Last week I have written an article about how many bloggers are failing. Initially I wanted this follow-up to be named “why you should NOT consider blogging if you want to make money online” but I realized that it wasn’t entirely correct, and a better way of putting it would be “why bloggers that do it for the money will never make it”
As I said in the article that I was talking about, it seems like more and more people are tempted to think that “this blogging stuff” must be a really easy thing to do, and they can get rich because of it.
A bad start
Usually this type of “bloggers” chose their niche depending either on how profitable it is in terms of high paying keywords, or on how low the level of competition is in that specific area. If someone dares to make this decision without even analyzing his strengths and weaknesses (remember Swot analysis of a blogger?) it is most likely that he will quit a lot sooner than he would have originally expected.
Here are the most common reasons why people that venture into blogging driven only by the hope of finding a treasure along the way, will eventually fail:
1) They don’t have any kind of expertise in that domain
Without knowing that niche inside-out, they will find themself in a position where either they have nothing to talk about, blog about things that don’t interest anybody, or even worse, say stupid things that make them look like fools in front of their audience (if there will be any). Needless to say that they will not last long, and they will not be making any money.
2) They lack passion
I am not talking only about passion for that specific subject that they have chosen. I am talking about passion for sharing the knowledge with everybody else. One has to feel the “vibe” when he sees the traffic going larger and larger everyday and number of rss subscribers increasing. The motivation must come from there and not from the number of contextual clicked. If money is the first motivational factor, nobody will stick around too long in this “business”.
3) They are not prepared for the hard work
In order to become a successful blogger a lot of sacrifices must be made, especially at the beginning. People must put a lot of time and effort into it, and forget about lots of other social activities. Again, if they do it for the money, they will realize that it’s not worthy.
4) They have unrealistic expectations
When people see John Chow’s monthly income or heard about how much Darren Rose is making, it’s pretty hard not to get the wrong idea. There are actually very few bloggers that got rich because of this (compared to the total number of blogs out there). When these people realize that a job at McDonald’s is payed 6-7 dollars per hour, while it would take months or even years to make that amount of money from a blog, they will quit…
5) They don’t realize soon enough that blogging is not for them
Once the enthusiasm is over, most of them find themselfs starring at the computer not knowing how to start a post and realizing they don’t have the abilities to do it, and that no money will fall from the sky.
But have no fear, several others will come to take their place.
Very good article. I also notice that when I began working on this blog and looking for other bloggers to connect with, most often I stumble upon blogs that are focused on ads and generating revenue, or topics on ‘How to make money with your blog’, there seems to be few blogs or bloggers that actually have natural content that discuss about their life and their environment.
Hi Christian and thanks for the feedback!
The increasing number of blogs that are concentrated on providing “tips” like those is strictly related to the desire of most people to make money from blogging.
It is almost like in any other type of market… the offer is dictated by the demand.
Too bad that people don’t seem to understand that money mustn’t be their first priority.