I know this is stating the obvious a bit. But I just wanted to reiterate how important it is to keep going and never give up. I've discovered that the longer I persevere the easier it is to draw traffic to my blog and attract quality, engaged followers on social media.
That's partly because the more you do something, the better you are at it! So you learn increasingly effective methods of getting your blog posts found via search engines as well as getting noticed -- and ultimately followed -- by other social media users.
More blog content to be found
But it's also because the longer you've been active in these ways, the more content you've got out there to find. The whole process is cumulative because pretty much everything you write or submit stays up there online.
Remember that Google ranks website pages separately. And each blog post is seen by it as a distinct page. So the more frequently you blog (being mindful of SEO and including your chosen keywords in the content -- titles especially) the more likely you are to appear in relevant searches.
I like to equate blogging with fishing. Every post is like a new line cast into a different part of the river. Surely the fisherman with many of them out over a wide expanse of water will have more success than the guy with just one line in, fishing close to shore.
Also, the longer someone keeps fishing the more fish he'll land. Same with blogging. Even if you get discouraged and feel like giving up you should still leave your blog up there. You might eventually change your mind and get back into it at some stage. Then you can pick up where you left off. You might even be pleasantly surprised by how much search traffic those "aged" posts are getting, too.
On social networks perseverance pays off differently
On social networks the benefits of keeping at it over a long period of time are a bit different. Unlike with blogging, a lot of the stuff you share gets buried pretty quickly even if it's still online. But some of it does remain visible for ages and occasionally a person who wouldn't have found you any other way sees it and joins your network as a result.
Hashtags can facilitate this process, particularly if you vary them. While it's good to include popular, relevant ones for instant results they'll usually lose their effectiveness after a few hours. But if you sprinkle in some lesser known hashtags you can sometimes hang around at the top of searches for them for months. Each one of these long-lived tweets may only draw in a couple of followers over an extended period, but if you've got many of them up there the numbers do add up.
Then there are Twitter lists. The longer you remain active on the site, the more of them you get added to. I've been on the network for several years now. I'm getting included in them to at an increasing rate. Actually, it seems to be happening every few days! I think this is where a lot of people are finding my profile, then following me.
Over to you. Can you name any other benefits of carrying on regardless and refusing to throw in the towel? Or do you have a different view completely? Either way, please feel free to add your comments below.
That's partly because the more you do something, the better you are at it! So you learn increasingly effective methods of getting your blog posts found via search engines as well as getting noticed -- and ultimately followed -- by other social media users.
More blog content to be found
But it's also because the longer you've been active in these ways, the more content you've got out there to find. The whole process is cumulative because pretty much everything you write or submit stays up there online.
Remember that Google ranks website pages separately. And each blog post is seen by it as a distinct page. So the more frequently you blog (being mindful of SEO and including your chosen keywords in the content -- titles especially) the more likely you are to appear in relevant searches.
I like to equate blogging with fishing. Every post is like a new line cast into a different part of the river. Surely the fisherman with many of them out over a wide expanse of water will have more success than the guy with just one line in, fishing close to shore.
Also, the longer someone keeps fishing the more fish he'll land. Same with blogging. Even if you get discouraged and feel like giving up you should still leave your blog up there. You might eventually change your mind and get back into it at some stage. Then you can pick up where you left off. You might even be pleasantly surprised by how much search traffic those "aged" posts are getting, too.
On social networks perseverance pays off differently
On social networks the benefits of keeping at it over a long period of time are a bit different. Unlike with blogging, a lot of the stuff you share gets buried pretty quickly even if it's still online. But some of it does remain visible for ages and occasionally a person who wouldn't have found you any other way sees it and joins your network as a result.
Hashtags can facilitate this process, particularly if you vary them. While it's good to include popular, relevant ones for instant results they'll usually lose their effectiveness after a few hours. But if you sprinkle in some lesser known hashtags you can sometimes hang around at the top of searches for them for months. Each one of these long-lived tweets may only draw in a couple of followers over an extended period, but if you've got many of them up there the numbers do add up.
Then there are Twitter lists. The longer you remain active on the site, the more of them you get added to. I've been on the network for several years now. I'm getting included in them to at an increasing rate. Actually, it seems to be happening every few days! I think this is where a lot of people are finding my profile, then following me.
Over to you. Can you name any other benefits of carrying on regardless and refusing to throw in the towel? Or do you have a different view completely? Either way, please feel free to add your comments below.