3 Reasons You are Blogging Wrong and How To Fix It

You should know 3 reasons you are blogging wrong and how to fix it.

I know you want to be a great blogger.

Nobody creates a blog to just be mediocre, right?

You do it because you hope it will help you be unique, a voice that can be heard above all the noise of the internet.

But there are some really important ways in which you are just blogging wrong.

I want to bring these to your attention, not to get you down.

But so you can recognize where your strategy is broken, and how to fix it.

1. Blogging Wrong – You Struggle to Figure Out What to Blog About

How long do you have to think about what you’re going to blog about?

When the ideas just roll off the top of your head and you can’t write fast enough, you know you’re on the right track.

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But when you have to struggle to figure out what to blog about, that’s a sign that you are not blogging from your heart, but with your head.

When you blog from your heart, you can’t write fast enough.

You can’t think of a anything else until you get your ideas down in writing, or on a video or whatever.

When that happens, you just want to get out there and share all your knowledge.

You probably wake up in the morning just totally anxious to share your excitement about your topic.

And you want to help other people to be inspired in the same way that you are.

Or you want them to learn the things you’ve learned.

Maybe you’re excited to show them all about your product or service.

Whatever it is, you just can’t be held back.

But when you have to struggle for ideas to blog about, you know that you’re blogging from your head.

You have thoughts of what you want to accomplish with your business.

So your blog post has to help you get to your Big Goal.

That gets you thinking about what the right keywords are.

And you want to know if your audience is going to approve of your article.

Then you want to know how much juice it will get on social media.

Thoughts, thoughts, so many thoughts.

They’re all spinning around in your head.

You get all tied up in knots as your creativity dries up and withers.

Nothing flows.

You have to push and pull and tug.

It doesn’t just roll out like it would if it came from your heart.

THE FIX

Stop blogging wrong!

Get back to your passion.

Think of why you started blogging to begin with.

Why did you choose the niche and topic of your blog?

What were you thinking when you first named it?

Do you ever stop to look at your blog’s title and byline?

What does it mean to you now?

Back to the basics of why you started blogging.

Put your heart back into what you’re doing.

Sure you have to worry about Carrie

Sure you have to think about what you’re doing and why and all that rational stuff.

But if you’re struggling to come up what to write about, it’s a sure sign that you’ve lost your heart.

Take some time to rediscover Why you started blogging to begin with.

Get in touch with that emotion and feeling.

Make it your inspiration again.

2. Blogging Wrong – You Are Focused On “Make Money Blogging”

Most people are blogging because they’re trying to build a business.

That means you probably started blogging as a way to make money in some way or other.

Am I right?

Or you may have a business that you’re trying to promote with your blog.

Many professionals, like lawyers, dentists and realtors (to name a few) do this.

They have a professional practice to begin with, but now they want to promote it and get more clients and professional recognition.

So they start blogging about it.

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These are all great ideas and they are all valid business models for blogging.

The problem comes when you’re trying to create content for your blog and all you can think about is the fact that you’re trying to make money with it.

Trying to make money with your blog is one thing.

But having all your thoughts and emotions tied up in the concept of making money, or paying off bills or your next rent or car payment… instead of on your niche topic… is very counterproductive.

It stunts your ability to be productive.

It’s like somebody trying to write a great novel or do a great painting and all they can think about is how much money will they get for it.

You just can’t work creatively or productively that way.

I believe that the more you think about profiting from your blog, the less effective you are as a blogger.

And again, this doesn’t mean that you’re not trying to make a profit from your blog.

It just means that profit can’t be foremost in your mind when you’re trying to be creative.

THE FIX

Stop blogging wrong!

You have to get back to why you started blogging to begin with.

And don’t tell me that is because you wanted to make money.

Or that you wanted to build your business.

There’s always more to it than that.

Okay, so let’s say you want to make money or build your business.

Fine.

But take the “why” step further.

Why do you want to make money?

Why do you want to build your business?

While there are benefits that you’re trying to achieve from blogging, they go much deeper than making money or building your business.

Maybe you are desperate to get out of debt.

You might just want to have more time with your family.

Or be able to travel more.

You might be itching to get out of your parents house and live on your own.

Or you need to get a bigger apartment.

There are so many benefits that will accrue from making money or building your business.

And it’s those benefits that you want to focus on.

That’s why you decided to make blogging your business.

But go even deeper.

When you decided to make blogging your business, you had to also decide WHAT to blog about.

So you chose a niche to work in, and a topic within that niche.

That’s not just your topic, it’s your passion and your purpose for everything you do as a blogger.

That takes over everything.

It becomes your real motivation for blogging.

That’s really “why” you blog.

Remind yourself of that every day.

And be grateful for the fact that you are on a path to achieving your goals by working on something you love.

Not everybody is on a path of achievement.

Many people are just stuck where they are emotionally and mentally.

They have no hope for moving beyond their current circumstances.

And they are far from passionate about what they do.

They have no love for their job or profession.

They just do it.

But you’re a blogger.

You do you have that hope.

And you do have the focus and vision to make it a reality.

So focus on that and the creativity will flow more freely.

3. Blogging Wrong – Other Bloggers Are Doing Better Than Me

I guess it’s just human nature.

We all think about what the next guy is doing.

We look over our shoulder to see who’s having success on their blog and who’s not.

Or at least who we THINK is having success.

We want to see if they’re making money, building an audience or getting lots of social shares.

Does that sound like you?

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Do you get all caught up in people’s page rank, or domain authority stats?

Maybe you’re concerned why another blogger has such a huge Twitter following and you don’t have hardly anybody following you.

Or that they have a Facebook page and a Facebook group and they’ve written an ebook and they’re just so much further ahead of you that you’ll never catch up.

Maybe they get tons of comments while you only get a couple.

Are you always looking at the success, or at least the perceived success, of other people?

If so, this is going to definitely hurt your ability to blog effectively.

You can’t come up with great ideas and creative content when all you’re worried about is the fact that you think everybody else is doing so much better than you.

I think this especially becomes a problem if you’re looking at people that you started out blogging with at about the same time.

And then you say, “wow, we’ve both been blogging the same amount of time but look how much further along he/she is than me.”

You worry that they may write for blog post 4 times a week and you’re only doing one of the month.

Or that they’re getting rave reviews and guest posts offers but nobody’s even noticing you.

These kinds of thoughts may be natural.

But they certainly are not going to help you to move forward in your blogging.

So let’s fix it.

THE FIX

Stop blogging wrong!

In order to have the kind of blogging success that I know you want, you have to separate yourself from other bloggers.

Remind yourself: they are not your competitors.

They may be your peers.

But they’re not your competitors.

And when you get that in your mind, you may be able to open up to actually networking with them in a more productive manner.

You see, when people think that others are their competitors, they tend to want to stay away from them.

So maybe you don’t want you readers to see what your “competitor” is doing because you’re afraid to lose your audience to them.

Or you might not want to start networking with them because you feel like they can’t compete with them.

So when you’re afraid of your competition, you tend to isolate yourself.

But hey, that’s just the opposite of what you should be doing to be a successful blogger.

You have to get out there and start networking with people.

That means working with people who are doing better than you.

It also means working with people who are NOT doing as well as you.

It doesn’t matter.

Even if you’re in the same niche, you’re actually all in the same business together.

You all have the same goals.

And all of you should be helping each other move forward.

Don’t try to hold other people back, and don’t let them hold you back.

The more you network with other bloggers in your niche, the better you become as a blogger and as a person.

You may know if you’ve been hanging around my blog for any amount of time that I’ve been an intuitive consultant for many years.

Although I do my consulting by phone nowadays, at one time I had my practice in a brick-and-mortar office.

It was a very successful practice and I couldn’t handle all the people that wanted to make appointments with me.

So I would send them to my competition.

A lot of times, those people would run into me or call me and say “Why are you sending your clients over to me?”

“Nobody does that.”

But I would simply explain that we are all in business together.

That we can all help each other.

Maybe they have a more open calendar right now, so I’ll send them some of my clients.

Then, when they get overwhelmed and overbooked, they can send some of their people my way.

So it created better relationships with my so-called competitors.

But most of all it won the trust of our clients.

They couldn’t believe that we would share or send people to one another.

So it improved our credibility in their eyes.

They trusted us much more when we worked together than when we competed.

We were telling them, in essence, that we’re both in business to help them.

Whatever that takes, we would both work together to make sure their needs were taken care of.

Blogging is a lot like that.

When your reader sees you sharing other bloggers articles by linking out to their blogs, or giving them a mention on your own post, or chatting with them on social media… they will trust you more.

Sure they will trust your competitors more, too.

But believe me, there’s plenty of business to go around for everyone.

The internet is a vast marketplace.

Nobody can own it and nobody can monopolize it.

You will lose your fears of scarcity when you develop an abundance mindset.

So think of your competitors as your partners and enjoy doing business together.

Stop worrying about how well they’re doing in their business and just focus on running your own.

3 Reasons You are Blogging Wrong and How To Fix It

So there you have it.

Those are 3 very common reasons you are blogging wrong.

Do you find yourself doing any of these things?

How have you overcome some of these pitfalls?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

And please… take a moment to share “3 Reasons You are Blogging Wrong and How To Fix It” on your favorite social sites.

-Donna

• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.