12 Inspiring Tips to Stay Motivated as a Blogger
Do you ever struggle to stay motivated keeping up with your blog?
It’s something every blogger faces.
Try out these 12 blogging tips for staying motivated as a blogger.
1. Find Your Community
Having a community of people around you helps encourage you to keep pushing forward.
The good thing about being in a community of bloggers is that you can see people in every phase of their journey instead of just reading their condensed success story.
Almost no bloggers today go straight from start to success. It’s not an easy road with a steady climb up.
When you’re regularly chatting with people, you’ll get more insight into what their journey actually looks like and how they’re facing the daily challenges of blogging.
It helps you stay motivated when you can directly relate to others who are on a similar journey to your own. Not only can you follow their progress, but you can also talk about your own struggles and successes and get support, advice, or new perspectives that can help.
Blogging Discussion Groups
Forums, social media groups, chat groups, blogging webinars, and conferences are all great places to link up with other bloggers. Make sure you join a group that’s small enough for you and the other members to know each other more closely.
The best discussion groups are focused on a specific topic. If there’s no unifying factors, it’s difficult to keep the group on track and the conversations relevant.
Blogging Bestie
If you get along well with anyone in particular, let that person be your blogging bestie! This is someone you get in touch with more to stay updated on each other’s progress.
Having one person who knows your situation and follows your story closely is a great comfort when things get tough. You and your blogging bestie can help to motivate each other to keep moving forward and putting in the work every day.
2. Create a Routine
Although routines don’t feel motivational, having a set routine makes it much easier to get things done even on your worst days.
Routines are actually good for your mental health. By establishing a daily routine, you only have to find the motivation to start and your muscle memory helps to carry you through the rest of your normal routine.
When you have a consistent routine going already, the force of habit helps you continue in a healthier lifestyle by default.
Establish a good working routine now so you’ll have an easier time getting things done when it’s difficult.
As a blogger, your daily routine could include a few small activities that have compounding benefits when done regularly, such as:
- Writing 300-500 words
- Reading 2 blog posts from other your favorite writers
- Checking blog comments
- Emailing at least 1 person about a partnership or opportunity
- Bookmarking a new study/report that you can reference later on
- Reviewing your blog goals
- Share 1 article written by someone else
- Brainstorm content ideas
- Search for guest posting opportunities
- @ another blogger on social media
- Publish something on social media
If you did all of this every day it might be too much to maintain over the long-term. But, if you choose a few helpful activities and make them part of your daily routine, you’ll see the benefits.
Even if you’re having trouble getting motivated, your habits will stick. Just like brushing your teeth, you’ll find it easier to continue doing these small habits over time because you’re used to doing them every day.
Small habits sustained over a long period of time have a compounding effect. As long as you keep going with these little habits, you’ll keep moving forward even when you’re tired.
3. Rotate Writing Locations
When you’re feeling stuck, getting out of your normal environment and working in a new place can help you get back into gear.
Make a point to work in a different space at least once every 2 weeks, if not weekly.
Pack up your laptop and head to your favorite coffee shop. Set up at a local park on a beautiful day. Rent a shared office space with other freelancers. Go to a business lounge.
It doesn’t really matter where you go, as long as you can get some work done.
Sometimes all it takes to knock yourself out of a funk and back into your workflow is just changing up your environment. Sitting at the same desk every day trying to finish up the same work can be very demotivating.
Get out of the house. Set up somewhere lively and draw inspiration from the world around you.
4. Post Different Types of Content
Some types of content do better than others, but if you focus only on doing one specific type of content then you can burn yourself out quickly.
There are only so many how-to articles you can write in a row!
Throw some variation into your content schedule. Make sure you’re giving yourself a balanced workload that includes all kinds of things.
Stretch yourself, put your creative hat on, and try out writing styles and content that you don’t normally do. Switch it up to allow yourself some freedom in what you’re working on.
Just by working on a larger variety of content types, you can help motivate yourself to keep going with fresh work every day.
5. Plan Ahead
It’s difficult to achieve your goals when you don’t plan ahead on how you’ll do it.
If you have to start every day from scratch without a plan, that’s one extra thing you have to get motivation for. Not only do you have to get up and motivate yourself to work, you also have to expend mental energy thinking up where to start.
The good thing about a plan is that it makes it easier to get straight to work.
When you have a plan, it spares your mental energy for your work. All you have to do is look at your work plan and find a way to get started at the top.
At the very least, you won’t have to take any extra steps in order to make tangible progress towards your goals every day.
6. Record All Your Blog Ideas (even the crazy ones!)
You’ll be able to stay motivated more easily if you can spend less time brainstorming and more time doing the actual work on your off days.
Whenever inspiration strikes, write down your ideas. No matter what they are, write them somewhere and reference them later.
Even if your ideas feel a little out of the box, keep track of them. Sometimes the craziest ideas lead to the best brand differentiation and stand-out content!
Plus, when you’re feeling unmotivated, a crazy idea can be just the thing to stimulate your creativity again.
7. Conduct Interviews
Interviews with industry veterans, up-and-coming people, and prominent people in different markets can be a great way to release better content and keep yourself motivated.
The good thing about an interview is that you get new content without having to create it all yourself. You need to guide the conversation, but most of the actual content is going to come from your guest.
Beyond the content itself, interviews can also help to give you a new perspective and open your eyes to opportunities you didn’t see before. Talking with others and having deep conversations about work and life brings fresh energy and stimulates new ideas to keep you going.
Getting a glimpse behind the curtain shows areas where you could improve your processes, how you’re doing compared to others, and where you might have opportunities for new business.
Reach out for interviews constantly, so you’ll always have a few on your schedule.
8. Write a Weekly Opinion Post
Informational content, how-tos, and product reviews do well with SEO, but opinion posts help you solidify your brand voice and make a name for yourself.
It feels good to be able to put your own thoughts into your content. By including your own voice, you’ll make your work feel more personal. When you can take ownership over it, you’re more likely to feel motivated to keep going.
The great thing about opinion pieces is that they also allow you to jump into ongoing conversations. You can engage with others and add your voice to the mix. It’s refreshing to get your own thoughts out and discuss ideas with your audience.
9. Come Up with New Monetization Ideas
Part of the problem with blogging is that it can take a while to make any real money from your time. If you’re having trouble getting motivated because you’re not getting the returns you want yet, it might help to look at new ways to monetize your blog.
Take a day to look at other blogs and see what they’re doing to make money. You may not be able to see everything they’re doing upfront, but if you take a close look, you’re likely to see a lot of their monetization strategies at work.
Look for:
- What they’re trying to sell
- Notices about income they’ll earn from your actions (ex: affiliate links)
- Merchandise
- Advertisements
- Endorsements or partnerships
- Sponsorships
There may be some clever monetization strategies they’re using that you haven’t considered for your own blog.
Make sure you check blogs in many different industries instead of just sticking to those in the same industry as you. You’ll get a wider range of possibilities this way and maybe a few more inspirational ideas.
10. Review Your Progress
It can be very encouraging to look back at where you started and how much you’ve accomplished.
If you’re someone who likes to shoot for the stars and tends to set lofty goals for yourself, it can be helpful to track what you’re doing and remind yourself that you’re making progress.
Find a few key metrics you can track that will help you reach where you’re aiming. Make a point to check in with those metrics whenever you need the motivation to continue.
Before you can lay out your progress and milestones, you need to know what you’re aiming for. Why are you blogging?
As Simon Sinek puts it:
“If we want to feel an undying passion for our work, if we want to feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, we all need to know our WHY.” – Simon Sinek
What is your goal for your blog?
How is your progress towards that goal going so far?
Take the time to identify your “why” and record your progress towards success. Whenever you need motivation to keep moving, look at how far you’ve come from when you started, and what the way forward looks like.
11. Record Every Win
When you first start blogging, it can feel like nothing is really going right.
To get around this and help keep your motivation strong, find a way to track your wins, no matter how small.
When you’re doing creative work, this is especially important. Small wins make bigger accomplishments feel more achievable.
Write down small victories when they come. Keep it on paper, in a notepad file, on a note-taking app, or anywhere else that feels natural to you.
What counts as a win? Anything that gets you closer towards your goals and puts a smile on your face is a win.
It could be anything. For example:
- Your first non-spam comment
- Ranking in the top 20 for a target keyword
- Securing an interview with someone you respect
- Finishing a long blog post
- Creating an infographic
- Getting mentioned in a tweet
- Receiving a bump in website traffic
These things may not be major milestones, but they’re worth remembering. When you’re having a hard day or you’re not feeling like putting in the work, look back at your wins and you’ll likely get a boost to help you carry on.
12. Stop Reading Ultra-Success Stories (look for realism)
Success stories can be super motivating, but some of them are a bit over the top.
If you’ve been struggling with your blog, it may not be a good idea to read success stories where people talk about going from nothing to making $5000 a month within their first year.
These stories tend to be outliers, but they can make you feel like you’re somehow behind where you should be.
Look for success stories that are a bit more down-to-earth. There are still a lot of inspirational stories from bloggers who put in the work and turned their blog into a full-time source of income or just a fantastic side gig.
Find the people who can offer a more realistic viewpoint so you don’t get discouraged. Stop comparing your journey to people who lucked out and managed to get on the fast track.
Conclusion
Motivation is hard to come by and can make all the difference when you’re struggling to keep up with your blog. Look for motivation in new places or make a few small lifestyle changes to make it easier on yourself.
You can find motivation even in the most unexpected places! Or reach out directly for it by interacting with other bloggers, reading blogging books, or applying the tips mentioned in this article. These tips can point you in the right direction and help you make constructive changes for your long-term success.
About the Contributor
Veselin Mladenov is the Content Manager of ThriveMyWay. He has more than 10 years of experience in the field of corporate marketing and sales, and decided to pursue his passion - digital marketing and content creation.
LinkedIn: Veselin Mladenov
Twitter: @VeselinMladeno6
