Keith Goodrum

I have to say right up front… comment spam SUCKS!

I receive so much of it that I just went ahead & set this blog to moderation of every post. This makes it a pain for everyone. Because people don’t get to see their comments right away, and I have to moderate every comment. But, if I didn’t this blog would quickly disintegrate into a rolling male enhancement affiliate program. VIVA VIAGR... never mind.

I won’t go so far as to eliminate comments because I like the interaction with everyone. It’s nice feedback on what I’ve written. Plus, it’s fun to see what some people come up with.

Every once in awhile a spam comment lands in moderation that makes me laugh…

One that was hitting here a couple of months ago would go along these lines:

At first I didn’t agree with you, but at the end it really made sense.

Oh, by the way, check this out. I believe it will clarify what you are trying to say – (A link to some inappropriate site)

No brainer… Delete!

This next one falls under the category – Did You Really Read My Blog?!?

found your blog from a partner’s site and I have to say that I really like it. I was wondering if we could exchange links on your blogroll…

Slight problem… I don’t have a blog roll. Now what are we going to do?!?

Then there was this gem…

Great post. I completely agree, it seems there is one launch after another. You really need to pick and choose where you spend your time…

OK, you are thinking… what’s so bad about this comment?

Nothing, until you see the link to website is an affiliate link to the product being mentioned in the blog post. Thanks for including an affiliate link… because I’m here to let you siphon traffic off – SO, YOU CAN MAKE MONEY!

I guess if you throw enough of these against the wall… something will stick.

Today is the 21st post of my getting back into the habit of blogging thing. I started this whole odyssey back on the 22nd of September in the blog post Let’s Break Some Rules… The rules were pretty simple:

So, I’ve decided to get the momentum back, and I have a plan. I’ve read many times that you can make or break a habit in 21 days. It’s pretty simple to explain, and tougher to follow through till the end.

Here it is in a nutshell: Any good habit you want to start, you just do it for 21 straight days. At the end of those 21 days you will have added that new habit to your life. Likewise for a bad habit. Just cut it out for 21 days & will be gone from your life.

So, I’m going to blog for 21 days & get back into the habit of writing. Not going to make this overly complicated with a bunch of rules. Just going to write a post & publish it… simple.

It took a little longer than 21 days because I skipped a day early in the challenge. So, I decided to start again from day one, and commit to finishing. It would have been easier to catch-up by writing a couple posts & publishing them one day. But, I wanted to create a habit of blogging daily.

I did learn a few things the past 21 days…

1. Setting a goal to blog for 21 days in it’s self is not a very good idea - I jumped into this with only the plan of writing daily. There was no purpose other than to write, and that made it difficult to get this done on several days. There was no master plan, or direction to the blogging. As I look back over the posts… they were all over the place.

2. Traffic increased by posting content - Once I did start posting on a regular basis the traffic started to return. I watched the Alexa score drop from just under 200,000 to 132,000. Even with the lack of focus there was a return of traffic. I wonder what the traffic stats would have looked like if I had narrowed the subject matter.

3. Less participation in the comments - Except for a few posts. the comments & emails have been less frequent per post. Once again I can attribute the lowering of participation to the subject matter of the posts being scattered.

What am I going to do with this information?

This is something I’ve been thinking about over the past few days a lot. And I’ve decided to spend a few days to put together a plan for this blog. It will be related to online marketing… I just haven’t decided the exact direction. But, it definitely be more focused than the past few weeks.

Feel free to leave your thoughts, or comments below.

Well, it looks like I didn’t make to the 21 days of writing and posting something to my blog. I could come up with a good reason for not doing it, but in the end I didn’t get it done. I guess you could say I’ve had a set back.

So, my only solution to this is…

Start all over again. It’s a pretty simple solution. Just have to reset the calendar and get going. No big deal really… I want to re-establish the habit of blogging, and the only way to do this is by blogging.

Even though this is a minor setback it is a good example of how to overcome setbacks. Now, I’ll admit this is a minor setback, with an easy solution. But, it is a good opportunity to take a look at this process.

Remember One Thing About Setbacks…

They happen to everyone. Any goal worth reaching will have several obstacles and setbacks. No, reason to hide from this fact or pretend it didn’t happen. That would actually be counterproductive. You must acknowledge when they happen, and realize it is part of the process. Just remember this… you must learn from the experience and continue on.

A Big Key To This Is To Remain Optimistic

It’s important to keep you attitude up. Remaining optimistic will help you maintain your strength, keep your enthusiasm and make the transition smoother. Hey, you have a choice here; you can choose to get bummed out or remain optimistic. It doesn’t matter which one you choose… Positive or negative. You will still have to go through the experience. You might as well take the optimistic approach.

The Most Important Step Is To Evaluate, Make Adjustments And Take Action…

This step is critical to high achievement. It’s important to evaluate the situation, make some new plan if it is warranted and then get back into the game. Taking fast action is a key component of highly successful achievers.

The opposite is true of quitters. They have a habit of dwelling on their situation, getting down and assigning blame. They will spend so much time on the mistakes and many times will talk themselves out of taking action. They are more likely to throw their hands up in frustration and give up.

It’s OK to go though an evaluation process… but remember to get through this fast, lay out a new plan (if needed) and take action.

So, that’s what I’m going to do here. Get back on the blogging bike. How about you? Have you done this yourself? Let me know any of your success stories you’ve overcome with setbacks.