Why My Blog Failed

Lessons from all the grave mistakes I was blind to

In December 2017, I created my first blog. It was a book review website, but I created a short stories section to keep my readers entertained while they waited for the next book to be reviewed. I wanted to update it three times every week but soon found it nearly impossible to push out a piece of writing once a week.

Looking back nearly three years from then with more experience and better understanding, I have highlighted in this article the mistakes I made.

My Mistakes:

1. Taking on much load without a process

2. Expecting too much

3. Trying to be exactly like someone else

4. Starting without a long term goal

Taking on much load without a process

Before I started my blog, I never created content consistently or at a specified pace. I kept pushing it to when I did create the platform. I kept saying to myself, ‘when I get my own space, I would create the type of content I wanted.’ Consequently, I wrote only when I got the inspiration to write. Most times, I never went back to edit the pieces I wrote because I thought it was a waste of time, ‘it was not like I was going to publish it anyway.’

They were personal writings, and not for the public, hence, no use fusing over the editing.

Because it was the first content management system I had to use, it was difficult setting up my website, I had to design the graphics such as the logo, favicon, then decide on the layout, it took nearly a week for me to set it up.

I was proud of myself when I was done, but soon the emptiness of the website hit me, and I directed my energy to focus on churning out content.

This was the start of my dilemma.

Expecting too much

As an introvert, I grew up living inside books. Reading was easy for me, and my greatest achievement then was being able to read a novel (> 40, 000 words) in a day. I was caught up in the excitement that I owned a corner on the internet and didn’t take into consideration that I had a full-time job (It was my service year), and I had to find a way to merge the two responsibilities.

Whereas I originally would have read a book and enjoyed the process of reading it, when I created the blog, I read to produce ‘an intelligent account’ of the book. I found myself trying too hard to read between the lines, forcing myself to see the rainbow in what was only a blue curtain. This not only put the pressure on me when reading the book, but it also made me take longer to finish the book.

So, I reasoned, ‘why not just upload twice a week?’

The thing was when I managed to put out that piece of writing, I assumed that was all I needed to do.

Imagine my hurt, when I couldn’t get people to read my work.

I continued for weeks, but my comment section remained dry. I decided to start sharing snippets of the posts on my social media profiles. But people only liked the posts. I knew it was offhand and I was certain that they didn’t bother reading.

I was distraught, I put so much effort into the blog posts, why wasn’t I getting any attention?

This was when I began to lose interest in my blog.

Trying to be exactly like someone else

I didn’t do any research, I assumed because I liked what someone else was doing, then other people would like what I was doing.

Imagine my ignorance, thinking the world revolved around me and my choices.

Starting without a long term goal

If someone had asked me why I started my blog then, I would have replied, ‘I want to share my content with the world.’

I wanted people to read my blog, but I didn’t think to ask myself why I wanted people to read my blog.

I just got an egoistic idea to produce content, and I jumped on it without laying out plans of how I wanted to impact people or the end goal of what I wanted to achieve with the blog.

Looking back, I could have as well gotten a glass of wine to savor my fine words.

I quit because when people didn’t notice me, I figured it was no use pushing it.

I realized too late (I discontinued the blog and someone put up my domain name for sale) that I did not have a goal for the blog.

The truth is if I had long term plans, then short term problems would not have affected me.

What I have learned from my initial mistakes

1. Start with the end goal in mind.

2. Do not skip the process.

3. Do your research.

4. Creating content is just half the work, the rest lies in marketing i.e. Find your audience or get them to find you.

Resolution

The importance of setting a goal is knowing exactly what your expectations are. I have realized that there is a difference between creating for yourself and creating for others. Sure, your personal stories might resonate with certain people, however, when creating for people in general, your only job is to find solutions to their problems, whichever way you choose to do it. Whether you are hosting a blog or updating your social handles. Setting a goal is the most important step, and if missed can be the end of everything.