3 Tips for Blogging
Last week my annual credit card payment for my blog hosting & domain came out. My initial tight-wallet, accountant instinct thought "OUCH", then I pondered "has it really been a year???"
I started my blog (www.thewealthbrickroad.com) as a way to build trust with prospective accounting clients by providing free personal finance tips. Ultimately, I realized my desired purpose was a way to connect with others, rather than to do their books. It's strange (and exciting) to start out in one direction and end up somewhere completely different.
Here's a few things I've learned from my past year that I hope is helpful to some people starting out
1) IT CAN'T BE JUST ABOUT MONEY
If you've read some other WA posts out there most you'll see most marketers grind it out a few months before they earn anything. Sure, there's some rock stars out there, but I'm a numbers guy so odds are most people, like myself, will struggle at first. The other side to this is odds are if you stick it out you WILL see money!
Haha, if you're feeling bad about your own earnings thus far, my AdSense earnings for the ENTIRE last year was $22.34!
I wasn't making it rain, so much as I was just getting rained on...
But that was cool by me...I wasn't expecting a pay check, rather I wanted to vent about ridiculous spending and connect with people by helping them with their personal finances.
I know if I had started a blog about massive/stupid SUV gas guzzlers (no offense to you who drive them, it's just gas prices these days make my cry while I'm in the shower) with the intention to make a profit I would have quit a long time ago!
Lesson: Your passion for your niche will help drive you to success
2) YOU WILL SCREW UP HORRIBLY
If anyone tried to visit my blog some time last in November last year (no worries if you didn't, not many others did ;) you will have noticed the site was down...At first I had thought some malicious hackers had broken into my "money makin" blog (see Google AdSense earnings above), when in actuality I was screwing around with some code trying to make some fancy-smancy design, and crashed the whole dang thing.
I panicked at first, followed by another good cry in the shower, then researched the hell out of where I went wrong. After about 6 hours of effort I found the issue, got my site back, and vowed never to touch that code ever again!
That's just one of the many blunders I've had this year, however, after that pant-wetting experience I no longer sweat making mistakes (I back up my blog regularly). My knowledge of Word Press has grown and will continue to do so because I keep trying new things.
Lesson: Don't let your fear of mistakes hold you back, they'll happen either way. Failure to act is far worse than making a mistake.
3) YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU GIVE
Sorry to get all 90's New Radicals on you (feel free to thank me for that link!) but man is this ever true.
When I'm having a terrible, poop day of grinding it out, nothing lifts me up like reading a success post from someone else on WA. Surrounding yourself with similar minded people going through the same trials and tribulations is a great motivator to get over those humps, which you will inevitably encounter.
Conversely, when I'm having positive days (like TODAY - WOOP WOOP) I want to share it all with you in hopes that it'll pick you up when you're feeling down. In fact, if you're feeling any negativity send me a PM right now and I'll give you some sort of witty comment to lift you up or hopefully at least make you laugh!
Lesson: "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
It's been a great year of learning WordPress and connecting with readers. This year I'm hoping to really increase my traffic and earn some side income (I partnered with WA a week ago to give me that competitive advantage :)
It is my sincere hope that these simple insights of mine will lift you up and encourage you to keep going!
Recent Comments
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Hey Jonny,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, I’m myself new to Blogging and it can be at time a little scary to write down how you feel about things, at least it is for me. The fact that English is not my mother tongue has been a big hurdle for me when writing post on the internet, so I really appreciate your encouragement to Stick with it and keep on doing what you believe in and you will see success.
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You've learned some valuable lessons over the past year, so I'm sure you'll be amazed with your progress this next year. Recently, my traffic unexpectedly increased and has consistently stayed higher. I was very surprised but happy because the effort I put in is paying off. I found some comfort in your 2nd lesson about screwing up. I have had the tendency to be really hard on myself when I make a mistake. But when I found out people have made similar mistakes, it does help me realize it's normal and nothing to be distraught over.