Hoping vs. Expecting
02. Jul, 2010 
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Many bloggers start out writing content with some perceptions on what happens after those few seconds of hitting that big, shiny “Publish” button. There can be phases of anxiety, fear, excitement or curiosity of the unknown with some common concerns that almost all bloggers experience at least once or twice. (OK, maybe a bit more than once or twice, but you get the idea.)
Not that I’m sitting here watching the official stats, but the average number of new blogs that start up per day is sitting somewhere between 40,000 – 50,000. That’s a lot of virtual soapboxes if you ask me and although I can appreciate that many people have such a desire to write and pass along their stories, what staggers me is that only about 0.01% of them stick around long enough to receive any recognition.
Why Are So Many Bloggers Giving Up?
At one point, blogging was only done by those “damn kids” that started hanging around the coffee shops with their laptops and Mega-humongous Gravity Pulling Ultra Charged Latte’s. Some of them found success in either locating many other folks that liked what was being shared, or they even found a way to make a pretty damn good living by blogging.
Today, we see many people running blogs that have been able to leverage their efforts into shifting away from cubicle life and working for themselves, some making well over six figures per year. When people see this, there is an immediate sense, “Screw them, all they do is write…I could do that with my eyes closed!”
Fair enough…but when the starry-eyes newbie bloggers fire up their free blog over at WordPress.com, or what have you, the reality may start to set in much sooner than expected. Both newbs and veterans do share a similar path as again, when starting out there is an internal barrier that stands between the blogger and the rest of the world. That barrier fluctuates between the feeling of Hope and Expectation, which is not at all a bad thing, but it can make or break the next potentially famous blogger.
Hoping: Many bloggers fire up that new post template looking to spray out a message of positivity and value to the masses. Without playing on the side of competition, human nature kicks in and we believe that our way is the right way. No matter what the chosen target demographic is, bloggers hope to reach out and connect to those that will be willing to see the world though similar eyes and build on that following.
Expecting: Let’s get real…expectations are not to be pie in the sky or glittery unicorns when it comes to blogging. It can be extremely difficult to have your lone voice heard while treading water in the sea of voices. The anxiety of putting your word out there can be harrowing in the sense that bloggers may hope to change the world, but there is an expectation that the message will simply veer off to the frontage road of the Information Highway or worse yet, bloggers feel that their story is not important enough to be heard.
Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst
All in all, bloggers can only hope for the best and expect the worst when starting out…I’ve been there and to be honest, I’m still there every time I sit down to write. I’ve been involved in blogging for about six years now, but nobody knows who I am or what I may have to offer the rest of the blogosphere. I could be a professional, but I didn’t take the correct paths back then, but we all live and learn.
You may see TONS of blogs promoting such topics as, “Make Money by Blogging”, “TOP TEN Common Blog Mistakes” or, “How I Make Money While Sipping Mojito’s“. Now, some of these blogs are being written by true professionals that have walked the path well before many of us ever heard of the word, blog. Others, unfortunately, see the pros making money talking about a subject and feel that the only way to enhance their online career is to follow those pros down to the exact letter of what they’ve done.
In the long run, there’s nothing wrong with blogging with hope, as this can be utilized as a motivational tool to actually get the work done and generate quality content. Expectations should be offered great respect and bloggers should keep that bar lower than the level of hope that is mixed in with the efforts. Some bloggers sit down to author what may be considered an intensive, life-changing article that the world must read, now! That sets an extremely high expectation that is susceptible to being crushed, when the post stats come back with less hits than the post about the family cat taking out the screen door.
What Say You?
When you first started blogging, how did you balance your Hopes vs. Expectations when publishing your content? Have expectations ever outweighed the hopes or vice-versa?
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