Blogging is a real commitment, particularly when you have more than one site to write for. Many new blogs get abandoned within the first month or two, but even if you’ve been blogging for years the same problems of finding inspiration and defining purpose can keep cropping up. Bear in mind that you have to have realistic expectations from the outset, as well as patience! With that in mind, here are some common blogging problems that lead people to abandon their blogs along with actionable tips for overcoming them.

1. Lack of inspiration

If you’re suffering from this, the first step is to find out why. Have you exhausted your niche? If so, it’s time to branch out and rethink your blog’s topic(s). Have you used your best ideas already? Go through the last twenty or so posts you’ve written, pulling out details you could have explained in more depth to see if you can use any of these as a topic on their own, or develop them into a series. What was your most popular blog post? Can you write some more in the same area? Carry a notebook, phone or tablet to record ideas as you think of them, and have a shortlist of blogs to visit regularly for inspiration.

2. No time

This is one of the most common reasons for blog abandonment, particularly if you aren’t a full-time blogger or you have multiple websites to run. WordPress’s scheduling feature is a great way to keep on track, and organisational tools such as Remember the Milk and Workflowy help you list and check off tasks. Invite guest bloggers to take off some of the pressure, and learn to recognise when you’re taking on too much. If at the end of all that you still feel pushed for time, then assess your motivation instead. If you really want to get blog entries out there, then chances are you’ll make the time.

3. No purpose or goal

Even if you don’t blog for profit, you should still set achievable, measurable goals to give you an incentive. Maybe you want to increase the number of social media shares you get, or vary the styles of your posts, or increase the number of comments you get. Whether you’re successful or not, you’ll have learned something along the way (and at the very least you can blog about it). You should be able to answer the questions ‘Why do I have a blog?’ and ‘What do I want for my blog?’ without thinking twice.

4. Design/development issues

Even something simple like putting up a new theme or layout can provide you with blogging inspiration and help attract more visitors – it’s almost like having a brand new site. Having a good theme can also save you endless manual formatting time and increase your guest post requests. If you aren’t confident with web design/development, try to avoid commonly used free themes and templates and buy one from a reputable source instead; they’re cheap and can end up paying for themselves. It’s also worth making design and development contacts who can help you out if you’re struggling. An attractive website and a fresh theme every so often will help motivate you to work on your site and keep visitors coming back.

5. No interaction

Lack of visitor interaction is a problem frequently faced by new blogs, and it’s the reason why a lot of people lose interest fast. The first step is to ramp up your own involvement with thoughtful content, and try to provide advice or resources for your visitors. Leaving plenty of comments on related blogs and forums straight after you’ve blogged helps too, as many blog owners will return the favour and comment back. It’s cyclical, so continue to boost engagement by leaving comments on other sites and sharing the content of bloggers you find particularly useful or interesting. Setting your blog comments to ‘dofollow’ can help increase the amount of comments you get massively, even if you’re working on commercial sites in less buzz-friendly industries such as this carport one or this LED lights site. Getting yourself known in your niche and developing a reputation is often the hardest part, but the rewards are limitless. You can extend your reach further using social media – check out the Twitter lists of authority bloggers in your field and create your own to manage interaction. If you have the time, find blogs that accept guest posts to help market yourself and your website, and give yourself at least six months to get your blog off the ground and established.