
I planned on making this another list post, rattling off 5 or 10 things that could be stopping your blog from growing and succeeding. But the one thing I found, as I started trying to list all the different things that could be hindering our blogging, is that they all come back to one thing. I know you are not going to like this answer, because once you realise that this is the only thing stopping your blogging from stepping up to a whole new level – you will have no excuse.
If you hadn’t already guessed, the only thing that you can blame lack of blogging success on is YOU.
It All Comes Back To You
We can try and blame other people. We can try and blame outside forces, but when you look back on it they are always just excuses that we make to cover faults and failures in ourselves. Failures like:
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We Give Up To Easily
How often have we seen bloggers rise from out of nowhere, having the potential of becoming very successful bloggers, only to find that six months later their blog is abandoned and destined for a much to early death. I don’t know about you, but I have done this with a few of my blogs. Ones with a whole lot of potential but as soon as I hit an obstacle – I would give up. We are so busy looking for easy success that we fail to realise that true success takes time and effort – otherwise everyone would be successful!
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We Lose Our Focus
If you are anything like me, then you really struggle to stick with one thing for more than two minutes. You have no idea how much of a feat it is that this blog is still running and active after being launched over 18 months ago. Our minds are massive and able to hold huge amounts of information, which makes it easy to see why we always have a plethora of ideas and not enough hours in the day. However, the thing that we must realise is that it takes little effort to start a blog, but a lot of effort to continue to blog, day after day. When no one is reading, or when you seem to have so much to do -it is hard to keep our focus on our blog, and focusing our blogging on our purpose – because if you keep starting but never finish, there is no success. There is no prize for the person who starts the most blogs, but there is success to those who keep their blogging focus.
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We Don’t Accept Constructive Criticism Or Advice
Sometimes we get so attached to our blogs that we are ruining them. When we become too attached, if someone says something bad about our blog, if feels like they are making a personal attack on us. However, except for extreme circumstances, chances are that if someone has taken the time out to inform you of things that you should change in regard to your blog – they are probably just being honest.
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We Are Afraid Of Change
This probably doesn’t relate as much to those of us who are still quite young, but some people really struggle with change. They are so set in their ways (or the ways that they have been instilled into them) and anything that is new or a different way of thinking, is seen as wrong. However it isn’t the change that is wrong, it is just a fear of the unknown that is stopping you from creating a success blog.
I am sure there are many things that stop us from becoming successful bloggers, but as you can see, they all come back to one thing – YOU.
Accept Responsibility. Make Changes.
So what can we do about it? Everyone – and I mean everyone, struggles with these same hurdles. Why do some succeed, while the majority are left lurking in the halls of mediocrity?
Those who succeeded realised two things that THEY needed to do, to improve their blog:
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Accept Responsibility
They realise that they are the sole driver of the success of their blog. This allows them to celebrate their successes, and also take responsibility for any mistakes. When a blogger is able to take sole responsibility for the success (or failure) of their blog, they open themselves up to constructive criticism – without feeling personally attacked. This allows them to take other peoples advice on board – and make changes as necessary.
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Make Change
When they realise that something isn’t working, or they find a new strategy that they believe will benefit the blog, they are not afraid to make the changes necessary. Change is essential for successful blogging, because there is no way that your blog is going to be perfect from the start. You will start to realise who your target market is by the people who are reading your blog, and then you start to target your blog posts to attract a larger share of your target market.
The success of our blogs comes back to us, we can blame no one for our failures but ourself. This means that next time you are feeling frustrated that your blog is going no where, don’t make excuses, don’t blame someone else – take responsibility for your blog and be ready to make changes as necessary.




Great Post.
Your right about that the only person to blame if your don’t have success is yourself.
Most bloggers do give up very fast if they dont see any results after 1 month or a few months, but what they dont realize is that it can take 1 year to start seeing results.
Just dont give up and you will see results.
Teen Blogger´s last blog ..6 Ways To Hit Back From A Writer’s Block
I totally agree! Blogging is a long term business model, but worth the effort in the end.
Hi Tom,
Welcome back and congratulations.
Great post about what can be holding you back from blogging success. I agree with you completely. To take it one step farther, your post can pertain to anything you do. It is the person and the way we think. If success was easy everyone would be successful.
Ken´s last blog ..Are You Thinking Success
Not accepting constructive criticism is one of the biggest reasons bloggers fail.
I have myself experienced it. When I started out, I started with a random a “random” blog. Many people liked my posts and advised that I should have a more focused blog. But I did not listen and continued. As a result, I had to close blog after 6 months.
However, I learned lot of lessons. I was guilty of not changing and accepting constructive criticism and paid for it!
Mr. I´s last blog ..Top 5 Ways to Bring Traffic to a New Blog
You’re right about taking responsibility for your blog. It’s one of the hardest things, but it also really motivates you to do well once you have. There are many things you can do to make sure you don’t give up. I try to set a posting schedule and make sure I reply to all comments. In many ways that helps keep me responsible and on track, even if I miss days here and there.
Web Career Girl´s last blog ..Sleep Is Important to Me
So true, bloggers that keep blogging, even if they are not the best blogger in the world eventually succeed. The key is work ethic and perseverance.
I do have an some criticism of my own though. I personally hate (sorry I really do mean hate) your new design. Personally, I just can’t stand the box promoting your ebook, your small logo, and out your small navigation.
I personally think it would be much better to have a small eye catching email box promoting your ebook maybe at the right side.
Anyways, just my imput. I bet you want to know what your readers think of the new design so I stated my opinion.
Great post though, one of the best in awhile.
/Hi Jake! Thank you for you input, I definitely do want to know what my readers think about my design!
I am currently still working on the new design, and the logo and navigation is something that is on my list of things to fix (just waitaing for my new computer to arrive with Dreamweaver).
In regards to the box promoting my e-course, I have it because it is effective. From my previous design I was averaging 1 maybe 2 new subscribers a day, but now with the new banner I have been averaging 5 subscribers a day. As I have pulled all advertisements from my blog my focus is to grow my email subscribers and this is proven to be the most effective way – and i didnt want to go with a popup.
I am definitely open to others opinions, so if anyone else has opinions on my blog and its deign, feel free to comment them below!
Oh yeah, thanks for the inspiring post. It depends on the person why they failed. persistence is essential when it come to blogging since it is a long term. Effort will be worthy if you give your best.
compatible toner´s last blog ..New LSU items
There’s no doubt that success ultimately boils down to the individual. Sure there are outside factors that can help or hurt along the way but everyone can do it if they really want to. I think the biggest thing is we give up too easily.
I started my online business almost 7 years ago and there are only a handful of people I knew online back then who are still at it today. Everyone else gave up even though they had the same opportunities as I did. Only difference is that I kept at it until I found success.
Trent | Work from Home´s last blog ..Working From Home Productivity Ideas
Ternt – I have only been blogging for 2 years and I know exactly what you mean. So many people give up way to easily.
I usually never comment on blogs but I’m with Jake on this one, I strongly dislike your new design. As a reader I do not want to be scrolling down the page just to start reading your article. HUGE turnoff! Also, does it go away once I am registered? I hope so. There’s a fine line between gaining subscribers and having a user friendly blog people want to come back to. Depends where your priorities lie, hope to see some more posts soon…
Love the way you elaborate it. It’s hard to keep focus on something for a long period.
steppinout´s last blog ..List Of 15 Website / Blog To Download Free Ebooks
Saying NO to change is where most bloggers fall back! They are stubborn and do not respect their audience leading to an unsuccessful blog!
Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..The most Hilarious and Geeky Emails regarding WOMEN
Great point about giving up too easily! I must admit, in the past month or so I’d practically given up on Teenius, especially with starting college and all of that.
Now, however, I’ve refound the love of blogging that I had and I’m definately going to make sure Teenius reaches higher new steps! :)
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..Get Blogging Lessons From A Pro
Ya I almost gave up. Ill take remember this post. Thanks.
Brad´s last blog ..Poll: Apple Ad OS Patent