Top 5 Reasons Most Blogs Don’t Last « Nate Whitehill dot Com

Top 5 Reasons Most Blogs Don’t Last

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Nate Whitehill

Top 5 Reasons Most Blogs Don't Last

I was chatting with Jane May earlier tonight about how it seems that in our four short months of blogging so far, we have already seen many blogs come and go. Why is that most bloggers give up after a few short months?

According to a recent article on Pronet, the blogosphere is standing still. Even though the number of blogs created in this past year has increased by more than 30 million, the number of active blogs continues to stand still at around 15 million, excluding quasi-blogs, such as Myspace.

Blogosphere Standing Still

So, why is it that most blogs get abandoned sooner or later? I present to you the top five reasons why most blogs don’t last. Hopefully baby bloggers will keep some of these points in mind over the next few months.

1. Blogging consistently is not easy. It certaintly is easy to set up a Blogspot account or even install Wordpress, but unfortunately, most blogs don’t go much farther than that. Many people find that writing informative and original articles consistently is difficult, and they are right – it is difficult. However, most experienced bloggers will tell you – it takes a while to build up that elusive blogging rhythm – the one in which you easily weave together insightful and unique posts.

2. New blogs see little to no financial return. Many people start blogging because they see John Chow and Problogger pulling thousands each month from Adsense. These superbloggers make it look easy too, but the fact remains, John Chow and Darren have been blogging for YEARS. They are basically the grandfathers of the blogosphere. I didn’t make more than $20 my first 2 months of blogging, and now in my fourth month, I am JUST beginning to see financial returns.

3. Traffic takes time to build. I’ll admit it – it’s hard to feel motivated to blog when you know not many people are reading your work. However, this early stage of blogging is arguably the most crucial. The first three months are the time to show everyone, that despite not having tons of comments or a large number of RSS subscribers, you write awesome, original, link-worthy articles.

4. No passion for their blog topic. Many new “make money online” blogs have popped up over the past few months. That being said, how many of those people actually make money online and are passionate about it? John Chow didn’t start writing only about how to make money online – he initially just used his blog to talk about his passions, only one of which was making that online dough. My passions are business and web development, and only since I have been blogging has my passion for blog development emerged. Now, blog development is one of my favorite topics to write about.

5. Time management must be practiced seriously. It’s no secret – most people would love to quit their day job and blog full time. So, they start blogging, but find that, like anything, it takes a decent amount of time. Add that to their already busy lives and it is something that gets put off and eventually abandoned. When anyone adds blogging to their busy life, they must start practicing time management more seriously. I find that it doesn’t take me much longer than 20-40 minutes to write a solid post, so I make sure to carve out that time at least 5x per week.

Just like going to the gym, blogging takes months of hard work to see any noticeable benefits. In my four months of blogging, only recently am I starting to see these benefits – including financial return, people linking to my posts, and a decent number of subscribers, readers, etc.

In conclusion, this is the number one lesson I have learned from blogging – hard work over time pays off. With time, comes experience and respect. I respect people that have been blogging for at least six months – that takes some serious dedication. The longer you have been blogging, the more people will see you as an expert or authority about your blog topics. There is a lot of power in published work.

Blogging has taught me that to see measurable results in ANYTHING, you must work hard, stay ultra-dedicated, and perhaps most importantly, be patient. Treat blogging like going to the gym, but don’t forget to go to the gym too!

How long have you been blogging? Please respond to my poll – on the sidebar, to the right.

Tomorrow, I am going to talk about how blogging has changed my life.

Discussion: 105 Comments

105 Responses to “Top 5 Reasons Most Blogs Don’t Last”

« Older Comments

lol

- 6th Feb, 08 11:02am

winter olympics of 1972
Mike Touch

- 27th Feb, 08 03:02pm

Great post.
It’s always inspring to read things like this.
I guess people that fail to be able to blog cannot see the long term benefits from doing it. They obviously don’t get much enjoyment from it!
blaxter

- 9th Mar, 08 03:03pm

Obviously people are still reading your older posts all this time later, Nate! Good stuff.

I came across it while searching blogging topics as I started blogging a month ago. My proposed audience is quite niche and so the incidental traffic is encouraging (as is the search engine finding me so often!) but they’re not necessarily the people who want to comment. I find that’s a slight drawback and am making the site known by advertising in the right places in the next two weeks. I’m not likely to give up easily as I am a freelance writer as well as a practitioner in this area, so it is my passion too. But I agree persistence is key.
Alex Shalman

- 11th Mar, 08 02:03pm

I’m glad I made it through that not lasting threshold. Life is goood! =)
Mastermind

- 14th Mar, 08 07:03am

The post is very inspiring..completed reading whole post..:D
Brett

- 17th Mar, 08 08:03am

great post. I certainly agree with what your saying
HiFi Guy

- 21st Mar, 08 11:03am

The niche is over populated now, it’s very hard to get his place out there !
Prosperity Writer

- 30th Mar, 08 07:03pm

number 1 seemed to hit me the best. when i started with like 10 blogger blogs, i thought its easy to write consistently. i found out the hard way its not.
Pugsley - Bloggig Ideas

- 21st Apr, 08 08:04am

Really good and to the point information about blogging. When you are a beginner it sounds like so much fun, just go to Blogger and open a free account and start blogging. They forget that it is a lot of work to properly maintain a blog and that you should only blog in something that you are really passionate about, that way you have a better chance of sticking with it.
Great post

Pugsley
Great Love Story

- 15th May, 08 05:05am

Currently people used to creates blog for just link love, i found 70 to 75 % Blogs are not well managed, well i have made my blog in Jan.07 till now i got more than 65 K visitors direct to my blog home page. as i always updating my blog with lots of new foods for fun.
Internet Age

- 17th May, 08 07:05am

Great Post Nate.

A blog is a business and needs to be treated that way. I have chosen not to add one to our business as I realise that it takes dedication and well written updated content.

Your points are all right, for now I will just post.

So I tried out wordpress just to see what the admin looked like, would this mean that I would be a new blog. 80 million in 2006, what is it now.
Online Products Shopping

- 19th May, 08 09:05am

People would like to spent only on those blogs on they find some relative information what they need, IMO, the best thing is to categorized blog in each category not just limited to the industry area, i found a blog of a Googler, who do blogging on each and every subject, that people really love and take time to read, some time you may post just a referring link to the latest news or nice information, though people would like and love your blog, just because you are sharing information to others for what they actually want.
Komodo Dragon

- 30th May, 08 09:05pm

This is so true! You really don’t make the money as fast and as easy as others make it look. People just give up quickly after about a month or two of no cash flow.
Sexy Wallpapers

- 7th Jun, 08 11:06pm

If money is the reason for your blogging then I guess you are starting out wrongly. Blogging by nature is not work.
komodo dragon

- 14th Jun, 08 01:06pm

very interesting post! very true ! you need to be consistent and passionate!
Poems MD

- 15th Jun, 08 01:06pm

Thanks for these reasons!!! Who knows may be you helped somebody who are going to give up blogging!!
john

- 21st Jun, 08 01:06pm

Your guestbook is example of middle-class guestbooks. Congratulation! I?ll show your site and guestbook to my friends.s
Lana

- 23rd Jul, 08 09:07pm

I guess the key to a consistent blogging is love what you do. Therefore choosing a proper niche is vital matter. Finding a popular topic which we like and know much is very important.
Poems MD

- 4th Aug, 08 05:08am

Consistent blogging is not my cup of tee unfortunately
Christmas

- 8th Aug, 08 10:08am

The major reasons that led for not lasting blogging are not serious practice of time management and consistent interesting writing to capture the attention of your readers ( especially if your blog is new).
Ann

- 17th Aug, 08 10:08pm

I’ve been blogging since 2002 on xanga. I blogged about everything and anything and I think it was my personality and outrageous bitchfests that endeared me to so many people. I have *just* recently moved over to my own domain after realizing that I actually had a decent fanbase from my xanga blog. It was high time I made money for myself with my nonsense rants and ramblings as opposed to making money for xanga, those bastards. But I digress, I’m glad its working out for you!
Eva White

- 27th Aug, 08 11:08pm

One way to beat the blogging blues is to write about a variety of topics. If you limit yourself to a specific field it gets boring and monotonous.
curiousman

- 10th Sep, 08 04:09am

HAHA. I’ve been blogging for a month now and hope that I’ll still be doing it 3 months from now. I agree with you that writing informative posts is not easy at all. Good post!
Sara B. Healy

- 24th Sep, 08 01:09pm

Okay, I loved this post, but it was just a tiny bit depressing. I have all the passion for what I want to do with my blog, but not much traffic and I’ve been blogging for over a year. On the other hand, I am determined to learn what I need in order to make my blog better. This post helps. Thank you very much!
Norma

- 1st Oct, 08 05:10pm

I’ve been blogging for 5 years, and need a link to something with 5 in the title, so I guess you’re it!
Assam Blog

- 3rd Oct, 08 01:10pm

I’m just a beginner, but already addicted to blogging. I hope that I will be able to keep my blog alive by taking inspiration from experienced bloggers like you. In my view, point 4 is the most important for failure. It is very hard to maintain the flow of conversation and interest in a blog with multiple topics or without any specific topics.

thanks.
Pays to live green

- 13th Oct, 08 10:10am

Great article. I think all of those reason are like trying to lose weight. If you do not keep persistent and work hard, you are not going to see anything out of a blog.
Jermaine

- 24th Oct, 08 07:10pm

You know it does take time to get visitors on your blog, but the journey is fun!
EasyProfitPack

- 4th Nov, 08 02:11am

yes you are very right.

There are times when there is no passion, people write things for advertisers and also for money and that makes their blog lose its self. Its individuality.
jan

- 28th Dec, 08 06:12am

Time management is my weakest link. I have to do something about this, if I want to shape up and be a better blogger. I particularly like your emphasis on hard work and the metaphor is apt. Build that blogging muscles, we must and stay with it until we get the stamina for it. Of course, harnessing our passion so we can survive the very often tedious process of sitting down to blog everyday – or whatever blog schedule we’re comfortable with – is key. And to stay with it until blogging has become ingrained in our system or habit helps too.
Gary

- 27th Jan, 09 07:01pm

I can take many months to make a few hundred I have too many blog and shoukd just focus on my best ones lots of blogger try to do too many blogs at once
Money Academy

- 28th Jan, 09 05:01am

i think that the pool finished because this is an old post but i want to add something , if the new blogger already have much friends interested in his blog this will be good for him and help him to stand with this blog because he will not feel any boring time . also friend invite friend ” maybe authors ” so this help .
with the time he can get high rank and Search Engines this means more traffic , more popularly .
for the question , i’m just starter in blogging but i have a target i hope i reach next year .
thanks to let me post here

Mohammed
SEO Marketing

- 5th Feb, 09 05:02am

I am planning for my own domain because i would like to come up with my own unique design. I am ready with my blog. Its still hosted at wordpress but i can happily see 1.5 K + visitors at my blog. So I do think i need a brand domain to become like you. Thank you for such nice tips on blogging.
My question about Random Blogging? Does it good or bad. I love to post every thing what i like on my blog. Is it good to go with random blogging or need to select particular 1 area?
Web Development

- 2nd Mar, 09 11:03pm

How good the random blogging for any blog. I really like to write about each and every things around me. What are the pros and cons of Random blogging?
GPS Fan

- 26th Mar, 09 08:03pm

You correctly mentioned time management but, it’s also about effort management. With experience you learn how to gain the maximum leverage from whatever you do. For instance, if you are going to comment on someones blog make it on an interesting topic with a high PR if possible as it will gain more traffic. Post topic selection research is most important. Unless you are blogging for pure pleasure you need to consider what advertising the keywords you are going to use will attract. For example, some products and services are more popular than others.
jan_geronimo

- 6th Apr, 09 04:04am

I just want you to know that I’m on my fourth month of blogging and that I had passed what you termed as the first critical three months wherein most bloggers stopped blogging altogether.

I’m congratulating myself on my modest gain, but then I’ve read in the concluding part of this post this: “I respect people that have been blogging for at least six months – that takes some serious dedication.”

There’s no rest for me then huh? lol. I just have to put my nose to the grindstone once again to survive another two months and come back here again to report my progress.

I know this is but a fraction of what you meant. I just want to reassure you that the inspiration I’ve taken from reading your posts stays with me. It’s essential for me to keep this alive.

How I wish you’d post more. “,)
student

- 27th Apr, 09 04:04pm

It sometimes hard to find the time to blog wth working and school some just don’t think their blogis that important. It also easy to get discoraged when you fellno one is readying your blogso it is a waste of time
Toronto personal injury

- 30th Apr, 09 03:04am

you said that ” New blogs see little to no financial return.” The funds are so new that there’s no five-year data then.
Toronto personal injury

- 13th May, 09 11:05pm

I like your point “Traffic takes time to build” any kind of site like blogs, forums ……. etc required some time to build traffic.
Car Reviews

- 15th Jun, 09 12:06am

i m not a big fan of chow and shoe but i visit their blogs sometimes as to refer if something useful as their blogs are full of paid reviews which are not much useful. i like to read Garry Conn’s blog as he shares his secrets on how to make money online