Lost in the World of Blogging and Digital Marketing?

I know from experience how frustrating it can be when you are first starting out in the world of online business.

It seems like such an easy concept: You make a blog/website, do some affiliate marketing and sell some products, then within a month or so you are making thousands of dollars in passive income every month! (Well, that's how it could work according to many of the professional bloggers out there).

We are won over by Pinterest pins and Instagram stories telling us how much money others are making in online business and it tends to get our hopes up really quickly. This is not all a bad thing. It is certainly possible to make a sizeable income through blogging and digital marketing, it just takes a lot more work and a lot more time than most people will have you think.

Most new bloggers won't make much at all in the first few months. If you do, it's not much. This is usually enough for people to think to themselves, "well, it was a nice thought, but this just isn't going to work the way I want it to!"

If you find yourself on the verge of quitting your online business because you aren't seeing the growth that you were hoping for, there are a few things you should first think about.

If this is something you really want to be doing and you are determined to make it work, do some troubleshooting to figure out exactly what the problem(s) might be.

Problem #1 - Your mission/purpose has gotten lost.

I am well aware of how you can get sucked in to all the information out there about digital marketing. Most of it is solid information, put out there to help you be successful. But ultimately, it can get overwhelming at times. I know in doing my research when I first got started blogging, I would fall down the rabbit hole of Pinterest or google and absorb hour after hour of research and information. There were countless great ideas out there, and I wanted to try them all! Affiliate marketing, course creation, MRR and PLR, videos, photos, Instagram stories, blog posts, ebooks, etc.

Trying too many different avenues all at once is usually a recipe for disaster. As a new blogger or digital marketer, you are better off focusing on just one goal at a time. If you are going to blog, get your blog site up and running first, including numerous blog posts to start. Once that is squared away, determine if you want to make money with your blog or not. If so, choose only one avenue to work on at a time. You may start with affiliate marketing, then move on to done-for-you digital products, and then eventually start creating your own ebooks or courses. Don’t try to do all of these things at once though!

I remember getting so excited about all the different ways to earn an income online. I would start pursuing one avenue, then jump into another one without putting my whole heart into the first one. Then from there I would get curious about something else and hop right into that. I didn’t give the time or attention needed to all the new things I was trying to learn, therefore I was presenting the world with half-a$$ material that I was not proud of.

I reached a point where I realized I needed to slow my roll. I started to focus on just one thing at a time, and once I really had that one thing figured out, I allowed myself to invest time into learning the next thing. By doing this, I was able to present quality material that I was proud of, and my digital marketing career took off because of it.

Some of us lose track of our WHY along the way...

Why did you get into blogging or digital marketing in the first place? Do you love to write? Do you want to help people fix problems? Are you wanting to replace your full-time income? Do you love to teach others?

Remind yourself of your WHY and write it down. Think about it. Visualize your short-term goals and long-term goals. When we are feeling defeated, we need to have a conversation with ourselves to remind us about our purpose. When that goal is once again embedded at the front of your mind, then you can work with a goal-oriented mindset/success mindset instead of a defeated one. Know that if you want your WHY bad enough, you WILL get it! It just may take some time.

Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint!

Problem #2 - You are playing the "comparison"game

Stop comparing yourself and your business to others. It’s hard not to do this considering every other post and pin is talking about how “I made a million dollars off my blog”. I get it. We all want to be just like them, with a successful career as a full time blogger or digital marketer, making the big bucks.

Here’s what most of those bloggers aren’t telling you, though. Most of those ladies who post about their extraordinary incomes have already been in this business for years. YEARS! They tried and failed and tried and failed until they figured out what worked. But it was many, many months and many years in the making.

Sure, there will always be exceptions to this rule. There will always be those few who do it right the first time and do it quickly with tremendous success. But that is not a realistic expectation.

You can’t be in the high school choir questioning why you don’t have Taylor Swift’s career.

Keep your goals and expectations realistic. Is it possible for your online business to blow up and make you tens of thousands of dollars? Of course it’s possible! But for almost every single person out there who is starting out in this blogging or digital marketing world, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The best thing you can do for yourself is to be consistent. Post consistent, quality blog posts. Offer quality digital products or courses to sell. Your time will come; you just have to work hard at it, learn and grow from your mistakes, and have a successful mindset.

Think "delayed gratification".

What is the number one thing that is going to grow your blog or online store? It's internet traffic! Traffic takes time to build up. You can pay for ads to promote your material and get in front of an audience faster, but you need to be careful with this. You can end up in the hole really quick with ads, so do your research so that you can use ads correctly. Visits to your site are exciting, and with ads you will get plenty of those very quickly. But if you aren't making the money back from your ads just as quickly, it's time to tweak a few things around.

Problem #3 - You are shuffling between platforms-

When I first started digging into the land of online business, I purchased multiple courses and read countless blog articles. I was told to “use this platform” and “avoid that one”. The recommendations were endless. With so many platforms available for blog-making, I decided to create a mini blog on numerous different platforms just to test them all out and see which ones were the most user friendly (Wix, Squarespace, Wordpress, System.io).

I ended up creating my first blog on Wix and my digital store on Stan Store. (Many people don’t like Wix, but I found it very user-friendly). I was happy with both platforms, but it was also pretty inconvenient having to shuffle between the two. Not to mention each one had their own monthly fee.

I still have one of my blogs holding strong on Wix, but I ended up transitioning my business blog and digital marketing store to System.io.

The best thing about this platform is that everything is all in one place:

You can have multiple blogs, sell digital products, create/sell digital courses, and host your email list without having to jump between different sites to do it. System.io has a free version, and as you grow, you can upgrade to allow more blogs, courses, sales funnels, and email contacts. (Check out the free trial HERE). They even have numerous opportunities for affiliate marketing.

I also found that despite the differences between all the different website builders, once you got used to how each one works, they all pretty much do the same thing. However, nothing calms the mind better than organization, and what better way to stay organized than to have all your digital marketing and blogging in ONE place.

Problem #4 - You have the wrong mindset from the get-go, or have developed one due to continous lack of success.

When I first got into the business of blogging and digital marketing, I had high hopes from the very beginning. (Which is not a bad thing!) This was mainly due to all the more "seasoned" bloggers throwing around their extreme monthly incomes. (It shows you how well that kind of marketing works though, right?!?)

My hopes were dashed several weeks later when I had yet to make one sale. I poured my money and time into learning the ropes, paying for ads, and trying to sell my products just to end up severely disappointed and wondering what the heck I was doing wrong.

My positive mindset steadily drained itself as time went on, until eventually, I just about gave up. If I had to guess, this is probably what happens to many bloggers who are expecting instant results.

Ladies, once again, this is very unrealistic. You should absolutely start with having a positive mindset, but you have to work hard to keep it throughout your journey.

There are going to be ups and downs. It is going to take time: maybe even more time than you think. But you have to keep thinking about your end goal.

Don't let self doubt or self sabotage be the deciding factors to your success.

Be consistent with posting quality content by putting yourself on a schedule. An example of this would be to write one new blog post every week, add 5 fresh pins to Pinterest every day, 2-3 Instagram posts per day, and one new digital product every 1-3 months.

If you have noticed your positive mindset shifting more towards a "ready to give up" mindset, PLEASE consider reading my Ebook Master Your Mindset. The skills taught in this book will help to reset your mind and overcome self doubt, leading to a more positive and goal-oriented way of thinking.

Problem #5 - You have wasted a ton of money

Ugh. Yes, guilty as charged. I won't even go into details about how much money I spent on blogging courses and pinterest ads in my forst couple months of blogging. I'm not saying these things are a waste of money because they definately are NOT... But if you're not careful, you may find yourself thousands of dollars in the hole before you ever make a single dollar.

Before you spend any more money, go back through what you have already purchased and pull as much information from them as you possibly can. Take notes as you're going through each one. Then continue to do research using all the FREE information out there (trust me, there's a TON of it!). If you notice patterns in what people are saying and it keeps getting repeated, then it is likely good advice that you should probably be following.

If you are going to spend money in ads through Pinterest or Facebook, please make sure you KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING before you decide to try it out!

There are countless courses out there on Pinterest marketing. Read them! Learn from them!

You can also find paid Pinterest courses that will teach you the ropes, but don't feel that you need to spend a ton of money on one. There are many highly rated ones in the $20-30 range. Guys, ads are a fantastic way to make money quickly, but also a fantastic way to LOSE money if you don't do them correctly!

If you have found yourself in the financial doghouse, then utilize all of the information available to you already before you decide to make any more purchases.

Also understand that many courses out there are very similar to one another. If you purchase a highly rated course about blogging, it's very likely that most of the other blogging courses are going to be very similar.

There is NO reason to buy multiple courses on the same subject. Just make sure that what you are purchasing has good ratings and good feedback from others.

Also, keep an eye on your monthly subscriptions. This can also get out of hand when you are first starting out, but know that many of these charges are necessary to your success. Pay attention to any free trials that you utilize and make sure to cancel them if you won't be using those platforms.

The platforns that I am currently paying a monthly charge for are:

System.io (they do have a free version, but my business has grown and now requires the paid version)

Canva (necessary to make beautiful pins and digital products.. Only around $15 a month)

Tailwind (not necessary, but makes your life way easier when it comes to pinning and social media!) You can pre-schedule social media posts and take some time off! If you haven't yet, you MUST check it out!

Stan Store (I am transitioning away from this store because I'm now using System.io which has a built-in store for my digital products) This is still a great platform for starting out, especially if you don't plan on making a website or blog. They also have a free trail program. Click here for Stan Store.

Take a step back and tally up how much money you've spent thus far on your digital marketing biz. If you can afford it, great, no worries! But if it's got a little bit out of control and you are not yet turning profits, it may be time to tone it down a bit. If you keep spending money and aren't seeing any return, you are likely to get more frustrated as time goes on and will be more likely to throw in the towel.

#6 - You are giving up too soon

The magic key to blogging and digital marketing is CONSISTENCY!! I'm sure you've read this somewhere before, perhaps multiple times.

As much as bloggers will make you believe that it can happen overnight, most of the time this just isn't the case.

Slow and steady and PERSISTANCE will win the race. Yes you can absolutely make money blogging and with digital marketing, but to really get your business and products out there it takes TIME. It's just the natural way of search engines such as Pinterest and Google. With time and consistency, trust is built.

Take all the time you need to really learn about what it is you are doing, and learn all the best practices while doing it. Change things and tweak things as you go. On the days when you feel that nothing is happening or all your hard work is for nothing, work HARDER!

Success will come to those who want it and work for it.

All you can do is learn and get better as time goes on.

Don't allow yourself to give up. If you're feeling frustrated, set yourself a time limit for the next few days. Even if you just give 1/2 hour to your blog or business, it's better than nothing at all.

If you need to completely step away for a few days, that's also okay. This is where Tailwind comes in handy. You can pre-make your pins or posts and schedule them out. That way, you can take a few days off without stopping your efforts all together.

As far as blog posts go, you can make as many or as little as you want.

Also, think about all the other bloggers who are in the same boat as you.

How many bloggers and digital marketers quit each day because they decided to give up instead of moving forward?

At the end of it all, you want to be one of the few left standing. You will be the one making the money and you will be the one making a positive impact on people's lives.

Now get back to it!!