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Blogging - Reality Check
June 12, 2008
Blogging is all the new buzz. It’s not at all “new” but for the most part it’s what’s “happening” and all the latest crave. Everyone wants to start a blog, and everyone hopes to make an income from their blog. Over 175,000 blogs are created and published every single day according to technorati. With all these blogs being put out there must be good reason behind it all…right?
I mean all these people, publishing all these blogs, they can’t be doing it for nothing…right? I mean it MUST work this “blogging for dollars” thing…right?
When I am asked what my hobby is (”what do I do for a living” is a question I’m barely asked, and I believe it’s due to my age) and I respond “blogging” I am immediately asked - “And you make money from this?” As if my soul intention is to make money from it, as if they assume blogging is simply to make money. I usually chuckle and say…”sure.” Telling people (in person) how much I really do earn from blogging, is not a really good idea in my opinion. They immediately are intrigued, not that being intrigued is a bad thing, but its more of what happens next that becomes a problem.
What’s The Problem?
If I choose to respond to this person, stating my income from blogging, they automatically decide they want to blog too. Being that I am an acquaintance to this person, they immediately want me to personally teach them how to make a blog, how to monetize it…etc, etc. This is partly the reason for the chuckle after the question - “And you make money from this?” You can say I am pretty much used to it already.
So What Did You Do?
At first, when I began blogging and later saw myself making what my friends were making working at a fast food place, I attempted to convince a couple of friends into doing the same. The idea or the plain word “blogging” simply wasn’t attractive to them and several denied. Others jumped at the chance and where excited about blogging - At least I thought they were.
What actually happened was they were simply excited about the idea they could make money from home, and the “blogging” part of it actually had nothing to do with their new found excitement. They were eager to start making as much as I was. Now I explained to them, what they had to do exactly to get to my income level from blogging.
What Happened Next?
I pretty much gave them personal consulting that would otherwise cost them upwards of $5,000 if they went to someone they didn’t personally know. And all this consulting for what? When they finally saw what it takes to be successful, they backed down. They slowly but surely dropped everything. Once I mentioned, what they needed to do to get traffic, PageRank, trust, quality content, readers, and finally what was most important to them…MAKING MONEY, the interest just seemed to drop as if almost instantly.
It was as if they were expecting a magic push button to be at the end of the consultation. It frustrated me at first, simply because I knew if a couple of my friends actually put their heads to it they would’ve made some great blogs. But then again I question it because without the passion, the blog will sooner or later diminish and to me it seemed they were all just in it for the money.
What Was Your Reality Check?
In the past my attempts to get my friends to start blogging, were simply so they could have the same freedom I did, so they could drop what they were doing and come hang out on a nice summer day. Soon I remembered a great saying that goes…”you can bring a horse to the pond, but you can’t make it drink” or something along those lines, I can’t remember who said it (if you guys know, enlighten me in the comment section.)
From that point on…As I have successfully turned 0 of my friends into bloggers, I realized that blogging is not for everyone. Sure the money it brings is, but not everyone is willing to do what it takes to get there. Not everyone is willing to go through the hassle of maintaining a blog. Starting a new blog and being serious about it requires about 10-12 hours of your day.
After a year or two of having your blog up and properly ranked, then the hours become less. There is less optimization to do, less writing to do as you now have money to hire people. You can pretty much blog just about 2 hours a day and be raking in thousands per week, but this takes time and a whole lot of effort to achieve. It’s definitely no where near a “get rich quick scheme.”
What Made You Different?
I first started out with affiliate marketing (and it’s still my main source of income,) blogging was something I already did, and writing was something I already loved. I knew what I was getting into and I was well aware of what it took to optimize a blog, have it rank well, and provide 100% original, high quality content all at the same time. And When it came to it, I did exactly what I was supposed to and didn’t quit, I never gave up.
If you want to blog, and you’re expecting to become extremely wealthy from it, make sure you find out what it actually takes to become extremely wealthy from it. Don’t just assume blogging is a “get rich quick scheme” and that 3 posts in your WordPress, some AdSense, and a GoDaddy host is going to do the trick for you…Because it’s not!
I know how you feel. I had the same issue but in a different field. I went full-time with my Mary Kay business last year and whenever I told anyone they said the same thing: “You make that much money from that?” I too tried to get other people to join me but I think they were afraid to take the leap of faith it required. Some people just want to do the minimum it takes to get a pay check. But you can try to enlighten people but only they can make it happen.
I agree, the most we can do is pave the way. It will ultimately be up to the individual to decide whether or not it’s what they want to pursue. The “money” aspect of it is the obvious attention grabber, all the elbow grease that’s put in behind the scenes scares them off.
Thanks for sharing with us Amy!
My situation is a little different. I’m quite a lot older and established myself in the transportation industry. I’m self-employed and work from home now but started blogging for the sheer fun of it.
But since I wrote that first blog in October things have changed. Apparently I have some decent things to say and the traffic to my site continues to increase. I’m making a few bucks from the Yardbarker and Google ads, but nothing major. That isn’t my motivation anyway.
Maybe I’m off base but I sense those of us in sports blogging are in a much different situation than someone who may blog about photography. It’s extremely competitive and there is so much going on in the world of sports, it’s tough to write something unique when 100 others are writing about the same thing. Not to mention, there are hundreds of sports events taking place and we end up writing about the “past” in a lot of cases.
What’s really sad is the biggest sports blogs are total crap. They write two or three paragraphs and they’ll have six writers doing nothing but posting what amounts to snippets instead of trying to offer real opinion, insight and analysis.
What’s the moral? Don’t get into sports blogging unless you’re prepared to lurk in the shadows for a while until you can get your name out there. As with any blogger, you must do the research, write as well as you can, and be ethical. Otherwise, fellow bloggers will call you out and your name will be mud in the blogosphere.
Later.
Louis,
Great post! I love to write (I’m a freelance writer, among other things), so blogging is fun to me. I love that I can also make money with adsense and affiliate sales, but I truly love writing. So even if my blog didn’t make money, I would still be ‘blogging’.
Donna
@MoonDog - I see where you are coming from, I’ve seen plenty of the sports blogs you are talking about that only write about 2 lines, display a nice pretty picture, and a good headline.
I also agree to be a successful blogger you must write well, and be ethical. You should look at this as a benefit. Your blog can be the official sports blog, where you get more then a picture and 12 words, you get real in depth coverage and real views and opinions. Not just a bunch of highlights and fillers.
From the looks of it, your already doing this - So don’t mind them, keep up the good work.
@Donna - Thanks! I love to write too, that makes two of us! I feel the same way, If somehow we just couldn’t make money from blogging anymore, I’d still be doing it.
I love this post. Of course it would be nice to make some cash, but I do this purely for the sense of accomplishment. I love the graphics I create in photoshop and I love making people happy by hosting my giveaways. If only a few visited my site, I would still keep it up because its MY BABY!
Luis,
I believe you were a bit hasty there with your words. I am sure most people would agree the quote used by you to be true, “You can bring a horse to the pond, but you can’t make it drink”. Just because the horse did not drink from the pond when you wanted it to, does not mean it will not drink at all. You cannot make a horse drink from a pond on your time. How about, perhaps, not every horse drinks at 5:00 PM? Maybe It’ll be ready to drink at 10:00 PM. Something to think about.
Give your friends some time (at least the ones you saw potential in). Time is our friend. I did not try to convince a friend to blog like you did, but I tried to convince a friend of mine of the power words hold. I speak about “Public Speaking” and how to go about it. I thought I would never get him to realize the importance of Speech and the many techniques used to better ones message. I backed down and left him alone about it. A Couple of weeks later after backing down, the man gives me the surprise of a life time! He was actually studying speech without me knowing and became very good at it. Time was all he needed. Maybe your friends need time as well.
By the way, great post! It defenitely grabbed my attention and by the looks of it, others attention as well. Much success to you Mr. Gross!
Kind regards, Christopher~
P.S The quote you used “You can bring a horse to the pond, but you can’t make it drink” is actually written this way –> “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”.
This is one of the older proverbs in the language and dates back to at least 1546 when it was included in John Heywood’s….A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue:
“A man maie well bring a horse to the water, But he can not make him drinke without he will.”
You have been enlightened (^_^)b
Well, you got farther than I did with a few of my friends. They only bought the domains and are sitting on them. No will to make a business plan or put up any content
@Toma - Thank you, I see you love your site as much as I love mine! I feel the same way, little or no traffic, It’s something I created. Much success to you and your endeavors.
@Christopher - Thanks for the enlightenment. I must agree you make some very good points, however time has passed many times over and yet nothing comes about. I think these “horses” (friends) of mine are just going to dehydrate from thirst. But who knows, maybe the extreme need for “water’ (money) is just what they need to send them running to the pond!
@Clickfire - LOL. It’s tough I know, you want to see them do good, but they just won’t budge. I guess it’s every man for himself…for now.