Batman has always been my favorite superhero. Don’t get me wrong…Spiderman and Superman are cool and all, but they pale in comparison to the ultimate crime-fighter…Batman.
Do you know why I love Batman?
Because he’s just like you and me. Sure he’s got lots of money and cool gadgets…but underneath the mask he’s just a guy. He can’t fly. He can’t see through walls. He can’t shoot spiderwebs from his wrists.
He’s just a complete bad-ass who succeeds through the sheer force of his will. You can’t help but admire him.
Batman displays a lot of qualities that we can all learn from. Below I’ve listed 3 that I find particularly important when it comes to blogging.
An Incredible Work Ethic
Batman/Bruce Wayne busts his butt day in and day out to achieve his goal. He trains himself and hones his skills until he is the absolute best at what he does. And he never takes a night off. He’s consistent and reliable.
This is an important lesson for you to learn. Starting a blog can be a fun hobby, but if you want to actually make money blogging you need to take it seriously and treat it like a business. Make a habit of doing something for your blog every single day…write a new post, build backlinks, network with other bloggers, etc. If you put the time in consistently you’ll eventually see the results you’re hoping for.
Discipline
Batman’s self-discipline is legendary. Not only does he take a physical beating without giving in but the emotional toll of living two lives must be just as brutal. And he always stays focused on the task at hand. To Batman, being distracted for an instant could mean death.
Focus and discipline are absolutely essential for any business owner and blogging is no different. Blogs don’t make money right away. It takes time to build up your content and traffic before the money will start coming in. If you give up too quickly or stray from your plan in return for a quick payday you could be doing long term damage that would take months or years to repair.
You must stay focused. Constantly ask yourself “Is this moving me toward my goal?” If the answer is no then stop and get yourself back on track.
Perseverance
Batman knows all about failure and pain. As a child he saw his parents murdered right in front of him. As Bruce Wayne he is forced to keep everyone at a distance. As Batman he regularly takes crow bars to his rib cage and sees criminals like the Joker escape his clutches. Yet he never, ever gives up. No matter how many setbacks he faces, he always come back stronger.
In the 2005 movie Batman Begins, there’s a line that is repeated several times to Bruce Wayne, “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
As a fellow entrepreneur, let me tell you right now that failure is part of the game. Get used to it. The idea of being an overnight success story is a myth.
The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top.
Dr. Joyce Brothers
I failed many times before I really learned how to make money online. My first website was about wine, which is an insanely competitive keyword. I built a site of about 20 pages or so with the idea of monetizing it with AdSense units and affiliate links. It was a solid plan…but my execution was horrible.
I targeted all the wrong keywords. I knew little about SEO tactics. My promotion and link building was almost non-existent. In the end I was lucky if I brought in $10 a month in AdSense.
Next I tried building a simple site to promote a web host called Site Build It. I basically took their sales pages, made a few adjustments, and quickly wasted a few hundred dollars using AdWords. The product was great but I had no clue how to run a successful PPC campaign and my sales copy flat out sucked.
My next project was a 10 page site about mesothelioma. I had read an article about keywords that earned between $50 and $100 per click from Adsense and jumped at the chance to make big money. But I never had a chance. Mesothelioma is an incredibly competitive niche and it would take a lot more work than slapping together a few crappy pages.
Next I decided to create my own ebook and sell it on Clickbank. It was a short but full of useful tips for saving money on just about everything. Unfortunately I knew almost nothing about copywriting and I positioned the ebook poorly. I targeted the wrong market and never recovered.
I sold exactly one copy.
But I learned from my mistakes and converted that site from a one page sales letter into a portal for people trying to save money or make extra money from home. It’s still ugly as hell but I continue to earn AdSense and affiliate commissions from that site even though I haven’t updated it in years.
I don’t fear failure anymore and neither should you. Failure is how we learn what works and what doesn’t. If you try something and it doesn’t work out as planned, don’t just give up. Analyze what went wrong, learn from your mistakes, and try again.
It’s what Batman would do.
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I must add creativity and knowledge. Batman is a nerd and very creative on his weapons just like we must do in our blog. Cool!
Batman has always been on of my favorite characters. He is smart and a dedicated hero. He always has the welfare of Gotham in mind.
Nice analogy! I love the headline, made me instantly smile and had my instant approval for checking it out. Only good copywriting can accomplish that. One thing that I love about Batman is his unknown identity; a good guy who does his best to help people and does not have the vanity to show of. Unfortunately with online marketing you need to have your name in neon lights and prove yourself as a leader.