Once you have found your websites passion, you need to stay persistent and motivated to create a successful website online. Here are the following secrets I have learned to help stay persistent and motivated for the long run.
Set smaller goals
You may have an ultimate goal to get a million visitors to your website, but how are you going to get there? You need to set smaller goals along the way to achieve your ultimate goal. Goals don’t just include milestones such as 5,000 unique visitors or 100 RSS subscribers, but how are you going to get those visitors and RSS subscribers.
Make lists
Write lists that outline the different task you need to complete in order to achieve your smaller goals. The Internet itself is addictive, if you sit at your computer with no set tasks you may find yourself all over the place! It has happened to me several times. Lists will help you stay on task in order to complete your short and long term goals. Your lists should also include any research that you need to get done.
Pace Yourself
Don’t be a work-o-holic putting in 20 hour days, but also don’t work too little! Balance out your workload so you are able to complete your tasks and not get burned out. Also if you do not work enough you may loose sight on your goals and loose your persistence from lack of reaching any of your goals. You need to find a happy middle ground where you are working enough to meet your goals overtime and still having time to have a little fun.
Keep Learning
Any time I feel like everything is just not working out, the one thing that will always bring me back to my senses is a good dose of knowledge. Read other websites, blogs, and forums to stay informed on your websites topic. It is a lot of fun to interact with others who are in the same boat as you. You may just find a new idea and inspiration to get you back on track.
Take pride in the small stuff
Creating a successful website is hard work! It is easy to loose track of what you are doing and loose your motivation. Each time you accomplish one of your goals, take pride in that accomplishment. It is a big deal and make it one too so that you can feel how great it is to meet your goals and to help you strive to meet more of your goals. Let somebody know what you’ve accomplished or if you are a shy one, treat yourself to something fun.
BlueJar.com requires me to be extremely persistent by posting daily and I need to be motivated in order to keep up with the pace. Though this blog has been my greatest challenge, it has also been the most rewarding. I use these secrets weekly to help me stay on task and keep up with the blogging world. What are some of the ways that you keep yourself persistent and motivated?
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Great post! Thanks! I’ve been getting a lot out of your posts, now I need to apply some of it.
Couldn’t agree more about taking note of your success and wins.
The ambitious among us are never satisified, but it helps to remember when 40 readers a day was a good number when you are disappointed that you fell below 100.
Some great advice here.
Thanks Dave! Let me know what works out for you.
Your right Chuck, I have to remind myself that just getting to 10 rss readers was something special to me! It helps during those low times for sure.
Lists *swoon* I have a notebook I take everywhere where I continually add items to my daily “to do” list. The book is nearly full and it’s only been a few months :p
I take a notebook everywhere too, however it usually gets scribbled all over from my 3 yr old who finds me writing, so I can’t rely on it much. But it helps me to think of ideas and to plan them out even if I can’t see perfectly later. :c)
Yes…you have given some great advice for staying motivated.
Your last point spoke to me big time -celebrate the small stuff. I am attempting to do this on a daily basis, but sometimes I need to remind myself. How bad is that!
I guess I am lucky that I am passionate about my blogging topic and I get so excited when I meet people like you who get the reason for my motivation.
Thanks for visiting us over at Imaginif. Your visit and comment was like a breath of fresh air.
Thank you.
Megan, you have the most important message! You inspire me — your topic is controversial to write about yet you are doing it. I think you should celebrate that you have started a blog that not many of us are brave enough to dive into.
Excellent post Sarah,
I find it quite easy to blog most days as it is my passion. Still trying to achieve that balance though
For me making a list for the months seems to work best.
Monika
[...] GnomeyNewt reveals the secrets to staying persistent and motivated. [...]
Hey Sarah,
Great Post! One important point you raised here is “Pace Yourself”. Too many people just sprint all the way or crawl and hope they reach their goal soon. End result, they always give up!
Any dream worthy of your full attention will usually be a marathon. A steady and comfortable pace will ensure we all get there in good time without burning out too soon.
Cheers
James
PS: Gave you some stumble love too
Thanks for commenting and stumbling my post. That is an excellent analogy with a marathon! Steady and comfortable pace is difficult to find but marathon runners train and train and train and train, and than train some more to find their perfect pace. That is actually really good to think about that during the first months of blogging we are just training to find our pace. Thanks for that, it makes prefect sense!
You are welcome, Sarah. Keep on writing, you are doing a great job and have some wonderful post in here
Cheers
James
Very well written, Sarah.
I try to divide bigger tasks into smaller ones, so that everytime I finish a minor piece of that bigger task, I get motivated automatically to do the rest
How I admire you, Sarah.
I know that the biggest deal on making a blog successful is being persistent and keep on going. But I just seem to spend more time on other people’s blog than my own. My last post was like six weeks ago, while I have been online like everyday since.
I will follow your tips and set off making a list.
I keep a notebook handy at all times - and have a section in it for “blog article ideas”. If somethign pops into my head I write it down and then when I’m short of inspiration for web content I review the list. It;s amazing how much stuff I would have forgotten I;ve captured. And I’m convinced that because it’s now a habit, I’m getting more good ideas in the first place.
Ian