Every blogger goes through the Blogging Valley of Despair on the blogging journey. Most blogmasters quit while in the valley because they don’t know about the Blogging Valley of Despair and they don’t know it’s a place all of us have to go through. Let me explain.
Initial Blogging Excitement Wears Off
If you have ever launched a blog, or are even thinking about launching a blog, you know how exciting it is. It is exciting to think about all the fun and wonderful things you are going to write about, it is exciting thinking about what the polished blog will look like, it’s exciting to think a lot of people will read those articles, it’s exciting thinking about being free to travel the world as a blogging digital nomad because of all the income your blog will generate.
The theme is this: excitement.
And it is exciting!
Finally, you are pursuing your blogging dreams. You’ve probably been thinking about launching a blog for years and years and now you are pulling the trigger and it is going to be great! You are finally taking destiny into your own hands, you are going to quit the 9 – 5 jive, and you never gonna quit the blog business, baby! You are on your way!
This is exactly how all of us feel when we start a blog, and this is a good thing. It’s good to feel excited about you blog, especially at the beginning stages when you are grinding through the build process and post your first few articles.
Then, as with all new shiny things, the excitement starts to wear off and reality starts to set in.
“I’ve posted 50 articles and not a single reader (other than myself) has showed up to the blog! How am I ever supposed to make a living doing this?!”
Deep In The Blogging Valley Of Despair
Every single one of us will feel absolute despair in the blogging journey. Here’s some things to keep in mind:
- The initial excitement of blogging will wear off
- You will work very, very hard and there will be no signs of progress
- Your big blogging dreams of making a full time income will start to feel impossible
- You will worry that you are wasting your time while you could instead be doing other productive things, such as working out more or even doing Doordash
- The Valley of Despair is a very long journey and it seems endless, you will see no light for a very long time (expect to spend a year or more in the Valley with very little sign of progress being made)
Yes, the Blogging Valley of Despair can last for well over a year! That is painful!
It is painful not to meet the same kind of success as your favorite blogger that went viral out of the gate–that is rare! For the vast majority of us, it is going to be a long, long slog through the Blogging Valley of Despair and there are no shortcuts.
How To Get Through The Blogging Valley Of Despair
As the old saying goes: The only way out is through. There is no trick. There is no Harry Potter magic wand. There is no Mario Kart shortcut. There is only one foot in front of the other on the long, lonely blogging road through the Valley.
You must keep on posting. I stick to a minimum of 3x posts per week. The more you post the more likely it is you will make it through the Valley at a quicker pace. I have plans to ramp up to 5x posts per week, but I’m not quite there yet. The #1 way to get through the Valley is to post more.
The second best way to get through the Valley is to tell other people that you have a blog and that they should read it. You do this by posting on third party platforms and driving traffic to your blog. That will help. Some bloggers are very successful purely through driving traffic from third party platforms and they do not rely on Google at all. It’s something to think about, for sure.
The third best way to get through the Valley is to remind yourself of the Vision you set for yourself when you launched your blog. Your Vision probably looks very similar to mine and to almost all other bloggers, because we all want the same things: to be free through writing words. So, whenever you start to feel despair, or you find yourself deep in the Valley, remind yourself of your Vision and that will help you push through.
The Light At The End Of The Valley
You might be in the Valley for a year or even two years. It’s possible you will be in the Valley for three years. But if you keep moving forward you will see the light, and it will be exciting because you know that all the work you put in will be worth it.
You will have a successful blog, you will be a full time writer, you will be free. It just takes much longer to get there than any of use would like, trust me.
I hope this article has helped your realize that your journey is not hopeless, but rather that you are probably stuck in the Blogging Valley of Despair and there is a way out, it just takes persistence, determination, and grit to get through. The rewards on the other side of the Valley are great–freedom, not to mention the many people you have helped, inspired, and entertained through your writings.
Blogging is on the rise, there is a tidal wave coming that is going to carry those of us who got into position very far and it is my hope that I will inspire as many people who to love to write to start a blog as possible, because there are certain opportunities that come and go; and a new blogging wave is coming. You must get yourself in position now and you must press through the Valley.
Thank you for reading, friend. Blog on!