Hard Mode is blogging to higher standards, adhering to discipline, and putting in the work without relying on shortcuts that don’t ultimately work, like churning out AI ghostwritten articles that will get your blog nuked by Google. Hard Mode forces the blogmaster to build valuable skills and knowledge that will lead to massive success. There are no shortcuts, only hard work!
What Are The Advantages To Blogging In Hard Mode?
I used to play a video game called Twisted Metal 2. It was a vehicle battle game and, man, I loved that game.
Like all games, it had difficulty levels and let me tell you my ability in that game rocketed when I switched over to hard mode. No more unskilled button mashing to make it through, the game required strategic, precise, and knowledgeable play in order to achieve desired outcomes. Too bad in those days playing video games to make money was unheard of! I missed the boat there!
Oh well, at least I was able to learn an important lesson: embracing hard mode requires one to master the game. Applied to blogging, hard mode is the only way the objective of $10,000 per month can be reached. So, we all better embrace hard mode if we want to win.
1. Hard Mode Builds A Knowledgeable Blogmaster
Playing in easy mode doesn’t build the knowledge a blogmaster needs. There is so much more to the blogging game than typing words into a computer and hitting the publish button. It’s knowing how to structure the posts for human readers and for machines that rank the articles in search engines.
It’s knowing SEO, how to improve site speed, which plugins to use and which ones to skip, and a million other little details that must be nailed to keep the blog humming along and strong. Hard Mode is seeking the necessary information and putting in the effort to get educated, which is hard.
2. Hard Mode Builds A Resilient Blog
A blog built on Hard Mode will have a solid and resilient foundation, that regardless of what algorithm changes there are, the blog will continue on successfully. Because a blog built on Hard Mode doesn’t rely on cheap tricks to get noticed, which eventually gets penalized by Google. Google is too smart for tricks. But a blog built on integrity and knowledge will go far.
3. Hard Mode Builds An Audience That Keeps Coming Back
Nobody wants to watch a bad football team that is not putting in the effort. We all know this. So why would any blogmaster expect an eager, loyal audience when he’s not even playing hard in the game? The readership rightfully demands a blogmaster that is playing on hard mode and delivers the good day after day.
There are many words, blogs, and books to read. A writer does not deserve eyeballs unless he is giving the readership the best there is. Once a writer gives everything he has then the readers keep coming back. It’s that simple.
4. Hard Mode Is The Only Way To Escape The Cubicle
It doesn’t have to be a cubicle, it can be the patterns in life that you are stuck in and want to escape. All of us have a long list of things that we would like to do “someday” and the hard part of getting older is realizing that we are not going to be able to do even half of the things that are on that list.
We keep thinking “someday I will really start to live life with those I love.” Now, I agree that we can live now in all situations, and that is the best way to approach living life–enjoying the morning commute the best we can, taking a moment to listen to the wind rustle the leaves, enjoying a coffee with your spouse, playing a catch with your son.
But I think we would all agree we would prefer not to be tethered to a job we don’t particularly care for and that we would like to have the time and money to do the thing we want to do with the people that we want to be with.
For me, I would love to spend a year on the road in an RV “road-schooling” with my wife and kids. That can happen with successful blogging, it cannot happen with a normal job. Hard Mode opens the door to freedom. But don’t forget setting blogging expectations is a must!
5. Hard Mode Requires The Blogmaster To Find A Writing Voice
Generic Gene is never gonna be a successful blogger because Generic Gene wants to play the blog game on easy mode. A blogmaster playing the blog game on Hard Mode will find their Writing Voice. The style of writing that makes them unique, motivating, inspiring, funny. A blogmaster must has a Voice and that voice will not be found via easy mode.
6. Hard Mode Requires Persistent Effort
The only way to win the blogging game is with persistent, relentless effort and, luckily, that is exactly what Hard Mode requires. I have personally made a commitment to three blog posts per week for this blog for the next 10 years. A commitment to Hard Mode is all it will take to win the blogging game.
If you are a fan of old 1950s self-help books like me, then you know they pretty much only talk about two things 1.) A Positive Attitude and 2.) Persistence in all things. And shoot, the adults in the 1950s knew a thing or two. Learn from their hard fought wisdom!
7. Hard Mode Compounds Into The Accumulation Of Valuable Skills
When I first started blogging I was clueless. I didn’t know what WordPress was. I didn’t know about hosting. Plugins? SEO? CSS? Huh? What are all these crazy people talking about? I thought blogging was about writing words, well, it is. But to win the blogging game there are a ton of other valuable skills that each blogger must be competent in. (Luckily, coding isn’t one of them.)
Hard Mode requires a blogmaster to achieve technical knowledge and skills like blog optimization via plugins, WordPress options, SEO, and more. Then those skills start to compound and one day you find yourself as a blogmaster.
8. Hard Mode Keeps The Blogmaster Focused
I’m fairly certain blogmasters struggle with focusing on one dang thing at a time. Maybe it’s a personality trait for those attracted to blogging. However, Hard Mode does not allow for distraction. Hard Mode requires discipline in all things blogging, which also includes completing one task at a time.
Trust me, it’s easy to get going on a dozen different projects in connection with blogging, and while all the projects are important, none of them will get done with divided attention.
Again, embrace Hard Mode to fix this problem!
9. Hard Mode Beats Competition
Truthfully, when you enter into Hard Mode you realize something: there is no competition. Huh?
Well, does Stephen Curry consider Johnny Doe at the YMCA basketball rec league competition? Of course not. While basketball is a zero-sum game, blogging is not. There are a ton of different games being played and when you are playing on Hard Mode you are not competing against other bloggers. You are only competing against yourself to produce the best content that you can possibly produce. And when you do, you have a successful blog without competition and you don’t need to worry about competition.
10. Hard Mode Leads To Earning $10,000 Per Month Through Blogging
The accumulation of everything Hard Mode equals two things 1.) Serving An Audience Well 2.) FREEDOM. (I put the audience first because they should always be first, and, honestly, you can’t get what you want anyway without serving your audience first and giving them what they need.)
I always write about making $10,000 per month because that’s the number I feel one needs to hit in order to achieve freedom from blogging, but that is the bottom number. Hard Mode enables the blogmaster to go way beyond making $10,000 per month, there are solo bloggers taking down $250,000 per year. It’s all possible through Hard Mode, baby!
It’s Time To Make A Commitment To Hard Mode For Blogging Success
I hope you decide to join me in embracing blogging hard mode, because the world deserves better blogs. If you aren’t already, go and sign up for the Austin James Blog Email List where you get inside information on what’s going on in the blogging world, stuff that is NOT shared to the public on the blog. I put about 90% of the good stuff on the blog and the last 10% is reserved for the list. So you better join to get the edge for your blogging endeavors.
Until next time, blog on, friend. Blog on.