I have been seeing and receiving a lot of messages lately from people saying they really want to blog. Which is fantastic, but why haven’t they started their blog yet I wonder? I believe they are suffering from perfectionism. They are preventing from starting a blog because they want it to be absolutely perfect. Don’t get me wrong, I am guilty of this too and I am starting to realise now that no-one or no blog is ‘perfect’ by definition.
Definition of ‘Perfect’
Dictionary.com definition of Perfect
conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type.
Everyone has different ‘definitions’ of what a blogger/successful blogger is, so it’s impossible to create a ‘perfect’ blog. YOU should be the only person that really defines what blogging is and what it means to you.
For those people that want to blog but haven’t yet – instead of saying ‘I want my blog to be PERFECT’ say ‘I want my blog to be LIVE TODAY‘. The difference? Being perfect isn’t taking any action that can be evaluated by your readers – which is the most important aspect of your blog. If you didn’t want anyone to read your blog you should be writing in your own personal diary offline or privately online so no-one else can read it.
Make mistakes – it’s a GOOD thing
You won’t learn anything and you won’t grow as a blogger if you try and build a perfect blog from the get-go. The only thing you will learn is that you’ve wasted an opportunity take your blog live weeks/months/years ago and you could have built a really successful blog by now. I say years because I had the idea of beginnerblogger.com over 2 years ago but never took action. I myself was suffering from perfectionism. I can just imagine if I had have started my blog 2 years ago how successful it could have been now.
Blogging is extremely affordable, so affordable that it’s actually free. So what’s stopping you? You will learn more from your mistakes and grow over time if you take action now than waiting around and trying to perfect your idea. If you sit back trying to perfect everything, plan everything out then launch your blog and it doesn’t go to your perfect plan. What happens then? Oh dear, your perfect blog wasn’t perfect after all was it?
The point I’m trying to make is that no blog is ‘perfect’. There are blogs out there that are very successful in what they do, but they’re certainly not ‘perfect’. There will be areas in everyones blog that needs work. That’s all part of the fun process of blogging – finding out what you can do to improve your blog so it is growing the way you and your readers like.
Take Action TODAY
If you take just one thing out of this post it is to Take action on your blog TODAY don’t wait until tomorrow, it will be too late. Planning for a perfect blog will hurt you in the long run. So press that big red button and take action NOW!
If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy the following:
1. The Easy Way to Set Up a Blog Using WordPress (should have a blog set up for FREE in 10minutes)
2. Blog Progress – Volume 1 (things I did in my first month of blogging)
3. How to Submit Your Site to Google
4. Pilot Post (my first blog post!)
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That exactly it! My wife has just started a blog and was really struggling with her writing because she was so focused on it being perfect. She wanted everyone to love her. But I just had to explain that she just had to be herself and people will either love her or move one…
The key is to just blog, you will develop and become better over time
You wouldn’t believe how much communication I get about mistakes I make.
About half the time, the person is wrong. I send them a nice email saying that they misinterpreted, but asking how I could have phrased it better.
The rest of the time, its people like yourself who point it out kindly. They usually compliment me by saying ‘it looks like you’ve put in a whole lot of work’ and it can start a friendship.
Everyone makes mistakes, and its how you learn. I stopped being perfect and I’m making a lot more mistakes, but I’m learning SO much in the meantime.
Well put. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, as the saying goes. I’d add two thoughts:
1) Don’t take this thinking to an extreme and allow yourself to put out crappy product. What you write has to be good enough to provide value to your readers and keep their interest.
2) That being said, most of the mistakes I made in my first 1-2 years of blogging were things I didn’t anticipate, in fact things that never ever occurred to me. I wasn’t controversial enough, I didn’t write aggressive enough headlines, I started out posting too often and couldn’t maintain that pace, etc. Like you say, things didn’t quite go according to my “perfect” plan! These are things you can only learn about by doing and making mistakes–so you have to just start.
Dan
Casual Kitchen
I’ve been planning a blog for the past 6 months. Finally went and purchased Thesis about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been trying to make the layout ‘perfect’ ever since. My blog is still not live. I got some good tips and encouragement from http://www.bigmanta.com but I ned to heed your advice big time.
Thanks for your post – it comes at a perfect time for me to be receptive to the message and to get my bloody blog up and running. I can’t include a link to it yet because ’stuff’ (read: plugins, widgets, the quest for perfection…) is all over the place!
Thanks for encouraging a call to action.
Cheers!
@donpower
Your post comes at a great time for me. I’ve been researching creating a blog for te past 6 months and I finally bought the Thesis theme about 2 weeks ago and my blog is still not live – tryting to make everything perfect first. I know intuitively that this is counterproductive.
So your post is a call to action for me.
Thanks!
@donpower
Hi Sarge,
This statement you made is so true- “That’s all part of the fun process of blogging – finding out what you can do to improve your blog so it is growing the way you and your readers like.”
Blogging should be fun. You should enjoy whatever it is that you are writing about. Otherwise, it will become a chore. I look back at some of the posts I put up when I first started blogging and I thought about deleting them because they are so different from what I am focused on now. But after I took a second look at them I remembered how much fun I had writing them and how great it made me feel just to share my thoughts with the world, so I decided to keep them. Besides that I still get traffic which proves some readers are interested in what I had to say.
You are so right, start your blog now, and you will reap the benefits.
-Ileane
Sarge, Really beneficial and great information you are sharing within your article. I agree with every point you mentioned, specially taking action. I think what stand between a lot of beginner bloggers and starting their blogs is delaying in taking actions. Personally, it took me like around a year reading about blogging and how to start a blog and i wasted a lot of time before starting it.
And of course we have to make mistakes in order to learn from our mistakes and from others as well.
Great article mate
Best,
Steit
Sarge;
I’ve been following you on Twitter, but this si my first time to read your blog.
Good job! As a fellow beginner, I plan to come back often.
Keep up the the good work.
Collier
Tom – That’s sweet your wife is blogging too
What is your wife’s blog about? You can’t please everyone unfortunately!
Jade – I find it really hard sometimes to give advice or let them know about a mistake someone has made on their blog. I don’t want to offend them and especially something that can be so personal like a blog. I’m glad you found my feedback kind and really enjoying our online friendship – you rock Jade!
Also like to note that I love all feedback, totally welcomed and never feel like you’re going to offend me or anything. The more (constructive) feedback the better.
Dan – I agree – you shouldn’t take ‘taking action now’ to the extreme. There needs to be some thought process involved definitely. Just don’t be planning that product or site for too long that the ‘moment’ passes and you’ve given up a good opportunity. Make sure ‘that’ great idea comes to life!
Ileane – Blogging should totally be fun! In fact just today I’ve changed my avatar from the hand plant to a picture of me smiling like a goof. I want to send the message that blogging is fun.
Steit – Totally relate man – I had been reading lots of blogs and thinking about blogging for years before I actually took the plunge and did it. All the ideas in my head are finally starting to become a reality and the blogging ride has been an awesome learning experience so far!
Collier – Really appreciate your visit to my blog and glad you’ve been following me on Twitter
Hope I can continue to deliver valuable content for you and many other bloggers/beginner bloggers!
Thanks everyone for your comments so far – without you this blog means nothing to me!
I thought this way a little when I first started my blog. Before I created my own blog i was writing on someone else’s blog and they kicked me off cause it wasn’t up to their standards. That person was trying to be perfect and then I found myself comparing my posts to him and trying to be better. Blogging isn’t about competing with other people, it’s about sharing your ideas and thoughts. I enjoyed your post. sorry about the rambling…lol
Good post, Sarge
Waiting for perfection will have you in the starting blocks forever. Bloggers just need to get started and fine tune as they go. You are absolutely correct on learning from your mistakes. I’ve made my share, as have others I’m sure, but this only shows your human side. The important thing about mistakes, take the hit, learn from it and move on.
Good to see you in the groove.
Keep blogging!
@Jamie – Not rambling at all! It’s a shame you were released from your blogging gig but great that you’ve bounced back and doing your own blogging thing. It’s a great feeling working for yourself and getting that sense of reward for effort. Keep at it!
@Jimi Jones – I know I know. Like I mentioned in my post I had the domain registered for over 2 years before I even had anything live on this blog. While I have a vision in mind for this blog in future it’s still very much in experimentation/evolution/molding phase. I’m making a lot of mistakes and learning a lot from doing so. I wish I started 2 years ago!
@Don – Your comment came up in my spam box for some reason, I just approved them now. Anyway, I’m glad my post was helpful for you and I hope it makes you take action and get your blog live ASAP. Would love to see it.
It’s quite funny, this post probably look me the shortest amount of time to prepare and write than any other post on this blog. I didn’t even really plan it, it just came to me and luckily I was near a computer at the time so I could write down all the thoughts in my head, overall it probably took me about an hour – hour and half from writing, editing and preparing images/SEO description etc inside wordpress. The actual writing of the article took less time than the other stuff. It felt so good writing it!
I suffer from dyslexia. Although English is my first language, I speak better in C#. You can’t believe the flak I get from some about my blog and posts.
Sometimes a few mistakes show that you’re human. We can spend too much time trying to get it perfect that we miss the window of opportunity.
Hey even Microsoft Issue updates and service packs.
This does not mean you must do your best . As long as we learn from our mistakes.
You can’t believe how blogging has improved my spelling, my grammar, my English. So it does help both ways.
PS., I take no responsibility for spelling mistakes, grammar errors or any syntactical faults in this comment. LOL
This is so true, and not just for your blog! Nothing will ever be perfect on the first shot, so you’ve just got to keep putting it out there and learning from your mistakes. I think the need for perfection and fear of failure are the same thing. Great post, glad I found your blog!
I thought I was the only one with the problem of perfectionism! I’m going to start a wordpress.org blog soon, and am somewhat petrified, LOL. Unfortunately, I CAN see the problems that may arise (unlike one commenter said above), and it’s causing me not to move forward. I need to just take some action every day, and trust myself and the process… I’ve blogged on two other platforms quite successfully, so there is no reason to believe I can’t do it again…
exactly the point, fear of failure discourages people from testing the waters. entrepreneurs take ricks where the average persons spends too much time say, what if. blogging is also the same, you make mistakes and learn from blog.
So true, thanks for sharing!
You know, I just posted about doing things with excellence and not mediocrity. I think your post is the perfect counterbalance. Going for excellence is good, being a perfectionist can be not-so-good.
[...] Why Being PERFECT Is Hurting You And Your Blog [...]
I want my blog to be nice and I’m not going to launch it until I have a fair amount of content to share that I’ve done my homework on. I’ve given myself a framework to finish so I don’t end up deliberating over it forever, too. (Saw someone suggest at least ten pages or articles before launching, so your readers have something substantial. That sounded good to me, what do you think?)
The idea was in my head for months, but I noticed that once I started working on it (key words, I am actively engaged now) a direction began to evolve that hadn’t been my original intention… so… I decided to go with it because it’s coming from my inner source. If I had launched it in the first couple of weeks, I would not have found that groove and if I have to wait two more months to get it right, then I will.
Be yourself, work on your content, and let it flow… you might be amazed where your spirit leads you. If you need help with the creative process or loosening up your writing skills, there are some books out on writing from the right side of the brain (creativity comes from the right, analysis comes from the left side and if critiquing your own work or ideas is all you’re doing, then no doubt you are being stifled.) Look on Amazon with those keywords, if interested, or if you know someone who is stuck suggest that to them. It’s fun.
@beachroses – I think 10 posts is a good thing to have set in stone before promotion so there is a base set. You could lose potentially good readers early if you just have 1-2 posts up because they may not subscribe based on small amount of content. But then you could lose potential readers by leaving it late to start promoting. I didn’t do any heavy promotion for this blog (and still feel I really haven’t, my main promotional tool is twitter which has grown over time) but I took it live the moment I made my pilot post.
I think it’s fine for blogs to evolve over time as well, especially early on as you won’t have many readers that it will create a big affect on. The worst thing you could do is start a blog where you’re not happy with the direction and just keep doing it and not enjoying it.
Great post Sarge! Really gives me that kick I need – it also applies to realizing that your posts don’t have to be 100% perfect either!
I’ve taken the first step and started my blog, but only have 2 posts. Each post has taken me way more time than they should have – I edited them over & over again before they were finally posted. The problem with this is that since each post takes me so much effort, after finally finishing one, I feel like I need a break.
@beachroses – I’ve also read that you should have a good number of quality posts before launching/spreading your blog (some say 3-4, others more). I hadn’t planned to launch mine before writing at least 4 posts, but I just couldn’t resist commenting & networking in the community. Unfortunately this is resulting in an awkward phase of half-networking and half wanting to wait until I have enough content before fully doing so.
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