In case You Think You Want To Start Blogging

Posted by RP

August 20, 2007

Stephen Ward put out a great 7 Points To Consider list on Daily Blogging Tips … I say go read it, and come back here for some further thoughts.

Stephen said ”Blogging is easy. Blogging for profit is more difficult”. I would like to counterpoint or perhaps amplify that the “hard” part to most of us who have reached retirement isn’t really “hard’ at all. If you can fill out a 1040 EZ you can certainly “income blog”. But it does take some time and dedication … just like making yet another PowerPoint for the boss in you last office job … or fitting 12 hours-worth of driving into an 11 hour truck driver duty day. The information is all out there just a few mouse clicks away. What is hard, for some though, is that like anything else you can get paid for, it takes time. You can’t watch TV 6 or 8 hours a day and you can’t play 18 holes day after day if you expect to get somewhere. So make sure you have some finite amount of time to devote and consider that time a “sunk cost” … or don’t start.
“Blog for the long haul or not at all”. One of Stephens’ better points. Before you make a final commitment, look at a few of the “big names” of today. John Chow … self-styled “poster boy” of evil. His blog shot up from near-zero to $10, $12, $15K per month in less than a year. But John worked diligently building several on-line businesses for years before he even entered blogging. Consider how fast his blog would have grown if he hadn’t started from a base of thousands of tech review site readers and a couple hundred thousand clients and publishers in his ad network. Darren Rowse was a part-time pastor and divinity student working several part-time jobs to pay the grocery bill before he finally got his first blog(s) off the ground. It is certainly not an insurmountable task … I reading several “new” guys whom I expect to see quite “big” in the future … but shouldn’t start in this game unless you expect to devote more than a year to “grinding it out” while you review disappointing numbers
“Pick a niche that you love and stick with it”. Couldn’t think of a way to say this better myself. The chances of people reading miscellaneous ramblings in any commercially successful numbers is small. As I always emphasize, this is where seniors often have the “drop” on “juniors”. Everyone of you reading this over the age of 50 or 60 has lived a big part of a lifetime and has experience that isn’t taught in schools. Capitalize on what you know and what “turns your crank”. I myself have frittered away month “playing about” with several different blogs and focusing on nothing. The results prove this is not the way to go.
Start with one blog. I can’t emphasize this strongly enough. Once you start devoting time to a bog it’s difficult to let it go. Much better, by far yo sit down, be honest with yourself and pick one idea and one only to focus on. The ‘net is rife with get rich quick guys who tout ideas like “start 100 blogs with each one making $1 a day and you’ll be rich”. Well, if that’s your idea of rich, color me poor. It is a much more attainable goal to build one blog that earns $100 a day.
If you’re unsure, test drive. I’d recommend you just test drive, period. It costs nothing to put up a blog on WordPress.com (my favorite) or Blogger.com. In a month you will know a lot about your chances of success. This is also the best way to be sure of your subject/focus choice. Hint: If you don’t have 60 to 90 decent posts and a few subscribers in 30 days you need a re-think.
Place ads. As Stephen points out there are two widely divergent schools of thoughts on this. I am firmly on the side of placing ads early and often. I recommend this approach for two reasons. first, you will learn a lot about the mechanics of various monetizing methods. Better to stumble early when you don’t have a significant investment in time and readership to make mistakes with. Second, you’ll be encouraged by the first nascent income stream. The frequent worry about antagonizing readers is an issue that won’t go away … some people won’t read blogs which are heavily monetized. That’s their right and privilege, better not to spend the time attracting them, and then losing them. Many of us in the retiree group will chose subjects wit some technical slant anyway, and people who read specialized niche blogs often find the ads as useful as the content itself.
Participate. Blogging can be a solitary activity but you will lose out if you choose that route. Find blogs that you like and read them. Comment upon them when you have something to say. Email the blogger when you have thoughts or comments you don’t necessarily want public. In short be part of the community. This will not only gain you visibility and confirm your intentions to be a “real” blogger but you’ll learn a lot. You’ll also develop friendships … I cherish this more than any dollar I’ve earned … try it and you will too.
Research. Check out blogs that teach you about blogging. Subscribe to several and evaluate what benefit you gain from them. Change out the less valuable ones for new replacements on a regular basis. And find and interact with your competition as well. The more you contribute to other’s success the more will flow back to you. Karma may be a nebulous principle for many but I can assure you there is real karma in the blogosphere. Virtually every success I have recorded came from inspiration, instruction or even one-on-one help from a fellow blogger.
Evangelize. Spend some time each day or each week in introducing blogging to a friend or family member. For one reason you’ll be exposing them to something that can be a rewarding hobby or business … hard to argue with the logic of that. But the hidden motive beyond this tip is, there is no better way to really learn something than to teach it. When you introduce others and help them through their first tentative steps you become more expert in your own right. Hard to argue with that logic either.
Enjoy yourself. Whatever you do, do something provides you some enjoyment. This blog is a good example. When I first started it I was not that far beyond a sad and disturbing divorce (is there any other kind, really?). I was doing a lot of research work for a lawyer friend and just about everything to do with the divorce business, especially as it related to retirees interested me. But I am very happily married now and I find that writing about divorce and the mechanics of it depresses me. The quantity and quality of production thus suffered a lot. On the other hand, writing these tips about blogging makes me literally smile at the keyboard. I hope someday many people read them and gain some benefit. But if no one reads them, it won’t spoil my day … the expressing of the thoughts gave me pleasure … and that is what it is really all about.

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