6 Blogging Challenges Bloggers Don't Tell You About

Blogging has become increasingly popular over the last decade, and a number of bloggers have actually been able to turn it into a career.

Many people think that creating a blog is a quick and easy alternative to your usual 9 to 5. While it can be an alternative to more traditional lines of work, creating a successful blog that produces enough traffic and money to sustain you as a full time job takes lots of time, dedication and persistence. It’s anything but easy.

If you’re thinking about starting a blog, there may be some challenges that you weren’t aware of which you will need to overcome in order to make your blog successful. We have the top 6 challenges that bloggers face below, and we’d love to hear your input on these as well in the comment section at the bottom of this article.

Challenge #1: You’re not the most tech savvy person
Creating and gathering interesting content for your blog is the part of the blogger’s battle that most people focus on, but in order to get your content seen by as many people as possible, it’s important to either know a little about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Youtube is a good place to start) or hire someone who does.

Challenge #2: Writer’s block is real
Writer’s block is no made-up thing. There will be days when you sit down prepared to let your heart pour out through your fingers, but your brain won’t get the memo. It’s a frustrating thing to deal with, but one thing that can help you overcome it is finding out what helps you relax, be it writing through the block or taking a break and getting a change of scenery.

Challenge #3: Growing your audience
Growing your audience is a slow process and the cause of frustration for many bloggers. Oftentimes when we don’t see growth as quickly as we think it should happen, we get discouraged and begin writing less. This doesn’t help grow an audience and thus begins the cycle of a blog’s downfall. Being consistent with your updates and keeping your content focused are the best ways to begin seeing growth in your audience.

Which leads us to our next challenge…

Challenge #4: Figuring out your brand
This is the most important part of your blog, even before the content. Why? Because once you know exactly what your brand is, that will determine what kind of content you should fill your blog with, and in turn what kind of audience you’ll end up attracting. Think of your blog as an extension of yourself and the brand being the personality that will attract your new friends… the audience.

Challenge #5: Knowing which social media outlets will benefit your blog
There are an endless amount of social media sites (and the popular ones are always changing), so it can be difficult to pinpoint which ones you should use to publicize your site. Facebook and Twitter are social media staples, but what about Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat and all the others? Whichever social media sites you decide are right for your blog, just be sure to not bite off more than you can chew. Updating one or two social sites daily is better than updating five or six once a month. But also remember quality is more important than quantity.

Challenge #6: Everybody’s doing it
The market is becoming oversaturated and the more people that blog, the harder it is to stand out and be taken seriously as a blogger. Rachel Lynch of I Hate Blonde summed it up perfectly to The Atlantic saying that “now [brands are] so overpopulated with floods of emails from wannabe bloggers that they’re … reevaluating all [their] relationships.”

It’s not impossible to make yourself stand out, even with all the competition, as long as you have a good handle on what you want to say and you have a unique perspective. But as we’ve said before, it’s not easy. Creating and maintaining a successful blog is a lot of hard work, and it can take years before you see the results of that work.

These challenges may seem like a lot, but all can be overcome with a little bit of thought, creativity and perseverance. The best part is that once you do, your blog will be well on its way to success.

If you’re a blogger, what are some unexpected challenges you’ve had to overcome along the way and how did you do it? We’d love to hear your stories about blogging our comment section below!