So, what is it? Yet another self-help blog? Is he going to invite me to some kind of pyramid scheme?
No, I am not going to try to sell you anything. Nor I am going to change your religion.
The reason why I first thought about blogging was simple. I just wanted to become rich with my blog. My plan was to write some good articles, people will like my writings and follow me. Soon companies will ask to do cooperation with me. Later, of course, I will send them a nice invoice, and soon I will have a beautiful passive income to support my lush travelling. It shouldn’t be too hard, there are loads of bloggers out there who probably make great money.
So that was my initial plan to start earning money again. (Read here, why my wallet is getting thinner and thinner every day.)
Alright, let’s begin!
After getting to know a little more about the topic, I gradually started to understand that it will not be as simple as it looked at the beginning. So, what? Good things are never easy. I will learn it!
So, I read more and more. And now, a month later, while writing this post, I am quite sure that Ordinary Mart will not bring home any money directly. At least not in coming years.
Where did my enthusiasm go? Why there are there no companies waiting for my blog to be published?
First, it takes a lot of time to convince anyone to read my blog. The media market is, conservatively said, overcrowded. I have to fight for your attention, write A LOT to constantly remind myself. How will some lazy Ordinary Mart manage it?
And I am not a good writer. Even though my grandma loved a poem I wrote her for her 80th birthday, and my literature teacher once praised me, I am not creative. And I would like to use a word “dyslectic “to describe grammar skills. For some reason, my girlfriend calls my bad grammar just laziness.
Anyway, let’s assume that I will hypothetically learn to write super well, my topics are interesting and I do it extra often. Great, then it’s done? What sum of money are we talking about?
No. It turns out, that no matter how well I write if there is no marketing, I might as well yell my thoughtful inspiring messages to a neighbouring rice field. Only some unlucky wanders will listen.
With reading about marketing, I have been introduced to terms like SEO, keywords, ALT tags, meta description etc. Suddenly beautiful writing becomes a nuclear science. Basically, if I want to write next poem to my grandma, I have to make sure that there are enough keywords in the first paragraph, featured image’s file-size is optimized, and there is meta description to summarize my poem for Google.
The final realisation was Mark Manson’s reply in Quora, that really brought me back down to earth.
To summarize it, my outlook to make any money as a blogger is really really tiny.
Why am I still typing those words?
It turns out there are more reasons to write than just a potential money making possibility. This article states many of those. But for me, there is mostly one particular motivator to start the blog.
It’s building my personal online brand.
Learning more and more about the freelance world, it’s clear that without a personal online presence there is a very small chance that interesting people would want to connect and meet me. They want to know beforehand, who is the guy. What does he do? What does he have to show off? My Facebook profile picture will not tell it, even if I have an inspiring quote next to it.
So, hopefully, my blog will soon become my online personality. Interested people will śee:
• who am I
• what interests me
• things I care about
• is there some knowledge in my head
But if I suck as a blogger, why would I want my portfolio to be the blog? Not something else?
Easy question. For now, I have nothing else to show. No portfolio of developed web pages, no photography album, no designed images, nor any programmed code. Even no mixtapes in Soundcloud.
But I know how to type letters into words. I have thoughts, experiences and stories.
It will definitely be difficult for me. I feel really vulnerable to put myself up there. For you to know, all my life I been shy and afraid to express my opinions. I have never wanted to stand out, nor speak up. I have been a normal average guy.
But I believe that creating the blog is what I have to do to receive my goals. In my dreams one day with extraordinary luck, someone will notice my blog, and it will lead forward to great things. Maybe even towards some money?
What content to expect?
That’s the hardest question. What am I going to write about? What do I want to share? Some bloggers say, that it takes over 100 blog posts to figure out to write about.
I may try a few different topics – personal improvement, freelance struggles, something about travelling and craft beers. But at the moment mostly about my biggest problem – how to make money while travelling.
That’s my current ambition. Probably topics will definitely change with time. And blogging skills will get better. At least I hope so.
Not convinced? Try yourself!
That’s how my blogging ambitions changed without even writing anything.
But I still have a strong reason to begin. To be present and to be known. Then hopefully someday I will get struck by lucky lightning.
I invite you to follow my lead. Create a blog, like millions of others, and make it open for everyone. Who know’s what it will lead to?
I really do wish that I would have started the blog earlier. It would have made my networking here much easier. And would have increased my chances of finding some income.
Now I am starting from the beginning with a blank sheet.
Here are some links that have helped me to get started:
- https://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/blog-launch-plan/
- https://www.bloggingbasics101.com/how-do-i-start-a-blog/
- https://www.blogtyrant.com/start-a-blog-2014/
- https://createandgo.co/
- https://amylynnandrews.com/how-to-start-a-blog/
Or just google “how to start a blog”. It makes you feel that most bloggers are blogging about making blogs.
What do you think about my post? Do you want to support or discourage my blogging? Please, give feedback.
Väga põnev lugemine, hakkan kindlasti teie reisiseiklusi jälgima blogist 🙂 kui midagi väga tahta, siis see saab ka teoks- nii, et tugevat närvi igaks katsumuseks!!!
Aitäh, Kristel! 🙂
I totally support the initiative to start the blog. You’re already doing great:
Sentence fluency & short paragraphs are very good, it gets the point across fast and encourages reading.
Whitespace – there is enough of it, people stay engaged longer.
Adding visually compelling images in between the paragraphs could make reading even more enjoyable.
Keep doing what you do, I can’t wait for the next post 🙂
Thank for tips and encouragement, Reimo! 🙂
I will consider your recommendation regarding adding more pictures.