I’m still combing through the oodles of replies that were sent when I asked what you struggle with the most.
Certain answers like “I need more traffic” or “I need content ideas” were not a surprise (I addressed those struggles in this post), but a lot of you are stuck in the “getting started” mode.
Some of you explained why you haven’t started (lack of time or money), but many mentioned the F-word.
No, not that word. 😮
I’m talking about FEAR as it relates to failure.
And now that I think about it, I shouldn’t be too surprised that fear is a big problem. I was reminded of this last year when I published this video…
I don’t think I’ve ever had a video get over 400 likes. After reading the comments, I could tell this one struck a chord.
“But What If I Never Get Any Traffic?”
It’s demotivating and even scary to consider that you could actually spend precious time and money on a website that no one ever visits.
It’s not a good feeling.
I’ve actually created more failed sites than successful ones, and it never feels good when you work hard on something that doesn’t take off.
Truthfully, there is nothing I (or anyone) can tell or give you that will guarantee that won’t happen, but here’s how you improve your chances for success.
A big reason people never get traffic is they don’t take the time to identify a need in a market.
You might be tempted to create a website on an idea or concept YOU think is cool, but is there a real need in the market for this?
Here are some ways to investigate this…
- Check Google Trends – is the topic trending or declining?
- Research forums – look for recurring issues/problems in a niche
- Ask friends in the niche (if applicable) what they struggle with the most
- Check the reviews of relevant products in your potential niche on Amazon.com to discover common problems
Obviously there are many other reasons why sites never get traffic, but not meeting a need is a biggie!
Having Trouble With Your Angle?
Because Google has made it much more challenging to get traffic from simply writing keyword-focused content, developing an angle is more important than it’s ever been.
When your site is unique and refreshing, it’s much more likely that it will grow organically.
I still believe this is the key to standing out, and if you are not getting any traffic, this may be one problem.
Many of you admitted that you fear your site is not unique enough, or you don’t understand what it means to develop an angle.
I’m always looking for examples to illustrate this point, and I found another person who did it right.
When it comes to weight loss, a lot of people would just create a generic weight loss blog with recycled tips.
However, I think it’s a better idea to pick out one aspect/problem with weight loss and build a site around that.
Cranky Fitness made the list for the best weight loss blogs of 2015.
The owner, Jan Graham, went against the grain. Instead of the upbeat, rah-rah posts that flood the weight loss blogosphere, she actually focuses on the negative aspects.
Jan does an excellent job of mixing humor, brutal honesty and helpful information that her readers can relate to.
And for those of you who refuse to spend money on a website, you might be inspired to know that Jan used Blogger — Google’s free blogging platform. (I still don’t endorse doing this, by the way. Just sayin’.)
What’s also interesting is that almost all the websites on that “top list” were websites with a personal component. For many niches, especially a topic like weight loss, this goes over extremely well.
In the age of blogging and social media, people enjoy getting to know the person behind the site. They are naturally drawn to bloggers they can relate to.
I’m a big believer in looking for a specific aspect or sub-topic within a niche. That’s exactly what I did with my natural hair site and I discussed it in this revealing podcast.
Why Is Failure So Bad & What’s the Source of Your Fear?
Let’s get to the nitty gritty. Why is failure so scary?
Even if you don’t have the success you desire at first, you can always adjust and move your site in another direction — which is what happens with most of us.
Truthfully, that’s not really failure. It just means this might take longer than you want it to.
Is Your Fear Based on Financial Issues?
Now, if your fear comes from the fact you might spend money on something that won’t work… that’s completely understandable.
I certainly don’t want to be insensitive to someone who doesn’t have money.
So I’ll give you a pass if you fit in that category. 🙂
But I will say this… most people spend more money in a month on Starbucks, shopping or alcohol than they do on a website.
Sometimes it comes down to priorities.
Look at it like this. You’d never be able to start an OFFLINE business for so little money. That’s what I love about making money online!
Is Your Fear Ego-Driven?
I always find it interesting when people say they are afraid to fail because of what others might say or think.
Most of those people you are trying to please, aren’t even worth your time. And as I mentioned in the above video, sometimes it’s best to keep things to yourself.
Why is it even necessary to announce to the world what you’re doing just yet?
Are You Making Excuses?
As I’m typing this, I’m starting to wonder about some of the other reasons you gave for not starting yet.
- “not enough time”
- “not techy enough”
- “can’t decide on a WordPress theme”
- “can’t decide on a name”
- and more
For some of you, these may be the real reasons.
But for others, I can’t help but wonder if you are covering up your fear of failing. As a result, you are paralyzed.
Here’s the hard truth…
[clickToTweet tweet=”I can’t guarantee you won’t stumble, but I can guarantee you’ll never succeed if you don’t start.” quote=”I can’t guarantee you won’t stumble, but I can guarantee you’ll never succeed if you don’t start.”]
Not starting is far worse than failing because you’ll never learn and you’ve robbed yourself of an opportunity that can end up being incredibly rewarding.
And so what if you ultimately make mistakes? The worst thing that will come of it will be some lesson you can take with you.
Is that really such a horrible thing?
I hope this post gives you the nudge you need to stop procrastinating and take that first step.
Just do it!
Lisa Thank you for this post. i think i missed it but happy i saw this. please i need your advise.
i am a blogger but my website is for buying and selling,like online market and i think writing of articles does not do well in such a website. so i think running ads with money is important in this.
Would you advise me to STICK TO RUNING CONSTANT ADS OR WRITING ARTICLES. i have time and faith to keep up doing it until it pays bigger.
here is the website http://www.adahor.com/ in need anyone’s advise as well.
Wilfred, the way you are advertising is not the way to go. I had to delete the other comments you left on my other posts. That’s considered spamming when you post unrelated messages and posts.
You need to think about who would visit your site and find out where they hang out online. Buying ads is fine as long as you know you are reaching your audience. Is there anything unique about your site that other ad sites do not have? That’s the first step to standing out.
I faced the failure many times till now and still facing it. I have started a gazillion of projects and most of the times I abandoned them saying stupid excuses. Some websites reached a stage where they are ranking pretty good which I flipped and I came back to ground zero. I find hard to gather visitors for my site although I publish some good content in my niche eliminate users problems and much more. But later realized that I am not putting enough effort and all I am doing is just publishing the articles and praying for traffic to arrive instantly which is impossible unless i have a huge fb ads budget or good social following. Hence ,I worked on my flaws and now ranking almost any site on page 1. I have faced almost all the listed things about my website’s failur and now I have overcome the issue. Thanks for this epic article.
Lisa I love this article, when I first started, I had much fear, you name it I had fear of it, in my case, I could draw on my experience from owning a physical business, which became successful, One of my greatest fears was the fear of being lazy, and being my own worst enemy, meaning I was doing, or not doing things that would ensure my failure. Have been at the internet business for approximately 4 yrs, haven’t made a dime, but I believe you have allowed me a way to straighten out my twisted path. SO BE IT. I’M NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY SUCH STATEMENT AS TO IMPRESS THAT I AM GOING TO MAKE IT, I’LL JUST GO ABOUT MY BUSINESS AND SHOW I’LL MAKE IT . NUFF SAID
Hi Lisa, I’ve been following you for at least 6 years now and have never cracked it in the “niche sites” arena. I’ve recently started my own blog/site, on a niche that I am currently working on as a career and does make things easier. I am afraid that I will not get enough traffic, criticism from competitors etc, however I feel positive this time around that all will work out.
It helps to focus on a subject that you’re passionate about or involved in on a daily basis. Thanks once again for all the free info you provide here.
Completely agree. Plus, you’ll always connect with someone who appreciates YOUR angle and approach to the topic. Maybe the way you explain or talk about things will resonate with people the way your competitors won’t. There’s room out here for your site too! Good luck. 🙂
Hey Lisa,
What sound advice you’ve just given here and this is some of what I’ve been addressing lately as well.
Anything that we’ve never done before is scary and NO ONE wants to fail. Unfortunately it’s going to happen but I now look at it as a good thing. We’ll never learn without trying and testing different things. Take me for instance.
I can’t tell you how much horrible advice I’d been given throughout my time online. Did I give up though? Absolutely not because I knew this was where I belonged so I kept going until I found the right information and how rewarding that’s been to see my efforts come to fruition.
I loved your message in the video and we all run across people who are going to tell us we don’t have any right sharing certain stuff because we’re not “experts”. I think if we’ve done it and gotten results then it’s worth sharing. Period, end of story.
I’m sure that your wise words have truly inspired others who may still be on the fence about moving forward. I sure hope so because this can be one of the most rewarding things they’ll ever do but they’ll never know unless they take that chance.
Thanks Lisa!
~Adrienne
Indeed it is a great thing! It helps us grow and it something we all do at some level one time or another. But I think when people come online, they assume people who have success just got it all right the first time and they have to do the same. It doesn’t normally work like that at all.
Thank you for stopping by Adrienne and sharing my post on Twitter too!
Hey Lisa,
As usual you are spot on with your comments about online life.
Fear and Procrastination are one of the 2 big online success killers out there.
But we have to keep the faith and keep pushing on…
It is so cool what I see in the internet about making money, even in the decent way; I mean, having a server, wordpress, blog-theme, autoresponder, platforms to promote, etc… that, maybe, my question is not: will I be able to make it? , but, I fear many times lately, when all this nice dream will come to an end? For example, the goverment inserting expensive taxes, companies serving you rising the prices for the services, or the goverment stopping online bussines, in order for companies in the traditional, out there in the streets, not be surpassed by it. Ok… I hope, the dream that I am witnessing of earning your life in the net, will never be stopped by a power. Thanks, Lisa.
* What do you think about this? For example, in the past, it was easy to get a license in order to have a taxi , I mean, a cab. Today the goverment charges a lot of money for that license.
Of course the gov’t is going to try to intervene because it’s still like the Wild Wild West out here, but I wouldn’t let something like that stop me from achieving your goal of having your own business — if that’s what you’re going after. It kind of reminds me of a woman who said she wasn’t going to sell a product because people might pirate it. There are always going to be things that CAN happen, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from pursuing your dream.
Good Day to You Lisa,
I’m working on a post and want you to know that I’m linking to your wonderful and inspiring post.
I don’t always get it right, trying to use WordPress tools to notify the owner of a post that I’m “tagging their content”, so I’m using a somewhat old fashioned approach.
I’ll use your “help” system at Website Babble to inform you, when the post is published.
You haven’t lost your ability to inspire others!
No wonder I never stopped following you, even if I did stop following my dream for a while.
You’re the Best!
Arth
Thank you Arth! Always great to see a long-time follower come by and comment. Thank you for reading.
Another great post. Lisa!
I can’t tell you how many “podcasters” I talk to who just won’t launch. They attend conferences, join Meetups but never pull the trigger on their show.
I have noticed that, sometimes, a little nudge can push them past this.
I struggled with this a bit before I launched my podcast, but now I enjoy the challenges of building my audience.
I changed my mindset – instead of worrying that no one would listen to my show, I look forward to finding ways to get people to listen. That’s almost as much fun as doing my show!
You only fail when you don’t try.
The fear of failure is real Mitch! And yes I can imagine the stories you hear. Failure is scary but what we don’t realize is most people fail or at least make mistakes when they start something new. It’s REALLY about what you do AFTER that. Will you give up or keep pushing on? Thanks for commenting!
When you said some people gave excuses that they cannot decide on which wp theme to use, it felt like you were talking to me!
Anyway I bought a Genesis theme through your link. I have two posts so far.
Was wondering if you can spruce up my blog…for a fee of course!
Ha ha ha! That’s great. Thank you so much for buying.
Sprucing up blogs is not really my specialty as I’m not a designer. But I’d be more than happy to give you direction. What specifically would you like to do?
Hi Lisa,
I always appreciate your posts. You mentioned you don’t recommend Google’s blogger. Can you tell me why, please? Because of having a Google blog and the nature of my business, I feel that I’m “favored” by Google because my pictures are in many searches about home improvement, furniture painting, etc. If I moved away from blogger, would Google still share as many of my pictures are they do now?
Thanks so much for your guidance.
Lynda
Hi Lynda
I’ve personally never been a fan of free hosting because you don’t own your site.
I know of several bloggers who had their Blogger sites deleted. They claim they did nothing (of course, who knows!) but that’s a consequence of not really “owning” your site. Plus, there are limitations and you cannot install plugins if you really want to take the functionality of your site to the next level.
I can’t speak on any of the traffic benefits because I don’t know how true that is. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Google favors their own products. 🙂
“but many mentioned the F-word..” I started laughing. I was thinking oh boy some people must have been really upset at their website progress …
I made so many mistakes, but my biggest mistake is not being patient and shutting down websites while they were still gaining traffic.
I currently have a domain sitting offline that has a PR 3 and lost some because I ignored the yearly renewal. I lost a great domain and it was picked up and is on the market for more than $1,000 USD.
I would love to have it back, but it is too late because I didn’t think I could make it work and it is a popular niche that I have experience with.
I will reboot before the new year rolls in. I do not have any issues coming up with ideas at all, so I should be working on a website.
I am also learning how to be a Amazon FBA seller.
Life can get in the way and you ignore websites and I learned that was the wrong thing to do… something important like this would have probably earned me money so that I would not have stressed so much about offline crap.
Ha ha ha! I knew that F-word would get people’s attention. lol
I think it’s natural to get impatient with a site along the way. I know I’ve done this too. Great point!
Such a good topic, Lisa. Failing is wonderful. It’s how you learn. Failing gives your brain references of what isn’t working so you can move closer to what is.
I’ve been writing on a blog for over 5 years now. It may be 20 years before I finally find an audience, and that’s OK. Stick with it mostly for the person it will make out of you as you keep writing and trying to grow a presence.
Get out there and fail people. Get rejected. Do it for the person you become through it all. Failing is wonderful :).?
Well put Jeremy! Hey great to see you here!! We go waaaaaaaaaaaay back… to the SBI! days. lol
Yes! SBI, whoa, that was a while ago. Back in the day when the world was young 😉
Indeed! 🙂
Bravo! You created an amazing piece of content here.. Mentors of mine always say to focus on a solution / need that people are searching for! Thinking about.. You could easily get traffic to offers but if you didn’t do enough research before creating a product / course on a solution that people want or need, then conversions WILL not take place. Excellent video & I really enjoyed the video!
Thanks Carl. I was blown away by how many people were moved by that video. Goes to show how fear can be paralyzing to many people.
Thank you Lisa. This left me way more motivated than ever. I like the idea of not telling anyone what you’re doing online until you start earning from it, I personally do not share it either coz I’m still developing on earning a dollar online, but, thanks again for another helpful post Lisa
No problem Sandile! Thanks for commenting.
Excellent article, Lisa! I agree with every word. I think identifying a niche and a need in the market is crucial here. Another thing I see people do often is writing posts that sound too formal, too official. I’ve done that too at the beginning. Now I’m trying to write in a much more personal and ‘cozy’ style. It’s not easy, but slowly and surely I’m developing my voice. Thanks for a ton a good tips!
Nata! Yessssssss, that is so true. I used to feel this way too about my writing. But people seem to relate to and enjoy the more casual delivery. That’s what’s so great about blogging. Same goes for videos too!
On topic and on point as usual Lisa, thanks for what you do!
Thanks Bo!