A little encouragement for struggling

Masterclass Students

As many of you know I started this blog as part of the Masterclass course that John Thornhill runs, and since starting the course I have been visiting my fellow students blogs, leaving comments and building relationships with them, (as most of us have).

The other day I read a few posts which really got me thinking.

One was from Mandy Allen entitled “Who have you inspired?” Where Mandy talks about linking up with some old friends and how a comment she made years ago inspired one of them to change their career.

The second post that got me thinking was by Bill Murney entitled “Blogging”. Where Bill talks about some of the Masterclass students’ lack of blogging, and asks what could be causing it?

The third post was by a new member of the Masterclass course, and one to watch out for, Terry Conti entitled “The Tough Get Going and The Weak Give Up” where Terry mentions, amongst other things, the lack of blogging.

After reading the posts I thought about them for a while and decided I would write this in the hope of helping these new bloggers overcome the problems they may be facing.

When we start anything new it is quite often difficult to keep the momentum going as we still have our normal daily commitments that have to come first and then there’s the problems that pop up and stop us in our tracks.

To name a few:

  • Work: This is a major hurdle when trying to carve a new career as you still have the bills to pay and a family to keep secure. However when you’re working take a notepad and pen with you and make notes about what comes to mind. Even if you wrote a blog post about your work and why you want things to change.
  • Family: We all like to spend time with our families. Isn’t that why we work so hard, so we can spend quality time with them? I have every Sunday away from the computer and spend the whole day with my wife and children. Maybe you could do the same and take them out for the day and then write a post about where you went or what you did. Randy Smith starts all of his blog posts with a catch up and quite often talks about what he’s been doing off-line with his family.
  • Health: I know all about health issues getting in the way and stopping you moving forward. I won’t harp on about my situation, just read my posts from the past year and you’ll see for yourself the hurdles I’ve had to face. But face them I have, and through doing what I can when I can I have moved forward.
  • Problems in general: I view life and its problems like an athletic track with hurdles, with the problems being hurdles. No sooner have you got over one when another one appears. When you’re faced with the hurdles you have 4 options:
    • Get over it
    • Get around it
    • Get through it
    • Get stuck by it

Obviously the 4th one isn’t an option for us as we have already started to get over our main problem by starting the course in the first place, we just need to keep going.

Maybe the lack of blogging is because you’re in the product development stage of the course. If so write a post about how your product or salespage is taking shape. You’ll start to build relationships with your readers and they may become eager for your product, or share some tips to help you. Terry Conti does this and gets a good response, go and check his blog out.

Could it be that you’re getting stuck for ideas of what to write about on your blog and need some inspiration? If so visit other blogs using the Masterclass blog roll (on the right of your screen) and see what other students are writing about. This post is a prime example of that, as I said at the start I visited Mandy Allen’s, Bill Murney’s and Terry Conti’s blogs and here we have a post generated from those visits.

It really is that simple.

Then start spreading your wings and visit established blogs that are in your niche and start building relationships there. I spend a little time visiting blogs every day, except Sundays, and leaving comments. Not silly comments like “Great blog I’ll be back for more”, but comments that relate to the post. This helps build relationships with the blog owners and most of the time will bring them back to my blog, where they will also leave a comment for me. Take a look down the right hand side of this page and you’ll see a list of my Top Commentators, visit them and get some ideas for your blog.

If you don’t quite understand something ask the blog owner to elaborate on it, or to email you more details. I often email blog owners and ask for advice or help, and guess what….. so far I have got a response from them every time!! I have even emailed some of the MC students when I’ve seen them making a mistake or if they have errors on their blogs, which also helps build relationships.

Your blog is like your office window and through it your readers, subscribers, followers and customers all have a chance of communicating with you directly. When they visit 3 or 4 times and see the same blog post every time do you think they’ll come back for a 5th or 6th visit?

It’s doubtful isn’t it?

So have a little look at some of the blogs out there and try to find the inspiration that you need, like my good friend John Edwards says:

“Within your inspiration lies success”

Established Blog Owners: If you come across new blogs that haven’t been updated for some time please leave them a comment of encouragement. Also, If you could add some tips to this post and help those that are stuck I’m sure they’d be very grateful.

By the same token, if you’re struggling let us know how we can help.

Until next time, take care

PS If you would like to Triple Your Blog Traffic simply enter your details below for
INSTANT ACCESS to the Brand New Video, MP3 file and eBook



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Filed under: Blogging • General • Getting Started

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!