Savusavu Bay, Fiji
Blogging excuses dance around in all blogger minds. You and I simply need to learn how to pinpoint, face and release these dastardly limiting beliefs.
As I sit down to update and republish this blog post I hear a little negative narrative in my mind concerning blog post word count.
I don’t need to reach 2500 words. 2000 is OK. Or even, 1000, for this post at least. Chopping words may create a streamlined blog post. So the excuse I was setting up for myself in mind as far as not being able to reach a certain count – which I didn’t honor – was a lie.
Imaginary word counts held in mind fuel a range of blogging excuses crippling even determined bloggers.
In the other direction, thinking that short word counts are the way to go, because “people are busy and don’t have the time to read long posts” (i.e., you may be lazy, or wrapped up in a cocoon of limiting beliefs, or afraid to set aside time to write something with some meat) is also another excuse that you need to release now.
People make time to read posts resonant with their needs.
Blogging Excuses
Every blogging excuse promotes:
- struggle
- failure
- quitting
Bloggers who make excuses loan their power to excuses. Imagine giving the power of choice to your blogging excuses. Why would you forfeit your power because of a silly excuse made by your ego?
Read each excuse below. Observe yourself in the light of truth. Owning excuses is the way to release excuses. No blogger defeats an unknown enemy by remaining completely ignorant of the foe.
Owning excuses feels uncomfortable because any excuse mirrors:
- fear
- blame
- powerlessness
back to you. Blaming something or someone outside of yourself feels good to the ego but leads to suffering, struggles and a general hopeless feeling over the long haul. Nobody enjoys feeling fear fueling excuses but taking this necessary step is the way to be rid of these mental handcuffs.
Sit with discomfort. Squirm through excuses mirroring fear back to you. Feeling the sweet freedom of leaving excuses in your rear view window is worth temporary discomfort.
On to the blogging excuses…
1: No Sense Selling Because Nobody’s Buying from Me
Most new bloggers make this excuse. Making this excuse motivates them to create poor quality content and to avoid engaging in blogger outreach in most cases. Muted blogging profits follow because you cannot profit by being stuck in the blogging past.
What happened in the past is in the past. Let go past poor sales. See new opportunities for sales now. Learn from your mistakes. Move in a prospering direction.
Get clear on why you’re blogging. Tie the reason to fun and freedom. Feel good about selling. Getting clear on selling allows money to flow to you through your blog. Readers buy from bloggers who get clear on selling. Blog mainly for fun and freedom to detach from money outcomes. Learn from past blogging errors. Position yourself to profit.
2: I Have No Time to Blog
You have 24 hours today. How you choose to use these 24 hours is up to you.
You make time for what you value.
Value freedom over comfort. Value fun over surviving. Make time to blog daily. Do not necessarily publish posts daily but engage in blogger outreach on a daily basis to expand your reach.
Every blogger has 24 hours a day to make choices for fun, freedom and blogging.
3: Nobody Will Read My Blog
People read blogs published by skilled, clear, generous bloggers who persistently deliver problem-solving content.
Nobody reads blogs run by bloggers who make excuses and rarely if ever publish helpful content.
Peters Lookout sign, South Island, New Zealand
Nobody read my blog 13 years ago. People read my blog now because I worked at blogging. Using the excuse that nobody will read your blog defeats self before you even bother trying to blog.
Stop slapping invisible blogging handcuffs on yourself. Blog generously, patiently and persistently. Create and connect genuinely. People will read your blog.
4: My Design Stinks Because I Have Zero Design Creativity
Invest money in hiring a web developer who designs your blog for you. Hire professional help to emit a professional blog image.
Bloggers on a budget can make a minimal investment in a premium WordPress theme. Leverage the design skills of a developer while spending a few dollars.
The design excuse holds no weight because anyone can invest money in hiring a developer or buying a theme from a reputable source.
5: My Market Is Stale/Stagnant/I Can’t Make Money with It
2 options exist for bloggers who blame their profits woes on a stagnant market:
- stop blogging on a genuinely dead niche
- develop a vision to see beyond a temporary niche dip in terms of popularity
Imagine being a black hat SEO blogger in 2014. After Google genuinely cracked down on guest posting for links the black hat SEO crowd became irrelevant. White hat results graced page 1 of Google almost exclusively from that point moving forward. Wise black hat bloggers saw the demand for black hat tactics and related profit potential die quickly. This crowd stopped blogging about black hat tactics because the demand for such strategies disappeared.
But travel bloggers recently made the odd mistake of ceasing to blog during the virus. Some believed the niche became stale just because people stopped traveling for a bit. However, travelers have begun to circle the globe recently in far greater numbers. Any travel blogger with a vision clearly saw a temporary suspension of global travel did not mean a permanent ban on travel and subsequent complete evaporation of profits.
See beyond temporary dips in niche demand by creating a vision. Learn how to spot the difference between a niche about to become extinct versus a fluctuation in niche demand.
6: You Cannot Sell Anything Because You Are Not a Well-Known Blogger
Bloggers sometimes make the excuse that famous bloggers sell easily but they cannot sell anything since they are not famous.
The excuse: “Well of course Mrs. Famous Blogger profits and I don’t; they are famous and I will never profit because I am not famous.”
Blame gets bandied about in generous fashion. Observe the list of established pros who succeed based on their fame because bloggers struggle due to lack of fame.
Every well-known blogger worked generously for years to blog professionally. Reverse your excuse. Accept how fame comes with a full-time commitment to blogging for years. Sales grow as you grow. Bloggers grow by generously creating problem-solving content and building meaningful connections with niche pros.
Put in the same generous effort for years as pros did to gain fame and blogging profits.
7: Nobody Will Interview Me or Ask Me to Guest Post
Get clear on your blog’s direction. Point your blog in one direction. Write about one specific topic. Develop your expertise in one niche. Become a specialist. Give bloggers a reason to interview you. Allow guest post invites to flow your way. Be a specialist to gain credibility. Specialists land interview requests and guest post invites freely.
Being interviewed or invited to guest post are both privileges earned after working generously for years. Professional bloggers invite guest bloggers who commit fully to the blogging process. Any blogger who lands interviewed worked long and diligently to be seen as a niche specialist.
Pedasi, Panama
Interviews and guest post invites find generous, patient bloggers who specialize in a single niche.
Think of guest posting as a reward to display the:
- credibility you gain
- hard work you put in
- blogger outreach campaign you worked
- valuable, in-depth, helpful content you published
No blogger hands out guest post rewards until you put in real work.
8: I Can’t Write an eBook
I clung to a powerful mental block for years. I simply convinced myself I could not write an eBook.
After coaxing from a blogging buddy I wrote and self-published my first eBook only because I realized that eBooks are blog content formatted for eBooks.
Every eBook you read is just content. Bloggers create content regularly. Writing and self-publishing eBooks is similar to blogging but for formatting and word count differences. Dwelling on this ideas nudges you through self-publishing mental blocks.
Any blogger who writes a 2000 word blog post can write, format and self-publish a 5000 word eBook. Simply add more details. Set up an eBook outline. Drill down with details. Create content with greater depth to seamlessly fill an eBook.
For whatever reason, this excuse feels crippling. I resisted writing an eBook for years because I feared engaging in the process. But clearly seeing how eBook content is similar to an in-depth, pillar-style post (formatted differently) quells your anxieties enough to write eBooks.
Conclusion
I covered most damaging blogging excuses here. But the list can go on forever.
Identify these limiting beliefs. Face and release these fears. Free yourself through blogging.
