Five Ways Your Pet Blog Can Soar
I’m feeling discouraged and just not up for blogging.
I am so burnt out.
I want to be like XXXX blogger and feel like brands respect me and will pay me.
I want to use the BlogPaws Community but feel lost or overwhelmed, and it’s one more spot I have to visit.
I can’t keep up with social media.
In the past week, the above are five messages I’ve read on social media in some way, shape, or form, by a BlogPaws Community Member with a pet blog.
And I applaud each and every one of you for it. Without reading these messages, we can suspect that you share in the same concerns and frustrations as we, BlogPaws Staff, do. However, actually SEEING these messages in black and white helps us help you more.
Everyone who is helping to make the BlogPaws Community grow to nearly 4,000 members with a shared purpose to in some way, makes a difference for pets: You inspire us. The BlogPaws Team is watching, listening, learning, engaging, applying what you say and what you want—to our efforts, programs, enhancements, conference, paid opportunities, and more.
Here are six facts in response to the six statements made above:
I’m feeling discouraged and just not up for blogging.
Then don’t blog. One of the crummiest feelings is that you have to blog not because you want to but because you have to. Chances are that if prose feels forced and unnatural to you, then your readers will feel the same way. Frustration, blank slate syndrome, and feeling down about life in general is completely normal. Life can truly suck.
What’s your backup plan for times when discouragement takes over your passion to write? I kid you not, my business plan has a section devoted to quotes and positive things I can refer to when times basically suck. That doesn’t mean you have to do that, but that works for me.
Sometimes I just don’t blog if the spirit takes over. I stockpile ideas and I never feel at a loss for something to write about. I carry a notepad or iPhone with me everywhere. I tend to get ideas when I am a passenger in the car, walking in a store, or trying to fall asleep at night.
Why Should I Give a Damn About Your Blog? <– No really, go there and read that post.
I am so burnt out.
Something’s gotta’ give. Putting over-the-top pressure on yourself serves no one and tends to deplete your own energy level. I learned a tip from our Blog Manager, Robbi Hess: When it all gets to be too much, walk away. And yes, you can. There is no invisible chain keeping you tethered to a chair. I know because I lapse back into “but I have to get this done” syndrome from time to time.
I am reminded by my “go to” book of quotes and inspiring things that I need to move. I surround myself with pictures and things that make me smile in my office. The dog calls the bottom of my chair his resting spot. He encourages me to take walks. I force myself to get up hourly and stretch.
Burn out can hit anyone who burns both ends of the candle for too long. I read this recently on the BloggingCage.com, “Opportunities are always there for a limited amount of time, and we have a limited life-span as a human, so gear up now, it’s not a time to be fooling around and being lazy.”
If you are doing too much for too many, maybe it’s time to step back and get fired up, not burnt out.
I want to be like XXXX blogger and feel like brands respect me and will pay me.
This innocent, simple yet powerful message crossed my path this week:
If you want something, you don’t wish for it, you work for it. Have you ever asked XXX blogger how he or she got to their destination? I guarantee you that most successful pet bloggers are not overnight successes.
Here are six reasons why you can never be a successful pet blogger. I guarantee you that if you follow these six mantras, you will never succeed.
To be blunt, start a business plan for your blog. And here’s how: (in several posts)
A Business Plan for the Pet Blogger: Part 1
Ready Set Write: A Business Plan for the Pet Blogger
Pet Blogging Business Plan: Marketing and Money
None of us are like someone else: We are who we are. We can learn from and be inspired by others, but ultimately you stand out when you forge your own path.
I want to use the BlogPaws Community but feel lost or overwhelmed, and it’s one more spot I have to visit.
I know it is yet another stop on a busy highway we live every day, but it’s a great place to converge, chat, network, learn, grow, expand, and stay connected with opportunities. The BlogPaws Community is free and is one of the biggest and best 24/7/365 pet blogger and micro-blogger communities online.
Here are three tutorials, for a combined total of 15 minutes, to teach you the lay of the land and how to get around (easy peasy, by the way):
BlogPaws Community Training Video #1: Getting Started in the BlogPaws Community
BlogPaws Community Training Video #2: Discussion groups, Forums, Networking and Connections, Photos and Videos.
BlogPaws Community Training Video #3: Chat Feature, Pet Blogger Network, & Community Events
Tell us a bit about yourself, your blog, or anything else you want us to know. The Newbies Group is the perfect jumping in point: BlogPaws Community Newbies Group
The BlogPaws Pet Blogger Influencer Group is a targeted group of our community members. NON-BRAND pet bloggers and microbloggers are welcome to apply and join.
Be part of a trend-setting panel of pet bloggers/microbloggers/pet parents who enjoy sharing their opinions and being a valued voice in the ever-growing pet blogosphere. Request admittance here: http://community.blogpaws.com/group/blogpaws-pet-blogger-influencer-group
I can’t keep up with social media.
This hit me a few nights ago: “Be the best at less and not a bore at more.”
There is no way humanly possible that folks can be on every social media network and thrive in them all. If you were at a party and the same person approached you over and over but with a different yet slightly similar message each time, wouldn’t you get tired of him or her being around you? The same holds true for social media. Pick the social media outlets you desire and in which you want to excel.
Then go do more of that.
Today, Thursday, I am going to take questions throughout the day and evening here on this thread, so if you have something I can help with, hit me up. If you’d rather ask privately, that’s fine, too: carol@blogpaws.com. I am the PR and Marketing Manager for BlogPaws and if I don’t have the answer, I will do my best to get it.
Here’s to your success!
