Most bloggers that get discouraged and decide to abandon their blogs tend to do so on the first three to six months. Sometimes the traffic is not growing as fast as they would like. Other times they are not happy with the money that they are making.
Personally I think that quitting after such a short period is a mistake.
There are two situations where quitting would be a smart move. One is when the blogger consciously decided to try out a new niche. In that case he must have some previous experience with blogs and websites, and he should know what numbers to expect and how to evaluate if this new blog has potential or not.
The other case refers to blogs that get stuck. If after six months you are still struggling to receive a couple hundred unique visitors daily then you probably are doing something wrong. Under this scenario you should probably stop to rethink your strategies (niche selection, content creation and promotion strategies) and try again.
On all other cases, however, the best idea is probably to hold tight and keep working hard until your blog or website achieves some critical mass. It does not matter how small or big your traffic is, as long as it is growing month after month you are on the right track.
The first three to six months are the hardest, and after that period you will notice that things will flow more smoothly, for several reasons.
First of all your content will achieve a bigger audience, improving the chances of receiving backlinks and traffic. Suppose two blogs, one with 200 daily unique visitors and the other with 2,000 daily unique visitors, publish the exact same article. The second one will have much higher chances of receiving backlinks, because more people will be exposed to its content.
This means that as your audience grow you will be able to spend less time promoting your content and more time actually producing it and making sure that it has quality.
Secondly, the credibility of your website will grow with the time, both for human visitors and search engines. Suppose again that two blogs, one that has been online for 1 year and has a Google PageRank of 5 and the other that has been online for 1 month and has a Google PageRank of 1, publish the exact same article. Even if we disregard the backlinks that each article will receive, the page of the first blog will appear first in the search results because that domain has more trust in the eyes of search engines.
These are just two examples of how allowing your blog to grow and mature will benefit you. The are several others: over the time it will be easier to monetize it, to get favors and support from your readers, to create a network of contacts, to receive freebies and so on.
If you are considering to quit, therefore, my advice is to hold tight a little longer, and then take that decision.
Thanks for this post. I am new to blogging, and while I am working hard to build up content (I currently have 4 articles), I sometimes wonder if this is all a waste of time. My particular niche is one that I have read is not a very profitable one and this is discouraging to hear. But your article is just what I need to hear right now, so thank you!
Daniel,
This post was awesome. I needed it, but it would be great to see a post on ways to find the right niche. I have been told that you need to find something you are passionate in, but if you are trying to make a living through blogging your passion might not be something other people are interested in. I would love some feedback on this issue. Thanks
Great writeup Danielle. I think competition slows down a bit after the first 3 months of the year for sure Just keep plugging away!
Good insights man. I am feeling discouraged too at the first few months of writing a blog but now I am quite happy because the traffic to my website is rising steadily, althought not that much.
Thanks for this post. I am new to blogging, and while I am working hard to build up content (I currently have 4 articles), I sometimes wonder if this is all a waste of time. Thanks
Thanks man. This helped. I’m in my 4th day and its kinda sad getting like 50 uniques a day.
Persistence needs to be the mindset one needs to have to be a regular blogger, otherwise one might as well fold up and give up now itself. Also, you cannot blog just for the sake of keeping the blog going, or for traffic. Blogs should come from within since you want to express yourself and your thoughts or else it will all be in vain.
yup i do agree with this article, but we as human not aliens, its a normal thing to have such decision.
Excellent article again, i have struggled in the past to get a large amount of traffic however it has increased monthly since i first began and i think thats what shows you whether or not your website wil make it if it increases monthly hold on to it
What a good point that you have stated! Don’t get down too easy on what we love to do, hold it tight!
I think the problem with many bloggers is that they think that with a blog they can make money easily. Then when they realize its hard, they quit.
Good point, it is true that sometimes we get discouraged from continuing what we love to do just because of some little mistakes but that is our motivations..
I like this article, and realized that if only I didn’t quit with my previous blogs in 2003 I’d be making it bigtime now.
Great post Daniel – I gotta figure out how you separate trackbacks and comments like this — this looks so much cleaner!
Hi, Great topic and good to get some validation that readership will keep improving over time. I have been blogging three months about five times a week. I love watching the stats since it is easier for me to write when I think someone is actually out there reading it.
Thanks for such a great article Daniel, we all appreciate it.
Despite strong growth in our local blog scene, I can’t tell you how many have flamed out quickly within the past year.
I just noticed i spelled your name WAY wrong. Sorry man!
Great writeup Danielle. I think competition slows down a bit after the first 3 months of the year for sure Just keep plugging away!
This is great. I think as a beginning blogger to hear concrete numbers like “If you’re not getting x readers a day by this time then you need to do x” is really really helpful.
Good insights man. I am feeling discouraged too at the first few months of writing a blog but now I am quite happy because the traffic to my website is rising steadily, althought not that much.
I swear, I love posts like this. This is totally just common sense but you absolutely HAVE to hear it on a regular basis when you’re starting out. My blog is still in it’s infancy and I have a huge hill to climb to get any traction in the niche that I’ve chosen. But I think I do a great job and I really need to stick with it and all the hard work will pay off. Nothing good ever comes easy–and as Walt Disney said–“Find a good idea and stick with it”.
I’ve been blogging for almost four months, and I’ve just hit my first rut. I actually have four blogs and was posting every other day on each. This past week I only posted twice on each blog. But I think I’m catching my second wind.
If you blog out of your passion and put it as the first priority, instead of making money, I’m sure you’ll never want to give up.
i can understand your points, i almost into the second year of my first blog, and have added 3 more since that….
Thanks for this post. I am new to blogging, and while I am working hard to build up content (I currently have 4 articles), I sometimes wonder if this is all a waste of time. My particular niche is one that I have read is not a very profitable one and this is discouraging to hear. But your article is just what I need to hear right now, so thank you!
great post daniel, i would tend to agree with all of it…in fact i might even link back to this one later !
Good post and very useful to many bloggers who are considering to throw the towel in.
Very informative, thanks for challenging specially us new bloggers.
Stumbled!
Thanks for the encouragement – as someone who is just starting out on his second blog it’s nice to have some perspective of how long things should take.
Good read. I feel like this is really talking to me. I’ve been blogging for 4 months now, and am still keen to do so yet sometimes I’ll look at my stats and think how much time I’m wasting on this people aren’t reading.
Daniel of all your writings about blog. This is the one that inspired me more to take the second chance again. Because I was before on that situation.
Great point Daniel. I started my current main blog in August/September 2006 (although I completely redid it in 2007), and it is just now starting to bring in a bit of traffic, cash, work, etc.
I recently gave up blogging on my Dutch blog and started of my new English blog; Webhypes.
During my first year of blogging, i never cared much about getting too much traffic and money. I was happy with what i was doing and it helped in the longer term. I have made a slow progress but the point is to be pleased with what you are doing.
David, absolutely. at the very minimum you want to have enough content to keep an eventual busy for some time.
Is it a good idea to build up comment before going live? Obviously some people will stumble upon the site through search engines but should I post for a while and then start actively marketing once I have some posts built up?
Brooklynite, for your first question, I think the best thing is just let it go, and keep networking with bloggers that will help you out as well.
Very helpful especially for new bloggers like me.
Thanks for sharing that with us.
Your reasoning is very correct. It is like sowing a seed and waiting for it to grow as a big tree. It needs lot of patience and continuous hard work to see the results. My blog has just completed five months.
Thanks that threw some sense into me
Daniel, Thanks for the encouraging post. Any advice on how to handle situations where you network with other bloggers (i.e. write up an entry about them or devote an entire podcast to their blog and provide a link to their blog from your blog) and then they don’t reciprocate by posting a link on their blog to yours, even though they said they would?
David, good point.
I think one of the keys to being able to persevere is to always choose to write about something that is very, very interesting to you.
To give up a blog in just a 6 month old is really a mistake. Even try to create a new one after that is another mistake. Bloggers should try to find a solution on their problems. I always remind myself that content is not the key, but marketing, advertising is. If you want a high traffic at your blogs, theres a lot of work to be done.
Oh, this is so true! You pour your heart and soul into a blog only to find out that no one is reading it. It will make almost anyone quit.
Excellent point, Daniel. I have five (yes, 5) blogs — not websites, but actively, regularly updated blogs. One of them will celebrate it’s 5th year anniversary in a few days. The others were born over the past year, with the latest going online in December.