4 Beliefs That Are Limiting Your Blogging Potential

Note from Taughnee: I used the “Confidence Blockers” template from The Blog Post Vault in combination with ChatGPT to write this post. The result is a 100% original piece of content using my own perspectives and experiences. But with the help of these tools, I was able to write a really solid first draft of over 2,500 words in around an hour. From there, I was able to just focus on the personal insights and anecdotes I wanted to share and put the text into my own writing voice. This is still a relatively new workflow for me but it’s helping me create blog posts in around 1/2 the time and most importantly — making the entire process much more enjoyable. 🙂

If you’ve been doing everything “right” with your blog but still not getting the results you want, I know how easy it is to get discouraged. There’s so much conflicting information out there it can make your head spin.

When I first started blogging, I read every piece of expert advice I could get my hands on to help me crack the blogging code, and it always went a little something like this: 

• Expert #1 would say to write short posts every single day
• Expert #2 would insist the best thing to do is to only write super long posts
• Expert #3 would claim the secret is to focus on keyword research
• Expert #4 would advise not to pay attention to keywords 

I tried every fresh tip, new angle, and “ultimate hack” in the book and still felt invisible, overworked, underappreciated, and demoralized. For a loooong time. 

It wasn’t until I stopped worrying so much about “expert advice” and started blogging in a way that worked for me that I really hit my stride and started gaining traffic momentum, subscribers, and sales. 

I’ve said it many times – blogging is a long game. Without plenty of good old-fashioned perseverance and a whole lot of patience, the temptation to give up can be irresistible. 

The biggest lesson I learned in all my years of blogging is that it’ rarely a lack of talent, strategy, know-how, or technical expertise that holds you back … it’s your mindset.

If you’re not seeing the results you want from your blog, it’s time for a gut check. Do any of these sound familiar? 

• “I don’t have anything unique or interesting to say.”
• “I’m too busy to stay consistent with blogging.”
• “If I put my opinions out there, people will figure out that I’m a fraud/criticize me.”

If that sounds like you, you bet your bottom dollar those beliefs are standing in the way of you doing the things you need to do to drive traffic, attract customers, and get your business visible with blogging.  

And here’s the thing: you CAN do this. It’s simply a matter helping your audience and doing it consistently (which can mean whatever you need it to mean). 

Never forget there are people out there just waiting for you to show up and tell them your way of approaching things, help them work through a problem in the way only you can, and let them know about your products and services too. 

It’s time to bust through those mindset issues that are getting in the way of getting your business in front of more of the right people.

Ready? 

Limiting Belief #1: I’m not a good writer

If you don’t think of yourself as a good writer, you’re not alone – many, many people feel this way. 

Let’s face it: 

• It’s low-key terrifying to put yourself out there.
• On the internet. 
• Where everybody (including that mean girl from high school) can see it.

But here’s the thing. You don’t need to be a perfect writer to create engaging blog posts. You just need to be helpful and I promise you that you absolutely have something to share that will help people. 

Here’s what you can do:

Ask yourself why you think you need to be a good writer. Is it because you feel like you won’t be taken seriously if your writing isn’t perfect? Or is it because you’re comparing yourself to other bloggers? (Tsk, tsk.) 

Now think about what it would be like to write without the pressure of being a “good” writer. What would it be like to just share your ideas and insights with your audience, without worrying about how it sounds?

Now for a secret: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are proven blog post formulas you can follow that are structured for engagement and conversions. Rather than sitting down trying to come up with some brilliant piece of writing out of thin air, you can start with what already works.

Even though I really enjoy writing, this was a game-changer for me in my blogging journey. It liberated me from the “blank page of doom” so I could focus on providing value and optimizing my posts without carving into my personal time to get it done.

If you want to give this a try, grab our free blog post templates below and you’ll see what I mean: 

And for heaven’s sake, use technology to help you! Why not? Even the best writers in the world still need editors. 

Grammarly and Hemmingway are two great tools that can help you catch grammatical and spelling errors and make suggestions to improve readability. 

The only thing you need to do to get more visible is to show up for your audience. They don’t need you to be perfect, but they do need you to come out of the shadows. 

Limiting Belief #2 – No one will read my blog

“I’ll get to blogging as soon as I finish responding to all these emails” 

Sound familiar? 

We all have an endless list of things we need to do, but if you’ve been avoiding putting yourself out there because you’re worried blogging will just be a wasted effort, it’s time to get to the bottom of why you feel that way… 

Maybe you’re… 

• Worried you don’t have anything interesting to say
• Nervous that people will figure out you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about (oh hello, imposter syndrome!)
• Scared that you won’t be able to say something that hasn’t already been said a thousand times before 

It’s just a fact of human nature that we put off things that scare us. But those things are usually the very things we need to be doing in order to level up. 

Here’s what you can do:

Challenge your belief: Is it really true that no one will read your blog? Do you have proof? Is it possible that you’re underestimating your audience?

Focus on your niche: Trying to appeal to everyone means you won’t appeal to anyone in particular. Instead, focus on specific topic areas and an audience niche you can serve. What are their pain points, challenges, and interests? How can you help them solve a problem or get a result they really want?

Take action: The best way to overcome your fear of no one reading your blog is to just start writing and publishing posts. Even if you don’t have a huge audience right away, every post you publish is a chance to grow your authority with Google and connect with your readers. In time your audience will grow. 🌱

Limiting Belief #3:  I don’t have time

Saying you don’t have time is really saying it’s not a priority.

The truth is, if you really want to achieve your goal of driving organic traffic and getting visible with a wider audience of potential customers, you have to make it a priority. 

Even if you’re busy running a business or managing other responsibilities, carving out time for your blog is an investment in free traffic in the long run. 

Here’s a real example of what I mean: 

Every week we get sales on products we’re doing absolutely nothing to promote, we don’t even have them listed on our shop page. How are customers finding these products? 

Through links I included on blog posts I wrote more than 5 years ago. 

Did I know at the time it would pay off like that? Nope. I was crying about how hard I was working and how nobody was reading my blog. 

Luckily, I was self-aware enough to know that this was just my mind playing tricks and I needed to trust the process and keep going. 

Here’s what you can do:

Start small: You don’t need to devote hours every day to your blog. Even just 30 minutes here and there throughout your week can make a big difference. One way to approach this so you don’t get overwhelmed is to:

• Choose a topic
• Outline it into logical sections with headings for each 
• Write for 30 minutes at a time under each heading (think of them as “mini blog posts”) 

(Spoiler alert: if you set an intention to write in small sections for 30-minute sessions, you’re very likely to get into a state of flow and keep going.) 

No need to clear your schedule and devote all your attention to blogging, it’s about working in a way that’s doable.

“Reverse-prioritize” your tasks: If you find yourself tackling “urgent” things first, you’ll never find the time for “important” tasks like blogging. Put blogging at the top of the list – either one morning per week or schedule blogging appointments with yourself and stick to them –  trusting yourself that you’ll get to all the urgent things. 

And you will. Because they’re urgent. You always manage to handle what you need to handle. 

Use time-saving tools:  For example, use a social media scheduling tool like Metricool (affiliate link) to handle promoting your posts on an evergreen cycle and keep the traffic flowing in. Use templates like you’ll find in The Blog Post Vault to help you write faster. Use them in combination with ChatGPT to take the stress and overwhelm out of the writing process and get you quickly past any “stuck” points. 

Limiting Belief #4: I don’t know how to get traffic

It’s a common misconception that getting traffic to your blog is knowledge only veteran bloggers are privy to. 

In reality, it’s pretty simple: consistently publish quality content on related niche topics.  

I know, I know, you’ve heard that before but maybe not why that’s the case…

Creating lots of content on related topics builds what’s known as “topical authority” – a ranking factor with Google. 

It means that Google will begin to recognize you as an expert in a particular niche or topic area (and your readers will notice, too). 

When Google sees that you’re publishing lots of quality content on a topic, it begins to trust your blog as a reliable source of information which means it’ll be more likely to show up in search results.

For smaller bloggers especially,  building topical authority is one of the most effective ways to compete with bigger players and grow your blog traffic organically. 

And remember… 

Not every post needs to be a monumental effort. Writing posts on smaller, less competitive niche topics will build on one another and those should only take an hour or two to write.

After we threw out the “post every day!” and “only publish when you have invested months writing the best blog post there ever was!” advice, we landed on a content mix that hit the sweet spot: 

• ⅓ Foundation posts: quick posts that answer less competitive niche questions
• ⅓ Authority posts: that go into more detail on related niche topics, and 
• ⅓ Domination posts:  longer, “best content on the internet on this topic” posts

Note: the ⅓ ⅓ ⅓ formula takes word count into consideration. Foundation posts are around 1,000 words but Domination posts might be 5,000 or even 10,000!

Most of our blog posts are Foundation and Authority posts. They build credibility with our audience and Google and they don’t take forever and a day to write.

When we’re really ready to go after big traffic and highly competitive topics, we write a Domination post. Even 2-3 of those per year can bring tons of traffic if they rank. 

So if you’re struggling to get traffic to your blog, it may simply be because you’re…

• Not publishing enough content
• Trying to tackle topics that are WAY too big for where you’re at in your blogging journey or the time you have available
• All over the place with your topics rather than creating more content that’s related to other popular content you’ve written 

Pssst: If you want to give our content mix method a try, the best way to do that is to check out The Blog Post Vault. We’ve baked this strategy into the cake and have included 52 plug-and-play templates that prompt you through proven post structures you can customize for your niche. 

You can use them like I do in combination with ChatGPT…

1. I start with the template
2. Get the gist of what I want to say down very very roughly, and then
3. Spend my time editing rather than reinventing the wheel. 

This way, I spend my time focused on sharing personal anecdotes and adding value rather than struggling to get started or trying to organize it into something that flows cohesively.

Here’s what you can do:

Focus on “realistic consistency.” Set realistic goals and don’t bite off more than you can chew with your publishing schedule. 

If you can only manage one blog post per month and you have to break it down into mini work sessions, that’s fine. It’s a myth that consistency means once per day or once per week even – consistency just means being, well, consistent in whatever schedule works for you.

Think of it this way…

When you’re through writing even just one blog post that helps your audience in some way, now it’s a content asset that will drive traffic to your business for years to come – one that you can promote in a myriad of ways and even repurpose for other things. 

Be proactive. Share your blog posts on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. And don’t just share it once and call it good! Treat each post as “Evergreen” content and share links to them on a regular basis – at least once a week – on all of your social media platforms. Use MetriCool (affiliate link) to automate that for you. 

Related reading: 20 types of blog posts that drive traffic

You got this!

It’s time to turn your limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs and I know you’ve got this. 💪 

The next time you find yourself procrastinating on your blog, think about what may be holding you back. We all have limiting beliefs, it’s what you do to overcome them so you can reach your goals anyway that counts.

Challenge yourself to think differently, make blogging a long-term commitment that works with your schedule (don’t be afraid to take things at your own pace!), and focus more on publishing helpful content than chasing every new tip, trick, and tactic that crosses your path. 

There’s an old saying… “Bloggers blog.” 

So get to blogging!  🎉

To help you on your way, be sure to grab our FREE blog post templates to help get into a new routine you can easily manage.