6 Reasons Why Bloggers Fail – Karalee Shotola

1

Blogging full-time is a tough job because some months you may not receive as much income as you hoped, and you can’t struggle to pay your bills, so it is ideal to have a steady income from somewhere else. – Karalee Shotola.

There is a general view that if you need a quick fortune, you should start blogging.

But because the idea is far from the truth, it contributes to the reasons why most bloggers fail.

In today’s interview, our guest would be addressing common “reasons why bloggers fail?”

We want to see why bloggers fail to make money from their blogs despite all time, effort, and money they spend!

In the last interview, we looked at blogging as a career, where our guest, Rebecca Ellis, said blogging is worth a career anyone can bank on.

But that’s not all as we continue to see most players in the industry hanging up their boots lately.

There are blogging qualities that every blogger must watch out for to succeed.

And in today’s interview, we want to see why most bloggers won’t still succeed despite all the opportunities that lie in blogging.

If you’re entering blogging with the intention to make fast-money, you’re most likely going to be disappointed. And consequently, you’ll get tired easily and call it a quit.

Profit is one of the benefits of blogging, which you don’t get except you work for it.

Although ‘profit’ I mean doesn’t necessarily imply to be money. At least, if you’re doing something and see the pleasure in it, that alone is profit.

And if you decide to monetize your blog and expect a return on your investment, no one can blame you for that.

But the problem is if after spending so much money to host your blog and you don’t get the rewards, what can you do?

That makes this interview very crucial.

Once you’re able to identify each of the reasons why bloggers fail, not doing them can make you succeed.

Reasons why bloggers fail?

Two categories of people blog – those who create blogging norms and those who follow the norms.

While the former leads, the latter follows.

The first 10 World’s Most Successful Bloggers, as collected by WordPress, aren’t copycats. They’re very creative, thereby leading and others follow.

Arriana Huffington who earns $41,660,000 per month from her blog, Huffington Post, didn’t ask for popularity. But when we saw her work and realized her level of professionalism, we had no choice but to learn from her.

The likes of her set themselves out to be prominent bloggers by creating a unique personality in the blogging community.

This isn’t impossible if you can equally establish your own goals, value, and culture as a blogger.

No one likes to be a failure but yet there are many successful bloggers like those who failed.

And reasons for their failure include:

Not Prepared for change

Most bloggers fail as they’re always caught unprepared for change.

Blogging is a dynamic industry, where changes occur very often. A core update in Google algorithm can hit you. And when that happens, you might experience a serious drop in traffic and rankings. Most bloggers who don’t prepare for this fail.

Lack of strategic planning

Opportunities and threats come with competition.

You need to regularly update your content to be ahead of the competition. Even your theme and plugins must be up to date to leverage the industry’s latest standards.

Meanwhile, you won’t be able to differentiate between opportunities and threats when you don’t plan for them.

Greediness

Greediness is one of the reasons why bloggers fail.

I wonder where success would come from when you don’t invest time, money, and effort in your blog?

Failure begins when you want fast money without working for it. Some bloggers want to make money blogging but can’t buy a premium WordPress theme. This habit contributes to the reasons why most bloggers fail.

Lack of creativity

Reasons Why Bloggers Fail

A blogger that doesn’t want to fail must be creative.

There is no norm in blogging than the one you set by yourself. If it works, you will begin to see people adopting them.

Most of the blogging styles we see today are some people’s hard work. Out of curiosity, we turn them into our norms without scrutiny. So, when that norm fails, there’s a tendency that those who follow them also fail.

Lack of focus

Lack of focus is seen as one of the possible reasons why bloggers fail.

In fact, some bloggers had even made standards out of the ‘worst advice’ they found online. If you’re the type of blogger that applies every rule, you will end up losing focus.

And when that happens, there is a probability that you fail.

Many people give advice based on what they have experienced. And if you must follow those pieces of advice, you need to ensure they’re truly applicable to your case.

Capitalizing on your blog

Failure is possible if your blog doesn’t pay you yet and you don’t have other sources of income. Capitalizing on your blog can subject you to unnecessary pressure.

But you don’t have to do that.

As noted by our guest during the interview, she said:

Blogging full-time is a tough job because some months you may not receive as much income as you hoped, and you can’t struggle to pay your bills, so it is ideal to have a steady income from somewhere else. Karalee Shotola.

Expecting your blog to pay your bills in this circumstance can lead to depression if the month ends and no money is coming.

As a result of this, most bloggers lose focus and eventually fail.

Who is Karalee Shotola?

Karalee Shotola who currently lives in Roskilde, Denmark, is originally from Texas and a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She’s currently studying Child Studies at the Master’s Level.

She likes to write and she is a blogger.
My content focuses on reviews of cosmetics, skincare, and books as well as lifestyle posts from recipes to blogging advice. Karalee S.In 2016, Karalee established her blog Tales of Belle which is a Beauty, Books, and Lifestyle blog.

If you want to know more about Karalee, read further.

In this interview, here is what she had to say about reasons why bloggers fail to make money from their blogs.

Her story will definitely inspire!

Q.1. Describe how you got into blogging

When I was in college, my friend had a blog on Tumblr, and I thought it would be fun to join her.

After a while, I felt like I was not part of the community because the only way to interact with others on Tumblr is through private messages, and I ended up deleting my blog and starting a new one on WordPress.

Q.2. What are your strengths in blogging?

One of my strengths in blogging is that I love to write.

Ever since I was a little kid, I was writing short stories. And now, I can use my blog to write about my thoughts on various topics.

My other strength is that I learned to be adaptable.

When I first started blogging, I had all the time in the world to focus on my blog, but when I started my Master’s program, I had to learn how to manage my time better and cut down on the number of posts I publish.

Q.3. How would you describe your blogging style?

I’m myself.

I do not try to pretend to be someone else, and I write my posts how I would normally write.

Q.4. What blogging strategies do you think are better to make a blogger succeed?

You may think it is necessary to post every day, but it is not. Instead, you should focus on writing good quality posts.

Also, I recommend being yourself.

You should write posts that you enjoy writing, and do not try to impress others. It will show in your posts if you have no interest in the topic you are writing about.

Q.5. What do you think is the best blog idea a blogger should provide to boost traffic?

I think it is best to engage with other bloggers.

Follow blogs you enjoy reading, like and comment on their posts, and share their posts on social media. Doing so shows you are an active and supportive member of the blogging community, which can boost your traffic.

Q.6. What was your best strategy to monetize your blog and how do you see the strategy?

I recommend looking for paid collaborations and applying for them instead of waiting for opportunities to show up in your emails.

You can search for the following hashtags on Twitter to find blogging opportunities:

  • #BloggersWanted
  • #BloggersRequired

You can equally use other website like Get Blogged to find paid collaborations with brands.

Q.7. How do you manage time to run your blog efficiently?

Since I’m a full-time master’s student as well as a mother to a 4-year-old daughter, I have little time during the day to focus on my blog.

So, I set time aside in the evenings to write posts, promote them on social media, and interact with other bloggers. I also make a to-do list for the week so I know what I should focus on that evening.

Q.8. What do you think is the best strategy that worked well for you to get more backlinks to your blog?

I think collaborations and guest posting with other bloggers is the best way to get more backlinks.

For collaborations, you and another blogger will write separate posts on your own blogs about the same topic and then link to each other’s posts.

With guest posts, you can either write a paragraph or a whole post which is then only posted on the other blogger’s blog, and you are credited with writing that post. Either way, you are getting a backlink to your blog.

Q.9. How do you want to improve your blog in this year?

Last year, I had personal issues came up, and I had to take a 3-month break from blogging.

This year I’m hoping to pre-write some posts and have a schedule for publishing. So that if I do need to take a short break, I can still have content to publish.

Q.10. What was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that?

Even though, last year, I needed to take a break from blogging which I considered as one of my greatest failures. Because up to that point I was publishing 2-3 posts a week and I completely stopped for 3 months.

However, I learned that it is okay to take breaks for however long you need. All your followers will still be there for you when you return.

Also, I worked with several brands before my break, and I was worried that it would be harder to find collaborations once I returned, but I’m still working with brands, which is great.

Q.11. Tell our audience about your proudest achievement as a blogger?

My proudest achievement was last year when I had my first paid collaboration with a brand.

I was not sure if any brands would be interested in working with me on a paid basis. So I was so excited and proud of the work I put into my blog to be offered money to write a post.

Q.12. Who are your mentors in and out of blogging community and how has that helped you so far?

One blogger I have looked to for advice is Jenny in Neverland.

She has been blogging for over 6 years, and she frequently shares her advice for bloggers on her blog.

She has also published two eBooks for bloggers, which I have found helpful in reading to improve my own blog.

Outside of blogging, I have several mentors in my master’s program that I look up to and turn to for advice.

Q.13. What is your greatest achievement outside of blogging?

My greatest achievement outside of blogging is being accepted into my master’s program.

Q.14. What advice would you give new bloggers?

Even though bloggers can receive money from blogging either through advertising, affiliate marketing, or paid collaborations with brands, I do not recommend giving up looking for job until you are in a comfortable position where you can focus on your blog full-time.

Blogging full-time is a tough job because some months you may not receive as much income as you hoped, and you can’t struggle to pay your bills.

So, it is ideal to have a steady income from somewhere else.

Q.15. Which of your blog posts would you like our audience to read to help them become a successful blogger?

I recommend reading The Worst Advice for Bloggers. In that post other bloggers and I share bad advice we have come across.

I think this post is the most helpful to read because I can give you advice on how to be successful.

But all of the advice will not be relevant to you because you know what works best for you and your blog. Whether to publish a post every day or once a week or being active on social media, only you can say what is good for you.

Conclusion

In this interview series, our guest who happened to be a lifestyle blogger and psychologist by profession had shed light upon the reasons why most bloggers fail. And in this post, six good reasons are provided to inspire you.

Once you’re able to identify those factors responsible for failure in blogging, to become a successful blogger won’t be a fantasy.

All you have to do is to make sure you don’t engage in anything that can hamper your success.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here