If you’re wondering whether or not to start a blog, you’re probably torn about whether the work will be worth it. What if you start a blog and post every week, and no one ever comes to look at it? On the other hand, what if you choose not to blog, and you could have made a lot of money from it? Hopefully, this article will help you make the decision.
Reasons to start blogging
There are a lot of reasons why you should start a blog. Here are some of the main reasons that are strong enough to justify going ahead and doing it:
- You have a passion that you want to write about
- You want to use the blog to attract an audience to your business, selling something related
- You want to establish yourself as an authority in your business field, by showing off your knowledge and expertise
- You want a place where you can organize your personal thoughts
- You have a story that you want to tell
- You want to meet new people through your blog
Is blogging right for you?
Did you notice how making money isn’t on the list of reasons? Wanting to make money from your blog is a reasonable desire, but it shouldn’t be your main motivation. If it is, there’s a strong chance you could fail. Blogs often fail for the following reasons:
- The blogger got bored because they didn’t make money right away
- The blogger realized how expensive it can be to keep a blog, and stopped
- The blogger ran out of ideas
Can you already see how you need to have a stronger motivation than just making money? If you’re talking about a subject you love and know a lot about, you won’t run out of ideas or get bored. You’ll have that motivation to keep going, even when you are losing money on your blog. You won’t be worried about the cost of managed WordPress hosting or your own custom domain name. You’ll pay it with no expectation of profit, just because you love running your blog.
Who makes money from blogging?
Here’s the secret: the people who are motivated by money are the ones who don’t succeed. The ones who are motivated by the reasons we described above are the ones who will end up with a successful and profitable blog.
Why? Because when you’re passionate and knowledgeable about something, people will want to hear from you. It might take a long time. You might be going for years before you finally get some money coming in, and some recognition from those around you. You’ll have to work hard on your marketing, keep putting out content on a regular basis, and keep coming up with new ideas. In fact, you’ll want to come up with new ideas that no one else has ever had before.
The easiest way to make money from a blog is to use it to promote your own business. This can be done in lots of subtle ways, that help you increase your sales without being too salesy. Pointing visitors to a course that you run on your specialized topic, a service you can provide for them, or an ebook you sell are the best options.
You can also stick to making money from advertising, paid content placements, and so on – but only if you have the right attitude, to begin with.
It turns out that not everyone can be a successful blogger. But if you want to be a blogger, then you should definitely start blogging soon. Even if it goes nowhere, it will be a fun experience to have.
About the Author
Linda Binklage is a Content Manager at Businesscheck.co.nz. She enjoys blogging about entrepreneurship, online marketing, career development and freelancing. In her spare time, she loves catching up on the newest technological trends and finding new places to travel to.
Comments 1