If I knew then what I know now.
To say I was naïve when I first created my blog would be a huge understatement.The biggest mistake? Believing what I read online and taking it at face value. Just this one thing made me a target for seasoned hucksters, with headlines like "blogging is easy", "anyone can do it", "make money while you sleep". Like metal to a magnet the attraction was strong, the rewards abundant and instant. Blinded by stars in my eyes and fuelled by a healthy dose of wishing thinking, I almost fell for lure of easy money.
Somewhat disillusioned but not entirely put off, I settled on the premise that if you "build it, they will come". I rolled up my sleeves and got down to work. It didn't take long, however, for the next penny to drop. It might be possible to build a site and have people come, but the detail was in the numbers.
And numbers for a newbie like me consisted of a handful of family members and some loyal friends.
Suffice to say, any illusions of fortune and fame were quickly tossed out the window.
At this point I decided to start at the beginning and learn everything I could about online blogging.
Here are some of my insights:
Insight Number 1: Blogging is not as easy as many claim.
Insight Number 2: Content is often the first thing that comes to mind in relation to blogs. And while content and the quality of that content are extremely important, the blog that we see on the surface is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Insight Number 3: There's a lot going on beneath the surface of a blog. All of this needs to be learned (or you can pay someone a lot of money to do it for you). Be aware that the internet is an ever-evolving entity. Those of us who work within its framework need to keep up or risk being left behind. There's a lot of learning required.
Insight Number 4: The learning never ends.
Below you'll find more information about what I've learned since starting a blog. You may need to have some or all of these in place for your own blog. It's important to take the time to create a solid foundation. This helps create a blog others will want to read and puts you in the best position to monetise your blog via affiliate marketing.
You will find everything you need here at Wealthy Affiliate to help you along so do make use of the tutorials.
I hope you find this article helpful.
Here's the additional information I mentioned above:
Things to understand when creating a blog:-
Create and register a domain name
Run your blog via a company who take care of things behind the scenes (e.g. Wealthy Affiliate and their servers)
OR
Run your own self-hosted site (using Wordpress) and a hosting company (e.g. Siteground and their servers)
If self-hosted using Wordpress, you will need both a parent (Genesis) and child theme (I use Foodie Pro). This is behind the scenes stuff that determines how your blog looks and how it runs.
Install your chosen parent and child theme
Research and install a variety of plug-ins compatible with Wordpress (these perform various functions, e.g. plug-ins such as Social Warfare, which add social media buttons to your site, making it easy for your readers to connect with you)
Be aware that running a self-hosted site means you and you alone own your site and have full rights to it. Although it may cost more to set up and run, you will have full ownership and control.
Be aware that running a site beneath the umbrella of another company who runs things for you, may put you at risk if that company goes bust. In effect, if they go down the gurgler, so may your site.
The above are just some of the things I've learned since creating my blog. I have not even touched on promoting your blog. That's a whole other story!
If you'd like to see my blog so far, you'll find the link at the bottom of my profile.
Thanks for reading and all the best with your blogging adventures!
Recent Comments
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A well thought out post, thank you. As far as a company going down the gurgler they can't take your website with them, you just get it rehosted, I have already had that experience. Plus when a host goes down the tube another company will take them over and whoever is hosted there.
Hi there Ultimateless,
Thanks for replying. I agree that a "hosted" website can usually be rescued should a hosting company fall on hard times. For example, I created my Wordpress blog and am hosted by Siteground. In the event that Siteground go under I can find another host to take their place. As long as I've kept routine backups of my blog, I'll be able to get things running again with a minimum of fuss with that new host.
However, the situation I refer to in my post relates to being aware that creating a blog under the auspice of a "blogging company" may pose a risk. Blogging companies have their own host who looks after their company (and by association, their bloggers). Should that blogging company go bust, bloggers may lose out as they have no direct relationship with the hosting company itself.
To the best of my knowledge I believe this is how it works.
You are probably right.
But as long as there is money to be made there will be a company who will snaffle up that company.
Still, this is why it is important to always back up your blogs offline or at the very least write the blog in your word processor and file them on your computer before uploading to the internet.
I think it's good that you do bring this to people's attention so they can work out alternatives because we are all certain of one thing, change, lol !
Agree! One company's demise presents another company the opportunity for success.
Definitely agree about backups! And change...that will always be with us. :)
Cheers.
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Great info Julie. I only knew part of this. Another reason I love WA. s
Hi Shashe,
Glad you found it helpful.