“Ouch, dang it, and wow I feel like such a loser.” That might as well be the unofficial battle cry of any new blogger hoping someone will come in and be a blogger’s hero.
Why?
Well, unless a new blogger has some awesome advantage of being somewhat tech-savvy, has the patience and faith of someone like a child who sees a chaotic pile of Legos and just knows they can create a magical kingdom out of mismatched rubble in about twenty minutes, or the new blogger has a stash of cash and can hire a designer, a social media manager, and a personal photographer, well… unless any or all of those things are intact than a new blogger is very likely to feel a combination of frustration, stupidity, and down right worthlessness at some point.
Those particular points of massive pain, anguish, and dare I say shame, are enough to eat any blogger alive from the inside out.
I know it because I’ve felt the parasite of “I suck at blogging, I suck at doing stuff I set my heart on achieving, and I basically suck at being a person” and before you know it you wind up realizing you’ve been hollowed out and the culprit is invisible except for the carcass that seems your soul lying motionless on the couch.
I know this all seems dramatic. Heck, I am even questioning the drama as I write it. But the beginning stages of blogging being incredibly tumultuous is real.
A new blogger wants so desperately to have her bright new shiny blog out there for the world to see (or at least for her sister or husband to see!).
A new blogger wants to have some cute images both on posts and on social media, she probably wants to have figured out how to make those fancy wavy fonts for Pinterest pins and how to create a tantalizing opt-in that will make all new blog visitors feel like her site is worthy, worthy of the all mighty coveted email sign-up agreement.
“I want a pretty blog that makes people feel welcome, I want to have some basic marketing stuff so people know I exist, and then I want to be able to give them something when they do come so they feel like they will want to come back again.”
That’s what a new blogger might tell you in a moment of sanity cushioned with confidence that heck-yeah she can create a blog and that oh-yeah she might even be proud of it. But these moments are moments. They do not stay forever.
Sometimes… yes sometimes… a new blogger is wondering if everything she makes is ugly, uninviting, and lame.
Sometimes a new blogger feels sad, discouraged, and downright depressed because this blog thing is not some little internet whim, this blog thing feels like a heart calling.
This blog thing feels like a “I gotta” not a “hmm…perhaps” as in I have to make a blog not a gee golly maybe I’ll take a pass at a blog someday. That deep in your gut knowing, in the most visceral of all ways, resides in the continually blog-focused-thought-pattern that haunts a newbie blogger wanting to jump into her own.
Problem is, it’s down right difficult to jump into your own when faced with blockades every dang day! It’s hard for a gal to deal with blogging passions when WordPress seems to be plotting against her, Facebook just got all mad, and opt-ins are being incredibly secretive with their whole easy-to-make-business.
And those plugins – why isn’t there a one-plugin-meets-all-your-new-blogging-needs option that doesn’t interfere with itself, updates on its own, and comes preset ready to go without a book’s worth of learning just to turn it on?
Sure, passionate posts like this one might be a little over-the-top, not as “safe” and “useful” as the currently prescribed way of for-profit-blogging that pretty much says to “write content that you know is helpful” like posts on how to paint a piece of wood and turn it into a cute new bedside table.
The thing is… writing, posting, and sharing an awesome DIY post is easy for a blogger who isn’t a new blogger.
Heck.. toss over some wood and paint and we’ll show you a fantastic Pinterest-friendly project that a lot of people will go crazy over… BUT… being a new blogger means we have issues non-new-bloggers don’t remember even having like how to create a pinnable image on our blog post and how to link that post to your Pinterest account and how to schedule that post on something called Tailwind that we haven’t even visited the website for yet, let alone figured out yet.
Look… if you are a new blogger, if you are the spouse of a new blogger, or if you know anyone starting a blog I have a message for you. Please, have a heart for this new blogger and treat their new blogging dream with gentleness.
Have compassion for the new blogger whether it’s you or someone you know.
Try to have serious heart-filled compassion just like you would have for a child who is trying to teach themselves how to ride a bike for the first time all on their own. Give it your best to have that kind of encouraging, faith-filled, pride-oozing compassion.
You will never know what this will mean for this budding blogger.
If you are fortunate enough to know a new blogger – it could be yourself or someone else – if you are new to blogging or you are lucky enough to be trusted with the intimate knowledge that someone else is venturing on to create a blog of their own (this can mean you are trusted with a serious secret of a vulnerable new blogger) here are some tips that will get you far.
Being A New Blogger Is Hard: 7 Ways To Be A Blogger’s Hero Today!
Want to rescue your own new blogging self, or rescue the soul of a new blogger you are married to or just plain love dearly? Suit-up, we are going in.
We are venturing into the secret chambers of a new blogger’s heart of hearts where all vulnerability, insecurity, probable shame, and just plain softy-soft-spots lie. Be warned – this is when your courage needs to be operating at full force and strength of kindness helps a ton.
1. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Question Heroically
Oh this can be harrrrrrrd. An innocent husband can ask a small blog-related question such as, “How’s your blog coming along,” and bam, a new blogger can feel like the wind was taken out of her (or at least all power to craft a post). The question thing is hard – hard to know what to ask and hard to know how to answer.
As a person approaching a new blogger, you want to show your interest, so you want to ask questions, but you don’t want to question the new blogger’s ability, motive, or productivity because that can turn into blogger guilt real quick.
If you want to show some genuine (no time for fakers here) interest in a new blogger’s blog, a major area of miracle or disaster is in the almighty realm of questions.
You see, worded “wrongly” a question can come out as an attack, a minor question might seem like a monumental question that goes right to the very essence of why one should ever blog anyway, or a question can make a blogger just give up for the day and enter into a blogger slump hard to get out of.
Sure, ask a new blogger questions, but word them wisely, tone them tenderly, and listen intently when an answer comes.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero with some question asking… okay here are some “safe” ones.
Here are some questions that a new blogger might appreciate being asked:
- Do you have some ideas for me on how to encourage you in your blogging dreams?
- Is there anything I can do today that would be helpful for your blogging?
- What’s something cool going on with your blogging you could tell me about?
Here are some questions a new blogger might want to ask themselves:
- Am I really a total failure or did I just have an oops in one thing?
- Am I doing everything wrong, or are there some things I’m doing well on that I can be thankful for?
- Do I know more today about blogging than I did yesterday/last week/last month?
Questions are great, normally. Questions start conversations, build relationships, and solve major issues.
The thing is that with starting a new blog, there is a lot going on behind the scenes, inside a blogger’s hopes and dreams and before a blog has taken off, all questions are best kept in the “Let me know how it’s going so I can share in this experience with you and support you any way possible” realm and far away from the “Are you sure you know what you’re doing and maybe you suck” realm.
Asking awesome, magically good questions, just might be the secret to being a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”Asking questions opens up new doors, new opportunities, and new ideas. Farshad Asl #blogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
2. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Support Heroically
It can be hard to be supportive of someone’s blog when you know nothing of blogging yourself, are entirely new to blogging, or barely found out blogs exist. Also, it can be confusing on how to be supportive of your own blog when you are brand new and you’ve never even really met another blogger in person.
Being supportive is a skill. Often we want to be supportive of those we love, and eagerly get behind anything that the person we love wants to do, but how to be supportive is tricky. Support for one person can feel like being smothered to another.
In essence, support that is well received often comes packaged in full attention, acceptance, minimized expectation, respect, compliments, and love.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero with some awesome sauce support… okay here are some ideas.
Here are some ideas on how to be more supportive for a new blogger you know:
- Offer encouragement that they are trying something new that takes courage.
- Read blogs on your own and then tell the person things you noticed that you liked and that they could maybe try doing on their new blog.
- Ask questions about why they want to blog and affirm them that they have strengths that will make them a great blogger.
Here are some ideas on how to support yourself as a new blogger:
- Don’t try to blog nonstop. Give yourself breaks as needed, and only you know how much is needed.
- If reading other blogs is hurting your own blogging efforts at the moment, go on a blogging fast – don’t look at other blogs until you know you’re ready.
- Remind yourself of other times in your life when you struggled with something but succeeded later.
Supporting a new blogger is such a worthy cause.
There’s a good chance the new blogger you love is totally excited and also totally scared of this new blogging thing and will forever remember all the support you gave.
Similarly, if you are a new blogger yourself and you are embarking on this blogging thing full heart’s ahead, this is a big deal and you’ll want to hold tight to a good amount of grace for yourself and remember you can not only get through, but that what you’re trying to do is worth it.
Being supportive could turn out to be the most super-heroic move to becoming a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”Strong people don’t put others down… They lift them up. ― Michael P. Watson #newblogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
3. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Acknowledge Heroically
When anyone is learning something new it can feel lonely and the learner can feel quite isolated.
There is a good chance a new blogger doesn’t know a bunch of other real-life bloggers so this whole blogging thing can feel like an uphill task with unclear paths to follow. A little recognition that it’s amazing the new blogger is following her dreams and that alone is something worth fighting for, can go a miraculously long way in a new blogger’s world.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero with some acknowledgement that comes straight from your heart to a new blogger’s soul… okay let’s do it!
If you know a new blogger forging their way, here are some things to say to let them know you see their great feat:
- “Wow, I checked out some blogs today and I can see what an undertaking you are trying to accomplish and I am impressed.”
- “You are so brave to be trying something new that you’ve never learned in school and haven’t been trained for.”
- “I think it’s inspiring that you are putting yourself out there for the world to see. You are a great role model for our kids.”
If you are a new blogger, it is okay to acknowledge what you are trying to do:
- Remind yourself that what you are doing is not easy and that you are trying your best.
- No matter what is not working, find one thing that is. Did you make one post you like? Did you come up with a domain name idea you love? Are you happy with your hosting account? Find one thing to be glad about.
- You could be sitting on the couch watching television, but you are figuring out WordPress, wow be proud!
Especially in the early days of starting a blog, long before any comments regularly come in and social media accounts are at a startling zero, even small gestures of acknowledgement can keep a new blogger typing on their keyboard another day.
If you know someone courageously beginning a blog, and you haven’t seen it, probably because it hasn’t been “launched” (what a pressure-packed word right?!), any words at all that are backed up with feelings of “You got this”, “Your ideas are great”, and “I”m proud of you” are going to be words well received.
If you happen to be a new blogger going about this new blog thing all on your lonesome, wow, try to be generous with any and all victories you accomplish! You decided to start – woohoo! You figured out a new WordPress something – congrats! You finished a post – wow, have a glass of wine!
Acknowledging the incredibly brave, and at times unbearable task, of starting a new blog will be a welcome way to become a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”We’re waiting for a glance or a word, some acknowledgement that we are here. – Jeet Thayil #new” username=”perfectplaying”]
4. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Focus Heroically
Focusing well is certainly going to help get a lot of blogging done, but so is focusing on the good rather than the bad and the done rather than the not done.
If you are eager to love on a new blogger who is in the trenches (this would basically look like a blogger glued to a WordPress dashboard nonstop) what you focus on in your words and actions will matter a ton.
It’s better to focus on the dream than the direction at these nascent stages. The direction will likely swing from here to way over there as the blogger grows, but the dream will likely stay intact.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero by focusing on the right new blogging stuff… step this way.
Here are some points to focus on when talking to a new blogger:
- Compliment their post ideas.
- Let them know about skills you think they possess that would be useful for their blogging aspirations.
- Focus on how hard they work not on how much content they crank out.
If you happen to be a new blogger, here are areas to focus on instead of dwelling on the difficulties of blogging or the inadequacies you feel you have to overcome:
- Focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses.
- Focus on what you want to give to your readers instead of what other bloggers give to their readers.
- Focus on blogging like you, forget about blogging like anyone else.
Focusing on what other bloggers do, is likely to get the new blogger into a danger zone, so try to stay away from that. Sure, it seems innocent, but if a new blogger starts to jump on the comparison train, especially just as they are barely learning to walk as a new blogger, there’s a good chance that comparison train adventure will turn into a crash.
Focus on what the new blogger in your life does well, how that new blogger is unlike anyone else and can offer totally new stuff, focus on the new blogger’s drive, and don’t focus on their competition or things they can’t control.
As a new blogger yourself, try to be very cautious of how you spend your work time, but also your mental time. Just as you physically need to be on the computer churning out content, mentally be on guard so you aren’t lashing out harsh self-criticisms 24/7.
Focus on the good; try to ignore the sad, bad, and should’s and could’s.
Focusing on the great stuff a new blogger has already done, is able to do, and hopes to do are super strategies for being a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”Focus on how far you’ve come as a blogger instead of how far you wanna go. #newblogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
5. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Critique Heroically
A critique is an art form. This isn’t me trying to sound artsy.
This is me admitting that some critique is just plain messy and even though a toddler could do it, it doesn’t mean they should.
On the other hand, some critique can be so straight up fab, that it can stick with a person forever, leave them and their work forevermore changed in a good way, and whenever that person looks back on that moment of critique they remember the day their life suddenly improved.
Yep, critique is one of those things that can literally – and no drama is being added here – make or break a new blogger.
As a blogger goes from day one of blogging to month one, and continues to grow, it doesn’t necessarily mean the blogger is any less fragile. Continue to be gentle with criticism and feedback.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero by offering safe, sound, and sensitive critiques? Alrighty, keep the following suggestions in mind.
If you know a new blogger who is just starting to get going with some new blogging stuff you may critique this way:
- If you have a tip that would help the new blogger’s social media account grow in popularity go ahead and say something like, “Hey, you might want to see if this (insert social media tip) works for you” type of way.
- Go ahead and remind the blogger of that post you loved.
- If the blogger did something with her blog design that you really think works, let her know!
If you are a new blogger it is super easy to say what is wrong, but try to see what things are looking pretty good and working out not so bad:
- Challenge yourself today that for every flaw you see in your blog you will also find something that is fabulous.
- If you are bothered by something work on a solution instead of always getting down about it.
- If you find yourself at the end of every day feeling like you didn’t get enough done, make yourself write down five things you did well today on your blog and think about them at the end of your blogging workday so every blog workday ends with a bang.
Feedback can be a wonderful tool for helping a new blogger become their best. When you’re giving critique to a new blogger you know, or to yourself as a new blogger, try to keep it focused on the work and not on the person doing the work. It’s one thing to say, “Your sentence could be improved” and it’s an entirely different thing to say, “Your sensibility could be improved.”
Another popular critique technique is to keep the critique sandwich together – compliment, critique, compliment – so as to start and end on a high note.
And lastly, especially if you are not familiar with blogging, when you are critiquing a new blogger’s blog (because you’re critiquing the blog and not the blogger) stick to identifying the thing you think needs fixing and try to stay away from instructing on how to fix it.
For instance, it’s appropriate to say, “You’re post could benefit from some more adjectives” and it’s inappropriate, and probably unappreciated, to say, “I think you need a lesson on adjectives, so I’ll explain them to you.”
Critique, when done well, can turn a new blogger’s struggling blog into a successful blog. Critique well and be a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”Writers are often the worst judges of what they have written. ― Stephen King #newblogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
6. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Applaud Heroically
Encouragement is awesome. Without enough “hooray for you” and “that’s fantastic” it can feel like your blog isn’t helpful. Giving encouragement to a new blogger can be one of the best things for that new blogger’s blogging future.
An important point here though: Recognition, appreciation, and applause are only cool if they are legit. No new blogger has time for suck-ups, liars, or manipulators. If you love it, say so, if you think it’s awful, keep it to yourself, say it in a constructive way, but for sure don’t pretend to say it’s amazing. Nobody needs fake fans.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero with some applause that will actually mean something? Okay you super nice person you, let’s get all high-five ready!
For those of you who want to encourage a new blogger you know:
- Be genuine in your compliments.
- Encourage any sign of progress you see from learning a new WordPress trick to making an incredible post.
- When the blog is launched, and the blogger is okay with it, share the blog with others.
If you are a new blogger in need of some affirmation:
- Be willing to give what you also want. Freely comment, email, or tweet about a new blogger you love.
- Take a second to tell yourself you did a good job on that little blogging task you just completed.
- Don’t be harder on yourself than you would be on a friend or even a child. Would you offer up some praise for that blog work you did today if your sister did it? Go ahead and reward yourself just as much as you would reward someone else.
Still wondering how you can let that new blogger know you are totally cheering them on? Okay let’s get practical right down to exact phrasing.
For that new blogger you know you can pass on encouragement by saying:
- “That post on __ is the best thing I’ve ever read on the topic!”
- “Thank you for working so hard for our family with your blogging!”
- “Dang, you’re killing it with Pinterest!”
- “Wow, you’re my favorite blogger!”
- “Your blog is the friendliest I’ve ever seen!”
- “Congratulations on launching your blog!”
If you’re the new blogger, you can pass on self-acceptance by telling yourself:
- “Oh yeah, I worked for a full hour undistributed!”
- “I put my all into that post!”
- “Woohoo, I just figured out something with Pinterest!”
- “Heck yeah, I slayed that blogging task!”
- “Oh yeah, I just got accepted into that blogging group!”
- “Yes, I just got a comment!”
Giving affirmations and even full-on clapping for a new blogger is a surefire way to become a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”Applause is a receipt, not a bill. – Dale Carnegie #newblogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
7. Be A Blogger’s Hero: Recall Heroically
Memories matter. There’s reason birthdays, graduations, and funerals are spent in remembrance. When we look back, we can find reflections of our best selves, but we can also discover hope for our future selves.
As any blogger grows, it can be tempting to forget how far you’ve come (and for new bloggers sometimes all you wonder is if you’ll go anywhere at all!). Remind new bloggers, and remind yourself as a new blogger, that you are not who you once were and you have so much more to give now than you once did.
Wanna be a blogger’s hero by reminding them of their awesomeness… let’s do it!
Remind a new blogger you know:
- They used to struggle with things they now do without thinking.
- They used to dream of making a blog post, and now they have more than one!
- They can now have more compassion for other bloggers who are just now deciding on their domain name and trying to figure out the difference between WordPress with a .com and a .org.
As a new blogger remember:
- You once had no idea how to make a blog, but now you have one!
- No matter what you are struggling with today, you have already worked your way through tons of blogging issues, and this one will be fine too.
- There are always going to be new bloggers so as soon as you feel you kinda have your feet on the ground as a blogger start reaching out and helping new bloggers get to where you are now.
Sometimes more than interested inquiries, eager encouragement, or honest helpfulness, a new blogger just needs to remember the times when they have struggled, but made it through because those are the moments that they struggled but survived and those are important moments to recall.
The struggle is easy to find when you are a new blogger; fight to find the survival, fight to find the success, fight to find the story that ends in you being a happy blogger.
Reminding a new blogger of how far they have come is a fantastic way to become a blogger’s hero today.
[bctt tweet=”When you feel nervous, recall your pride. ― Toba Beta #newblogger” username=”perfectplaying”]
There might be other ways to help a new blogger than what is listed here and if there is something that has been particularly helpful to you as a new blogger, but not mentioned in this post, please, please, for the sake of new bloggers everywhere, chime in and let us know these helpful tips you’ve discovered.
Blogging is more and more popular daily but it is still new. Especially for a new blogger, no matter how “normal” blogging may seem to others it can feel completely foreign just like that kid learning to ride a bike for the first time.
Sure, a kid braving the road on wheels has been happening for over a century now, but that does not mean the task is any less special, any more easy, or any less of a big deal to that one kid on that one bike for the first time.
Sometimes we need to treat other adults the same way we would treat a child if that treatment conjures up images of empathy, inspiration, compassion, and recognition.
New Blogger (From me to you… )
Dear, dear, new blogger. I think I kinda know how you feel sometimes.
I have such hope that you will take this heart birthed blogging dream and keep at it. I know you can get your blog to where you want it even though it seems impossible at times! In fact, I believe your blog can become even better than what you have ever imagined for yourself. Yes, yes I do.
I believe you might have more in store in your blogging future than you can fathom and I know you can fathom a lot.
Please don’t stop. Please don’t quit.
Please be more gentle with yourself, please be considerate of that dream planted inside your heart, please don’t let hardship, frustration, and difficulty come between you and your blogging future. Your readers await you, your blogging self is begging for the chance to come out and really give its best, and you know you have something to share, you know it! I know it.
New blogger, I believe in you.
New blogger, someday you won’t be new anymore.
Just like that kid learning to ride a bike, one day you will be soaring along all on your own, enjoying enormous freedom and having a ton of fun. It can be hard to learn something new, it can be so, so, so, hurtful when you fall, so discouraging when things break, so plain awful when others seem to zoom on past you at lightening speed.
It is okay. You keep at it; you get back to it, you fight for your dream.
When you are ready, please let me know about your blog, I’d LOVE to check it out!
And when you aren’t such a new blogger anymore, please reach out and encourage those who are, and if this post encouraged you maybe share this post with them to encourage them. New bloggers need all the encouragement they can get. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too much encouragement for a new blogger. 🙂
Psst… And new blogger, that superhero you sometimes pray for to come and rescue your distressed blogging that seems to be near death… well, as every no-longer-new blogger will tell you… a blogger’s hero is really… the blogger herself. Yep, be your own blogging hero dear new blogger. You have super-sized strength inside you; pick yourself up and blog on.
Stoked to be a blogging hero? *Pin* this post to remember the ways you can be a blogger’s hero! Come follow more encouraging blogging pins on Playing Perfect’s Pinterest Page!
Looking for more blogging inspiration?! Here are 200 fall blog post ideas!
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