This guest post is by Roman of how this website makes money.
After more than two years of blogging, I’m happy to be still around. Most new bloggers do not survive longer then six months.
Because of their lack of experience, new bloggers make assumptions about blogging that are completely wrong. They start blogging with these assumptions and are surprised six months later when their assumptions turn out to be incorrect.
These assumptions—or traps—give the false impression that becoming a successful blogger is easy and fast.
Trap 1: All blogs are successful
As a new blogger, you eagerly learn everything you can about blogging. You Google every question that pops in your head. Clicking on one of the first few results, you land on a blog that answers your question perfectly.
You have lots of questions so you visit lots of blogs. After a while you start to notice something exciting. Every blog you visit looks good, has lots of posts, has lots of comments and has thousands of RSS subscribers and hundreds of retweets for every post. Basically every blog you visit is a success!
This trap is really difficult for most new bloggers to notice. While they’re researching blogging they get the impression that all blogs are successful blogs. But what the new blogger never sees are the thousands of unsuccessful blogs. They never see them because they’re on pages three (or later) in the search results. New bloggers only see the blogs on page one and two of Google. So after a few days of researching blogging via search engines, the new blogger forms the false impression that all blogs are successful.
It is not just the search engines that create this mirage: it’s also the blogs themselves and the blogs they link to. Successful blogs link to other successful blogs. So the new blogger is bouncing around from one blogging success to another thinking, “Wow this is great, look at all these successful blogs—blogging must be easy.”
It doesn’t take the new blogger long to notice this trap. After a few days or weeks struggling to get traffic to their blog they begin to ask, “Why did I think this was going to be easy?”
Trap 2: Success is as easy as following the yellow brick road
When Dorothy landed in Oz she had a problem: she needed to get back home. The munchkins told her that the Wizard would solve her problems. “How do I find the wizard?” she asked. “It’s easy,” they replied, “just follow the yellow brick road.”
The trap for new bloggers is that they believe in a yellow brick road—a path that leads directly to a successful blog. They think that by following a few simple steps, they can achieve success. Write compelling content, have a RSS feed, post often, reply to comments, create backlinks—do all these things, and you will succeed.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
Steps can be laid out describing how to create a blog and suggestions can be made on how to improve a blog, but there is no direct path to success for any blog. There is no system to follow that will result in a successful blog. There is no yellow brick road to success.
There are a lot of products for sale that guarantee you will become a successful blogger. They promise to lay down a road to success—all you need to do it buy it and follow it.
Save your money. Dorothy did not need the yellow brick road or the Wizard to bring her back home. She discovered that she had the power to get home all along. I wasted a lot of time looking for a yellow brick road, hoping that it would lead me directly and quickly to success. Instead of looking for the easy road, my time could have been better spent creating compelling content.
Trap 3: Success comes quickly
The brick-and-mortar world is a lot slower then the Internet. A blog takes five minutes to set up. In twenty minutes, you have your first page of content lined with AdSense ads. If you are really lucky, you can make your first dollar in an hour.
Compare that with opening a fruit stand. First you have to build the structure—preferably with bricks and mortar. Then you need to purchase fruits to stock your stand. Finally you will need a cash register and a sign on the highway directing traffic to the store. It will take weeks before you can sell a single apple.
The trap that new bloggers fall into is thinking that because the Internet works fast, success will come quickly. They expect visitors and revenue to pour into the business just as fast as the blog was built. Then when it doesn’t happen that fast, disappointment sets in.
Do not fall into this trap. Just because it takes five minutes to create a blog, do not expect it to take two days to become successful. The Internet is fast, but when it comes to having a successful blog, brick-and-mortar rules apply.
Imagine spending years getting up early, opening shop, selling a couple fruits and going home. At first there are no profits, and most likely your days end in loss. But with perseverance and hard work, more and more people come to you for their fruit needs. It could take months until word gets around that you have quality fruit and good prices. This is how blogs work, too.
More traps?
Did you make any assumptions about blogging that turned out to be wrong? Tell us about them in the comments and prevent other bloggers from falling into the same trap.
Roman will be the first to admit that he fell into all three traps. Fortunately, he got away. On his site how this website makes money he proves that success is not just a stroll down the yellow brick road.
I so agree! I would see this daily in the car business. I have a plan to follow for my blog and plan to follow it for the years to come.
I have been pushing my site daily and just can’t seem to get more then a few visits everyday but I’ve noticed it growing.
Thanks for the advice!
Hi Darren,
I particularly like your points about the first trap. That trap is the reason I think it’s good for bloggers to learn a little about SEO. The results that come up on top on a search engine search query are not a representative sample for what’s going on out there. They are just the spearhead.
Search engines work in a way that makes them show you the successful blogs, sits, articles, posts ahead of the rest, and this can trick a blogger’s mind.
This is a great point, search engines really are made to help people find the helpful people.
Totally agree with you. People jump into blogging bandwagon when they see how much successful blogs earn every month.
But the problem with this is those people only see the small fraction of the blogs which probably in the first few pages of the search engine results. Majority of the blogs out there if not making money half as much as the successful blogs, they are dormant blogs or get updated only once a month…
And in the end, those who just jump into the bandwagon will realize it is not as wonderful as it seems and it is not easy to be a good blogger.
I have noticed all of these things through blogging for a while and can agree with all of them. It is a lot harder than it seems at the start and you have to love it to do it. The thing is though that if you start off with a healthy amount of scepticism then you will figure all of these things out first. You aren’t successful until the fat lady sings!
The 3 tips are really handy. I think it is especially important for bloggers who plan to build an online business to take note and not fall prey to “get rich quick” products peddled all over the internet. Entrepreneurship IS hard work, whether online or offline. And I’m glad my little blog is still around after a year!
Well, you have hit all my personal pain points here!
I have started my blog, and I am experimenting with driving traffic to it. I believe I have written good content that is specific to my audience, as I think that is who the blog is really for. If I tell my audience what I want them to know, then it is all about me. If I try to insert myself into their space, and then give out information I believe they want (not me!) I believe it will grow organically. After a couple weeks of having my blog, I am averaging only about 75-80 hits per day, but it has been consistent in that area. I have not used any SEO tactics yet, because I am measuring progress.
Man, you hit the nail on the head when you said bricks and mortar rules apply – it takes 20 years to become an overnight success!!
Great post, I will be back for more reading.
Cheers!
Chris
Success online comes slow as you know what. It can take years before you make your presents known..its all about been consistent.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Trap #4: Success is as easy as copying what other people are doing.
I don’t mean this in the same sense as your yellow brick road analogy. What I mean is actually taking the creative ideas of other bloggers and replicating them on your blog, which just makes you look like a copier and a follower. Instead, take time to get comfortable in your blog and then come up with your own creative ideas.
I agree, you must treat it as a business, you get out of it what you put into it. People tend to think that blogging is an easy way to earn money online. But the truth is that it takes commitment and hard work to make a successful blog.
Interesting post with some great points.
I think one more trap is, many bloggers don’t define what “success” is for them. Is it having lots of visitors? Lots of e-mail subscribers? Lots of exposure? Huge income?
I’ve been at it for about 2 years too, but I recently discovered that I really should define when I’m going to call my blog a success. And how I’m going to measure it.
I’ve encouraged a few people to become bloggers. Only one has stayed the course, and he keeps his blog private now (for his own pleasure, I presume). Blogging is hard.
I’m in my first 6 months. Thanks for the insight. I honestly started this as a marketing tool for the business…never dreamed the blog site could be a profit center. :) I’m learning so much from your site. Thanks so much!
Hey Roman,
I love this post. I am the newbie you are referring to here. While yes, ideally I would have reached success yesterday I am trying to be rational. One thing that I am craving and having a hard time finding is what do you consider to be a successful launch? No one seems to have answers. I realize this is very subjective and will vary widely per site, but I feel pretty great about my first week, but I have nothing to compare it to. Are there any realistic expectations one can have when getting started?
ello Sarah,
Realistic expectations. That depends. If you discovered the cure for cancer then you should expect your blog to be an instant hit. But if your blog is just a slight twist on information already available then my advice would be to expect nothing at the beginning – slight twist blogs take time to grow.
Expecting nothing at the beginning has two major benefits:
1) If you expect anything at the beginning then you are most likely expecting too much – you will be disappointed.
2) Expect nothing so that you can focus on creating more content instead of worrying about why your blog is not performing as you expected.
To continue with the fruit stand example in the post. During your first day in business don’t expect that everybody will be flocking to your fruit stand to buy their apples. It takes time for people to get to know you and your product, and it takes time for you to educate and hone yourself.
When I started I wasted so much mental energy worrying and thinking about why my site was not meeting my expectations (the problem was that my expectations were too high). Instead of fretting I could have spent that energy on improving my site.
Try to wait at least 3 months before forming expectations – it will make your blog better and you will sleep peacefully.
I started blogging to keep a journal but then a couple years after doing that, I fell into the very traps that you are talking about.
I have a very hard time keeping myself from falling into trap number 2. I see great products and know that if I just take one more chance, and spend my $97, the riches will come in by the truckload overnight. It just hasn’t happened for me.
I am really glad to see a post of this type. Too many times, I see posts about the good things that happen and it is very refreshing to have a reality check, like this, every so often to keep our feet on the ground.
Hi Roman,
I definitely made a lot of assumptions that turned out to be dead wrong! :) When I first started blogging, I set up my blogs and thought it would only take minutes for people to start visiting them. I thought in a just a couple of weeks I would start making profits. Wrong…wrong! I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why people weren’t flocking to my blog.
Then one day after conducting some research, I decided to join the conversation, I did this a few times without even thinking, then a day or two later when I returned to check stats, I noticed that I’d had quite a few new visitors. I was confused, until I discovered that all of the traffic had come from the sites I had commented on.
It was a slow learning process like that, nothing when as quickly as I’d hoped, but I’m so glad I kept at it, because blogging has grown to be one of my greatest passions.
You have some very excellent points here. I am new to this, 4 month, and I am just now starting to see a little bit of traffic. Some days only 5 people look at my site other days as many and 70, the first is more common. I like the analogy of the brick building it describes exactly the process needed to make it work and gives me the motivation to plod along.
I am running a few blogs in two languages on a rather rare topic and provide information. It has been a lot of work for the past five years. In some cases, I have become something like a councellor but when I set up my blogs five years ago, I didn’t think about money but providing information. I haven’t put AdSense into any blog and I don’t have a product to offer. However, I have many readers and readership is growing because I provide information people can usually rely on.
Today, too many new bloggers just see the profit and want to earn money with their blog. Who is willing to invest a lot of time in research ? I don’t have many comments but firm readers and was contacted by movie companies, the German army, professors or script writers in order to provide detailed information. Is this nothing ?
Real Blogging means WORK and not everyone is willing to do this !
Trap 4:
Breaking the rules is wrong.
Innovation is often rejected because people like routine. So breaking the rules (of blogging) is a risk. But if you know how to break the rules, the risk level is a lot lower. Learn how to break the rules with style and reason, and you will succeed.
(It’s funny, I just wrote an article on this topic on my blog)
I have learned much from your Blog, and now I even more learned. I wanna say a millions thanks. I know when I quite from my job as a Bankers and I have choosen to be a full time Blogger, I am in the right path on it. I believe I will succeed in the future!
Thank you :)
I think as a new blogger I thought I would always want to post and that the ideas for post would come easier. I find that it is hard to be consistent. There are times I love my blogs and times I’m scrounging for something to write about. But I have promised myself I won’t give up. Building up a blog takes time, it requires a ton of patience.
You are so right with the “trap” points. Many assume blogging is an easy way to achieve overnight success. But if you are looking to just connect and make friends via blogging community and success isn’t as important to you than others, heck, blog away and good luck :)
I relate to a lot of what is written here. My blog is a mere two months old, and already I understand why so many people throw in the towel. The roller coaster ride of analytics numbers, comments, and motivation can fell even the most dedicated blogger. I’ve gotten great feedback, and my traffic isn’t bad given how new the blog is, but nobody should be expecting 4,000 visitors a day right from the start.
The ‘trap’ I fell into was thinking I could just knock up a post in a spare 20 minutes. Yeah right! My first post took about 3 hours to craft and sometimes they still do. Yes I *can* create a 20 minute post now, but they are not all like that.
Once you start writing, getting comments and amass a loyal social media following, running a blog eats into your time and it’s most likely you’ll have to give something up to find the time to commit to your baby :)
So, trap number 4 – don’t assume you can just slip blogging into your routine; you need to plan for it!
Thanks for the inspiring post.
Another trap I think is that people don’t learn from falling into traps or are afraid of falling into traps and making mistakes. Truth of the matter is, if you want to become a great blogger, you’ll need to learn from experience.
I love posts like these – we all fall into traps. I thought GiveAways would draw heaps of traffic – I really did!!! Though if you think about it: A giveaway will only really be read by the readers you already have and the couple more you may have managed to link your giveaway to. So giveaways make your readers feel looked after and can keep them loyal… but I have found the one way to steadily grow traffic is to comment regularly and consistently on the blogs that you follow. Blogs that you honestly love and feel that your input can provide some value to. Slowly but surely people get to know you for your commenting and will associate you with your “commenting community…” I have found that as the community grows so does blog traffic.
I have noticed all of these things through blogging for a while and can agree with all of them. It is a lot harder than it seems at the start and you have to love it to do it. The thing is though that if you start off with a healthy amount of scepticism then you will figure all of these things out first. You aren’t successful until the fat lady sings!
A lot of people think that blogging requires minimal effort. It is never that easy. Like most jobs, blogging entails a lot of work and time. It’s not just about writing. It’s about composing literature that matters to people, things that people can relate with, and topics that can entice the audience. You might get trapped, but if you really are dedicated, then you should never back down. Keep on learning and writing.
“Trap 1: All blogs are successful” Many people who read blogs,thinks this . Because they don’t think about themselves .They only think ,If why i can’t build a great blog like this .Blogging is not for every one but who is expert in any field then he can write to help other
Awesome post. I always like to see people stress that compelling content is the key. Not sure if I have it yet, but I know that I keep trying to get there!
I like that you compared a new blog to opening a new business. I owned a bridal store in Reno for 15 years and didn’t take home a pay check during the first 2 years. That time was spent building my inventory and credibility in the market place.
Perhaps if more people started blogs to share information and not expect to become rich overnight they might be able to eventually grow it into a thriving business venture.
Miriam
Very great post – Search engines and successful blogs do tend to stear the newbie towards success rather than failure. Even when they’re writing blog posts like this one filled with the hard work and time that is needed to build a successful blog, the newbie still can take from it, that success is attainable if I work “hard” but what is hard to one person might not be hard to another.
The other problem is more person related than information related – some people choose to IGNORE the bad and focus on the good. They read what they want to read – blog posts with titles like – EARN MONEY BLOGGING IN LESS THAN A WEEK. Rather than honest posts detailing the hardwork that is really needed.
I trap that I personally fell into was thinking that it’d be easy to create fresh new content frequently. It’s harder than many probloggers make it look and sometimes I read a post and say to myself – “Why didn’t I think to write about that?”
As a new blogger, I will keep this three points in my mind while blogging. Thanks for the awesome post :-)
Good post Roman.
I do believe I fell for Trap 1. I have since learnt a lot since then and will be better prepared in future.
To defeat these three Traps my advice is be motivated, learn basic SEO, keep writing, use social media, network and persevere.
Other traps? That gurus hold a magic bullet that can answer your prayers and automation is a good thing. Both of which should be avoided like the plague in my opinion.
So true. I almost fell into some of these traps when I was a beginner. You should make a short report or an e-book out of this post and either sell or give it for Free to newbie bloggers.
Good points, and so true. There are so many things the “how to” articles don’t tell you, and my heart aches every time I see one of those “make money fast online” articles because I can’t help but think of all the people who will buy that nonsense.
Hello Sarah,
Realistic expectations. That depends. If you discovered the cure for cancer then you should expect your blog to be an instant hit. But if your blog is just a slight twist on information already available then my advice would be to expect nothing at the beginning – slight twist blogs take time to grow.
Expecting nothing at the beginning has two major benefits:
1) If you expect anything at the beginning then you are most likely expecting too much – you will be disappointed.
2) Expect nothing so that you can focus on creating more content instead of worrying about why your blog is not performing as you expected.
To continue with the fruit stand example in the post. During your first day in business don’t expect that everybody will be flocking to your fruit stand to buy their apples. It takes time for people to get to know you and your product, and it takes time for you to educate and hone yourself.
When I started I wasted so much mental energy worrying and thinking about why my site was not meeting my expectations (the problem was that my expectations were too high). Instead of fretting I could have spent that energy on improving my site.
Try to wait at least 3 months before forming expectations – it will make your blog better and you will sleep peacefully.
From a new blogger, thank you for your honest and clear assessment of what it really takes to blog.
This itself is a pretty Compelling content. Just Awesome writing. I’m happy & proud to say that despite of all these obstacles I’ve survived in the blogosphere for more than 6 months now :-)
Thanks! I recently resurrected my old blog and have been posting pretty much daily for about 2 months. I write now for fun and don’t really care about how many visit at the end of the day as long as some find it interesting. I thin your points are good though. I am finding Twitter is a great way to interact and help start some conversations about a post that might now have happened otherwise.
If anyone would like to check out my blog and give me some pointers, I’d be appreciative.
I totally agree. I’m relatively new to blogging and I’m also doing my best to fill my empty cup.
I’m inspired by this article. Thank you!
True, many think by setting up an online blog is easy and not much work is required, but having the right mindset, and being consistent in proving good QAULITY CONTENT, you will surely test some success, if not more.
This is an excellent post that came just at the right time when i logged into my blog back office and felt a little depressed with my results so far just 4 months in. Thanks for reminding us that its a patient, persistent journey, just like anything worthwhile in life is!
Another thing they need to avoid is being discouraged when they see all of those other blogs with lots of comments and retweets, and then they revisit their own to see their own blog is void of any comments. These new bloggers need to have the patience and persistence and wait for the day their blog is popular too and full of lots of comments and user interaction :)
I like what I’m doing with my blog. I bet all people who start out say the same thing but I REALLY mean it. I have a regular full time job which I love. Blogging for me is part therapy, part labor of love, part hobby. I treat it as such. I don’t pressure myself to blog but do it when an idea pops in my head. I don’t do it for monetary gain… maybe someday but I do it in the hope of changing others. Sound creepy or corny? Perhaps. If I can change someones viewpoint or put a smile on someone’s face that’s payment enough. If money comes, let it come but otherwise I love to do it and will continue to do so because of my passion for it. That’s my motivation. Not that money is a poor motivator or is a wrong reason to do something but if you start off thinking about how much money you’ll make by blogging you’d better try something else.
My boyfriend and I were just talking about this today; he keeps asking me what I’m going to get out of this “blogging thing.” Don’t misunderstand, he’s very supportive, but he blogging is new to him and the only blog he’s ever read is mine and that was only a couple of my posts. How can that make money?
Well, I have a plan!
At first I did get discouraged by my lack of success, but once I stopped focusing on the wrong things (page rank, subscribers) and on the write things (content, interacting with visitors, learning analytics) then things turned around for me and I’m excited for where my blog will go from here.
I’m so amazed at the work so many people have done. It’s exciting to see the success stories out there.
if you do what you love a readership will come. obviously with so much on the internet and more every second only the cream is going to rise to the top. just like professional sports. only the best blogs are going to receive attention. people don’t have the time to read subpar work. the only way to become great at blogging to rise to the top is to put in the time developing the skills.
Wonderful post! I really like your brick-and-mortar analogy. Luckily, I didn’t fall into any traps when starting my blog, which is now a little over three months old. Too many people try to rush the process, when it’s not a process that can be rushed. There’s so much to do; your blog is an evolution of your thoughts, ideas, and what you learn about the blogging process. I’m estimating it’s going to take about a year before how I approach my niche is concrete, and this will be from blogging, researching, and refining every day. As long as you stay motivated and stay away from the traps, keeping the reasons why you enjoy blogging always at the forefront, you will do well.
One trap I fell in was thinking that because another blogger built a successful blog within 6 months that I could too. I found out later that blogger had been making an online income 5-6 years before he built that blog, so he had a much better idea on what steps to take.
Another trap I fell in was looking to the blog for income not too soon after I started it. Then I found out it’s a lot easier to make money with sufficient traffic and getting traffic is easier when you put in the work to build a high quality blog.
Thanks for the great info. It’s easy to get disscouraged early. I’ll keep my head down and keep workin’ away!
hy Roman,
i liked your post very much as i am a new blogger too. i didn;t know anything about falling in traps (on a blogging way!). you have brought it to light!
thanks from my blogging heart!!!