Life Cycle Of A Blog - Sink or Swim You Choose

It blows my mind every time I read how many blogs are started each day and equally the amount that fail to succeed.  With thousands of bloggers closing their site each day, how can you prevent your blog from being the next to find a spot in the blog cemetery?  I’d like to share with you what I consider the typical life cycle of a blog in hopes that you can set better expectations of  your blog and avoid the pitfalls that can ultimately lead to the demise of your blogging career.

4 Stage Life Cycle Of A Blog:

1. Excitement and Drive-  when I first begin to learn about the unlimited potential that blogging has to offer I could barely contain my excitement.  At night I would literally lay in bed for hours brainstorming about the various topics that I could blog about and how much fun it would be to create a booming network of devoted readers and commenters.  I finally choose three topics that I enjoy most. The first was shopping and saving money so I created DivineSteals.com.  The second was living life to the fullest via a lifestyle blog called FullGlassLiving.com.  The last was learning and teaching others how to make money blogging with AverageGal dot com.  Now that I had my topics down it was time to move onto the next step.
2. Design & Launch - Once I had my blog topics narrowed down it was time to start implementing the actual layout of the sites.  It’s extremely exciting watching your ideas go from a brainstorm on paper to living working blogs on the internet.  Once you have the design phase down it’s time for the big launch.  I’ll never forget the day my first blog went live.  It was a great feeling to know that I was about to concur the blogosphere.  That feeling didn’t last long.  More unforgettable was the second day, when I realized I was now just another one of the millions of blogs on the internet.  Where was my group group of fanatical readers that I had imagined lying in bed all of those sleepless nights? I could literally hear the crickets through my computer screen.  That’s were the next step of the blog life cycle comes into play.
3. Networking, Writing, and Doubt - my blogs had all the tools necessary to be successful expect for 1 thing, Readers.  Most blog owners will agree with me when I say that building readership is both the most rewarding aspect of blogging and also the most frustrating.  After spending countless days of writing, commenting, and networking it finally happened, my readership began to appear.  I had my days of doubt and even asked myself “what was I thinking leaving my corporate job to take on blogging full time?”; I got past that stage and now ask myself why I didn’t do it sooner!  When thinking about giving up, I highly suggest that you keep reading success stories of bloggers in your niche and continue to do the “little things” that will keep your blog chugging down the tracks to success.  Don’t let the doubt overwhelm you and never forget why you started blogging in the first place, for FUN!
4. Sink or Swim- This is the final stage in the life of a blog.  Most blogs tend to reach the morgue on or about the 3rd-6th month.  The doubt stage begins to take over and your postings start to slow from 1 a day to 1 a week.  The snowball effect spreads and you start to second guess your choice of topic, site layout, and humanity in general.  After all who wouldn’t want to visit your site right?  Enter this site, AverageGal dot com.  Keep the faith, if you follow some simple repeatable steps each day you will see your readers, subscribers, and eventually profits Swim!

I truly hope that once you read this article you can have a better understanding of my path thus far in the world of blogging.  Furthermore I think you will find benefit in reading this site and the sites of my guest bloggers when searching for ideas on how to grow and make money blogging.  If you have some of your own unique aspects you’d like to share about your blog’s life cycle we’d love to hear; Please share with all in our comments section below!