Am I a successful blogger? No. Not by the accepted standard. I don't make money (directly, anyway) by blogging, and I would fail miserably if I tried, because I don't have the traffic to back up that sort of business plan. Am I still qualified to give good advice on this subject? You betcha!
You know why? Because I know when I'm reading an article designed specifically to drive traffic. There are plenty of those in the "How to Blog" genre. They're easy to spot because they either:
OR
Sometimes, both.
There's not much I can say about driving traffic ('though I will mention that Outbrain works wonderfully, at least in terms of increasing pageviews). But what I can tell you is that anyone who says that you must use one specific platform in order to succeed as a blogger is flat-out wrong. Choosing a blogging platform is like choosing a place to work. Some places/platforms will be a better fit for some workers/bloggers than others. Saying that every blogger should use a particular platform is like saying that every worker should work at a specific company. In that context, it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Most how-to-blog bloggers will tell you that you need to use self-hosted WordPress in order to be successful. There's no shortage of bloggers who use and love that platform. A self-hosted WordPress installation offers a lot of flexibility in terms of both appearance and function. And that's great. But every time I've used self-hosted WordPress, I've spent more time fiddling with WordPress, itself, than actually creating content. For me, it was not a good fit. I'm my most productive using TypePad, so that's the right fit, for me.
That doesn't mean that TypePad is the right fit for you, and I'd have to give up a big ol' chunk of integrity in order to tell you that it is.
So, how do you determine the right platform for your own blogging endeavor?
Trial and error is a good place to start. Luckily, some of the more popular hosted platforms make the trial-and-error approach easy. You can blog for free at TypePad, Blogger or WordPress.com. Squarespace offers a free trail, as TypePad does for it's more advanced accounts. (TypePad really is a get-what-you-pay for kinda deal.) A "free trial" of WordPress.org is a bit more complicated. The software, itself, is free (as in open source), but it order to try it for free, you'll either have to find free hosting--good luck with that--or install Apache, MySQL, and PHP on your computer, then run it locally. (That last bit is a tad more complicated than I intend for for this blog post to be. If you're running Windows, and want to know more, Google "WAMP" or "XAMPP".)
A couple of other things to consider are how much you're willing to invest in blogging, in terms of
As flexible as self-hosted WordPress is, it's going to cost you in all three of those areas. Quality hosting is generally going to cost you something. You're going to be responsible for keeping both WordPress, itself, and whatever plugins you use, updated. You'll be responsible for your own security, and when something breaks, it's your baby. If you're reading this, and have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll posit that starting off with a hosted platform (Blogger, TypePad, Squarespace, WordPress.com, etc.) might be a really good idea.
If you insist on making absolutely no financial investment in your blogging, then both Squarespace and self-hosted Wordpress will be non-starters. If you want to blog for commercial purposes, or stick every widget you come across in your blog's sidebar, WordPress.com won't be a good fit for you.
This wasn't meant to be a long ramble, just a response to a post I read that ticked me off a bit. So, in closing, I'll leave you with this last bit of advice:
One of the hardest things about blogging is that initial realization that just putting it out there doesn't mean people will want to read it. There was a time, not too many years ago, when a few consistent commenters could be enough to keep underwhelming stats from turning into discouragement. But the Internet's move toward centralized social interaction -- sites like Facebook and Twitter -- has made even those commenters harder to come by.
So, how does a blogger -- regardless of experience -- keep from becoming discouraged when traffic stats don't bear out much reason to continue, and blog comments aren't there to bolster the will?
There's an easy solution: Encourage yourself by setting realistic goals with your own averages as the target.
Think of yourself as a novice runner, preparing for a marathon. If you can go from sedentary desk jockey to running 26 miles on your first training session, you're not only an exception to the rules, you're also quite the phenom. But even a novice should be able to match their first session's mileage at their second session, and maybe even increase it a bit. The third session should match or beat the second. The fourth should match or top the third. This sort of slow escalation won't get every would-be runner up to marathon form, but it'll consistenly challenge every would-be runner to top their individual best.
And this sort of goal-setting can work for blogging, too.
I'll use my own blog, a rarely-trafficked site, as an example. I don't use any stats beyond what TypePad offers. This is a screenshot for my pageview stats, taken earlier today:
While it's obvious that I don't have the juice to set tomorrow's pageview goal at 100, it's very reasonable for me to expect 29 pageviews. Why? Because my average number of pageviews per day is currently 28.84. It's reasonable to expect an average day. It's reasonable to see each day that my goal is met as a success. It's reasonable to see success as a reason to continue. Following this line of thought, an average day becomes motivation to persevere. And, if it begins to look like tomorrow will be a below-average day for pageviews, it's also reasonable for me to do something -- like post more than usual, or tweak how or what I'm posting -- to make sure I attain that goal.
While this sort of goal lacks ambition, on the surface, the fact is that if I get 29 pageviews, tomorrow, that average will move up a bit from its current 28.84. And when the average rises, my goal does, too. On days that go well-beyond average, my goal will rise even more.
In short, its a goal designed for slow growth. And, while explosive growth may be more satisfying on multiple levels, it's a slow-growth expectation that can keep you blogging on days that are more dud than fire.
More importantly, it's a goal devoid of competition. Your succes, or lack thereof, is completely detached from that of other bloggers. The (Western) Taoist in me sees that as the best sort of goal to have, and I think Lao-Tzu would agree:
Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of will power.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.
via daily-tao.com







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