A Guest Post By Deb Ng – Deb Ng is a freelance writer, professional blogger, social media consultant and founder of the Freelance Writing Jobs network of blogs.
Four and a half years ago I started a blog filled with nothing but leads to available freelance writing opportunities. As I studied blogging and the various ways to generate traffic and revenue, the blog began to grow beyond my wildest dreams. After two years I was able to hire someone to help find leads and we branched out to also offering daily tips and advice. After three years, I added two more bloggers to the roster and today, it’s a flourishing blog network for freelance writers complete with 8 blogs. It’s now the number one online community for freelance writers. At some point in the past couple of years, it occurred to me I didn’t have merely have a blog. I had a business. In addition to paying other bloggers, I can now draw my own salary and don’t even have to take on clients if I don’t want to.
Someone once suggested it was luck that brought me to this place, but I respectfully disagree. Luck had nothing to do with it. Building FWJ from a blog to a network to a business took a lot more than luck. It took hard work, dedication and a thick skin. When I stopped treating my blog like a hobby and began working at it full time, it became a place that was both profitable and popular.
How did I get here?
- I put in more than an hour or two each day – My blog became a full time job. If I wasn’t blogging, I was planning the next day’s posts, analyzing traffic patterns, and networking with others. It’s a day job, it’s a night job, and it’s a weekend and holiday job.
- I read everything I could about traffic, community, monetization and other strategies needed to become a successful blogger. Keeping apprised of the latest tips and techniques helped me to achieve new levels of blogginess.
- I networked within – and outside of – the freelance writing community – Yes, I participated in discussions at other freelance writing blogs and forums, but I also visited with other communities. Freelance writers participate in various niches and genres, it only makes sense to branch out beyond the obvious.
- I networked offline – I attended professional meetings, meetups and conferences, and met potential advertisers, potential readers, and community members and people with whom I could share ideas and learn from.
- I attended classes – I attended sessions at conferences and at the local community college. I invested in online courses and seminars.
- I aligned myself with some influential people – Being a part of other networks increased awareness of my own community and generated interest in my blog network.
- I learned I have to spend money to make money – While blogging may be an inexpensive startup, the truth is, if I didn’t invest in design, bloggers for hire, technical assistance, classes and conferences, I may not have achieved this level of success.
- Did I mention I put a lot of time and effort into my blog?
- I didn’t wait until advertisers came to me – I sought out sponsors, played with affiliates and yes, even rocked the Adsense. Now though, I sell many private ads to businesses and individuals who approach me instead of the other way around.
- I didn’t let negativity stand in my way – People can be mean – they still are. If I let it get to me I wouldn’t be writing this today.
That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of luck, does it?
The truth is, there were times I questioned my ability. I was also getting a little tired of moderating snarky comments by a few community members who like to bicker about wages and jobs. It was hard seeing people write out and out lies about me on their blogs or suggest I’m only here by luck and not talent . There were plenty of times I wanted to throw in the towel.
Last month when a major online brand inquired about acquiring FWJ, I realized I built something very important and I was very proud. Proud enough not to want to sell.
If I can take my little freelance writing job blog to new heights in only four and a half years, what can I do in another five? I’m looking forward to finding out.
Sure, you can have a blog. You can post once a day and have a few hundred visitors. Or you can treat your blog like you would a job. You can put your passion behind it and give it your all. You can work for someone else or you can do everything possible to grow your own business. With blogging, you get what you give.
What do you want, a blog or a business?
I really enjoyed reading this blog. My wife has a new chocolate toffee business (@NutsOverToffee) and I know we need to build a blog to help grow her business. This will help. Now all we need is a list of interesting topics to write on that connect to chocolate toffee..that’s been the tougher challenge for us in starting.
George
Congrats on your success Deb. Whether you’re striving to be a great employee, a successful musician, an incredible blogger, or anything else you’re passionate about in life, you’ve wrapped up “what it takes to get there” nicely in this article. Thanx.
Very nice inspirational post! I agree it takes hard work to have a successful blog/business, but sometimes I see hard working bloggers put all their energy in the wrong areas. Hitting your head against a brick wall repeatedly will not make it move.
You have to analyze what you do (write down all your efforts for your blog) and see which activities actually increase your readership, lead to more advertisers, etc… and then focus your energy on the profitable activities.
Rob – LexiConn
I have read your article about amazon associates program,I am having my own single blog & i want to earn money through my amazon associates program,send all the amazon related blogs to me,so that it will be easier for me make money .
I agree 110%. Having a successful, money making blog takes more than posting some cute content.
Deb, you are something!! I wish I have your success after 2 years. :-)
The experiences you have are really awesome, some of which I haven’t tried yet, such as personal ads, spending money on design, or attending a class. I am not sure if I will try them in the future, but I will keep blogging, that’s what I can control now.
I completely agree with the cenral question: Blog or business. It’s clear that blogging for business is hard work, but will reap benefits if you put in the right effort.
Expecting to reap major profits from blogging as a hobby is an illusion. I personally blog for a hobby. If it catches on, I’ll make sure to follow your tips to make it a business.
This is a brilliant motivating post Deb and I wholly agree that, as with everything in life, the more you give, the more you will be handsomely rewarded (this was illustrated by the flurry of comments from one of our recent posts http://tinyurl.com/yfjenaa where we gave some information on valuable listening devices). With regard to the time investment required, I have set a new team structure in place at Quest to free me up to dedicate more than a half hour late at night (when my target audience of MDs and CEOs are enjoying some work/life balance) – and allocate 2 hours each day. I’ll keep you posted on my progress -pardoning the pun!
Great advice, Deb. Once again, you’re so motivational, and I appreciate that. I can see the potential blogging offers, and it keeps me going!
Pretty amazing what commitment, study and perseverance do! Just like you did regardless of what you step into, your ability to stay inspired and to be willing to continue to study is key in deepening your understanding and receiving the optimal results :)
Great post. It’s always great to find articles like this so I can share with the folks that I work to have them cultivate the art of staying inspired and to work at it!
To answer your question, I currently have a blog. I really want a business, and I intend to put the work forth that’s necessary to make that happen. As I’m sure you have experienced and can appreciate, the toughest part is making that transition while also working a demanding full-time job and attending to the needs of a growing family.
Given my niche, I can’t really afford to let my family life slide! :)
6 months in myself. Rolling into a motivation and energy dip.
This advice is good for any endeavor, not just blogging.
Congrats Deb, you have achieved something that many of us have dreamed of. it has been my dream to grow my blog into a small business and then a big business.
I’m glad you brought up the point about being thick-skinned. It’s so easy to take reactions personally but really some people are just looking for something to snipe at.
Deb, Great article and very motivational. I’m just getting started myself and have found it’s very easy to slip into bad habits. Having a strong focus with an ultimate goal in mind is helping me a lot.
Independence and control over the direction of ones life and work is very satisfying too. As long as one doesn’t let fear stand in the way, then success can be found. Great tips and advice! :)
It’s encouraging to see that with hard work you can achieve your goals. We have to put ourselves into position to get lucky and that means taking massive action instead of just hoping for the best.
I love it when someone passionate about what they do, don’t just keep dreaming but turn it all into reality and have tremendous success! Congratulations Deb and all the best to you and your blogging business.
Wow, awesome persistence. Need big passion and a lot of patience but it worth. Thanks for the advice.
Blog or Business? A business through blog or a blog that’s a business. I’ve just started blogging, on the surface it may look a blog, but its business for me. Its very subtle, yet there’s more money to be made. When i decided to blog i had a proper plan and knew it was a business. I defined it as such. Huffingtonpost is a case in point, a blog that is business. They employ more than 100 staff. Also there are others like Techcrunch. These are blog businesses. I would urge anyone starting out to think strategically and approach it the way they would go about establishing an online business. I totally agree with you Mr.Deb.
Words to live by: Hard work, dedication and thick skin. Will keep this seared on my brain. Love the story of how you built your blog to what it is today – a business in its own right that even a big brand is lusting to acquire. I can feel your conviction in every sentence of your splendid post.
Thanks for the informative post. I’ve just been blogging for about a month, and can barely contain my excitement. Such endless possibilities!
Thanks for the excellent advice. I can see that turning blogging into a profession rarely happens all by itself, and that like anything else worth having, requires a good deal of effort.
I will be incorporating many of your tips into my own blogging, thanks. Keep up your great work, and very glad to hear that you didn’t sell out to the Big Boys!
Thank you for your kind words. I’m so happy you found my pot helpful. It’s been a labor of love and the source of a lot of tears as well, but it’s all been worth it.
You put my thoughts into words Deb. I get frustrated when I read all the “get rich online while you sit on the beach stuff” because it denigrates all the hard work any of us who have achieved a reasonable income through blogging have been through.
Way to go, Deb! I’m very happy and proud that you never let naysayers get to you and dampen your enthusiasm. That’s one of the very common issues which many successful entrepreneurs went through to get to where they are today. Courage and persistence are what we need when we are taking on the road less travelled. You’re a great inspiration and I’m sure many of the other readers here will feel the same.
Keep rocking!
Cheers~
Mark
Really happy to see this reminder of the hard work that it takes to achieve anything that really matters in life. Many people don’t realize how hard the hard work really is. Time spent, energy invested, and most of all, putting yourself on the line. Thanks for the message that will inspire many of us to take it to the next level.
Thanks for the post, congrats on your success! I think new bloggers often don’t realize how much time you need to put in for a blog to be successful, and that it’s not just about the content.
Great tips.
I agree with about we have to spend money in order to make money. I want to change my current design to a professional one. I see its cost as an investment.
See you Deb :)
thanks deb…. It was really cool to go through things you did to achieve all this.
It never ceases to amaze me why people have to make snide disrespectful remarks about other peoples success.
No one (or very few) I expect make it in life without a lot of hard work and dedication, so to have people trying to put you down saying you have got it easy or it’s all down to luck is insulting.
Fair play to you on your success, I for one enjoy reading these posts and while I don’t think they directly impact on what I’m doing I find the positiveness of them uplifting and it gives me the belief to keep on trying.
Very good advice. My blog has been growing steadily over the past 6 months. Once I get out of college I am going full-time and I expect it to explode within the next year.
Darren and Deb-
Darren,
Thank you for all of the great resources you have on this site. I can’t even begin to tell you how greatful I am for finding you. I just started your 31Days to Build a Better Blog and I would have paid in the hundreds for what you charged $20.00 for.
Deb,
You words were both an inspiration and a reminder that hard work is rewarded but that first, you must do the work.
I wish you both much more success then you already have.
Liz
Wow, what a effort you do to gain success in four years. Yeah, blogging surely need determination and persistence to be able gain great success like you already did.
Ya i agree hard work is the key. The only thing i need to work on personaly is to spend some money.
Great post and definitely some really good points there. Right now I can’t devote more than 1-2 hours a day to my blog but I do use the weekends to spend a good 5-6 hours on the blog.
Still – you are absolutely right and I’m continuing to follow my passion here just as you did – now all I need is more hours in the day!!
Deb, thanks for sharing. I like to listen to your truth, it takes hard work, I’m happy that you are getting rewarded now!
Cheers!
Inspirational! May be we need to keep on adding quality content, and wait with patience, the success will definitely follow.
Hello,
I am new to this blogging world and getting full time into this next year. Your blog and advice to blogger helped me so much. Thanks for the motivation. Now i am see myself as a successful blogger within next year.
Azad Shaikh
http://www.internetgeeks.org
Wow!
This post has given me a new outlook on what I should do with my cigar review blog. Just a couple of days ago I had a meeting with a colleague who was pushing me to do more to monetize my blog and, rather brusquely, I told him that I did not want to make my blog into a business. Since that meeting I have had an internal battle go on inside of me about what I really want from my blog and I think this post may have been the tipping point for me. I’m going to give my blog as much attention as I can and make something of it.
Thanks Deb!
People who says that this is luck than they do not know you and your labour.
Such kind of people are always ready to pull the leg of other people.
So just do not care about them and the best way to handle them is simply ignore them and stop giving importance to them.
Thanks for the report on how you became successful. Congratulations.
However, you still seem upset by your detractors. Why even mention them?
Rita blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide
Wow! That was very inspiring. I have 4 blogs and an emagazine. I am sure I will grow out to be big as you.
What an inspiring read! Thank you so much for writing about your experiences. My passion is the planet and my dream is to cultivate interest in all things eco in the home/life and grow the eco side of my business and you have sewn the seeds of what is possible. Thanks again.
“With blogging, you get what you give.” I will write the sentence in my notebook. :) I started my blog one month ago. Now I’m giving the information which I guess that my readers want to know.I hope it will be soon that I can get something from my blog. :)
People who says that this is luck than they do not know you and your labour.
Such kind of people are always ready to pull the leg of other people.
Rita wrote:
“However, you still seem upset by your detractors. Why even mention them?”
Because if I’m writing an honest post about how I got to where I am today, I have to include the people who didn’t believe in me. It’s important for bloggers to know not everyone is helpful or kind and to succeed one has to have a thick skin.
I completely agree with you luck is not the corner stone of your life.
work.
Hard work.
Wow. That’s such a great effort. Well, in fact it’s not easy to achieve any success just in a few days.
I love this – “I learned I have to spend money to make money” because for me it brings a great momentum for a blogger to success.
You’d motivated me. Keep up!
A big fat YES, and THANK YOU!!! Just the inspiration I needed!
Congrats to you and I wish you much continued success!
Thanks for this great article :).
Deb, great post. Of course you didn’t get where you are by luck. No successful blogger (problogger) gets where they are without much very diligent work. The work is hard, but it’s always very exciting.
You’re correct, one must have a very thick skin if he wants to be successful in blogging, as some who see him as a successful problogger will attempt to tear him down, often out of jealousy!
I want a business. Everyone should determine for themselves what they desire.
I find it interesting how some are commenting that they want a business but they don’t have time bc of their full-time job. One has to start somewhere, so if one puts in as much time as he can to advance his blog as a business, progress will be made, whether he is working or not. It’s all about attitude and how you look at your blog. Do you LOOK at your blog as a business, and are you treating it as one? Continue to do this, and your blog will grow and your business will thrive, until you will find the point you’ll be able to quit your full-time job and work on your business exclusively. It’s all about attitude and the paradigm through which you’re looking at your blogging.
Always have a positive “can do attitude.” Never let anything stop you. If this is the field for you, overcome all obstacles, take on challenges. Even though challenges are difficult, look at them as fun! Never quit!