Wow! I’m booking number 15 today, 15 posts since I started this blog. Seems like yesterday… Okay, a couple are throw-away fluff pieces, so really 12 posts since– okay I was dead wrong on two of them so– half a dozen of them I was talking outta my a– I’ve got one really good post under my belt, so I gotta celebrate and take stock of where I’m going with this whole thing. Before I break my arm patting myself on the back, though, I want to say Thankyou to my wife for being so supportive and patient with me as I try to get this blog going.
Now, in honor of the presidential campaign season, I’m going to make some campaign pledges to my legions of adoring fans. Unlike real campaign pledges by real politicians, I’ll make my pledges as specific as possible and I will try my best not to break them:
- I will write at least 101 posts It’s a daunting number for me this early. Especially since I’ve already thought about calling it quits half a dozen times. What am I doing? No one is reading. I’m running out of ideas. My content sucks!… Poisonous thoughts like that creep into my mind. Having that specific number to focus on before calling this a success or failure helps keep those thoughts at bay.
- I will ship at least one post a week I tried to settle into two posts per week, but I don’t write that quickly, it’s tough with a day job and I started to get grumpy. It’s not fair to my wife and son to be grumpy all the time. That means it may take me more than a year to get to 101 posts, but that’s okay. There’s no timeline to get this up and running for business purposes or anything. Making money is not the purpose of this. This is more about finding my voice and my brand and hopefully writing interesting content along the way.
- I will write at least 5 guest posts this year A huge part of blogging is being part of a community. I can’t keep all this great content to myself! I have to share the magic with other bloggers! It should help me grow my audience too. Because, let’s face it, it sucks blogging in a vacuum.
- I will write meaty articles There is going to be some filler from time to time (this post = Exhibit A). Sometimes my brain is just tapped out and I can’t seem to squeeze out a coherent sentence. But, for the most part, I want this blog to have some meat to it. I want it to be filled with interesting articles talking about new topics or approaching old topics from new angles. That’s another reason I dialed it back to one post per week.
- I will update my logo by the end of 2016 My logo stinks. I know it. It’s something I drew up on a Saturday afternoon because I had to have something. Hey! I’m flying by the seat of my pants a little bit over here! Even though I know I’m more than capable, sometimes you just have to outsource. I think I may tap Fiverr or 99designs. Look for a new, more professional looking logo soon.
- I will continue drawing My drawings aren’t the best. I know it. But I don’t plan on stopping. Every article will have one of those silly drawings. Whether you like it or not they’ve become part of the brand. It’s also a way for me to practice quick hand sketches, which helps with my day job as an industrial designer. I really have let that muscle atrophy a little bit in favor of computer-aided renderings. Practice makes perfect, so the drawings should improve. Stick with me.
- I will NOT focus on my stats. I’ll be honest with you. I get sad when someone unfollows me on Twitter. Man is that a worthless feeling to have. I know I shouldn’t take it personally. Most of my followers haven’t even read my blog. It’s all part of the game people play to build up followers. You follow me, I follow you, if you don’t follow me back, forget you! I started to play that game, but I’ve changed course, simply because I was focusing too much on the stats. I will follow back, if I’m genuinely interested in reading the material. But I need to focus on my content creation, right now, and social media stats are just a distraction. I know it’ll be a slower slog to build a following, but I want followers who actually read, like, comment on and share my content anyways. I’ll do the same for my fellow bloggers.
- I will NOT focus on making money The second I signed up for WordPress, I checked into their ad program and allowed myself to imagine what it would be like to earn a “passive” paycheck from clicks and eyeballs. I had to snap myself out of it. Yes. It would be nice to make a solid side income from blogging, but I’ve heard it from too many experienced and successful bloggers that it’s not the right approach. It’s gotta be for the love of creating content. Maybe I’ll monetize it sometime down the road, but I won’t let that be this blog’s main purpose.
- I will NOT be ashamed of having a blog I’m telling you, they keep creeping in. Those poisonous thoughts …My content sucks! I’m an imposter. I’m an embarrassment to blogging. It’s what keeps me clammed up whenever I have a chance to bring it up in conversation. Well, I will be silenced no more! I am a blogger, dammit! And I’m going to tell everybody!… right after I write something that’s any good 😉
follow me on Twitter @cabbageblog
follow me on Pinterest www.pinterest.com/crispycabbage
I’m not sure how you got into my head and read my mind, but you’ve just captured many of my same thoughts. Spooky!
Here’s some unsolicited and free advice, from one newbie to another:
1. Don’t quit. Growth takes time. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today”
2. Your goal to reach a specific numbers of posts and guest posts is great. Having something to work towards can keep you writing when you don’t want to.
3. I think I know what you’re saying re: meaty articles, but don’t get hung up on it. Just tell your story, in your voice and it will resonate with an audience. Don’t get caught up trying to write for SEO or for word count – just write good content and everything else will fall into place (if you don’t quit!)
4. I love your logo and drawings! It’s part of your brand. A good logo is awesome, but readers aren’t showing up for your logo….but they might show up for your drawings.
Didnt mean for this comment to become longer than your post. Haha. Sorry about that. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to watching your blog grow, and terrified to watch this US election unfold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll take all the advice I can get! 🙂 Yep, the “meaty” comment was more about trying not to just regurgitate articles I’ve seen before to log a post. I could easily see myself getting lazy there. Thanks for all the great encouragement!
LikeLike
Great post! Thanks for sharing your pledges. It sounds like even if you can only achieve half of these goals you’ll be very-well positioned and have covered a lot of ground. I also commend you for not worrying too much about the stats.
And the drawings are great. I’m glad to hear you’ll be keeping them up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jay! I appreciate the kind words. Comments like yours help keep me motivated!
LikeLike
yea don’t quit. Technorati back in 2009, did a survey and found out most people abandon their blogs within a 6 month span.
BTW, most pro bloggers wouldn’t be blogging if they couldn’t make money from blogging. That’s why people spend a lot of times experimenting with ads, doing pop up newsletter forms, figuring out where people click, they track people who unsubscribe from their newsletter, if people read it, if people delete it, etc.
I don’t believe bloggers when they say they just do it for the love of blogging. They do it as a way to make money from something they like too!
P.S. I talked to other top PF bloggers and they have told me twitter is great for networking with other bloggers and brands but bad for traffic building, instead they focus on Pinterest for traffic building. I decided to switch my focus on there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good points. I just don’t want all the analytics and stuff to cloud things just yet. And I’ve heard the same thing about Pinterest. I should definitely get more serious about it. Thanks for reading, as always!
LikeLike
[…] to think up a topic to write about for my blog (I promised one good article per week in a campaign pledge last week for some reason) and Kool Aid randomly popped into my mind. Kool Aid, you say? Yep, […]
LikeLike
I loved this post! I laughed out loud in a couple of places, but I think your pledges would resonate with any blogger, new or experienced. I know they did with me. I’ll keep reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Mystery! I’ll be keeping up with yours as well. It’s funny, we both chose the number 15 as a marker for articles taking stock of our blogs. 15 days, 15 blog posts. Crazy coincidence or is this some sort of universal blogger code?
LikeLike
Ha, that is funny! I like to think that great minds think alike 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re definitely not an impostor – I love the illustrations and your stories. Keep rolling 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Chris! Comments like this definitely make it easier to keep rolling along. Also, I’m finding out the personal finance blogging community is an awesome group of people.
LikeLike
[…] this is my 30th post, I wanted to give grades for the campaign pledge I did way back on post #15. Just to keep me focused. Like a true politician, the results are pretty terrible. Not […]
LikeLike