a blogger’s life is full of creativity and that’s why I started blogging.
I wanted to do something extraordinary
What makes a great blog?
To create a great blog, I knew that I had to learn how to be more consistent when things get boring or too hard. Building a readership, marketing and self-promotion, is a job in itself, a typical day in a blogger’s life.
A blog needs to have a clear focus. You can’t be vague or indecisive, like it doesn’t know what it’s about.
I haven’t been following this golden rule exactly, because I write about topics that don’t necessarily go together.
If your purpose is to get more eyes on your blog, there is a certain way to write a post, rules to follow, and it can stifle creativity.
If I was writing with the sole purpose of landing in Google search results, the number of topics I can write about can feel too constrictive.
I had an idea, I had a vision, I had aspirations. Nothing really killed it all. I still want to do something extraordinary. That’s why I started blogging.
You can’t talk about creative writing without talking about AI
AI sometimes gives you less reasons to write and create. For better or worse, I make it a point not to use AI when doing creative writing.
A writer might also be pushed away by the thought that anything they publish will go towards training AI models. Does AI eliminate the need to publish? Will blogging be a lost art? What’s the point of writing when AI can articulate an idea or a thought better than you? There’s a lot of reasons why blogging might become obsolete, but it doesn’t keep me from trying or thinking of creative ideas.
But obviously AI is going to change what a day in a blogger’s life will look like in the future.
Save my blog by joining my community and becoming a reader
The countdown is on. I have less than a year. Only 355 days to turn this around and salvage this blog, the toil of the three previous years.
So give it a read. Take a look around. There might be some ideas there that either challenge you or make you think differently. A day in a blogger’s life is motivated by doing something you love and that’s why I started blogging.
Will I save this sinking ship or lose face and quit? You don’t want to miss this so follow this blog to find out.