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Whether you’ve been blogging for years or still dreaming of launching your blog, one thing is true – blogging is hard. Not impossible, just hard.

Well, let me clarify… if you want to reach the masses with your message and not just blog to share your life with your sister, grandma, and your best friend, it is.

But blogging is also extremely rewarding, fun, and can provide a substantial income for your family.

My personal blogging journey has had all the typical ups and downs – failures and victories. And along the way I’ve discovered “aka experienced” some clear pitfalls of blogging. Especially, as a new blogger!

I made this list to help you see them coming, jump over them, and keep running toward the awesomeness destined for your life and blog!

If you haven't started your blog yet, or are new to blogging – you need a clear plan first! Check out my post on How to Start a Thriving Blog and Treat it Live a Business Day One

Becoming a Slave to the Stats

One of the biggest pitfalls of blogging is allowing all the stats like followers, likes, subscribers, visitors, and shares (just to name a few) to determine your blogging successes and failures. When I first started my blog, I very quickly became obsessed with looking at the countless analytics associated with my blog.

When my numbers would go up, so would my spirits. When they went down (and they do) so did my attitude. The victories would make me feel great, sure. But the not so good results would honestly make me feel like quitting. In fact, I mentally quit several times early on.

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!

The point is, the countless resources we have available to monitor our blog’s analytics will do their job whether we look at them or not. My recommendation is to give yourself borders such as checking your website visitor numbers and other stats once a week, or once a day at absolute maximum.

Related: The Blog Automation Tools I Use to Grow my Blog on AutoPilot!

Waiting to Become an Overnight Success

When you’re just starting out blogging, no one knows who you are. Growth takes time. So in blogging, patience really is a virtue. This is the time to get focused on perfecting your craft and getting better. All of us cringe a little when we look at our earliest stuff, anyway.

In the meantime, you can’t get let yourself get offended, frustrated, or disappointed when your work goes ignored. You need to stick with it and keep pushing up that hill until you get to the top. And while you’re pushing your way up, pay close attention to the feedback you get from others and LISTEN.

Just keep in mind, that not growing AT ALL may indicate you need some refining with your writing, visual graphics, your website design, or something else. This is true for all of us to some degree at every level. We ALL need to continue to evolve and improve.

And in case you thought it was… overnight success in any business isn’t real.

That belief really robs creators of the credit for all the patience and hustle they put into their craft long before they finally made it big.

It’s coming… but it honestly takes time.

Believing the Field of Dreams Myth

Every blogger that ever existed will all agree on this one point – if you build it, they will NOT just come. There are millions of blogs all vying for the same attention and visibility. But the truth is, most never get it!

It’s not enough to have a beautiful website and really helpful content. You MUST get super comfortable with putting you and your stuff out there.

This isn’t negotiable if you want to reach all your raving fans. And they are out there!

There are many skills and job functions that bloggers need to have and get really good at, and promotion is at the very top of that list. Most expert bloggers agree that 30-40% of bloggers should be spending their time actually writing blog posts (aka: creating content), and the other 60-70% of their time MUST be spent on promoting that same content. Some experts say it’s more like 20/80%.

You can start by promoting your content on your social media accounts including Pinterest, sharing content in FaceBook groups for bloggers & marketers, commenting on other blogger’s posts in your niche, and sending your posts and other helpful information to your email list.

Related: The Epic Guide to Using Facebook Groups to Explode your Blog Traffic!

Not Knowing How Much Hustle is Involved

Blogging as a business requires a whole lot of hustle and determination. Growing a blog and a brand, for that matter, isn’t an overnight ambition.

Getting up and sharing your BEST every day no matter if your latest post goes viral or it sits on your blog like it’s got a case of leprosy, is how you know if you’ve got hustle.

There’s work in writing and editing each post, creating compelling Pinnable images (at least 2-3 for each post), emailing your email list on a weekly basis to sustain meaningful connections, making super helpful content upgrades to compliment those crazy awesome posts, and collaborating with other bloggers to reach even more readers and help each other succeed. And that’s all in a day’s work for a blogger!

Starting a Podcast, a regular Youtube series, writing a book, or even an creating an online course are other ambitious projects that can take your blog and message into the next stratosphere.

Believing that Blogging is a One Person Job

Blogging seems like a dream job for introverts… just sitting alone tapping away on your laptop. Sharing your heart with the world.

At least, that was my vision.

But I quickly, or rather hesitantly, learned we need people in blogging. Bloggers are all members of a giant community filled with wildly creative, driven, and supportive people. People just like YOU!

I used to feel inferior to other bloggers, like they were totally out of my league. I’d always feel crazy insecure when I compared myself to another blogger in my niche. I was terrified to reach out and make connections.

Until I did… and that was all she wrote as they say! 😉

Bloggers need partnerships to grow their platforms but more importantly to form lasting relationships with other creatives like themselves. Because let’s face it, blogging is lonely and vastly misunderstood and underappreciated by most people.

Having a support system of like-minded people is important!!

Letting Fear and Insecurities Hold you Back

Blogging for most niches requires a fair amount of transparency and openness. And for most people this can be extremely uncomfortable and cause a lot bloggers to hold back because of insecurities or fear.

Doing so, will almost always stunt the growth of your business. Too often the thing we’re most insecure about is what makes us different. In other words, UNIQUE.

But it’s that uniqueness that sets your blog apart from the masses and most often what catapults a blog out of obscurity and into the limelight!

In other words, don’t try to conform or fit in. Find out what makes you stand out and let that shine. You’ll be surprised what causes people to be attracted to you and your blog!

If you have a passion… blogging is the perfect platform to share your passion with the world. Seriously! I have people all over the world who subscribed to my blog – not just read a post. That's amazing and such a privilege!

I started this post by saying that blogging is hard. And it is… but it’s also so much fun! Avoiding these pitfalls will help you stay focused on the fast-track to your blogging success.

Comment below if you’ve learned or experienced any other pitfalls not on this list. Or how you overcame these yourself!

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