BLOGGING FOR DEVS (#31)

Thinking of giving up on your blog? Read this first!

I have something to confess: I recently fell into a post-New Years slump.

You know, that feeling where you make big plans for the new year...and then the weight of your own expectations sits on your shoulders like a 2-ton elephant who just ate a truckload of chocolate cake?

To my surprise, this month marks 5 years (!) since I started blogging for real. And soooo many things have made me want to quit over the years:

Mean comments online, articles I'd worked hard on getting zero traction, or just the exhaustion of doing it all next to a demanding job.

In case that's you (or you feel it coming), here are 3 lessons I learned as a long-term blogger that might help you stick with it.

Lesson 1: The kind of consistency that matters is trying, again and again.

People join this newsletter all the time and tell me they want to "find out how to be consistent".

Turns out, there is no secret formula for being productive every day, publishing on a perfect cadence, or making sure every launch lands.

The #1 thing that distinguishes the creators you love to follow and the ones you've never heard of is simply the ones you love didn't stop trying.

• Josh Comeau published over 100 articles on Medium between 2014-2019, before starting his uber-successful self-hosted blog on JavaScript, CSS, and animations.
• Ali Abdaal recorded over 80 videos before getting monetized on YouTube, and then went on to grow his 1.4M subscriber base while going to med school full-time.
• Adam Wathan created 4 software products between 2015 and 2017, before doubling down on Tailwind CSS in 2019. Since then his co-owned company Tailwind Labs has earned over $4M.

Success takes time, and A LOT of iterations. If it feels like it's going slowly, it's not just you.

Lesson 2: You're allowed to change your niche until you find something you like.

Honing in on a niche has tons of benefits: it's easier to figure out what to write about, and since you have a well-defined audience, it's easier for people to see your stuff and think, "This is for me." Like and subscribe.

But if you don't really like the niche you're in? Reaching the 100 article mark is gonna be HARD.

Honestly, it's why I've never written a ton of pure tech tutorials. For me, they feel tedious and un-creative. That's why I've written more about topics like travel, career development, and building my businesses. I get excited talking about those things.

By giving yourself permission to try different topics, you're more likely to land on one that helps you finally look forward to publishing on your blog.

Lesson 3: You need blogger friends.

"Why didn't anyone upvote my post?" "Are these numbers good or bad?"

I always used to wonder how famous bloggers became so, well, famous. Why does my blog or my social media following feel lightyears away from theirs? Was I "too late" to blog and still be successful?

Turns out, the real answer is they didn't do it alone. That's where friends who blog come in:

• Blogging friends help you improve your craft. Because they know what works and can give you targeted feedback based on experience instead of guessing.
• Blogging friends can boost your work. Whether that's through shout-outs, collaborating on building backlinks for SEO, or recommending you for opportunities.
• Blogging friends can help you stay on track. Because they can help contextualize where you're at in the grand scheme of things, and remind you that you're just a few feet of dirt away from gold.

No matter how far you may've made it on your own, blogging friends will take you further. NO ONE reaches the summit of Mt. Everest alone. The same is true for building a successful blog.

P.S. The importance of finding friends who blog is exactly why I started the Blogging for Devs Community.

I haven't plugged it lately, but I wanted to quickly share that there are now fewer than 50 remaining Founding Memberships at the 25% discount 🚨

Several people who joined in the last week said they'd been "thinking about it for a while", so if that's you, the time to take action is now 🤗

Click here to claim your spot, or reply to this week's email if you have any questions about the community :)

That's all from me! I hope this has given you some renewed energy to keep going, and some practical examples of the rewards that await when you do.

Thanks so much for reading. Til next time,

@monicalent