So. You Want to be a Blogger?
If you think that starting a blog will open your door to happiness, success, glamour, and possibly a better sex life, well, you’d better read this first. Blogging, while it can be fun, exciting, and even profitable, is not all fairies and sparkle dust. If you really want to be a blogger, there are some things you should know.
I am not writing this to discourage you. Not at all. I love blogging, as do most other bloggers that I am acquainted with. It can be very rewarding, both emotionally and financially. But as with any new venture, it is wise to walk into it with your eyes open.
Things you should know before starting a blog
There are a lot of other bloggers. I mean like thousands, millions of other bloggers. There is a huge community of other bloggers out there, which is wonderful, but it also means that you are a little fish in a big sea.
Blogging takes time. A lot of time. A really lot of time. Ask any blogger the most challenging part of their job, and most will say that there is never enough time. The time that you spend actually writing a post is a drop in the bucket compared to the time you will spend marketing and publicizing your post, responding to comments, shares, and emails, and, depending on the type of blog you run, the research involved in creating your post, whether you’re writing about fitness, fashion, or creating (and testing) recipes.
If you randomly pick the first blog domain name that you think of, you will probably come to regret it. You can’t totally prevent this from happening, because as our lives change, our interests, goals, and intentions change too, but my advice to you is to think long and hard about what you want to call your blog. It is not impossible to change your domain name, but it is a somewhat complicated process (coming from someone who just went through it a few months ago).
I recommend going self-hosted from the get-go. That way you own all of your work and you have complete freedom to pretty much do what you want on your blog. There are exceptions, of course. If you want a small, private blog where you can share your story and photos with family and friends, or if you just love to write and have no intention of trying to make money, then, by all means, stick with one of the free options like Blogger or WordPress.com.
However, if you want to grow your blog, potentially make money through sponsored posts or advertising, or like to get creative with your blog design and theme, then self-hosted is the way to go.
Blogging costs money. While I recommend self-hosting, you need to know that it will cost you money. Expect to pay between $8-$15 per month to your web host. Your domain name itself is only about $10 a year. Those are the very basic expenses, but other bells and whistles can add up quickly. Here are some of the things that I feel are worth paying for.
If you write it, they won’t come (right away). Success in any business or endeavor doesn’t happen right away, unless you’re extraordinarily lucky. It takes hard work, perseverance, and consistency. Blogging is the same. You write your posts, you publish them, and then…crickets. Well, maybe your mom or your spouse is reading, but that’s it. It takes time to build an audience. Be patient, keep producing quality work and follow some of these tips, and they will come.
I hope I did not discourage you from starting your own blog because that was not my intention. Instead, I just hope you feel a little more prepared when you join this blogging life.
Have more questions about starting a blog? Check out my Starting a Blog series! You will find lots of information on Setting Goals, which really should be your first step. You can also find How to Get More Readers, How to Buy (and Setup) Your Own Domain (if you didn’t start out with your own), and how to Start Making Money Blogging. And finally, check out these 12 Answers to Beginner Blogger Questions (because I’ve been there and I had them all!).
Okay, pro bloggers! What do you think a newbie needs to know? Or, to put it another way, what do you wish you had known before you started blogging?
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Sunday Blog Hop with Jenn
Meatless Monday with Tina and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Anything Goes with Marilyn
Link it to Me with Chantal
Bonnie, the Pin Junkie
Tip Tuesday with Debbie in Shape
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Michelle, Sarah, and Angelena Marie
Wednesday Wisdom with Nanna’s Wisdom
The Blog Booster Party with Kathleen
Friday Fitness with Jill
You are SO right about the time. I never imagined how much I’d put into blogging… but I also never imagined how many amazing friendships I’d make in return.
YES!! The if you write it they wont come was true when I started and even more true now.
It’s so crowded and smushed you need to stand out by being savvy.
The time part is huge! I never realized how much goes into it. I’ve often thought about giving it all up but then I think of the friendships that I’ve made online and in person because of the blog and I can’t imagine NOT having that anymore.
So much truth here! Yes, I also didn’t realize how much time I would invest in blogging. And I also didn’t really wrap my head around how many bloggers there are out there! But my favorite might be “If you write it, they won’t come (right away).
Finding time is literally the hardest part of blogging. There is so much more involved than just writing and publishing a post!
Wait! You have a better sex life from blogging?? LOL that could be a whole other post to write 🙂
Great tips as always Debbie! My advice to new bloggers would be 1) know that you’re not going to get everything done at once so set time constraints up front and 2) checkout available social media names before selecting a domain.
I am kinda moving away from the blogging as much due to the saturation & my lack of skills with the tech hurts me. Great post as always!
there were some great points here Debbie – especially for those who want to make blogging a serious part of their lives. I’m happy just puddling along on Blogger but I may have made different choices if I’d had any idea about blogging before I jumped into it!
Thank you, Debbie, I’m glad to find your site. I appreciate that your information is thorough and practical without being overly detailed and technical. I’ll visit again.
Thanks Debbie, this is good help for beginners. I could not explain to anyone why blogging takes so long. I have read post that say you can make a fortune with just 20 hours a week. Well maybe that would work after one is very well established. So I appreciate your honesty that it is not all fairy dust.
Kathleen
Fridays Blog Booster Party #31
Patience is key.
Because there are some successful stories of people who “made it” fast, some may think it happens to everyone. But it doesn’t.
In fact, it takes a lot of trial and error and investment (time AND money) to become solid.
Awesome points, Debbie!
Your post made me feel much better about everything Debbie. I started the blog as a hobby but quickly found that it took over my life. Thanks for putting it all into perspective and sharing to help others at #Wednesdayswisdom.
I knew it would be a lot of work, but I don’t think I realized how MUCH work!! You are right. I spend 1/4 of my time on writing a post, and 3/4 on social media, reading other blogs, commenting, etc.
Very good information here for new bloggers. When I started my blog in June 2014, I knew nothing at all about it. I had worked in print journalism for many years and thought that being a writer was all I needed – wrong!!!!! It is so true what you said about writing be a small part of blogging. I knew zip about social media and didn’t want anything to do with it. I quickly realised it is essential to grow a blog and have had to get into Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest etc.
I called my blog ‘anything except housework’ so I could make it a magazine style blog rather than a niche. I am still not sure if that was a good or bad thing but I didn’t want to be limited to writing about one area. I have used my blog as a training exercise to learn everything from the technical aspects to marketing and design.
My intention was to eventually have a niche website with an embedded blog and I have gradually learnt the skills to build that and take it forward. It is almost ready to launch and I could not have done it without having spent 18 months creating a blog. The one thing I would say to a potential blogger is DEFINITELY be self-hosted and use WordPress. There are a gazillion plug-ins to add functionality. I tried Joomla first and gave up on it. WordPress was a walk in the park compared to that!
Crickets is so true! I had years of crickets before my pageviews started to increase!
I seriously had no idea how much time blogging would take. I love it, but can really be all-consuming. And you are right, very little of that time is actually spent writing. I am slowly tackling one aspect of the whole blogging gamut at a time, trying to establish systems that will make things as efficient as possible. That in itself is crazy time-intensive! #FridaysBlogBooster
Such hard truths, Debbie! It’s easy to read these as you’re just getting started and brush over them thinking, “it can’t REALLY take that much time.” Ha.
I’m six months into blogging, and I’ve definitely learned that growth is not always fast and it really does take A LOT OF TIME! Being aware of these things definitely eased my way into blogging though, so I’m really glad that you’ve identified them!
Omg, I SO wish I had just started with a self hosted blog from the get go. Not only was it a pain to transfer everything, but there were NUMEROUS links within my original posts that I missed in the transfer, so people were being drawn back to my old site with broken links… for WEEKS before someone mentioned to me that they were sorry I had set my blog to “private”. At least I got it taken care of while we were still fairly new!
Great post, great points and the only other suggestion I have, that I notice a lot of blogs miss is making sure your content is working/viewable on moible as well.
I’m so glad you shared this post on #tiptuesday, Debbie.
It’s much better to understand what blogging is all about from day one than to have misunderstandings.
Have a beautiful day, my friend!
When I first started, I was SHOCKED to learn that it wasn’t a case of “I will write and they will all come.” SHOCKED, This is a great article and I wish I’d have seen it when I was a newbie blogger.
Debbie where were you when I was starting out? Everything you say is true. But no one had said it before. Oh well, I don’t regret it because in the 9 months that I’ve been blogging I’ve made all those mistakes, but I’m also learning by leaps and bounds.
Great post Debbie! Gosh the things I wish I had known when I started. I will agree go self-hosted from the start would be my biggest thing. If you can’t do it get help. I did have to have help swapping from Blogger to a SH WordPress site. Best decision ever. 🙂
Debbie this post was in the top 7 most clicked on Fridays Blog Booster Party #31. It will be featured on Friday. Shared on SU and Twitter
Kathleen
Debbie, some great advice. Blogging can be overwhelming at first but you have covered it so well. You are our feature this week on #wednesdayswisdom. Well done !
Thanks for this post. I am somewhere in the middle – just having my first real collab. (3 nights in a 4* hotel) but it took so much time and work. People dont see that ans just think it is only about fun :))