Is Blogging Legit? Well, yes, but there is a whole lot that bloggers seem to gloss over!
If you’re a new blogger, you don’t have to look far online, (particularly on Pinterest) before you come across blogging income reports online.
A few bloggers do show their success in the beginning, with some modest amounts of money.
But then there are the crazy high income reports that are five or six figures.
Naturally, these are also going to be some of the most shared blogging content you can find.
Bloggers just LOVE reading income reports.
The income report really sells the dream and gives people an insight into what is possible online.
But are income reports giving some people false expectations?!
It’s no wonder that some people online think the whole blogging thing is a scam!
Blogging For Money Is Legit, But It’s Not The Whole Story!
People that see these blogging income reports online, are not getting an accurate insight into that world.
Because they only see the success on the surface and not the blood, sweat and tears that will have gone on to get there.
Or to stay there for that matter.
Consequently, you get hundreds of new starry eyed bloggers all trying to get a piece of the dream online….
And many more quitting before they’ve made any money at all.
You also get a lot of FAKE income reports.
Because, people assume that you may just have to fake it until you make it….
If you’re telling people you’re making tonnes of money, maybe they’ll be more likely to read your blog, or buy whatever product you’re promoting?!
Many bloggers out there do give good advice, about how you can get started blogging.
They generally will give you some basic info.
The thing is, the ins and outs of creating a blog that actually makes money, is way more in depth than what you can read in a few blog posts.
It’s not complicated, (mostly) but there is a lot to learn.
There is actually a lot of basic learning involved that comes from experience and isn’t just something you can speed read and become successful at by reading a few “how-to blog,” posts.
But the main thing to remember is:
You can’t make any money without traffic and if you can get traffic, YOU CAN MAKE MONEY NO MATTER WHAT.
It doesn’t matter what you’re selling.
You can even make money from Ads, if you can’t sell anything…. As long as you get enough traffic.
I don’t recommend relying solely on Ads, but are still bloggers that make a majority of their income from Ads.
So, if some of these bloggers can teach you to get traffic, (whatever your niche) then you’re gaining some valuable information.
The thing most newbie bloggers don’t realise, is just how long it can take to generate that traffic.
It can take a lot of work and a lot of time, but it’s the thing worth working for.
In any case, lets dig in….here are some Pro Blogging truths that they won’t tell you about!!
*By the way, if you’re struggling to make any money with your blog, stick with me until the end of this post!*
#1 It Is HARD to make money blogging!
I was reading a post the other day from a very established blogger and they said that, blogging is easy.
I’m sorry, that’s just not true.
Sure, the act of blogging in itself isn’t that challenging.
Writing about stuff…. If you like doing that.
But there is so much to learn behind the scenes of that.
When I say it’s hard… I mean, it’s particularly hard for bloggers who haven’t made any money yet.
Or who are scrambling away trying to make a few dollars here and there and wondering how this will ever work.
WHEN you start getting a a bit of money coming in, it makes it a lot easier to see your blog as a legitimate business, rather than just something you’re toying with.
(Other people in your family may also be more accepting!).
While it’s true that a minority of bloggers could make a full-time income within the first year….
A huge, HUGE majority do not!!!
MOST will quit altogether in the first year.
Out of those still clinging on.. Many may have spent the first six months making nothing.
I’ve actually seen people two years on that haven’t made any money! Not a dime…
(Generally this is because they’re doing some really big things wrong, that they stubbornly refuse to change…. but that’s another story…)
So, I just feel that those people making their fortune selling this blogging dream, should really be more honest.
It’s not easy.
Most will quit.
…A minority will make money
…. A small minority will make enough to support their family
…. A teeny minority will become wealthy from it.
That’s it.
Has it put you off?
(Why do only a small minority make enough to support their family…? That leads me on to #2).
#2 Most People Just Won’t Make It Work!
I feel the reason most people don’t make enough money to support their family blogging is NOT because it’s not possible.
It’s because most people just haven’t got the perseverance, determination and dedication to see it through.
Even if you really LOVE to write, (and it is a plus point if you do)…
FORCING yourself to write hundreds of posts day in and day out, year after year… can be challenging.
It’s very easy to get distracted, to burn out, to just want to do anything else.
Plus, even if you love to write, there is so much MORE to blogging than this.
There is the editing, trying to get to grips with social media, email-marketing, SEO, keyword research, graphics, website design and layout, general website upkeep.
And then there is all the more technical stuff.
Yes, all this is way easier than it used to be.
But if you’re not a technical person, there will be things you still need to get to grips with over time.
You can completely learn and overcome these challenges, but so many people simply quit at the first hurdle.
It wouldn’t take much for your average person to get overwhelmed by this whole thing.
If you’re a new blogger looking on Pinterest and you’re seeing people making hundreds, or thousands of dollars in their first few months… You’re bound to feel like you’re doing everything wrong.
Remember, not all these income reports can be trusted.
Especially those by the *newbie* blogger.
Also, for all those impressive income reports you see, there will be literally thousands upon thousand of struggling blogger behind the scenes.
Even those bloggers who are making money still struggle.
There will ALWAYS be ups and downs when it comes to blogging.
#3 You Need To Write For Your Audience, Not Yourself!
You may think people may be interested in what a great day out you had last weekend with your kids…. But most people don’t care.
Maybe you want to share some heart wrenching story about what your child is going through at school… But most people don’t care.
Are you following me here?
Most people really don’t care about who you are, or what you do – they care about what YOU can do for THEM.
Yes, when you’re getting hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, a small percentage of them may want to know a bit about you.
But they aren’t visiting your site to read some personal diary.
If you want a blogging business, you need to be writing about things that will solve problems for your audience.
The only difference here is when it comes to sponsored posts……
If you have a parenting type blog, sometimes companies will pay for you to have a day out and then write about whatever attraction you visited.
It’s like cheap advertising for them and a free day out for you!!
You do a review of their business and they get lots of potential new visitors.
So, yes, if you’re reviewing something – this is totally different.
But just doing random posts relating to your life and your feelings… Not going to work.
Unless….
- You’re a completely hilarious human being,
- have a fascinating & intriguing life,
- Or have an exceptional talent for turning the mundane into interesting.
Then, maybe you could still make that work!
Useful Post: choosing a niche online: passion vs profit!
#4 Your Niche May Be Too Broad
A lot of the vocal bloggers you see talking about money became successful because of Pinterest.
This is how they got their traffic and because they had so many shares on Pinterest, this also helped their Google rankings as well.
In the case of Pinterest, I can see how blogs that contain lots of different topics, could still be successful.
Because, as long as you’re targeting the right keywords with these Pins and have a strategy to get more repins and so on, you can grow your traffic.
But you still really need to focus on SEO and rank well in the search engines.
The search engines is still where a majority of people search for information and you want to be there on the first page!
In order to rank well in the search engines, Google needs to understand what you’re an authority in.
If your blog is about parenting, saving money, cooking, DIY AND making money….
What will Google rank you for?
You may have a great recipe post, for example.
But is Google going to rank your best chicken post recipe on page 1….
Or is it going to rank a blog that is actually in a foodie related niche?
Once you have a huge blog with hundreds of thousands of page views, Google *may* rank you better for certain posts.
But you still have more chance of ranking for the things you talk about the most.
You also have a FAR greater chance of ranking your posts quickly, if you have a well-defined niche.
So, if you want to get organic FREE traffic from the search engines, consider that one carefully.
Useful post: How to choose a niche blog topic.
#5 The Journey To Success Is Not A Straight Line…
I have a personal example.
In Between June – August, my traffic tripled.
Then, there was a Google update on August 1st.
A lot of websites were hit and lost a lot of their rankings & traffic.
I didn’t.
I seemed to benefit!
My traffic doubled again in September! It was crazy….
Until September 27th, where there was another *mini* Google update.
This update cut my traffic in half.
Whether you get a majority of traffic from Google, Pinterest, or some other social media platform…
Changes occur that can totally disrupt business.
You have to just pick yourself up and dust yourself and most importantly, you need to learn from it.
The lesson here is… it’s not a good idea to only rely on ONE traffic source.
All sorts of different hurdles will come in your way over the course of time, not just one or two.
Rather than freaking out and chucking your laptop across the room, (it’s temping I know)…
You need to take a little break and then, concentrate on finding a solution.
#6 It May Be A Tiny Minority Of Your Posts That Bring You Traffic.
This can be a difficult thing to accept.
But any time, it could only be a small fraction of your overall posts that bring you in traffic.
At different times, it may only be one or two posts that suddenly take off and may bring you in tonnes of traffic.
But, this could only be temporary and that’s pretty disconcerting.
It can be a real knock back if you lose your ranking on that post, or the article simply isn’t relevant, or no one is looking for that product anymore.
Which is why it’s important to not drag your heels at these times…
You need to continue to produce content.
The more content that is out there, the more chance you have at generating traffic.
Sometimes a post will just go crazy, but you cannot guarantee that traffic is going to last.
That’s just the name of the game!
Many pro bloggers like to suggest that, once you start making money and getting traffic, your results just snowball and you’re suddenly on a certain path to success.
But, actually, it’s really not as stable, nor as certain as that.
This is why you need to take measures to do things like, build an email list and look into building several streams of traffic and income.
#7 You Will Get Lonely
I’m an introvert and I like my alone time, but even I can get lonely sometimes.
You see, it isn’t just the working alone all day at home by yourself.
You will also really struggle to be able to talk to anyone else about your working day too!
CONVERSIONS?!… Eye glaze….
SEO … Eih?
RPM VS CPM…?! What THE *&^%&
When you start blogging, or learning about creating websites in general, a lot of the “website speak,” soon becomes second nature.
It’s easy to forget what you were like BEFORE you knew about all these terms and phrases.
So, when you’re trying to explain this stuff to someone who has absolutely no idea, it’s like you’re speaking a foreign language.
Even if they DO understand some of it… it is very, very BORING to them.
Even if they’re trying to pretend it’s not, IT IS!
You will soon tell.
Their eyes start to glaze over.
So, it can often feel like you’re living on a little internet island by yourself.
(This is why it’s nice to meet and talk with other people like you sometimes!… I can do that here).
#8 There Will Be Times When, You Probably Hate Your Blog.
People choose niches for all sorts of reasons.
But when you’re living it all the time, you’re not always going to love it.
We tend to drift in and out of interests don’t we… but when your blog is your business, you can’t afford to get distracted.
Also, when you start a blog in a certain niche, you may love it in the beginning…. But does that mean you’re going to love it every day forever?
No way.
There are times where having a blog… Can really feel a lot like having a job!
Related: What To Do When You Hate Your Blog!
#9 For A Long-Time, You May Be Working Full-Time Hours, For Zero Money!
Ok, so a lot of people that start Blogging actually don’t have the time to work full-time on their blog.
But I do know of people putting in 14 hours a day into their blog or website for months without earning anything…
(Typically these are the people who do pretty quickly).
However, I certainly worked between 4-6 hours many days when I started and over 6 hours on some weekend days for sure.
This went on for months!
It’s easy to see why so many Bloggers will quit early on…
They really do tend to underestimate the level of work required to see results.
While some bloggers claim to only work two hours a day, this is likely an exaggeration in most cases!
Although, you can certainly work part-time hours for full-time pay eventually….
It’s not going to happen in the beginning!
#10 The Super Rich Bloggers Are Usually Making The Most From… Selling Blogging Courses!
Everyone wants to make money online, that’s why the big bloggers in every niche you can think of ... seem to ALSO teach other people how to make money from their blogs.
Then, suddenly, their income teaching other people to blog, fair outweighs their income from anything else.
There isn’t anything wrong with that, they still make tonnes of money from promoting other products and services as well.
It’s just that, if you want to be making the crazy numbers they are, that seems to be the way it works.
Make money from a blog in some niche or other… then sell a course showing them how you did it.
So, Is Blogging Legit? Should You Keep Going?!
Blogging is a legitimate way that thousands of people are currently making money online.
However, I do feel that it’s presented in a misleading light.
Like I said in the beginning, I feel that lot of these income reports can have quite a negative impact on some people at times.
Those struggling bloggers, that perhaps haven’t made money, or are only earning a small amount each month – can end up feeling deflated by how quickly certain bloggers seem to have success.
But.. there really is no need!
Those bloggers at the top are still in the minority…
That doesn’t mean that YOU can’t still take home a very healthy amount of money!
You may not be there yet…. But don’t you think if someone is making $100,000 a MONTH, that you can’t make $1000 a month!?!
Of course you can!
It will just take some time, endurance, persistence and… patience!
Quite simply: you just have to keep going & keep learning.
Don’t give up!
Don’t presume that everyone is successful just because you see all these income reports on Pinterest.
Behind those income reports are many thousands of bloggers struggling to make their first dollar online.
Are You Struggling To Make Money From Your Blog?
If you’ve been blogging for some while and are struggling to gain any traction, there could be a number of things going on.
So many bloggers completely neglect SEO for starters…
Are you familiar with how to get your content ranked in the search engines?
Are you writing content that people want to read?
Do you lay out your blog posts with plenty of space, so that people can easily read your content?
Are you targeting low-competition keywords?
If you want help generating your first sales, or even starting a new blog – Check out this training!
You can start for free, like I did.
If you have any questions at all, let me know in the comments!
PIN ME FOR LATER!
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