Comments on: Optimizing Blog Growth: Curing the Fears of Being an Amateur Blogger

By: Swanbros

Swanbros — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:19:17 +0000

Blogging is a good way to express yourself. Not everyone may like your posts. It’s a free world. If you have something to share with others, have the gut to express and start blogging, I think. Thanks.

By: Luq

Luq — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:46:15 +0000

lucky i dont have this phobia! :-)

By: constructicle boy

constructicle boy — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:21:11 +0000

lol!fear of blogging?I never felt this way though.blogging is such an interesting thing to do and you can express yourself.further more I could make some money from it.fear from it?isnt that like the fear to express yourself?

By: charles

charles — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:50:53 +0000

Great post Darren. I needed this one too. thanks for sharing. :)

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:20:37 +0000

A great post to get people out there in the blogosphere. I generally try to write about things I know, so I don’t have too much anxiety yet about being wrong. My fear is that I will dedicate time to writing and making my blog good, and then no one will read it. All of the plugins involved for technorati, sphinn, CAPTCHAS, and the design aspects are a bit intimidating to me as well. If anyone knows of good “to-do” lists posts for Wordpress bloggers, please comment with it. I am joining a group, but any help would be much appreciated! Thanks again for the post.

Michelle
michellesblog.net

By: Gisele B.

Gisele B. — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:53:58 +0000

Looking foolish can be a good think!!!

You said it Darren: We cannot NOT know everything … no one does.

It does and WILL happen that you’ll say something and another expert will tell you that you are wrong. The best thing to do, it to use that information to correct an old post or create a new one and admit flat out that: you made a mistake.

I think your audience will much prefer knowing they are dealing with someone who asks good questions and go out and finds the fact. Part of finding the facts means that you will trip and sometimes, you’ll make incorrect assumption.

When you find yourself in that situation, simply come clean.

This exactly what happened to me not long ago after interviewing a plastic surgeon. Once I realize I had made a mistake, I went back to my old posts and added to it. I was clear about finding new and more accurate information.

Just like Nike said it two decades ago: Just do it! Blogging is supposed to be interactive, so get started and if you do make mistakes, use the opportunity to create new content!

Gisele
http://www.mybeautymatch.com

By: DefogMyBlog

DefogMyBlog — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:52:45 +0000

It is a relief to know that I was not the first person to have a fear of starting to blog. I kept talking about starting for months and only did so when I found myself sending the same instructions or variations of them to people i help with blogging. It then made sense to put them in a blog and share them with anyone who needs them.

By: esvl

esvl — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:15:49 +0000

I needed this. Great post.

By: Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:28:00 +0000

Highly inspirational article Aaron, thanks for your time to write and motivate people.

By: dukeofweb.com

dukeofweb.com — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:04:11 +0000

I think a blogger is 10% technician and 90% talent. “Amateur” seems like such a relative term for a platform that’s really in it’s infancy when you look at the big picture. I’d rather visit someone with a keen wit, life experience and a knack for great story telling throw up a word press template than a technically dazzling code monkey who has mastered Adsense but has the personality of tree bark and nothing interesting to say. I say go for it no matter your level of blog savvy. Everyone has a voice. Just like in real life, people will respond, or they won’t.

By: Jed

Jed — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:44:17 +0000

I joke around with one close friend of mine all the time about how our famous last words before we get in over our heads on some project are: “How hard could it be?” But that is one of the great things about blogging – I now have an outlet to share the things learned from my adventures, and a place to share my (hopefully) humorous stories.

Some people are afraid to try anything new without first receiving proper ‘training’. They feel like they’d be unqualified and no one would take them seriously unless their credentials show that they have enough experience in an area to make their contribution relevant. I prefer to take the mindset that anyone can become an expert in any field, given enough dedication and self-learning – through books or hands-on experience. I always remind myself – somewhere, someone had to be the first person to try this. How nervous do you think the first guy ever to attempt brain surgery was?

BTW, I thought the photo was fine for the piece.

By: B Carter

B Carter — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:14:54 +0000

I think the fear of what others may think of a person is what keeps many people from starting a blog. Some readers on the web can be mean because they are sitting behind a keyboard.

It’s difficult to say that you don’t care, because it’s easy to get slammed on the web and have your rep ruined forever, but as long as you don’t say you are something that you should be OK.

By: Ruchir

Ruchir — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:23:53 +0000

As they say: practice makes perfect. The more you write posts, the more you’ll become better at it. Taking action is much better than thinking in my opinion.

By: Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:33:56 +0000

Hi! I am also new in blogging, and somehow I got afraid too. But since I am really interested in it, I grab the chance with almost no knowledge at all. Though I have a friend who took his time to teach me personally, there came a time I had to do it all by myself. Well, of course with the help of blogging tips like this, I keep on learning. Actually, I am now starting on my 3rd blog which is also somehow about blogging tips. And if you read it, some of my tips includes some of the tips posted here. I agree when you said that “nobody knows everything”, so to end my comment. there are no perfect bloggers because there are no perfect people.

By: Emma

Emma — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 07:06:53 +0000

Thank-you for legitimizing my posts.

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:14:31 +0000

That is the nice thing about comments. My respect has been earned for a few bloggers who admitted and corrected mistakes commenters raised.

By: Lightening

Lightening — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:07:47 +0000

I didn’t know enough about the blogging world to be afraid to start my blog. LOL. I’ve only learnt more about blogging *since* I became a blog writer myself.

However, I have been somewhat reluctant to try and promote my blog thinking “why would anyone be interested in what I have to say”. So this post has got me thinking about whether I should just jump in and give it a crack…..

By: Russell Coker

Russell Coker — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:11:09 +0000

Many would be whatevers are afraid to start whatevering because they are afraid of being wrong or doing something that might make them look foolish.

Replace “whatever” with anything you might want to do and the comment applies.

By: Michael Lodispoto

Michael Lodispoto — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:13:10 +0000

It may be true that one has to just do it and get it over with. But at the same time I’ve seen many blogs that bore the hell out of me. I’m sure you’ve all seen the long line of blog after blog that just goes ” Well today was boring, blah blah blah,
I had a rotten day blah blah blah, I read over at this site that this and that and this and that. People – only boring people get bored! Get that in your heads. if you sit at your computer, with the wonders of the world in front of you and go. “I’m bored’, then perhaps you are just boring. Sorry if this is too honest for you but honesty is ultra important.

Where the hell is the originality? This reminds me of all of the posts telling me on numerous sites how great that Mixx site was over Digg. As a lover of Digg and an owner of a site with even more features than Mixx, it started bothering me reading about the endless hype of the supposed avalanche of Digg members leaving. It bothered me so much I wrote a whole post on it today with the title – Senator Bentsen to Mixx – “You’re No Digg!”. It did well for one day now with over 500 hits from StumbleUpon alone. Why – because rather than like everyone else just saying how great the site was I went on the site and saw less than my own site earthfrisk.com.
I just had to blurt out what so many were thinking.
Here in is the secret of blogging.
Being honest, not just going along with the crowd and just telling it like it is regardless of the consequences.
As for the photo – nothing wrong with it, it is striking and makes one look. You have a most excellent blog and I know you are one of the top bloggers out there from what I’ve read.
Excuse my ignorance on the popularity contest of bloggers. I’m relatively new to the field, a mere 3 or 4 weeks blogging for fun, not even profit.
Although in the future i will be taking your advice ( which is quite extensive ) on making money blogging. Maki of Dosh Dosh is awesome in this respect as well.
It’s just that I’ve done very well in the offline world and might not have the time to place ads on the blog. I have a lot better things to do and have a very nice monthly six figure income right now ( like you I believe) so what little a new blogger like myself would make matters not. At least for 6 months or so.
Thank you very much for having such a great blog.

By: Mack

Mack — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:29:54 +0000

That is a great post and extremely helpful overcoming some of my blogging fears as a new amateur blogger. I keep trying to post helpful post as I learn them, so I think I am on the right path.