How To Stop Feeling Demoralised as a Writer Online

3 valuable lessons I learned from 34 months writing online.

I’ve been writing on LinkedIn since January 2022.

At the point of writing this it's October 2024, so that brings my online writing journey up to 34 months.

Then consider I've posted at least 7 times per week since then, and we're up to around 1,000 pieces of content JUST on LinkedIn.

But sometimes, my posts don’t land the way I expect.

And it’s demoralising.

When you think you’re sharing gold, but the audience doesn’t react.

That feeling isn't reserved for newbies - it still hits occasionally for experienced writers.

(even harder for those online writers who pride themselves on going viral day in day out. oh boy, you should see some of the egos out there.)

I’ve learned to handle those moments in time and keep writing because I've learned 3 valuable lessons after writing so much:

Lesson 1. Not every post hits, that's just life

Even stone cold, drop dead, flat out, unbelievably good content can fall flat.

It's largely down to your hook and your distribution, in most cases. And you're subject to the algorithms of whatever platform you're posting on that day, if it's in a good or bad mood.

Catch the LinkedIn algo on a bad day and your post is toast bruv.

It’s a reminder that writing online is subjective and often, random.

That's fine.

Focus on writing consistently instead of chasing hits.

Lesson 2. Your audience's feedback is a guide, not a rule

The feeling of when:

• You write up something

• Post it

• Views, comments, likes all suck

It's a killer for 90% of social writers.

Enough to make them quit entirely. I've seen it with my own eyes after coaching so many social writers. That disappointment when it doesn't hit is brutal on some folks.

But it's not the be all end all.

Engagement doesn't equal impact. And impact is much stronger than any engagement metric.

Pay attention to clues and follow the data, but don't lose your style and personality.

Lesson 3. Consistency 100% pays off over time

If I had a penny for every time my post didn't hit.

Thing most social writers don't consider is that the majority of posts DON'T hit. It's actually the 20% of your posts that make up for 80% of your results.

(yep, the 80/20 rule is real and it applies to social writing)

Just check this out...

These are my all time LinkedIn stats.

1,400 posts, 37,900,000 views.

But let's look at just the top 10:

I count 5,599,000 views.

That's 14% of my lifetime views on LinkedIn.

But from just 0.07% of my posts.

That to me is absolutely insane.

Because it means that 99.3% of my posts only generated 86% of my views.

Hugely disproportionate.

Staying consistent has been the number one factor for getting these massive posts.

TL;DR:

1. Not every post hits, that's just life

2. Your audience's feedback is a guide, not a rule

3. Consistency 100% pays off over time

Writing online is a long game.

You might not see results with every post.

But the ones that do land can change everything.

Stay consistent, keep pushing and keep enjoying writing.

Cheers,

Matt Barker

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