What To Do When Failure Strikes Your Blog – Part 1

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This is the first installment of my 3 part series on failure, as I feel it is very worthwhile to understand what failure is, why it is important, and most of all what you can do about it if it strikes your blog. Many bloggers fail at making money or building up good traffic to their blogs. A great number of them throw in the towel just after 2 months because of this primary reason ( see my article on this is here.. ). This series is also part of my “Championship Blogging Tips.”  If you want to be a championship blogger, you have to know how deal with your failures, because ultimately how you deal with failure will determine your future success! Important- I plan to help you address your blogging failures in this series, so feel free to leave a comment discussing any challenges you are having with you blog… together we can figure out some solutions.

Everybody fails at something no matter how great they are. If your blog or website is failing to meet your income, traffic, or other expectations this series is for you...

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely. -Unknown

In this installment we are going to primarily focus on what failure is and what it looks like. It is important to be able to recognize failure in the variety of faces and forms it may come disguised in. To deal with any problem, the very first step is identifying what the problem is. In this case the problem is failure, so learn to recognize it when you see it. In part 2, we will discuss why failure is critically important and a necessary stepping stone on your way to success. In part 3, we are going to look at some strategies to help you embrace your failures and use them as an advantage to make your blog more powerful and successful.

Noteworthy Quotes On Failure

“Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.” – Epictetus

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan (MJ)

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – MJ

What is Failure?

Failure is defined by Webster’s online dictionary as, “a lack of success.”

Failure as defined by Wikipediar.org, ” refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success.”

Many of us are all too familiar with what failure is, not so much because of a dictionary definition, but from our own experiences with dealing with it. Failure is not something most people look forward to, but rather something they would like to avoid.

Failure in Life

I too have faced failure many times in my life. I felt like my entire childhood was just a collection failures stringed together like a pearl necklace. In those days, I could not understand why we had it so hard and would often think that life was really unjust, unfair, and mostly full of suffering. Too often I would ask the questions like, “Why this?”, “Why us?”, “Why me?”. Things sometimes got so bad and out of control, that I cursed the day I had been born.

Even though I was not suicidal, I sometimes I would go to bed so full of hurt and pain, that I would  pray and hope some nights would be the night I fall a sleep and be fortunate enough to never wake up again. I really hoped to literally never see the light of day again. Prolonged and chronic failures or painful experiences can unfortunately put a person in a state of mind like this. I am very happy that my prayer for death was never answered! Otherwise I would have missed out on all the great things that have and are currently happening in my life now. Over the years I’ve worked very hard on self-development and eventually learned how to handle life’s shortcomings and turn them into advantages.

Failure has many faces and forms like:

• rejection
• financial bankruptcy
• foreclosure
• divorce
• getting fired or laid off
• losing a game of basketball
• lack of confidence
• poor self-image
• poverty
• breakdowns
• you get the point…….

Failure in Blogging

I know most of you reading this are probably interested more in how failures relate specifically to blogging. So let’s take a look at this area now.

If your blog is not making you enough money, or you are getting frustrated by the lack of traffic growth, interaction with your readers, etc., then you may feel like you are failing as a blogger or your blog is failing to meet your expectations. If you find yourself in this position, there are two things you need to be aware of; First of all, it’s okay to have those feelings and thoughts. Second, whatever problem(s) you are experiencing with your blog, a solution is very likely waiting for you to discover it.

Blog failures may look like:

• Very little or no traffic
• Very few or no comments
• Very few or no advertisers
• Very little or no income produced
• Blog abandonment due to disappointment
• Not planning for your blog
• Not accomplishing your blog goals
• Thinking about quitting
• Picking the wrong niche
• Not knowing what to write about
• Can you think of others blog failures?

What To Do Now?

Important- I would like to help you solve your blogging challenges in this series, so let me know what’s bothering you about your blog. I promise to do my best to help find some answers!

I highly encourage you take a few moments and grab a pen and paper and start writing down a list of problems you are having with your blog. This first step is called problem identification.

Next circle the items on your list you believe are the most critical to the success of your blog. Don’t worry about fixing them now, just write and circle. Lastly, underline or highlight items on your list that are easy to fix or probably easy to find a solution for. A sample list may look like the one immediately above.

Now, for the blog problems you have circled, feel free to list them  in the comments section below. I am sure many readers will be glad to help provide some answers for you too. I will personally try to respond as well. I sincerely hope to assist you in overcoming your challenges and getting your blog to perform very nicely for you.

So… What challenges are you facing with your Blog?

Related Posts:

• Launching A Blog? Don’t Try This At Home….Part 1
• The Real Secrets To Making Affiliate Sales, Pt. 1
• How to Get Your First Affiliate Sale By July 16th, 2010!