I’ve been in the blogging game for several years. Nearly 10 to be exact… But I haven’t ALWAYS made money from my blogs.
In fact, my first attempt at starting a money making blog was a complete MISS. Here’s the long story short:
I’m a little bit of a perfectionist… I like to do things “right”. So there I am, trying my hand at starting my first ever money making blog.
I came up with countless domain names before settling on the best one, researched every thing you need to do to turn a blog into a business, bought the perfect theme and I even purchased a pricey membership to a blogging community.
I thought I was doing everything right.
I was working hours a day and sure enough…. I FAILED.
What. A. Disappointment.
I never even received a single comment.
A year passed and I decided not to renew my domain name and delete the blog for good. And to think, I thought this blog was going to make me RICH! So, where did I go wrong? Why did I fail so miserably?
Here are the reasons why my first attempt at creating a money making blog FAILED…
I tried to copy another blog
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but it’s true. I tried to copy a popular blog.
Here’s where my thought process was: I thought that if I emulated an already-successful blog, then I would have no problem becoming successful myself.
Welp, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t work that way.
Let me set this straight… Getting inspiration from successful bloggers is completely fine AND helpful. In fact, I’d say that it’s necessary to create a successful blog.
But downright COPYING another blog is a setup for failure.
In my defense, I didn’t copy the blog word-for-word. I had my own special twist on it (though you would surely see the similarities between the blogs if you compared them).
I went wrong by copying someone’s unique concept and expecting that to drive me to success alone.
I’m not trying to say that, for example, you can’t start a food blog just because other people have food blogs, or that you can’t look at other people’s blog posts to try and get blog post ideas…
What I’m trying to say is that originality is important and that copying someone else’s unique ideas probably won’t get you very far (plus, it’s not very nice).
There are a lot of bloggers out there… If you wan’t to succeed in blogging, you have to set yourself apart from everyone else!
My content was WAY too short
The blog that I was trying to emulate wrote very short content.
Naturally, I decided to do the same.
Sure, writing short content worked perfectly fine for that blog. But does that mean it would work for me? Nope.
Actually, it’s generally recommended to write blog posts that are at least 1,000+ words. When it comes to blogging, long content usually works best.
Here are some reasons why:
- Long content is more likely to rank on google
- You can provide more information to your readers with longer content
- A study showed that longer content is more likely to be shared on social media
That being said, there is a time and place for content that’s less than 1,000 words. If that’s what works best for your particular blog, then it’s completely fine!
But when it comes to blogging as a business, 1,000+ word blog posts are usually key.
I was relying on a miracle for traffic
Yet another embarrassing thing to admit… I legitimately thought that I wouldn’t have to do ANY work to get traffic to my blog.
I was relying on the idea of going viral!
You probably know what going viral means, but if you don’t- it means that a piece of content (blog post, image, video, song, etc.) gets spread quickly all over the internet.
So, why was I relying on going viral? Because the blog that I was trying inspired by went viral, and that’s how they got most of their traffic. Haha…
It’s best not to rely on miracles for traffic if you want to have a money making blog.
So what CAN you do to get traffic onto your blog? Here are a few options:
- SEO (putting keywords/keyphrases into you content so that it shows up on search engines when someone searches for that keyword/keyphrase)
- Share your blog posts on social media like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
- Create Pinterest pins for your content and share them on Pinterest
- Write guest posts on other blogs
There are plenty of ways to get traffic to your blog. It’s best to put at least a few of those options into practice. And who knows… Maybe one day you’ll end up going viral!
I quit too soon
It’s the #1 reason why most blogs fail… Quitting too soon.
I may have had my blog for a year, but I stopped working on it within a few months.
Basically, I wrote tons and tons of short blog posts, slapped some affiliate links in them, got disappointed that I wasn’t rolling in riches and quit doing any work…
Maybe if I would have kept going, I would have realized all the mistakes I was making and worked towards fixing them. But instead, I just tossed the blog aside and let it collect dust.
Where’s quitting going to get you? Nowhere.
So, what’s the deal with bloggers quitting too soon?
Here’s the honest truth: It usually takes months, sometimes even over a year, to see success from blogging. And that can be discouraging.
Many new bloggers are afraid that all of the work they’re doing won’t pay off. They may be afraid that they’re doing all the wrong things. They may also realize that they actually don’t like blogging very much.
So they quit, and their blog fails.
But here’s ANOTHER honest truth: YOU CAN ONLY FAIL AT BLOGGING IF YOU QUIT!
Sure, it may take a few months (or even over a year, depending on how much time you work) to see success from your blog. But you will figure things out if you stick with it!
And if you stick with blogging, the results can be epic. I’m talking replacing your full-time income, being able to work from home, being able to travel when and where you want to and even making more money than you may have at your previous job.
So don’t quit! Try not to get discouraged 🙂
Are you ready to start a blog?
Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Bluehost, which means I will receive a commission if you sign up through my referral link at no additional cost to you.
I highly recommend starting a self-hosted WordPress blog on Bluehost. A self-hosted blog is essential if you want to turn your blog into a business.
You can start a blog with Bluehost for as low as $3.95 a month and get a FREE domain when you sign up. Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to start your first blog if you want to learn more.
Not sure how to make money as a blogger? I got you covered. Check out my blog post where I explain the main ways bloggers make money.