Hi y’all, this post is kind of long, so bear with me if you don’t like lengthy posts that much. This was specifically written to help my fellow bloggers realize (if you guys haven’t yet) that having a successful blog is not as easy as it seems.

The Truth: Many new bloggers think that success is just one step away from them.

Let’s just face it. A lot of newbies who create blogs think that they can get 100 subscribers within 24 hours, get 1,000 unique visitors per day by submitting their new blogs to 10 directories, and other whatnots. The truth is (if you didn’t know it yet), attaining success is not as easy as how it appears to be. Many people get inspired by successful bloggers and think they can be on top within a few days! That’s such a ridiculous thought simply because there’s no shortcut to blogging success.

You can only be successful if you are dedicated and if you exert much effort in what you’re doing. Lazy people or people who lack commitment will not get their blogs anywhere near the top.

Reaching the “Successful State” is NOT Easy. Period.

As I’ve said a couple of times in this post, achieving success is nowhere near “easy”. You have to work hard to reach your goals. You can’t just doze off today and expect 5,000 feed subscribers tomorrow. You MUST exert much effort if you want your blog to grow and be on top!

Let me share this very inspiring quote with you:

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.”

-Joe Girard

Whenever I share this quote with people, 50% of the time they ask me, “Why use the stairs? Why not wait for the elevator to get fixed?” I have a couple of answers to that one.

1. Well who knows? The elevator might not get fixed. Waiting for it to work again is like having high hopes of having a successful blog without doing anything. If you just keep on hoping, there’s a chance that you won’t achieve success. If you use the stairs, you’re sure to reach the top!

2. Obstacles are a great way to learn. Look now, if you use the elevator, you just wait for a few seconds (or minutes) to get to your destination. But if you use the stairs, you will encounter different things — sometimes, they’re obstacles. There might be a banana peel on the next step, or the stairs might be wet for some reason. But if you think about it, these obstacles can actually help you!

Let’s say that you tripped because you stepped on the banana peel for some reason. It might not be a good experience, but a new lesson is learned. By tripping, you learned that you should carefully look at where you’re going! A simple lesson, but it’s still a lesson nonetheless.

3. Using the stairs is good for your “health”. In the real world, using the stairs will keep you physically fit. That’s good! In the world of blogging, working your way to the top (or using the stairs) is like gaining additional knowledge that you simply can’t get when using the elevator. It will keep you “healthy” — fit and prepared for anything. You will obtain valuable information and experiences by taking things one step at a time, and these experiences can often save you in times of trouble!

If you attain success and you experience a sudden downfall, you would know what to do when you’re down there because you experienced being there already! You took the stairs, right? But if you took the elevator a.k.a. “the easier and faster way to success”, then you wouldn’t know what to do when you fall.

How You Can Achieve Success

I only know two ways to achieve success: 1) work hard and persevere, 2) buy success without having any experiences. Number one is self-explanatory. Let me explain number two for you so that it would be crystal clear. In blogging, “buying success without having any experiences” can be as simple as buying a popular blog without even knowing how to configure one and maybe write a good article. If you do that, it’s sure that your blog will lose its readers, together with its reputation.

So number two isn’t really a way to achieve success. I guess it’s just for the privilege of saying “I’ve got a successful blog!” for a few moments (It won’t be so successful when an inexperienced person handles it).

It looks like there’s only one way to be successful: work hard and persevere.

If you work hard and do your very best to attain success for your blog, then you will certainly reach the top. Not only that, your blog will stay on top as long as you put in efforts. Here are some tips to help you become a successful blogger.

Define “success”. You can’t be successful blogger if you don’t know what can make you successful! If your goal is to get 1,000 subscribers, then you can call yourself successful once you reach that number.

Work hard. I’ve said it a LOT of times, but I just can’t stress it enough. Hopefully by now you whole-heartedly know that working hard to achieve is one of the (if not THE) sure-fire ways to be successful.

Experiment with things. There will always be a risk when you try different things like varying writing styles, different marketing tactics and other stuff. If you fail at times, don’t give up. Keep on trying until you hit the bullseye!

Don’t be selfish. I know that some of us really want to keep all our ideas to ourselves to prevent copycats, but try sharing your thoughts with others. They can help you improve your ideas and even help you come up with more innovative ones!

Wheeew! I guess that’s it people. Remember, there is NO shortcut, express way, or whatever to be a successful blogger. You have to work, work and work. Of course, not only work. You have to THINK as well! I hope that you guys learned something from this post. Comments are highly appreciated, as always.

P.S. These tips and other stuff that I stated here don’t apply to blogging only. They can be applied to other things like internet marketing and any other thing where you can be “successful”.

Other posts that you might find interesting:

• Why Your Blog Isn’t Getting Anywhere
• Blogger Sweatshop
• Better Safe than Sorry!