Start Your Own Blog Isn’t for Everyone – 4 Reasons
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It’s very popular these days to start your own blog.
Thousands pop up every day.
I know, because I get many comments from people who just started their own blog and want to pass some link juice to it.
First thing I do when checking them out is read the ‘About’ page. In most cases, this page contains the standard WordPress text! They don’t even bother to change it.
Well, it isn’t THAT easy. It really takes some extra effort to start your own blog. And that’s exactly what todays guest post is all about.
It’s written by Melissa Tamura.
Melissa is a content writer and as such connected to the Zen College Life (ZCL), dedicated to life hacking and getting most out of college.
In today’s post Melissa shows her skills and shares her knowledge.
Enjoy!
To Start Your Own Blog Isn’t for Everyone – 4 Reasons
It’s a pretty common belief that blogging is a simple process and that it’s easy to start your own blog.
However, those who have in the past know that the process is usually anything but simple. It requires time, energy, dedication and a willingness to work regularly. In many ways, blogs become mini (or major) businesses.
If you’ve been thinking to start your own blog, it’s good to keep in mind that blogging is meant for a special breed of people.
To gauge if it’s a good fit for you, check out some reasons that blogging simply isn’t for everyone.
- Not Everyone Can Write
You’re probably asking yourself “How hard can blogging be?”
Well, there’s no doubt that blogging language is much more relaxed than what you would find in a literature book; however, it does require that you know basics of the English language.In other words, if you can’t spell (and don’t know how to use spell check, a dictionary and a thesaurus), don’t write a blog.
If you don’t understand grammar, don’t write a blog.
And if slang is your preference when writing, don’t write a blog.Believe me, your audience will notice every error you make and take pride in embarrassing the keyboard right from under your fingertips.
- Coming Up with Topics Isn’t Always Easy
Another misconception of blogging is that coming up with topics is easy.
If you’re not good at coming up with topics for your blog on a regular basis, blogging may not be for you.The trick is that when you come up with topics, they need to be weird, funny, controversial, or image, video and celebrity-driven to draw in and keep your audience. Also, you have to be good at coming up with titles, something that’s not easy for even the pros to do.
- Sensitivity Isn’t Allowed
If sticks, stones and words hurt you then don’t even consider to start your own blog.
As a blogger, you have to be willing to step out of the box, voice your own opinions and be prepared for opposite opinions, or even a little backlash for your ideas.Some people like to anonymously show up in blogs and harass the writers. So if you’re not confident in your opinions, you may as well leave them in your brain.
- Drawing an Audience Takes Work
You may think that the minute you publish your first post, the audience will come running.
The truth is, even if you have 1,000 online friends that you fraternize with regularly, you’ll be lucky if 50 show up to read your blog every day.What prospective bloggers don’t realize is that individuals who read specific blogs are drawn in by the topics they get to read and discuss. Unfortunately, your friends don’t all have the same interest.
This means it’s up to you to join chatrooms, forums, social networking site groups and anything else dedicated to your blog’s theme. However, with hard work and lots of word of mouth, you just may be able to draw in the audience that will make your blog a success.
This article was written by Melissa Tamura, who writes on the topic of online engineering degrees for the Zen College Life Blog. Melissa would love to hear from you at melissatamura@gmail.com
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Case again.
Well, is blogging for you?
Can you start your own blog?
Post your comments below.
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Blogging is over-rated… many people are running to the Internet with the idea that starting a free blog will put dollars in their pockets when in reality there is much more to blogging than just putting up a few words.
The point of having a presence on the web is to give value to your web visitors. If you don’t have something to say, don’t say anything.
There are way too many me too blogs (and websites) that don’t say anything!
… people know the difference between bologna and prime rib.
Great posts. One way to keep having new topics is to have a notepad whenever your browsing online are doing research for you may get some topic ideas and you can always write them down fro the future. I use this method because it is gives me an organized train of thought. So when I want to post about something but I don’t have any topics from the top of my head I just look at the list of topics and post content I jotted down and I go from there.
You just hit the hammer on the head of the nail. Personally, I have being faced or rather saddled with the problem of writing ( providing new contents for my blog. To me this is a very hard work to do. However, I believe that with time I will develop my ability to write new topics for by various blogs
Blogging is definitely harder than most people think especially if they are trying to make money from the blog. Although it may be true that you have to write to be able to blog, you can also hire someone to write your post for you especially if you want to set up a few different niche blogs on different subjects.
As the other posters have implies, having interesting and/or useful content is the prime requirement for a successful blog. Too many blog articles seem to have been published simply to have a new entry up.
Reggie’s suggestion to keep a notebook handy to jot down ideas as they come up is a good one. I have to admit that I don’t do it as consistently, but when I do I find it very helpful. I do have a small notebook, but even that seems too big to have with me all the time so I carry a 3×5 card in my pocket to capture ideas on. I either act on it later or copy it to the notebook so I can use it in the future.
Thanks for the great advice. This was a great article. After blogging for a while, we realized there was nothing special about our blog that attracts traffic. Our blog wasnt known for anything in particular within the industry we wrote about.
We made the marketing decision to narrow our focus and specify our niche, and the blog began to take off: more comments, more subscribers, more impressions, etc. This results in your blog being more profitable.
Why not make it your own blog using your own domain name?
I personally disagree with #2 (first part). Topics are all out there. But finding a good topic which will attract readers into your blog and writing interesting and “not so boring”stuff is the hard part.
But I agree with the rest of the stuff written on #2.
I sometimes even take and hour or even forget about creating a new character in a game because i can’t seem to figure out a name that would be befitting for it. It’s not that easy.
http://trafficultimatumreviewinfo.com
Blogging is not always a business. When someone create it for personal purpose; just for sharing his/her thought with other friends and family member or just for archiving their experience then it is ok for everyone to start a blog. One don’t need to take those 4 point seriously, there writing will improve gradually but when someone think about money then they have to be professional and follow all those above tips along with other valuable tips available online.
Nice list out there! Blogging is not for everyone that’s for sure. But anyone can try as long as he can write something interesting in his blog. To make it easy, choosing a blog that interests you will keep your blog up to date and running.
http://pctutorials101.blogspot.com
Blogging is easy. But publishing good content and making money from it is not so easy. The problem with this is that there are too many articles out there saying that you can write 20-30 hubpages or whatever and do some backlinking work and the money will start flowing.
http://tambien-seo.blogspot.com
So true Heather. The amount of blogs that simply offer filler as opposed to any real substance is astounding. Sooner or later though, people learn to differentiate the hobby of blogging from proper business.
So true Heather. The amount of blogs that simply offer filler as opposed to any real substance is astounding. Sooner or later though, people learn to differentiate the hobby of blogging from proper business.
SO TRUE!
The one main reason why blogging is not for everyone is that blogging is hard. Writing every day is hard. THe only way to go through blogging without it actually being for you is outsourcing content written. You can manage SEO and someone else writing.
I strongly agree with this article, the same thing I have ever read in a another blog, and that’s my biggest motivation to start a small blog ^ _ ^
I really like the first point, “that not everyone can write,” that a significant motivation friend.
Thanks
I am suprised that so many people have writers block. If one is growing every day one should always have something to write about. just my 2 cents
That’s correct Santella.
But not all people can put that in writing.
Where to start, what to say, how to say it. Blocks all over the place until they give up.
The problem with generalizations is…well, it’s too general. Although you make excellent points, the decision whether to start a blog or not depends on the reason. Is the new blogger just someone who wants to keep family and friends up on current events; someone who hates their job and wants to “make money online”; or someone with a business and wants to utilize the SEO power of a blog to get more customers?
The first person probably doesn’t care about tons of traffic and their writing acumen is not that important. The third person absolutely should be concerned with your points but as with any other part of their business, blogging activities can be outsourced to people who are good at it.
It’s the second person that needs a dose of reality which you so aptly provide.
Hi Chris,
Whatever the reason to start a blog or whatever the group they belong to, people are always fighting something that they don’t like or are not familiar with.
My biggest issue is coming up with topics to write about. I try to be differnet – not present the “same ‘ole, same ‘ole” that is within all the blogs in my area of expertise. This is why I only do a few posts each month.
I definitely think it’s true that not everyone can start a blog that is successful in terms of traffic and readership. With that said, I think just about anyone can start their own blog and write about whatever they’d like to.
There’s a huge difference, though, when it comes to a personal blog versus a “successful” blog. That’s the kind of blog I assume is being referred to here. And it’s true, a blog that attracts and gains the interest of readers takes a whole other level of skill and dedication.
I agree with your points totally most people do not realize how much work is actually involved. Its a continuous effort adding content, building backlinks, marketing etc… It really takes a special kind of person to stick with it and prosper.
most people think blogging is very easy thus they dont even know the problem associated with blogging. they forget about creating blogs that really stand out and just creat anything thing that suites them. thus not making research on what people are really looking for. another problem is quality content for the blogs.
I think the problem is people think blogging will be a doddle, the truth is to run a successful blog is time consuming and requires regular attention.
Picking topics can be extremely difficult and I think the best way to combat this is by reading other blogs and getting to know your niche inside out.
The first person probably doesnt care about tons of traffic and their writing acumen is not that important. The third person absolutely should be concerned with your points but as with any other part of their business, blogging activities can be outsourced to people who are good at it. thanks for sharing
I see most people easily quit blogging because they can’t see the result like said by others.
They should know, blogging is not an instant process. It needs time to build relationship with readers, and keep creating good contents. By this way, money will come by itself