Will Your Blog be Around for Long?
We aim for things like making big money, getting our names known and building up an authority for ourselves where people will follow what you do or ask them to do when we started blogging. We set a goal for ourselves (did you set one?) and we draft out our action plans along with long-term blogging strategies that will lead us to our dreams. Now, look at your blog and ask yourself this question: How Many Years Will Your Blog Be Alive?
A blog that is alive will certainly be free from Characteristics of A Dying Blog. Why having your blog alive is important in order to get rewarded for blogging?
Fruitful blogging don’t start right from day one unless you are a superstar or you stroked a super highway to blogging success which most of us don’t.
Let me show you some successful blogs and how long they have been around.
5xmom - Since 2004
LiewCF - Since 2004
Not impressing enough? Let’s look at some bigger boys out there.
Problogger - Since 2004
John Chow - Since 2005
Now, can you see why I say the longer your blog, the greater your blog will become? Dig out the first few posts of their blog. Do they have so many comments back then like they used to have now?
Photo by Chaparral [Kendra]
The reasons why the longer you blog, the better your blog will become.
- Your writing skills improved after so many writings.
- You had more pages indexed on search engines.
- You get new readers over the period which some of them will become loyal readers.
- Your blog has accumulated incoming links over the period.
- There are more and more Internet users everyday.
If you are blogging on a saturated niche, it is an advantage if your blog is staying up longer than others. Your fellow competitors might give up because they don’t have the persistence as you or after a period of blogging, they have other pursuance in life that made blogging not suitable for them. When they give up, their readers will be off searching for another source to read and of course, you will be picking up some of them.
What can make me blog for such a long time?
Niche or Blog Topics
Some of you might be reading e-books or guides out there that claims what I will be saying is rubbish. They ask you to choose topics that can make you money to blog about. Well, these people don’t really know blogging. When the results of your blog doesn’t go your way, you will be frustrated and if you are blogging about things you don’t like, you will have the feeling that you are obliged to write something, it makes nothing different from a day job! You will be more willing to learn new things and perform research for your blog if you are passionate about the topic.
Motivation
Keep yourself motivated by rewarding yourself for success you came across from blogging. Participate in blog contests where you can have some fun and sometimes win something. Monetize your blog and make the little money your motivation. Look at those big boys out there, look at their monthly income report or daily visitor stats and compare it to yours to keep yourself awake of what you have to do.
Photo by Oli R
Goal Setting
Goals must be set for both long-term and short-term when you are planning a blog. Set a goal that is SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely, such as your blog stats and participation of your readers. It is extremely important as these goals will be pushing you. Don’t quit if you haven’t achieve it; Enjoy and challenge a new goal if you have achieve the goals you have set. The continuous action will keep you up in blogging.
Attitude
In one of my guest blogging post, 5 Must Have Attitudes For Blogger Wannabes, I have highlighted the few attitudes that a blogger must have before jumping into the fray. It is not easy to be a successful blogger and the right attitude will bring you closer to it. If you are negative on all the attitude, the only way is to change it or else, don’t try blogging because you will not stay long.
Friends
If you have a blog, try befriending some bloggers, especially those in the same niche as yours or you can always become friends with me! 
Having a group of friends which shares the same interest gives you the power of association which will keep you motivated and enjoy blogging. You will be talking about the niche and blogging issues when you chat through e-mails, instant messaging software or even in real life chats.
Photo by Gwennypics
Feedback from you
I have listed a few ways which you can do to keep your blog up longer and it is up to you to see the benefits of it is worthwhile or not.
How long has your blog been around and how long do you think you will keep blogging as your hobby? If you think that it will be up for a few more years, what will your blog become after the few more years have passed? What have been keeping you out from quitting this wonderful hobby?
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Check mine please. I want to know how long has my blog been around. Thanks
My first blog was in 2003.
http://andrewooi.blogspot.com
However I did not post frequently there. In fact my first unnoficial blog is in Geocities back in 1997. How’s that for an old blog? Back then I didn’t even know what a blog was. Until 2000 someone suggested I should use a blogging platform for the content that I was writing in my Geocities
I have been blogging for myself since 2004 @ http://kljs.blogspot.com/
At first, I started blogging because it was the “in” thing at that time. Then I found that it fun talking to myself and on occasion meet a few readers and such.
Can’t seem to find people with my kind of “niche” though. Hopefully, I will continue blogging for a long time to come.
Me too! I have Geocities too. In fact, I have so many Geocities I am an expert already.
My blogspot http://lilianchan.blogspot.com started in October 2003.
“How long has your blog been around and how long do you think you will keep blogging as your hobby?”
I am a new blogger since I just started on 8 October 2007.
“If you think that it will be up for a few more years, what will your blog become after the few more years have passed?”
Hopefully it would gain a certain recognition and would allow me to sell my products and services more effectively.
“What have been keeping you out from quitting this wonderful hobby?”
The satisfaction from the end result - seeing people visit my blog and commenting. Able to interact with others. etc.
Cheers!
@ Kitkat
When is your first post? That will be the year you started your blog.
@ Andrew Ooi
Why he targeted me when there was you. 
Is that what the Josh impostor claims as a spam blog?
You should be my sifu, you started out way earlier than me.
@ kljs
You should join the blogspot splogs regime where you get to make money by utilizing that PR4. It is such a waste to be placed there linking to your new blog.
@ lilian
Kao Tao! Really the the Blogging Queen of Malaysia.
OMG, Geocities some more!
@ All Blogging Seniors
You all made me feel like “monetizing” by blogspot again!
@ Deimos
Your own product? And services? I AM INTERESTED!
I will continue to blog as long as I have readers to read my blog. Will you support me to the end?
[...] Liew, back at his blog, asks a very interesting question: will your blog be around for long? Well long enough :). The post includes a few good tips on how to persevere and stay motivated with [...]
I thought of continuing my blogspot blog, but since I don’t blog for the money, I will leave it at that. Call it stupid or whatever. I don’t really mind.
Read my comment again and realized that I forgot to answer half a question:
“how long do you think you will keep blogging as your hobby?”
Well, until my last breath I guess.
Hopefully, my offsprings (preferably a son who is able to pass down our family name - Kong) would continue to blog on ahkong.net for the coming generations, until the end of days.
@Wayne Liew:
Well, my dad runs a housing development and construction firm. I am working for me Dad now so basically our products would be homes i.e. apartments while the services that we would offer = renovation, custom building of a bungalow on a plot of land etc.
And by the way, we have a steel factory at Ipoh up for grabs.
)
(Details can be found on mua blog.
Still interested?
Cheers, mate!
Since July 2007.
I will keep on blogging as long as the artist I’m blogging is still making music.
I think my blog will be the ultimate source of that artist in long run (provided I’m hard working enough to write more posts).
Having the urge to share all the wonderful qualities by this artist, letting people know that she isn’t some typical come and go singers, prevented me from quitting.
Yea I’m addicted.
I hope that I can earn more to support my addiction LOL.
Well I’m not sure how long I’ll be around but who know I just might be here at 60 LOL
Nice content you have here
cheers,
blogengage
I will keep on blogging if I can.
The thing is for most of us the result won’t show so soon.. it pays for those who have the patient.
@ Sean
Of course. If I am around, I will be willing to give support in the form of guidance or moral support (perhaps).
@ Deimos
I am interested in any form of business and hopefully I will get the chance to understand it more.
People pass down things like jade or some precious items. A blog which bears a family name will be worth as much as that in the future. No worries.
@ Teo
If you are earning RM10 per blog, you would possibly earn RM100 with 10 blogs about different artists. Want to try it out? Just kidding. I would not advise you to do so if you think that you don’t have that much capacity.
@ blogengage
Thanks for dropping by.
Why 60? Why not 100 or even over 100?
@ dott-com
Yes, that’s the spirit!
@ MalaysiaCanBlog
This is why the attitude of a blogger, especially patience and persistence is the key here.
P/S: Kenneth, your comment got caught up by Akismet, try reading Akismet Don’t Swallow Blindly.