Everyone’s blogging journey looks different but we often hear only of the instant successes. This post aims to show you what blogging for beginners looks like in month 9 from someone who has not yet achieved success. Get encouragement here and learn that it’s okay to take it slow!
Lots of bloggers talk about the difficulties of blogging but you won’t know what it’s really like until you try blogging yourself.
The truth is that the blogging journey can be extremely discouraging if you don’t go in with the right attitude.
When I started blogging, I knew nothing about it. I felt called to blog and share my ideas with people around the world, but there was so much I didn’t know. After extensive research, I understood that there would be complications and discouraging moments, especially in the first year. I felt that I could handle it, though, and I jumped right in!
Looking back, I’m definitely happy that I just got started where I was, but boy, when people said that the first year of blogging was going to be difficult, they weren’t kidding!
These past three months have been really hard for me to stay positive and motivated but I can feel myself nearing the end of the struggle.
I haven’t seen any major changes in my traffic that make me feel more positive, but I’ve made some mindset changes that have really helped encourage positivity and continued effort.
Today I want to share my traffic report for the ninth month along with 5 mindset changes that helped me push through the most discouraging season of my blogging experience.
Interested in reading about the rest of my journey? Here are my past reports:
- What My First Month Blogging Looks Like
- Blogging Secrets: Know What the Second Month Looks Like
- Secrets of the Third Month Blogging: Encouragement to Beginner Bloggers
- The Authentic Journey of my Fourth Month Blogging
- Surprising Secrets of a Beginner’s Blog: Month Five
- The Unique Journey of a Beginner’s Blog: Month Six
- An Honest and Helpful Blogging Report: Month Seven
- 5 Remarkable Blogging Tips from my Eight-Month-Old Blog
5 Mindset shifts that can get you through a discouraging season
Before I jump into the blogging report for this month, I wanted to share a few valuable blogging tips that I have learned since starting my blog eight months ago.
Mindset shift #1: Don’t expect things to be accomplished in your timing
Oh boy, did I struggle with this!
Every day that I looked at my Google Analytics I’d find myself getting upset.
But I wasn’t upset because I wasn’t seeing growth.
No, I was upset because I wasn’t seeing the amount of growth I had originally hoped to see by now. I was so obsessed over the number of visitors I had envisioned getting by now that the growth I saw on my site felt like a failure because it didn’t meet my expectations.
But now I know that if I want to push forward without giving up, I need to accept that things aren’t going to happen in my timeline. They will likely happen eventually but I need to be patient and accept growth as it comes, not as I expect it to come.
Mindset shift #2: Stop moving the goalposts and celebrate the progress!
After seeing growth in my blog, I would usually skip the celebration of that achievement and jump right to the next goal. That was fine for a little while but over time it led to burnout because I was never celebrating my progress.
When you are looking to improve yourself in any area of life, it is important to celebrate every achievement rather than looking to new goals immediately after achieving an old one.
Mindset shift #3: Stop assuming you’ve learned everything there is to know
At different points in the month I had felt completely lost because I was making the assumption the this was as far as I could make it in some of the areas of blogging I was working on.
But the thing is, you never hit a dead-end when it comes to building a new skill.
There is always something more you can learn and something new to develop.
Don’t ever lose hope by thinking that you already know everything.
Mindset shift #4: Stop comparing your progress with other people
Another roadblock I was running into a lot this past month was the issue of comparison. For a moment I would feel really proud of what I’d learned about blogging so far and how much I’d achieved. But the moment I saw that someone else was further along then me I would feel like I was failing.
But the thing is, that doesn’t matter at all. Everyone has a different path to take and even one blogger’s journey is going to look different from another blogger.
So no matter what it is you’re working towards, it’s not going to help to compare your progress with someone else’s. Your journey is just that- YOURS.
Run the race at your own pace and in your own style.
Mindset Shift #5: Stop trying to do everything alone
This is a mindset that I have always struggled with but I have been forced to change after starting a blog.
Throughout this month, I ran into quite a few technical issues that made me feel like giving up. I felt like I had to do everything alone but I had no clue what I was doing!
When I finally realized that I had a support team I could reach out to through things like Divi, ConvertKit, and WP Rocket I finally started to feel like the tasks up ahead were possible- maybe even enjoyable!
If you ever get stuck in the mindset of thinking that you have no support think hard about that and ask yourself if it’s really true. Are you sure there’s no support system available for your needs?
Reach out and you’ll find that plenty of people are happy to help you!
Is blogging really worth it?
Short answer? YES! Long answer? It depends on what you want to get out of it.
If blogging is just a means for you to make money and nothing more, I would be inclined to tell you to find some other way to make money. This work does require a lot from you and if you don’t value what you’re doing for any other reason than the money it could make, then you won’t stick with it very long.
Blogging is something you should do because you love it and you truly believe in what you’re doing. If you are driven by the fact that blogs are a great way to help people and make a change in the world then I can tell you right now that even without an income, the blogging experience is more than worth it!
Blogging resources I would recommend
You can see that I’m not a blogging expert, yet. I’m still in the baby stages of learning how to do it. But there are a few resources that I have tested out and found to be extremely helpful! I want to share the ones that have helped me a lot in my blogging journey so that you don’t have to waste time trying to find the best resources alone.
(Please note that I am an affiliate for these three programs, so I do make a small commission on purchases you make through these links. However, I want to make it clear that I would never recommend something that I don’t use and appreciate myself. I truly love these three resources and believe that you would benefit from using them, as well!)
Resource #1: ConvertKit
I would recommend ConvertKit to anyone looking to build a mailing list. Not only is it easier to use, but the support offered to you as a creator is just so helpful! They offer weekly workshops to help you grow as a creator, concerts and inspirational stories to watch, free templates, community networking, and one-on-one support. Honestly, I have nothing but good things to say about them!
If you’re looking to grow a mailing list, you should sign up for ConvertKit.
Resource #2: Legal Pages Bundle
If you are a freelancer or a blogger, then don’t hesitate to buy Amira’s Legal Bundle. It is the best use of your money and time to get her help!
Related Post: Where to get the Best Legal Bundle for your Blog
Resource #3: Divi WordPress theme
I might not recommend this theme for everyone, but I would recommend it to beginner bloggers like me.
Let me tell you why.
I felt that Divi gave me enough freedom to try things my way and learn why they do or don’t work on my own. It was also much easier to use, considering the fact that I had no coding experience.
But the thing that made the biggest difference was the customer support.
Whenever something went wrong, I could contact customer support and someone would answer me right away. When I came to them freaking out that I was sure I had broken my site somehow, they helped me solve the problem. Again and again and again.
I really appreciate the personal support I get from them and that is the main reason why I would recommend their product for you. Though my more experienced future self might move on to a new theme eventually, I couldn’t have asked for a better beginner theme!
If you want to try Divi out for yourself, you can check out their products here!
My Setbacks and Successes This Month
My ninth month was such a roller coaster of emotions with a lot of ups and downs along the way. Thankfully, I feel like I’m finally coming out the other end feeling much more positive, but this month definitely wasn’t easy!
Success: I have started expanding my reach on Twitter
Because I felt like I was getting a better understanding of Pinterest, I wanted to begin developing my skills in another area of social media.
I don’t understand Facebook’s algorithm and I’m not a fan of Instagram, so I decided to give Twitter a try. I’m happy I did because it is a great community and I have enjoyed the time I’ve spent there so far!
Setback: I was struggling to speed up my loading time on my site
This setback had me so close to quitting.
I did a speed test one day and learned that my site was taking seven seconds to load, which is horrible for a website. I knew that if I couldn’t fix this problem then the rest of my effort to improve the site was useless.
After quite a lot of struggling, I ended up buying a membership for WP Rocket. Not only did it improve my site speed, but it gave me a support group I could contact for more help!
Setback: I had to readjust photos and web design
One of the reasons that my site was loading so slowly was because I had too many large-file images on my site.
Having learned this after publishing 100 posts to the site, you can understand my frustration in learning that I was going to have to go through all of my photos to fix the issue. I’m glad the problem had a solution, but boy, that solution is taking forever!
Success: I joined some great programs
I am proud to say that I finally took the dive and applied to some affiliate links and ad programs. I was so pleased that I got accepted into all of them and I’m excited to see where all of this takes me!
The results
Traffic Report
I really bombed my traffic report this month because I accidentally turned off Google Analytics for a whole week without realizing it…oops!
Because of this, I will not be sharing this month’s report. I’ll be saving it for next month, where I will compare it to February’s report.
Top 5 Posts
- Morning Pages: How to Clear Your Mind for a Better Day
- How to Prepare for Next Month Like a Boss! 15 Monthly To-Do List Ideas
- This One Playful Trick will Make you Actually Enjoy Cleaning Up!
- How to Tithe and Why It’s Important
- The In Its Season Homepage
Income
I finally signed up for an ad agency I like called media.net. Right now I’m literally making pennies on it, but it sort of counts as some sort of income, which feels like a big achievement!
Expenses
This month, I spent money on two items. To improve my site speed, I bought WP Rocket and it truly has made a big difference! Not only that, but I have a little more tech support available to me now.
I spent $49 to have the account for the year.
I also invested in another course but this time it’s not about Pinterest! Now that I have a better understanding of Pinterest, I’m moving on to learning more about Google and how to diversify my traffic sources. I joined a course called Traffic Transformation and I’m excited to start applying what I’ve learned!
I spent $79 on the course
Total Expenses: $128
I’m happy to say that I’m finally out of the dark season of blogging! It was still a challenge in month nine to keep moving forward but things are starting to make more sense, now. As a beginner blogger, this month is when the blogging knowledge really starts to sink in and feel a little more natural. It is something to look forward to if you are just starting out!
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