photo credit: CelebMuscle
At the beginning of 2013, like everyone else on the planet, I made a resolution to lose some weight and get more trim for the start of the year.
I’m very proud to report that I’ve lost 12lbs so far, and I’m getting back to my optimum weight after the seasonal festivities.
The problem with losing weight and getting trim is it’s not fun.
I don’t like saying no to desserts, hauling myself out of bed to the gym while everyone else is tucked up and getting an extra hour of sleep, or monitoring what I eat to make sure I’m on track with my weight loss programme. The thing is, no matter how hard it is sometimes to stick to a good routine, the results always, always make the journey worthwhile.
As you know, I often apply what’s going on in my day to day life to blogging, and the healthy lifestyle I’ve been undertaking is no exception!
While I was on the treadmill the other morning, I got to thinking how there are a lot of similarities between getting in shape physically, and getting your blog in to peak condition.
Here’s what I’ve realised about the need to keep your blog fit and healthy, even when you’d rather be watching television, playing games online or surfing the web…
Persistence Is Everything
You know by now that your online business isn’t going to make you a million overnight. You do know that, don’t you?
However, you’ve probably already realised that if you keep at your blog and maintain it well, adding in new content and making sure it’s clean, easy to navigate, regularly updated and looking great, your customer base will gradually increase. Just like losing weight, blog best practice requires us to have a long-term strategic approach for success.
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Little and Often is Better than Radical Change
Sometimes it can be really tempting to ignore your blog for a while, and then come back to it with a huge radical re-launch to make up for the lack of attention you’ve paid it. New themes, layouts and approaches for sites are interesting and exciting, and it’s tempting to simply throw in the towel with your existing site and start out again when things seem a little stale.
The fact is, the best blogs stick to a winning formula, and their owners understand that tending to their site every day, sticking to a routine that works, is the best way to ensure continuity, retain their ever-growing customer base and provide a consistent platform for adding enhancements, improvements and new developments. It’s kind of like the difference between eating healthily every day to make long-term improvement, or jumping in to a five day cabbage soup diet to get instant, but short-lived, results.
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It’s OK to Take Breaks
How many times on a healthy eating plan or diet do we ‘fall off the wagon’ by grabbing a take-out or downing a bottle of wine, only to decide that we’ve then scuppered our chances so may as well go back to our old habits?
Blogging can be like that.
So many people think that if they lose motivation for a week or so in updating and maintaining their site, that they may as well give up. The truth is, your site can take the occasional hit if you neglect it, and it’s important to simply pick up where you left off, do a little extra, and settle back in to a good routine. Don’t be disheartened if you take a break. As long as you stick to your long-term strategy for success, your blog will forgive you!
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Keep the End Game in Sight
Blogging and dieting both require a healthy dose of optimism to ensure that we stay motivated, even when we don’t see direct results.
Having an ‘end game’, which details where you want your blog to progress to, what success will look like, and what steps you need to take to achieve this goal is critical to ongoing drive, motivation and ultimate success. It’s the equivalent of sticking a picture of a body-builder or size 8 model on your fridge to keep you focussed on healthy eating!
Keep your goals in mind at all times, and measure everything you do against that strategic success.
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The good news is, blogging is easier than dieting.
You don’t feel deprived or hungry when you focus on your online business, and it’s much easier to keep it in great shape without having to hit the gym!
If you have any tips for our fellow bloggers on how to keep your site in tip-top condition, it would be great to hear from you.
How do you stay motivated?
What have you done this year, to make sure your online business is lean, mean and muscled?
Let me know via the comments below.
Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
That’s the way to do it, with an interesting article great tips and a fun read
I really enjoyed it and have picked up some good information. Thank you
Thanks, Debbie.
What information was the best for you?
Andrew
My resolution this year focuses around discipline and consistently. I told myself that I will have at least two posts on all of my niche blogs every single week, and I am happy to report that I have been keeping up with my resolution. Keep us posted with you’re doing over the course of the year!
Jacob
That’s a lot of writing…you do it all yourself?
Great job.
Andrew
I loved this article, and mostly, the part where I learn that I can break all the rules. Don’t I just love that? Even then, I fear the consequences; so, I will stick to the rules. Thanks for the hints.
Celine
Why do you fear the consequences?
What is the worst than can happen?
Andrew
Some time ago I wrote a couple of articles on Motivation and the main theme is that we don’t need to motivate ourselves when something is important for us. It might be when we have to do something but is it worth it to force ourselves?
All great advices Andrew, especially the first on persistence which is really needed for example when after a payout Google sends for weeks crappy and unrelevant ads or when even with a traffic growth there is a decrease of clicks with Adsense, clearly due to poor ads. Or when thanks to Google dance and permanent algorithm changes there is a huge drop in traffic.
If we know that we are doing our best and what’s possible then success is only a matter of time so yes, persistence is the key. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Andrea.
Those who are successful are persistent AND they change their plan/approach when needed.
Andrew
Great post Andrew, I love the analogy between losing weight and maintaining a healthy blog. Kudos on the weight loss and here is wishing you the strength to keep it off and keep up with your exercise regime.
Thanks, Wade.
I have a long way to go – i.e. where I want to get to. I cannot give up now…I’m come too far!
Andrew
You are right Andrew. We can take a break as long as we keep our sight on the goal. I love the way you refer to keeping trim and fit with a blog.
You have a great day and thanks for all the great info you give.
Debbie
Thanks, Debbie.
Breaks are important but just don;t have too many or for too long!
Andrew
i totally agree Little and Often is Better than all or nothing.. to often people are motivated and do all and everthing at once only to stop doing everything all togther, it is better to start small but to build up on this with everyday we are working on it..
Rosa
Consistency…that’s what is needed!
Andrew
Getting traffic is most important thing for a blogger and for this, he needs to be motivated about his growth as a blogger. Thanks for sharing this. I am sure this will be helpful for me.
Kunwar
Motivation is required, I agree but persistence is even more important. Sometimes it takes a while to see some positive results from your blogging and your motivation can be knocked.
Andrew
Andrew, you must stop using photos of me in your blog posts without permission … 😉 This is a great list of tips, and consistency is the key I find. Using a plugin like WP Editorial Calendar helps visualize the blog post schedule and makes it easy to set up drafts on the days you want to publish. There are many examples of how consistency alone can keep your blog active, healthy and traffic growing.
Yeah, sorry about using your photo – I could not resist!
WP Editorial Calendar is a great share. I tend to use a paper diary!
Andrew
Thanks for these tips Andrew. I hear you loud and clear about commenting on other blogs in my niche.
It is often hard to motivate for this when time is short, but It sounds worth it.
Establishing and keeping a routine are key for making sure all the bases are covered, just as in exercising.
Anne
Anne
I understand you exactly…finding the time to comment. I try and find 15 mis each day and jst comment on different blogs.
Andrew
Thats really great article, Its exactly the need of bloggers to understand. One more thing you might discuss is patience in blogging. Great Research!
There will be lot of ups and downs. You need to be really persistent enough to face every situations and get through them with out any pressure.
2013 is a big year for me to simplify. I’m dumping or at least setting aside as much as I can to focus on just a few goals. Once I meet those, I can add other items back in.
Amy
That is a good approach. I often think we are over optimistic.
Good luck!
Andrew
Andrew, you have no idea. More than once in the past 3 months someone has asked me, “How is your business going?” To which I have replied, “Great!! Wait…which one??”
That’s not good. I gotta get this under control before I lose my mind. 🙂
Great post. I love its basic premise. Get rich slowly … only then do you never know what can happen :-]
~Beat
Thanks for the share Andrew. I have decided to focus on the improvement of my blog and to make it better. It is my one and only resolution 🙂
Right on, Andrew!
I get a lot done without realizing it when I do a little every day instead of trying to do a lot at once to catch up. And there are so many things that distract us. Email is my biggest time-waster. It’s time to go through and unsubscribe again, especially now that the U.S. election is over.
If I try to catch up, first I don’t know what that means, and second I end up doing less than if I spend an hour or so fixing one thing about appearance, deal with a plugin issue and write a few paragraphs.
Before I know it, I have a few blog posts about ready to publish. The next hour I spend is getting at least one published and the others closer to it, or even scheduled.
Otherwise, I do a lot of stuff, but never accomplish anything and then wonder why nothing is done and I’m tired.
I think we over commit ourselves. We all need to learn to say no enough that we can still focus on what’s most important to us.
Sherri
Sherri
I believe many of us find ourselves in the ‘boat’ you so nicely paint.
Distractions are the hardest for many. Closedown your email systems, skype, facebook, twitter….you won’t miss much!
Andrew
Most people give up on blogging because they don’t see the results. On the other hand, successful bloggers tend to always have motivation and always continue blogging because they are already making money online. One good tip I have for all those who are just starting out is to be patient and persevere for the first 6 months of blogging daily, and you will see the results soon.
Keane
Good avice – it’s a shame so many people believe the hype of quick wins!
Andrew
I’m afraid I’ve taken up too much break for my blogs. I choose to focus on my offline business over my blogs.
Thanks for the inspiration, Andrew.
Raymond
That’s fine. As long as you do what you love!
Andrew
For my part, I have to say that I became very lazy after about a year of blogging and I was always trying to catch up by posting alot of articles at once. Sometimes more than needed I would say.
I realized that through time this was definitly not the solution for many reasons.
First because people get bored of coming back on the blog and seeing the exact same thing every time for about 2-3 weeks.
Than because by doing so, I got more and more disgusted of blogging because of the huge quantity of work I had every time at once…
Today, I stop blogging but I am thinking on getting back to it soon so I am gathering some tips…
Thank you for sharing!
Gérard M.
Gérard
What distracts you that makes you stop/start blogging?
Andrew
Analyzing the blog whether it is fit or not, nice tips for it. Thanks for adding this information. This is helpful for me.
Little and often is better than a radical change. Very true. This activity will help in drawing organic traffic. All your efforts will be paid gradually but it will be fulfilling.
Now a days more people interesting to do comment just for link back or promotion. Most of them sharing their views related to topics but its rarely. I have found your article very useful regarding how to do comment and tracking that conversation. Its interesting to increase brand value.
Thanks again.
Paul,
I do my best to mark comments that provide no value, as spam.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
First of all, Thanks for your great suggestions. You have made great points here that we should stick to our one method of blooging and do changes in line with it only. Jumping around will get us nowhere. Thanks for sharing.
Vicky
So true! Jumping aorund and looking at the ‘shiny objects’ will not get you anywhere.
Andrew