To build a successful blog, you need motivation.
Motivation comes easy when you’re making lots of money from your blog.
When you’re making very little or no money however, you still need to work hard over a sustained period of time to get to the point where you’re making good money.
Here are five methods you can use to boost your motivation to be consistently productive even if your blog isn’t rewarding you with any money yet.

1. Seinfeld method

If you want to ensure you read or write every day, get a paper calendar and mark an x for every day you read or write.
After enough consecutive successful days you’ll see a long chain of x’s that will powerfully motivate you to keep the chain going.
Put this calendar in a highly visible place so you can constantly be reminded of what you’re trying to accomplish each day.

2. Open pledge to your audience

This practice is not for the faint of heart, but can create powerful leverage to get yourself to be ruthlessly productive.
Put a pledge on the sidebar of your blog announcing to every visitor what your intentions are. For example, you could put on your sidebar that you intend to gain 500 subscribers by July, 2011. Or, that you intend to make a full time income with your website by December, 2011.
Another option is simply to write a blog post announcing your commitment, though that won’t create as much leverage as the aforementioned method will.
While you might look a little foolish if you don’t succeed with your public pledge, it might still be worth it because it will motivate you to be productive in ways you otherwise wouldn’t be.

3. Reward yourself

Using a reward can be good for a short term as well as a long term goal.
For example, you spend a Saturday writing a very long blog post, or a couple moderate sized blog posts.
You make an agreement with yourself that you will treat yourself to a nice dinner, but only if you meet your goal for that day. Otherwise it’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.
To use this strategy for the long term, simply commit to giving yourself a reward once a specified objective has been met over a specified period of time.
Having a reward you agree to give yourself after an objective has been met can drive you to make effort you otherwise wouldn’t.

4. Post your goal(s) places you frequent

This technique is similar to the open pledge, except this time it’s only for your eyes.
Simply print out your important blog goal(s) and place your list of goals in a place you frequent so you’re constantly reminded of what you want to accomplish.
You could even make your computer wallpaper nothing more than a list of your goals for your blog and when you want to accomplish them by.
This constant reminder will motivate you to work to achieve them.

5. Find an accountability partner

Staying in touch with someone who’s trying to accomplish the same thing you are will motivate you to take action toward your goal.
For example, the two of you could agree to accomplish having four guest posts accepted within the span of a month.
If you want to increase the leverage to get yourself to act even more, you could both agree that the one who doesn’t succeed in the objective has to buy the other person a nice meal.
There are many ways to increase motivation to work hard on your blog.

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