What Blogging Anchors Do You Need to Cut?

This is a guest post by our top contributing author and travel blogger Ryan Biddulph. He is the founder of Blogging From Paradise, his course 11 Fundamentals of Successful Blogging and the author of more than 126 eBooks.

I deleted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from my phone recently.

I also decided to spend only 5-10 minutes checking FB and Twitter daily, from my laptop.

I cut each blogging anchor to social media for a few reasons. Realizing how much time I wasted scanning social media sites on my phone goaded me to delete each app. But paying close attention to how I worked social media through my laptop revealed how each site formed an anchor holding back my blogging campaign.

I intend to scan each site for a few moments daily in order to:

check DMs
check messages
read and reply to FB comments
read and reply to text-only Twitter @replies

to build bonds with readers. But beyond 10 collective minutes of scanning, social media marketing plays a small role in the effectiveness of my blogging campaign. Scrolling through my main streams wastes my time.

Scanning Twitter lists and Facebook Groups largely wastes my time. Why? Mark Z. owns Facebook. Jack D. owns Twitter. I appreciate each site but care not to build their social media empires over building my blogging empire at Blogging From Paradise.

Every:

comment
@reply
Message
Direct Message
tweet
Facebook status update

helps me and my social media followers a little bit but adds one more brick to the empires these social media titans built. Each owns everything I do on social media.

I own nothing I do on social media.

I applaud each entrepreneur. I admire their vision. I appreciate their creativity. But I also know this basic law of life: where your attention and energy goes, grows. Give attention and energy to your blog. Observe your blog grow quickly.

Give your attention and energy to social media marketing. Observe your Twitter and Facebook accounts grow quickly and watch your blog grow slowly. Why grow what I own slowly why I grow what they own quickly?

Social media marketing and mindlessly checking your phone tend to be two blogging anchors holding back your success. Every second, minute then hour spent scanning your phone is one second, minute or hour you could spend writing and publishing your next blog post.

Engaging readers through Facebook and Twitter for a few moments daily makes sense but spending hours on social media sites holds back your blogging growth. No blogger has mastered the skill of being in two places at once or of giving their attention and energy to two ventures simultaneously.

I shared recently how I have published 4,014 blog posts on Blogging From Paradise. Identifying and cutting anchors swiftly helped me publish a fairly high number of blog posts.

Common anchors holding back your blogging growth

spending hours daily scanning your phone
Checking your email 20 or more times daily
spending hours daily on Twitter and Facebook
spending hours daily reading and replying to niche specific forum posts
networking in circles of struggling bloggers
networking in circles of beginner bloggers

Picture a 20 ton anchor holding a massive ship in place. Engaging in each anchoring activity holds your blog traffic and profits in place, too.

Cut your blogging anchors to experience increased blogging growth.

Delete social media apps from your phone. Record videos with your laptop or via a camera not embedded on your phone. Set up blockers preventing you from checking email or social media obsessively. Network only with successful, prospering, professional bloggers who teach you how to free yourself through blogging.

Look in the blogging mirror. Evidence of anchors reflects itself through stalled traffic, non-existent profits and a general feeling of heaviness.

Cutting anchors instills creativity, generosity and a general feeling of calmness in you, allowing you and your blog to move forward swiftly toward greater online success.