New bloggers and content marketers often start strong out of the gate–targeting the right keyword search terms, optimizing on-site SEO, sharing generously across social media channels, and building a community of readers and followers. They do everything the experts recommend and more. For a few months. For a year.
It’s a lot of work. Return on investment is small at the beginning, and sometimes, new bloggers give up and try something else they think will give them a faster bang for the buck.
The information superhighway is littered with dead blogs. Websites that simply ran out of gas and were abandoned just as they started to gain momentum.
Successful bloggers (the ones who are considered authorities, the ones who get cited and referenced, the ones who are in high demand for expert interviews, the ones who appear on the first page of the search engines) commit themselves to the long haul. They keep going and keep their eyes on the horizon.
If you’re a new blogger or content marketer, develop a plan for the first few weeks and months of content. Focus on the details and get started right. Zero in on your niche and provide your audience with the very best of what you have to offer.
And, turn your attention to the future. What keywords will you write about six months from now? What strategies would you like to leverage in a year? What will your community be talking about in two years? Will their ways of accessing information change over time?
Yes, you can develop a five-year plan for your blog, even though you can’t actually peer into the future and know exactly how it will be accomplished.
Commit to staying the course and you’ll find yourself among the elite successful bloggers, the ones who actually make an income from their online marketing. It doesn’t happen overnight, no matter what the information-product-gurus say.
But it can happen for you, if you keep going.
Hi mate thank you for your posting. and also i have used some blogs account for my own use and update and shares articles on everyday.
So very true, Tom, and yet so many brilliant bloggers quit so early. I started looking at blogging as a long-term business.
I ask myself, “where will I be five years from now? What will my blog success and engagement be like?” And this alone inspires me over and over.
Anyone looking for their blog to explore within six months (or even a year, in many cases) is practically setting themselves up for failure.
Nice virtually meeting ya, Tom.
Elvis
Elvis,
Thanks for leaving the comments! Nice to meet you as well!
Tom