This is a guest post by Dragan Palla of DomainsFlow.
Blogging can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be stressful.
If you’re like me, you probably suffer from writer’s block every now and then, and you might have a difficult time coming up with blog posts that you are happy with.You have to be honest with yourself, however:
Are you being too much of a perfectionist?
Copyright: FikMik – Fotolia.com
Since you have put a lot of hard work, sweat and tears into your blog, you probably want everything to be perfect. You probably feel like you owe it to yourself, your readers and your blog to come up with perfect content all the time.
Although it’s good to set high goals for yourself, you should understand that being too much of a perfectionist can kill your blog. Therefore, it is important not to put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect all the time.
Don’t let writer’s block discourage you
When you’re having a hard time coming up with the perfect blog post, you might skip a post or two. This isn’t a good trap to fall into.
Otherwise, you could find yourself neglecting your blog because you feel as if you can’t come up with content that is good enough.
Once, I let a perfectly good blog go to waste because of writer’s block and my stubborn perfectionism. I had put a lot of work into starting my blog, and I was even working on a small but promising fan base. I was having a lot of fun writing blog posts for it.
Then, one day, I couldn’t come up with a post that seemed worthy enough for my blog. I told myself I would come up with a great post next time around to make up for it.
As I kept pressuring myself and telling myself that I had to come up with a wonderful blog post to make up for slacking off and not posting, I had myself convinced that I needed to come up with something perfect. I would start to write blog posts, but none of them seemed good enough.
The “perfect” blog post never came along, and the blog ended up going to waste. Don’t let this happen to you.
Instead, do the best you can. Convince yourself that your blog posts are worthy. As long as you put your heart and soul into it, your readers will appreciate your content.
Ignore mistakes and get your thoughts out
If you are stressing yourself out about your spelling and grammar, you could find yourself killing your own creativity. It’s hard to get your creative juices flowing and to say what you really want to say when you are constantly stressing yourself out over commas and minor spelling errors.
Instead, let yourself type freely for a while when you are creating your blog posts.
Say what you want to say. Get your feelings out.
This will help you come up with the most creative and thoughtful content. You can always revise your errors later.
Don’t beat yourself up
Over time, you might find errors in your previous blog posts, and you might find that you aren’t quite as happy with some of your content as you once thought you were.
Don’t let this get you down.
It can be easy to beat yourself up if you feel that you haven’t been doing the best that you can for your blog. Having this mentality can make you doubt yourself, and kill your creativity, and even your blog.
Instead, don’t sweat the small stuff. Remember that minor errors aren’t a big deal and that a less-than-stellar blog post won’t ruin your blog.
By keeping this mentality, you will be much more likely to do the best you can for your blog in the future.
About the author: Dragan Palla is a passionate blogger who helps people to build an effective internet presence. Visit DomainsFlow to learn what he has in stock for you.
Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. You can see their details towards the end of the post above. If you'd like to guest post for Writers Blog, please check out our Guest Posting page for details about how YOU can share your tips with our community.
23 Responses to How Perfectionism Is Killing Your Blog
Leave a Reply
Subscribe & Get My FREE eBook:
And join other smart people!
As Seen On
My perfectionism goes other way around: I spend a lot of time crafting articles until I end up satisfied. However, I waste a lot of time doing this. And just when I thought everything was fine, I end up modifying the article again. This is a never ending story. Have you ever experienced something like this?
Daniel recently posted..Setting the agreement before any business transaction
We’re in the same boat, Daniel. I also do it, all the time.
Ali recently posted..The Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Creating A Landing Page That Converts
I think we all do that. I found that my perfectly written posts don’t get as much attention as the ones that I just hammer out. Maybe it’s because I’m using a more formal voice in one and a more conversational tone in the other?
wendy recently posted..Blogger + mother =/= mommy blogger
This happens to all of us because it’s in our mentality to be perfect if we want to be successful. It’s very important what others think about us. Then no wonder why we end up modifying one article 20 times or more before we’re satisfied.
As I already wrote: “Say what you want to say. Get your feelings out.”
The best stories come from personal experience, something in which we’re experts, and people simple recognize this.
I’m just saying be yourself, focus on what you do best, not what others think you do the best. This is the way to your readers and success.
Dragan Palla recently posted..Why Self-Hosted WordPress Site is the Way to Go
Well, yes but at this rate finishing everything will take forever. I guess this is just a matter of practice.
Daniel recently posted..Setting the agreement before any business transaction
Daniel, you should totally read Sue’s comment here and everything will take as much time as it deserves
Ali recently posted..The Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Creating A Landing Page That Converts
Absolutley right on the money, Dragan! Almost everyone of us wants to come up with content that’s just about perfect; and this is mainly because we are scared of the naysayers who’ll pounce at us if we make any mistake – but guess what, they don’t matter, do they?
Get caught on this treadmil and you’ll kill your blog as well as your productivity.
Good point ZA. Since English is not my native, at the begining I was spending great deal of time and energy with my grammar. But, I noticed that people are more focused on my story and content. Actually nobody complained about minor errors.
In fear of being perfect, we’re loosing the real meaning and that’s providing certain values to our readers/customers/clients…
Thanks for your comment.
~ Dragan
Dragan Palla recently posted..Why Self-Hosted WordPress Site is the Way to Go
Couldn’t agree more, ZA! Let’s write our hearts out without caring for those who don’t matter.
Ali recently posted..What Neil Gaiman Wants The Modern Freelance Writers To Do (Video)
Oh boy, I’m also guilty of “striving for unnecessary perfectionism”, but to some extent only: I would just hold a post in my Drafts for many days after writing it, re-read it quite a few times, request a friend to proofread it and still be tentative. But I dealt with this issue when I published my very first blog post – which was faaaaaaaar from perfect (ok it was total crap). And luckily, at that time, I didn’t actually know what blogging is, and how powerful it is. I though it’s just another link building tactic – which really helped me write without any misgivings or fears!
Ali recently posted..7 Unusual Places To Find Your Next Blog Post Topic
Well, it’s hard to not over analyze your guest posts when half the bloggers want a New York times quality article for their PR1 blog.:)
I guess you shouldn’t shut yourself down though I always say that’s what other people are there for.
How do you deal with rejection when you know your article is hot and top blogs don’t publish it?
Jacko recently posted..APE Review – 20 reasons why you should read the new book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch
You’re right, Jacko.
Guess what, my guest article was recently published on Problogger and I’ve written a detailed post explaining how I managed to get a “Yes” from the A-list blogger.
Also, I’ve touched on ‘rejection’ as a couple of big blogs have rejected my request in the past (that was mainly because of my own poor approach). The post is lined up for next week, so stay in touch and you’ll get your answer
Ali recently posted..7 Unusual Places To Find Your Next Blog Post Topic
Thanks Dragan. And congrats, Ali. You deserve it. Do you know you were nominated for Write to Done’s top 10 writer’s websites? Several times? I study under Mary and I made the mistake of nominating someone early in the game and boom! kept getting replies day after day. On several days your name came up. But Ali, having a writer’s blog…don’t you think that puts more pressure on us? I had to let a typo go on my last post because I am running a contest. For many reasons the post is on a coded form and I just had to let the typo go. I still want to go back and fix it but getting the form in place and ready to do its ‘backpage’ system work was more imortant. I still feel like we have an extra burden but then that is just my perfectionism, isn’t it Dragan?
I’ve knocked out posts before and just hit ‘publish’ and gotten lots of comments.
Yes Lee, I’m really surprised to see quite a few nominations of WB and am really ecstatic. You’re totally right, having a writing blog demands more ‘perfectionism’, and even a little typo can cause people to run away.
But hey, tell use more about the contest, what is it about? How do we enter it? If it resonates with WB readers, I’ll mention it in my next post
Ali recently posted..15 Tips for Writing Mega-Hit Blog Posts
Don’t burden too hard on some typos and minor errors
. You did well by publishing your work Lee Jenny. I’ve mentioned before that people are more focused on message you’re trying to spread rather than some typos. You did great work and you got lots of comments.
Keep up the great work.
~ Dragan
Dragan Palla recently posted..Speed Up Sales with Convertible Copy
Ah, Dragan. You stopped by my blog. Thank you for the kind words. And writing in a new language is a feat in and of itself. Even though I know French, I don’t think I could drum up the courage to write a site in French. More power to you, my dear. Ali, my last post didn’t show up on comment luv because it is a CSV. As long as you put your information into the required fields, you will be entered into the contest. This is a way to get all data on the CSV so MailChimp can oonvert it. Better than just using the forms in Subscriber2, although they are great. Just head to my site; in reply to your kind question. As long as you fill in the form itself, you can also be added to the drawing. My best to both of you. Dragan, heading over to read your new article and Ali can’t wait to hear word on your guest post. I’m working on an Amazon review and a guest post as well. No time to be sick pour moi
.
Lee Jenna Tyler recently posted..A Note and a Gift!!! Drawing is on Fri. Dec. 14th, Midnight Eastern. See Details!!!
Well, this post could have been written just for me! I know perfectionism is one of my weaknesses and I’m constantly striving to overcome it.
As far as blog posts go, one of my most effective strategies has been to set myself a schedule and stick to it – at the moment, that’s one post a week. I get something new out on my blog every week, no matter what.
I need all the prompts I can get on this score, so thank you very much for these tips,
Sue
Sue Neal recently posted..Why I’m a Content Curation Convert
Sue, you just pointed out the ideal solution for combating the ‘perfectionism syndrome’.
Setting an ironclad schedule will finally overpower your desire to strive for over-perfectionism. Guess what, I also follow the same approach and it really works, but I couldn’t put it in words which you just did
Ali recently posted..What Neil Gaiman Wants The Modern Freelance Writers To Do (Video)
[...] Fuck perfection! Don’t even try. It will kill you! [...]
It’s fascinating to find out here that quite a few people suffer from perfectionism when I see so much mediocre stuff out there.
I’ve met bloggers who brag that they never edit or rework anything. They just write and send. They are proud of their spontaneity, but I don’t think that’s the way to go.
-Diana
You’re absolutely right, Diana. Most stuff you see out there is mediocre since not everybody is stung by the perfectionism bug.
Most people will be satisfied to get a keyword-stuffed article for just 5 bucks.
Moreover, it’s quite possible that something, which I consider to be perfect as per my capacity and understating, is mediocre for you. That’s my philosophy, what do you think?
Ali recently posted..7 Unusual Places To Find Your Next Blog Post Topic
Not only perfectionism is a problem, but also wanting to say everything about a topic. I’m still working on cutting the size of my posts down to a reasonable 600-1000 words.
Dan Tobias recently posted..Republicans attack the sick and elderly
[...] I can’t praise myself that I do guest posts a lot. The last one, however, went very well and motivated me to write even more. You can read it here. [...]