Is Self-Doubt Sabotaging Your Blog?

With tales of runaway blogging success and the prospect of making millions now pretty widely discussed, those of us who grew up blogging about life’s trials are starting to break into the world of blogging for business. Unfortunately, while the highest earners in this field now enjoy as much as $100k or more a month, the vast majority of us enjoy a mere trickle of profits. And, confidence is often the differentiating factor.

After all, if you’re dipping your toes nervously and then running for the hills, how can you expect consumers to believe in your blog enough to invest? Here, we’re going to help you overcome these confidence issues by considering sure signs that self-doubt is currently sabotaging your blogging prospects, and what to do about it.

1) You’re starting small

For many bloggers, sabotage starts from setup, with many doubtful bloggers settling for small scale pages on platforms like Blogger. This is especially problematic considering that a domain transfer later will lose you all of your content to date, a reality that can only be avoided by immediately opting for a more inclusive, professional hosting solution like Squarespace or even the web development services offered by a company like WebX360. While you need to invest some money to make these solutions possible, ROI should be far higher and more long-lasting than it would be on a free platform, especially considering that this sends a clear message to your audience that you’re serious about what you’re doing.

2) You’re too shy to communicate

Blogs are now read by as many as 60% of internet users, and interacting with/replying to their comments is the only way to make sure they stick around. Modern-day blogging success is also dependent on a cult of personality developed across social media platforms that at least provide some glimpse into the person behind the words. This can seem strange to begin with, especially considering that many bloggers are naturally shy, but replying to comments and even liking/sharing the content of fellow bloggers or readers is guaranteed to boost their loyalty, and their chances at conversion later on. 

3) You’re still treating this as a hobby

Self-doubt that tells you your blog will never be more than a hobby can also lead to patchy upload schedules and a general lack of ambition. Unfortunately, a blog is never going to hold earning potential if you don’t continually attempt to push its boundaries (seeking guest blogs/brand collaborations/etc.) and also make sure to develop a reliable schedule that readers can follow. Admittedly, these things can feel difficult to achieve when you’re still not seeing any income from working this hard, but nothing worth having ever came easy and your blog, like any business, requires significant input before it will start to reap a fruitful future.

Fundamentally, blogging success is reliant on your ability to believe in yourself, and the prospects that you stand to enjoy from a little hard work. Eliminate these doubtful voices in your head, and you just might find that you can start earning after all.