Wow, the end of week two already! On one hand the time has gone really quickly - there is so much to do (and think about) when you start blogging. And then on the other hand, some things seemed to have taken forever - like waiting for Google to index my site or the application process for Text Link Ads. These are my thoughts today as I wrap up week 2:

Blogging is hard work!

“Content is king”, “Write at least one quality, original article every day” - well, it’s easier said than done. Blogging takes commitment and hard work. Last week everything was very new and the timing of starting the experiment fitted in well with my other commitments. Now, as reality sets in, I realise that blogging takes time and effort. And it has to be a consistent effort. Readers don’t know how many articles are still marked draft nor do they know all the ideas that are still in my head. It’s certainly not the quick, easy buck that some people make out. However, I still think that the rewards will more than justify the effort so I’m definitely not ready to give up yet!

Realistic Goals?

When planning this experiment, I thought it would be important to have measurable goals that would need to be met in order to call the experiment a success. It’s still very early days but over this week I have had this nagging feeling that these goals may not be achievable. However, I am trying to put this to the back of my mind and concentrate on the task at hand.

You can take a look at my blog’s current stats to compare progress against the experiment’s goals.

There’s a lot of stuff on the Internet

You can lose minutes, hours, even days, on the Internet! One minute I just hop onto Google to look up something quickly and the next thing I know, I’ve followed a couple of links, and it’s two hours later. I can also lose myself in the new world (to me) of Wordpress Plugins, SEO theories and social networking sites. My new mantra is now ‘don’t let the tools rule’! There’s plenty of time for me to optimise my blog after I’ve reached some kind of ‘critical mass’ of quality articles.

In Summary

I think that while progress has been slow, it has still been progress. There have been a number of ‘technical’ tasks to do in setting up the blog’s framework and I think I can now say that I’m now over the hump and can focus on writing content. While this week has been a little bit sobering, I’m still confident and excited about this experiment.