It's Easy to Make Things Complicated
In any domain, it is definitely easier to make things complicated than making them simple. Online business or blogging is no exception. It would have been easy if blogging was simply about writing and publishing content. But then it is not.
Blogging is the sum total of various activities and all interconnected to produce definite results.
There’s an interesting article I read the other day about how the mental schemas of newbies are different from those of the experts in any activity.
To illustrate, let’s say a newbie knows that there are 25 variables/strategies that can affect the outcome of an activity. But because he has no experience, he does not have any idea about the extent of the impact each variable has and how they interact with other variables.
So what he’ll normally do is try out the 25 strategies all at one go being afraid that leaving anything out would not bring in the desired results. He thinks his efforts would be sub optimal for success because according to the experts’ definitive check-list for blogging success, all the 25 strategies are to be included. Hence, he’ll make things complicated for himself.
An expert, on the other hand, because of his experience knows, let’s say the 7 variables out of the 25 that matter the most and thus work out a strategy for an optimal result. This happens in a much simpler manner. He’ll keep everything simple.
I made mistakes in the beginning because I didn’t understand that I cannot be doing all the tasks to achieve results. This resulted in distraction too.
But today, I have narrowed down my focus to a few important activities. I no longer have my fingers in too many pies. I have deferred certain things from my scheme of things for the moment. I can see things more clearly now. And the results are showing. This means I’m doing them correctly.
To each their own but I prefer going slow and steady. I have a plethora of choices in front of me but I do not want to get bogged by the sheer size and the complexities of the tasks ahead. It’s an exciting journey but I wish to enjoy the scenery too while going my way up. Cheers!
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Good perspective. I think one way for us to follow your advice is to follow the training and not get too far ahead of ourselves. We read what other members are doing and think we need to be doing the same...yet we haven't Completed the certification courses yet....one step at a time.
Debbie
Affiliate marketing, as such is basically simple. So we need not make things more complicated than they should be. What works for other people might not work for me always.
That's a very interesting post, thank you.
In your opinion, and experience, which strategies should one follow the most?
Many thanks in advance, and keep up the brilliant work.
James
I too fell victim to getting involved in too many things at once. Some business mentors tell you that you need to have a social media presence, in addition to building your website. You have to post 4-5 times a day on social media, in addition to doing FB live videos, and so much more. I felt like I was spending so much time scheduling social media posts, that I lost the focus of my site. It was becoming more salesey than helpful, and my social media traffic, as well as website traffic, was showing that. I had to take a step back from everything to refocus. It was at that time that I came up with the new name for my site and figured out how to integrate the products I was promoting into it. Sometimes we are all in a rush to make sales, that we try and do too many things at once, instead of focusing on one skill at a time, and doing that well, before doing something else. We all make mistakes in this journey, the key is to learn from them.
So very true. I learnt it the hard way. We need to cut down on all time-wasting activities too. We are all different, we are in different life situations, and at different experience levels. And so what works for somebody perfectly need not work for me. We have to find our own moorings. Read my reply to Loes to understand what kind of distractions I had before :)
I did nothing out of the ordinary, Loes. In the past 10 months of my online business journey, I have jumped niches, and by the time I finished my Certification here in WA, I tried dabbling in too many activities. Social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram), Adwords, Email marketing, YouTube – I tried to squeeze them all into my strategy. I entered into a few online courses outside of WA, including Udemy. I even contemplated, at one point, of leaving WA and joining SiteSell (Solo Build It!). I started Facebook strategies (tribe building, etc.), changed my WordPress themes. I tried with a few “famous” page-builder plugins to jazz up my site. But you see nothing worked. All these “distractions” affected my content writing too and I was publishing fewer posts by the day. Quality-wise, most posts were sub-par and at best, rehashed content only. I cringe at some of my older posts. I started losing focus and because I was working on my site part-time (I’m with a full-time office job, mind you), things got frustrating. Then, I realised I was not focused and that’s when I decided I need a strategy change. I had to make content writing my top priority. My content had to be more thorough which meant I needed to know I was I writing. The posts had to be longer and with more meat. Now, I’m able to write posts that are over 2000 words long. I intend to keep them that way because they rank nicely under different search terms. It’s true – longer posts rank better. I minimised the distractions mentioned before. When I said the results are showing, I didn’t mean to say I’m having a dramatic upsurge in my traffic. The traffic is still small but they are getting steady and no more erratic as it used to be. The bounce rate is dropping, and the organic traffic is improving. As regards the number of posts published, I’m still behind my target. But I think, things are slowly improving and I have a feeling that I’ll hit my purple patch soon. My strategy in short – write longer posts that are more thorough. Other strategies will be in place once I have the backing of many posts behind me.
Hi there..and thank you for going into great detail, and at such length in your explanation.
To be quite honest, I wasn't sure what to expect as an explanation of your strategies, but what you said about focusing on your content makes a great of sense.
Many thanks once more...and I wish you every success.
hmm my mate, you got that right...the fear that drives the newbie is something that we had to go through to understand ..wishing you well
Wishing you well too, friend. I have been through with so many things in the past 10 months. But I'm chugging along.
Haha.. great, great.
Yours was a FANTASTIC manoeuvre to have chosen the 7 variables camly rather than jumping into those 25.
Fully agreed that you've deferred your scheme of things for the moment and that's exactly for the BETTER.
Cheers!
The 25-strategy thing is just an analogy. I'm now with a single strategy - write longer posts. Read my reply to Loes. You will know what I have been through :)
Very good. You made me browse your reply to Big Loes and found it terrific.
That was a good shot.
A nice day buddy.
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You are so right, Sukumarth.
I've always said, "Life is simple, WE make it complicated."