That’s It, I Quit, and I’m Done.
That certainly got your attention, didn’t it?
I need your help. I’m starting to feel like it’s hopeless, regardless of all the supportive comments I’ve had recently. I just can’t get myself into a steady schedule of writing, and I’m still having trouble thinking up new things to write about. Hence my recent posts, which were mostly focused on things that have absolutely nothing to do with “blogging” (Although they are things that are important to me and I believe should be important to everybody. But that’s just my opinion.)
In any case, here’s where you come in. While I wasn’t serious about the title, I am serious that it may become a reality sometime in the future if I can’t get my act together.
So, does anybody have any suggestions? Has anybody else experienced this feeling of “Is it even worth it?”? Especially when you were first starting out? I’m really in a bind here and could definitely use the feedback, and any ideas you have to remedy this problem, like maybe things that helped you if you’ve ever had the same problem.
Thanks in advance, I truly appreciate everybody’s help and suggestions. 
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A Blog about Nothing
I’m not sure what you are hoping to accomplish with your blog. Become independently wealthy, keep a promise, win a bet, waste an hour or two a day? What is your reason for blogging? Do you even have one? If you only do this for fun or as a hobby don’t stress over things. Just keep at it.
Write when you have something relevant to write. If you write because you force yourself to write it will show through and people will be less likely to visit. I write all the time about things that have nothing to do with blogging. First I realized the market is saturated and second I’ve only been blogging for 4 months. How much can a guy know in four months about anything, let alone blogging?
A Blog about Nothing’s last blog post..Tips to generate traffic
Nov 14th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Eric Socia
Wow. Ok. That is actually way more helpful than I expected from the first comment to this post.. I was thinking I was just going to get mostly “don’t worry too much, you’re doing great, keep going, etc.”
Thank you very much.
(and to answer the question: my reason for blogging is that I want to learn more about how to be a ’successful’ blogger, help other people learn how as well, and to meet new people and actually apply myself for once. I have a tendency to give up on things very easily, and I really don’t want to do that this time.)
Nov 14th, 2007 at 1:53 am
A Blog about Nothing
When I first started blogging I wrote a lot of posts about marketing. Mainly because I had been in a promotion phase for my business so I was learning a lot and wanted to share it. I quickly figured out that marketing a business and marketing a blog are not as unlike as you might think. My best advice is to blog about something you already know about and try to make it relevant to blogging as well. Eventually your blogging will just pick up steam and go.
Try blogging less often. Try three times a week. Don’t worry about how many readers you have or don’t have. Just get used to writing. Then bump it up. As your quality improves people will show up to read you. As you learn more an impart that information to your readers they’ll bring others along to benefit from what you have to say.
A Blog about Nothing’s last blog post..Tips to generate traffic
Nov 14th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Eric Socia
Yeah, I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m simply being too impatient, particularly with myself. Even though I know that it takes time and effort to build a reader base, I get really bummed out on days when I get anything less than like 50 hits or so. And on the days that I’ve had over 100, I get very excited.
You’re very right, and I need to slow myself down and not base my current “level of success” on page views, and start thinking more in terms of what I can do to simply improve the quality and then quantity of my writing, regardless of how long it might take.
*phew* Thanks again
Nov 14th, 2007 at 2:19 am
darknight
Same here, I understand because I have experience what u feel now. I even neglected all my blogs for 1 month (just post 1-2 post in a month) and some of my blogs dissapear from google search. That’s bad, really bad….
My suggestion: If you want to quit. Then quit it for a while. During the breaks, you will know what you want. I consider that I love writing and need blogging during the breaks. I know that I don’t earn much from blogging, but I have a dream. And the dream to make my blog bigger and even create lots of quality blogs (Like Engadget and the groups) motivate me to do better from time to time.
darknight’s last blog post..Mickey Mouse Gadgets Round up
Nov 14th, 2007 at 7:06 am
steve
hey i found you through entrecard and wanted to leave my card but you didn’t have the widget!
steve’s last blog post..Dear Halliburton
Nov 14th, 2007 at 8:51 am
personalized dog tags
Why not concentrate on a niche/topic thta you love and passionate about?
Nov 14th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Eric Socia
@darknight: Thanks for the advice
@steve: yeah I just signed up for Entrecard late last night and haven’t had the time to set it up yet.
@dog tags: That’s precisely the problem, I CAN’T concentrate on any one thing. When I try to concentrate on one thing, whether I’m passionate about it or not, I start to either lose interest or run out of things to talk about.
Nov 14th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
James - DigitalKeyToInfo
50 visits a day is not bad for a new blog. Even after a year, that was a good day for my blog till recently.
If you need something else to blog about, Blog About Nothing is right, talk about anything that interests you. Even John Chow does not make every post about making money. He talks about food, cars and other things too. Maybe just try to relate something you like to the blog topic somehow.
If it is not fun, quit. At least for a short time.
If it is fun, tell us why, and blog about that. Life it too short to spend it doing something you don’t like.
James - DigitalKeyToInfo’s last blog post..How Effective Is Blogging Zoom And StumbleUpon? Take A Look!
Nov 14th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Ruchir
I was so compelled to help you out, that I wrote a blog post: What to Do When You’re Feeling Hopeless and Thinking to Quit
Hope it helps,
Ruchir
Ruchir’s last blog post..BloggingZoom: A Revolutionary Idea
Nov 15th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Promotional Items
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, In my experience, the most effective way to come up with new topics to write about is to not write at all for a while. It’s important to have a life away from the computer, that’s where good ideas come from. Stop worrying and it will come naturally. Even bloggers get writer’s block!
Nov 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Saedel
Hey Eric, found your site via BZ. “Success” is a term that differs from one person to another, so my advice is never compare yourself to others (I am actually drafting a post about it), otherwise, you’ll end up with a chip on your shoulder.
As for posting, I’ll agree with the comments above. Set a posting frequency. Mine is twice (3x max) a week. And when you post, post something about the things you like or interested in. That way, you’ll enjoy it and you’ll feel good about yourself.
hope this helps.
-Saedel
Saedel’s last blog post..You Love Writing, Does Someone Understand?
Nov 17th, 2007 at 3:33 am
iPod For Humans
hey , get up … its alyaws happening from time to tim , and its happening to anybody in this world. Just dont give it too much attention, be your self and continue writing man , this is a blessing - to can create worlds with words
iPod For Humans’s last blog post..Podcasting- Elucidated
Nov 17th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Heather Masson
It’s just a matter of keep going. I really like a post that Copyblogger put out a few months ago. 10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer.
We don’t always feel like writing, or that we have anything to say, or that anyone is listening, or that…
You just have to keep going through that and continue. Your writing will get better, the ideas will start to come easily, and more people start to visit.
It takes time, don’t get down on yourself.
Best to You,
Heather
Heather Masson’s last blog post..Friday List of Favorites…
Nov 17th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Jason A Clark
I started out with no idea of what I wanted to write about. I just wrote about whatever interested me. As the months have gone by my blog has definitely taken on a movie/television slant, but if you look at my articles you’ll see all kinds of stuff thrown in.
The experts tell you to pick and niche and stick with it… The truth is, you have to write about what interests you or there’s really no point to making yourself do this. The chances that we’re going to get rich or even make much money is probably slim. If you don’t enjoy yourself you’ll never be able to do it on a regular basis.
You can’t worry too much about how many hits you get, especially after four months. I’ve been blogging for almost a year and I have just now gotten to where I check my stats on any kind of regular basis. Hooking up with BZ has certainly helped my stats, but my my visitor base has grown just by the fact that I’ve kept at it over the months, writing about what interests me and sharing my opinions.
There’s a lot of good advice in these comments. Take some time to read it and figure out what you really want to do.
Jason A Clark’s last blog post..Survivor: China - Episode 9 - No Cheeseburgers On Frosti’s Breath
Nov 17th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Todd Morris
Hi Eric,
I know I’m a little late to this discussion, but the feeling you write about is definitely one that I can relate to. Reading this post, and your “about” page, it seems to me that you may have fallen into the “trap” that I just caught myself in. I recently installed a new sitemap plugin that shows all my posts, broken down by category. Yikes, there were way more posts in the “blogging” category than I had ever intended when I first started. I know why this happened. I read many blogs about blogging, and like you, I’ve spent a large amount of time learning about wordpress and all the various things that go into to it. The thing is though, because there are so many “authority” blogs on this very subject, it’s Way too easy to look at a half finished post, and get the sinking feeling that it’s just not “good enough”.
Two bits of advice I can give that have helped me …
1) Write about what you know and like … even if it seems a little “off topic”.
2) Realize that there is a certain freedom in being relatively unknown. If you happen to make a “bad” post, it’s very unlikely to have long term effects. Post away … learn as you go … and you might just be surprised by what people who read your blog actually like.
Just a few thoughts … hope it helps,
Todd
Todd Morris’s last blog post..3 reasons why failure is good
Dec 9th, 2007 at 1:17 am
domeinregistratie
Hey Eric,
I can totally relate. I’ve been in and out of blogging for the past year. I understand what it takes to blog, hundreds of posts out there explaining it right. What i found out is that I enjoy reading blogs more compared to writing them. I might start blogging again soon but for now I’ll remain a reader. I do enjoy your blog though… keep it up, others like me need a place to go you know. LOL
Dec 30th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Melbourne Mortgage Brokers
I wouldn’t get too stresses about it. Just write whenever you feel inspired. You don’t have to write every single day. Just write about something that really interests you. Persoanlly I blog about current affairs, and so there’s no shortage of new things to write about, but I just blog whenever I feel in the mood. There’s no point in doing something just for the sake of doing it. It has to be enjoyable, and not feel like a chore.
Jan 6th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Natalia
I often am motivated to write when I remember the satisfaction of having written something. It’s like creating a life story.
Jan 12th, 2008 at 6:34 am