Understanding the Ghost Town Phase
I recently stumbled upon this video on my recommended page on YouTube and it intrigued me. I've been studying a lot about the ins and outs of blogging, the technical stuff, marketing, etc.... And I knew very well coming into this that blogging is much more like a marathon than it is a sprint. Success, however you might define it, takes time and a lot of effort.
I also knew that it would take me a few months to see the first wisps of traffic begin to form and I was ok with it. But I knew nearly nothing about this so-called Ghost Town Phase. I knew it would eventually go away, but how? Could I speed up this process without paid traffic?
If you are new to blogging, let me help you out with what the Ghost Town Phase is. According to Income School, the guys who made the video I mentioned above, it can be understood as the period of 6 to 8 months where your blog is still in the midst of getting noticed by the search engines and you don't have much-recognized authority or trustworthiness yet to begin appearing in the Google's first page, for example. The internet is trying to get to know your content and get a feel for what your blog's vibes are, more or less.
I went to Chat GPT to teach myself a little bit more about this Ghost Town Phase and I found that more than just not getting views, it can be the period when you might run out of ideas or inspiration.
I can see where that could come from. I mean, looking at a dead graphic of views, an empty comment section, and posts you put major effort into not getting the recognition they deserve, it can all pile up and leave you feeling uninspired and frustrated. Who would wanna write like that?
The force has to be with you
As hard as it might sound and look, this is simply a barrier to entry you must go through to see the other side. It's not common to know someone getting real money from blogging and for this good reason. But you have to keep going to see results, it's all on your mind and it gotta be strong.
Now let's talk about getting through it. While I don't have an answer to how I got out of it yet, I can tell what I'll be doing to keep going in the next 6 months to a year and maintain motivation. Let's dive into the breakdown.
Better understand the general timeline of blogging
Reflect and Reframe
Keep my expectations low
Write more frequently and freely, because nobody is watching
Find a system for writing that works for me
Deeply and actually believe that this is meant to work out for me
Have a ton of patience
Stay consistent
Better understand the general timeline of blogging
I don't know about you, but I deal better with things when I know what to expect. In that sense, I researched the general timeline of blogging to know what would ideally be happening in the first 30 days, 3, 6, 9, 12 months, and beyond. When should I expect to see movement? What helps with it? In what should I invest my time now?
From what I gathered, either from other blogs, YouTube, and Reddit, I'm on the right track in terms of the number of posts and how old my blog is.
The main thing I can do now is write more and better.
If you are curious, I've been tracking my progress by doing monthly blog traffic reviews. You can access them here and here.
Reflect and Reframe
For all of us in the beginning stages of blogging (if you are taking it seriously), we need to acknowledge that Ghost Town Phase is a natural part of growth and the creative process. There is simply no way around it. Not any sustainable ones, at least.
Sure, paid traffic is an excellent alternative, but the investment would be too high for me at the moment and I truly believe in creating a community around my content in the most organic and authentic way possible. Trust takes time.
I'll reframe it as a period of introspection and growth rather than a setback.
A period of practicing writing, making my English even better, and testing out more topics and angles.
Keep my expectations low
As obvious as it might seem, we all need to remind ourselves that success does not fall on our lap or come overnight. It's an investment, and as such, we have to approach it with knowledge and patience.
Growth is silent and expectations should not and will not determine how fast things happen to you. Keep them low.
Write more frequently and freely, because nobody is watching
It goes hand-in-hand with the reframe part. I need to start seeing this moment as a moment to experiment with different formats, write A LOT, find out what works best and what doesn't, take inspiration from other bloggers, study what worked for them, and try it for myself.
At the end of the day, I created the blog as a channel for creative expression, and that is what it ultimately should remain.
Find a system for writing that works for me
If you don't already know, this post is part of a 30-days-of-posts challenge. In my last one, I talked about I what expected to get out of the challenge and one of the topics was to find a system for writing better and consistently, especially if I want to get to the end of the 30 days without missing a post.
I am a firm believer that humanity is built around systems that work to make our lives more functional so we can do more.
In my case, I want to find a way to make writing more of a habit than it already is and not spend as much mental energy on it. It's much easier to avoid a task if you see it as a bigger feat to complete.
Systems allow us to break things down into more manageable repeatable steps so that you have to spend less time and energy on actually completing it.
Deeply and actually believe that this is meant to work out for me
I don't think many of us have any idea of how much our mindset can make or break things for us.
If you believe you don't deserve to be happy, you will start to act out on it and will attract situations in your life that make you unhappy.
If you believe you have a good memory, you will make more of an effort to remember things. The same goes for finding yourself attractive, finding a good partner, finishing a college degree, you name it.
So I need to deeply believe success is meant to find me. It leaves me no other choice but to work towards it. It will happen, I just don't know when.
Have a ton of patience
It speaks for itself, as I've already mentioned. Patience is a virtue much needed in the beginning stages of anything, really. The secret to getting ahead is getting started, and once you do, keep your head down and focus up.
Rome wasn't built in a day and I shouldn't expect anything different for me. It all takes time.
Stay consistent
It all comes back to this. Consistency is the most important thing we can expect to accomplish if we want to grow anything in our lives.
Building a business, a blog, a career, a skill, trust, relationships, anything.
Putting in effort should be recurring and sustainable, making it a habit, and that's what consistency is all about.
Also, preparing yourself at your best for your worst is the greatest thing you can do. To help with that, here I give some of my personal tips on how to do it.
Summing it up
To sum things up, having no audience can take a big toll on how much energy and effort we put into blogging (but take these lessons for the rest of your life). It makes us question if it's even worth keeping up with it, right?
But this phase also teaches us perseverance and gives us a long-term perception of what needs to be done for the results to show up.
Let's turn this into opportunities for learning, creativity, and personal development. Your mindset shapes your actions, emotions, and outcomes, influencing your ability to navigate the lows and celebrate the highs of your blogging journey.
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