Have you ever had such massive fails missed wins that you look back on and are grateful for? In my blogging journey, I have had many of those. For some strange reason, I had the illusion that my blogging journey would be linear and upward trending. Well, just after I started that is. And as time went on, I realised that blogging is more so like a rollercoaster ride than anything. The beauty of it is learning from all of your blogging fails.
This isn’t an easy post to write, because I am partially still trying to convince myself that I am really grateful for my blogging fails missed wins. But this wouldn’t be a safe space if we weren’t honest about our feelings, now would it?
Here we go!
A significant drop in my readership
This one should’ve come at no surprise given that I reduced the number of times I post in a week. I also happened to take a never-ending break from blogging, then came back half-gas… But even before I left, I had already noticed that my readers weren’t as engaged, or even reading the posts.
One school of thought says to write for yourself, but the honest truth is that if we all did that, there would be no reason to publish anything online. The other school of thought says to write what adds value to your readers. Be the solution, not a nagging voice. So when you try to follow this approach and hit a hard wall, it definitely is a low blow!
This blogging fail made me realise that I couldn’t take you for granted.
Having Google Adsense suspend my account
Related: 5 Things bloggers with they could say
Soon after Blogmas last year, my stats started trending downwards. Of course, people were no longer on holiday so it made complete sense to me… But Google didn’t quite get this logic. My account was suspended and reinstated about 4 times since last December, all because I seemed to be getting illigitimate traffic.
If you’re wondering what that even means, you’re not alone. I was puzzled, because who gets similar views each month? Did they think I was clicking on my own blog and sifting through the pages to give myself views? Did they think I was clicking on my own ads because the stats were not cohesive?
Whatever the case, this blogging fail made me realise that I needed to put more effort into maintaining my blog.
Not reaching my projected milestones
Oh, the milestones… Sigh…
I recall mentioning in the past that I had the delusion that I would reach 5,000 followers in 6 months. I must’ve pulled that number out of a hat or something because nothing indicated that my blog would grow that quickly. If anything, I would’ve had to pay my way to that number, and your girl doesn’t have the resources for that!
Well, come 6 months, I pretty much laughed at myself and readjuted my expectations. Blogmas helped me reach the 500 mark just 8 months after I started my blog, but it was downhill from there.
To add insult to my injury, my peers were excelling with similar content! I questioned whether or not I was good enough, and even questioned if it was due to my race. All to be reminded that I started this blog for fun, not to become ‘WordPress famous’.
This blogging fail taught me to stay grounded and trust the process.
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Not quite a blogging fail, but writer’s block that lasted weeks
Errrm yeah, writer’s block. I must’ve been in this rut for nearly 6 months if I’m being honest. In fact, I still haven’t quite gotten to the point that my creative juices are freely flowing again.
What I’ve realised, though, is that my writer’s block was tied to the feeling that I needed to please my readers. I was no longer writing content I truly enjoyed. Instead, I was searching for themes and trying to stick with them.
The main issue with this, and probably the best lesson I’ve learnt, is that my authenticity faltered. How on earth would I stay original if I was writing the same thing as everyone else? And why would anyone want to read my post if there were 50 others just like them on the net?
I’m still figuring out the solution for this one, but this blogging fail taught me to stop following the crowd.
Have you read: You’ve hit writer’s block. Now what?
The biggest of my blogging fails: juggling my social media accounts
You know the irony of revealing my problems? It’s that I have given people solutions to simlar issues but struggle to follow my own advice. Is that just a me thing?
Well, as a mom, full-time worker and wife, juggling is not the best word to describe what I’ve been doing. Instead, I have been drowing, or even burying myself in an attempt to stay atop of things. The irony is that this may be the biggest of my blogging fails because the self-saboteur in me just throws in the towel when things get tough.
So what have I learnt from this? Um… I believe the correct answer is to pick one thing and focus on it, rather than dappling with everything. And if that answer ever settles, I will let you know!
Related: How to juggle blogging with a full-time job
Conclusion: Blogging fails for the win?
To sum it up, I believe that there’s a lesson to be learnt in every aspect of our lives. Win or lose, everything happens for a reason. It is up to us to identify and appreciate the silver lining!
What are some blogging fails that you have encountered that turned out to be blessings?
Pssst! Let’s hang on the socials.
Hahhahah did you just illegitimate traffic? Is there such a thing. Ohh wow
Well, one of my blogging fails which turned into a blessing was when i moved from free premium to a paid one. I lost traffic drastically and I was almost discouraged. I later discovered that those who moved with me on a new site were my real readers as I began to be more authentic. I believe previously I wrote like everyone else and not so honest and authentic. I’m grateful that I managed to find what I truly want t write about and im happy. Blogging is not easy.
I’m so glad you found your groove and are happier with a genuine readership! It isn’t the easiest thing to accept, but in the long run it is way better for you! 💖
I absolutely love this post, Shelly. Thank you for sharing your insights which are thoughtful, honest and balanced. I find your material invaluable because it makes a lot of sense and is said with your heart on your sleeve. In other words, you have helped me to be on the right track (or what I think is the right track) regarding my own blogging journey.
Aww thanks Sean! Glad to have added some sort of value with my ramblings 😅
I can obviously only speak for myself, but with the thousands of blogs one could follow, I look for honesty and authenticity in other bloggers. Posts like this one are what I look for. I’m trying to write children’s novels, but blogs that continuously blog about their latest review, etc… just don’t do it for me. I know it’s tough because bloggers/writers have to do a fair amount of self-promotion, and yet nothing turns me off quicker than if that is all that someone does. To use an analogy from writing, the characters I like the most and can identify with are the imperfect ones with normal human challenges and faults. People want different things from blogging. I’m sure you know by now that a lot of our “followers” are basically anonymous people who hit the follow button once and we’ll never see again. I’d much rather have dedicated followers to engage with. Keep writing from the heart.
I appreciate your honesty, probably because I’m on the winning end of it 😅 But jokes aside, you’re right about the hundreds of followers who may as well be robots. As a writer, I absolutely appreciate being able to interact with you and other readers, exchange ideas and just be better as a whole!
I so agree with Pete above, and say to keep on keeping on with your heartfelt posts
Thanks Beth! You’re always here cheering me on~ love and appreciate it!
This was a great post! The Google adsense thing would make me so frustrated – sounds like you took it in stride!
Oh Suzanne, you have no idea! But I suppose they are right about what they say about laughing else you’ll cry 😅
Thanks for stopping by!
A very relatable post.
My stats plummeted last month which was disheartening.
I just keep going and remind myself why I’m doing this. As should you. 😀
Thanks so much for reading and commenting Rachel. You’re definitely not alone! It will get better again 😉
Thanks for sharing this honest post Shelly. I think we can all relate to the milestones. I hear about people with thousands of followers which makes my modest number look sad. Yet, often more followers doesn’t equal more views or more engagement.
So far, I’ve seen steady growth on my blog. I’m contemplating reducing my posts from three times a week to two in 2022–mainly because things are opening up and some of my old hobbies are “back on” and I’m concerned about having the time to post three times a week. We’ll see what happens.
Probably my biggest mistake in the beginning was doing Pinterest all wrong and then wondering why I wasn’t getting any traffic. I took some time to learn more about it, and now it’s my number one source of traffic.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment as always Michelle 💖
I still haven’t grappled Pinterest, so I get the odd view here and there. It’s great to see you’re thriving off it. Maybe you could write a post with your tips?
That’s a great idea Shelly. I will put it on my schedule for January.
Thank you! 🙏🏾😁
I need it
I could never view any if your blogs as “fails” or missed wins. You are always true, honest, authentic, and real in your writing and NOTHING about that means failure. You pour your heart into everything you do-being a wife, mother, friend, employee, and blogger and that makes you the special rock star you are!
Aww thanks Amy, this warms my heart 🥺
That is me right now during Blogmas.. but getting back on track with writing and posting Blogmas content. I know you will get back to it and all your creative juices will increase !
Good luck Cata! I hope for both of us that we can turn this around. How are you finding the time for Blogmas?
Thank you,you too! I’m behind on posting since I’m busy but trying to keep up hopefully next week.
I enjoy your complete honesty here. Not a lot of people talk about the struggles of blogging authentically. I struggled with wanting to write what was authentic to me but the more authentic you write, the harder it is to grasp an audience. So I feel like I had to make a decision… Be the writer I wanted to be, write the way I wanted to write and be happy with my real readers than trying to capture a temporary audience. My fail was trying to do both!
I’m so glad you found your voice and stuck with it… Doing otherwise would’ve definitely made blogging a chore, because how long can you honestly go putting others above yourself?
I’m glad that even though you had these blogging fails you were able to learn and grow from them. That’s a big part of blogging successfully- learning from your mistakes!
Thanks for reading and commenting Pooja. I suppose we have two choices in life, learn from our failures or just give up 😉
That’s an interesting thing about post frequency. What would you say the best frequency for you per week is? And yeah, I too thought that growing my audience would take a much shorter time, but we live and learn, eh? You have such a quality site here though, so I won’t worry about metrics too much. I only see growth in the amount of effort you’ve put in here—and it shows. Anyway, thanks for this post!