How to Survive Your First Year of Blogging
Did you know that more than 90% of all new bloggers who try to money blogging quit within the first 12 months. How do you avoid becoming one of them?
While blogging for fun and to communicate with like-minded souls is an enjoyable process, blogging with the intention of making money can quite stressful.
Most new bloggers I've met attempt to jump right into heavy topics like search engine optimization, link building, paid reviews and ad sales, completely ignoring the three important things they need to survive their first year of blogging.
So what are the three most things you should know about blogging?
1 - Determine If You Really Need a Blog
Yeah, that's right. Why should you choose to blog, where there are a hundred other easier (or faster) ways to make money online? Blogs can literally suck all your time, and require massive effort just to get them off the ground.
Will you keep writing, day after day, if you are only making $20 a month from your blog?
In many aspects, the blogging business model is similar to traditional print media like magazines and newspapers. The top-paying advertisers only show up at your door when you have lots (and I mean lots) of eyeballs. That can take weeks, months or even years.
Start a blog only if you're passionate about the topic, not because you're desperate to make some money. Desperation is a face all your visitors will notice right away, and will never forget.
2 - Figure Out How You're Going to Make Money First
Yes, take out a piece of paper, and on it write "How I'm Going to Make Money from This Blog". Right below that, write down all your monetization ideas starting with the easiest.
This will force you to do more research on the niche market you want to approach. Compare your ideas to what other are doing to see if they are viable. If you find too little options, you may want to consider a different topic.
3 - Don't Bother with The Technical Stuff
The technical stuff will bog you down and eventually divert your attention from revenue generating activities. Let me explain what I mean.
A typical blogger would decide to use WordPress as his blogging platform. Although WordPress is free, it's an open-source software that provides you with no direct support channels. You're on your own as far as technical matters are concerned, and the only thing you can fall back on is online documentation and perhaps some kind people at the forum.
For the most part however, it's going to be rather difficult for you to grab themes and plugins and put them together to create the type of blog that you really want.
There's so much room for you to get too caught up in hacking code, modifying CSS, and other useless stuff.
Here's a tip: Learn to make do with less. Forget the bells and whistles.
What you should be focusing on is writing great content, and attracting more readers. Outsource the technical tasks to someone else and you'll achieve your income goals much faster.
You see, to get through your first year of blogging you don;t need to do more; just more of the stuff that makes you money.
You are a blogger, not a web master or programmer. Start thinking and behaving like one, and when you do the smoke clear to reveal your path to a successful blogging business.
While blogging for fun and to communicate with like-minded souls is an enjoyable process, blogging with the intention of making money can quite stressful.
Most new bloggers I've met attempt to jump right into heavy topics like search engine optimization, link building, paid reviews and ad sales, completely ignoring the three important things they need to survive their first year of blogging.
So what are the three most things you should know about blogging?
1 - Determine If You Really Need a Blog
Yeah, that's right. Why should you choose to blog, where there are a hundred other easier (or faster) ways to make money online? Blogs can literally suck all your time, and require massive effort just to get them off the ground.
Will you keep writing, day after day, if you are only making $20 a month from your blog?
In many aspects, the blogging business model is similar to traditional print media like magazines and newspapers. The top-paying advertisers only show up at your door when you have lots (and I mean lots) of eyeballs. That can take weeks, months or even years.
Start a blog only if you're passionate about the topic, not because you're desperate to make some money. Desperation is a face all your visitors will notice right away, and will never forget.
2 - Figure Out How You're Going to Make Money First
Yes, take out a piece of paper, and on it write "How I'm Going to Make Money from This Blog". Right below that, write down all your monetization ideas starting with the easiest.
This will force you to do more research on the niche market you want to approach. Compare your ideas to what other are doing to see if they are viable. If you find too little options, you may want to consider a different topic.
3 - Don't Bother with The Technical Stuff
The technical stuff will bog you down and eventually divert your attention from revenue generating activities. Let me explain what I mean.
A typical blogger would decide to use WordPress as his blogging platform. Although WordPress is free, it's an open-source software that provides you with no direct support channels. You're on your own as far as technical matters are concerned, and the only thing you can fall back on is online documentation and perhaps some kind people at the forum.
For the most part however, it's going to be rather difficult for you to grab themes and plugins and put them together to create the type of blog that you really want.
There's so much room for you to get too caught up in hacking code, modifying CSS, and other useless stuff.
Here's a tip: Learn to make do with less. Forget the bells and whistles.
What you should be focusing on is writing great content, and attracting more readers. Outsource the technical tasks to someone else and you'll achieve your income goals much faster.
You see, to get through your first year of blogging you don;t need to do more; just more of the stuff that makes you money.
You are a blogger, not a web master or programmer. Start thinking and behaving like one, and when you do the smoke clear to reveal your path to a successful blogging business.
Source...