In his book, The Dip
At first, everything goes smoothly and you seem unstoppable. Then, as if there was some kind of dark magic at play, you hit a wall that you just need to struggle through to get to the next level.
That’s “The Dip”. Most of us come across it at some point after starting a new venture. And many give up thinking that the dip will last forever and all the fun is over.
When I started blogging, the saying was that it takes three months for the hard times to start in blogging. And that if you survive through your first three to six months, you are a winner and your blog has outlived most of the competition.
It didn’t go quite that way for me.
The first three months of course meant a lot of learning, but went by without any noticeable hard times. And so did the next three. It was only after a year, maybe even a bit more than that, that I reached my dip. A picture tells more than a thousand words:
What do you say? Has blogging matured so much that it now takes longer to become one of the top bloggers than it did before? Has the dip in blogging moved further away, maybe becoming longer at the same time as well? Have you experienced this effect in your own writing or am I just making this up?
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It really depends on your topic.
There is a big dip and it arrives early I would expect if you choose to blog on making money on the internet or internet marketing or some other highly saturated topic.
Likewise there is a deep dip if you select too fine a niche and quickly run out of things to say.
Find the right niche, and if you are the right person I expect (haven’t been there – yet) that things will go as smoothly as they did for the pioneers in blogging.
David Hutchisons last blog post..Focus Time to Prepare for the Day
@David: Good points. I’m sure you’re right that blogging cannot be seen just as one big industry. Every niche is different.
One more thing that I got thinking about on my way to work is that a lot also depends on the person doing the blogging. If you are full of ideas, you can easily go on longer than someone not that accustomed with coming up with topics. And if you already know your marketing, you can grow quicker than someone who has never done any marketing before.
So, it could be that the time when the dip comes is actually different for each of us. A factor of the niche and your experience.
For me, I think the dip occurred about 6-7 months into blogging. Still pushing through it right now, but I’ve got a new blog design and some help on the way.
As for whether it is harder to become one of the top bloggers, it seems that the answer is yes. But the level of “top blogger” has risen so much that it isn’t necessary to be a “top blogger” to have a big impact anymore.
Joshua Clantons last blog post..How to Stay Creative with Microprojects
@Joshua: Just keep pushing! I’m sure we’ll get through our dips if we keep working on it :)
What you say about becoming a top blogger makes sense. There are so many small niches that by picking the right niche, you can find your place in the big picture even if you never become quite as big as Darren or Leo.
And in a sense, a smaller community of people you interact with can even be more interesting than a huge one… Speaking of which, would you have ideas to share on my latest question over at insanelyinterested.com ? ;)
I am still very new at blogging, so I don’t think I have hit “the dip” yet. I still have so many ideas and topics for my blog. Although it is hard to find an audience for my blog. I don’t expect to become one of the top bloggers, but it would be nice to see more subscribers to my blog.