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What is a side of blogging no one talks about? It all sounds so rosy writing a few words and making money so what don't they tell you

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

The hidden secrets of blogging

First of all most of you will never be read, but that is Ok because you have expressed yourself and got the creative spirit down on paper. You know it's there if no one else does.

Secondly, money only follows the professionals but what the heck some might just rub off on you?

Finally writing an occasional blog is all it takes to break into the big time. It is really an art and not hard work.

These and many other untruths are scattered throughout Google enticing you into the fold.

The truth is that getting read is easy, making money a cinch but it takes a bloody lot of hard work to get there.

How long does it take to be a professional blogger?

There is no real answer however my best estimate is that it will be a year before you start to make any real traction.

Blogging is a career and not a shortcut to instant wealth. Yes, there is money to be made, and maybe a lot of it but it will come because of hard work, consistent effort, and knowing what you are doing.

Therefore the secret to blogging is building a long-term plan and lasting the distance.

So if you don't have the staying power then get out of the kitchen and try something else because this is not a game it is a career move.

• Your plan may be to write a blog a day for 365 days
• Maybe your goal is to make $5000 a month or even a week.
• It could be simply to change the world and take what comes your way
• Perhaps to draw readers to your Web Page and sell some product

Everyone has a different need based on the niche they choose. In my case mine was to draw readers to my website and teach small businesses how to do online marketing.
I dropped the website project and expanded my resolve to help small businesses and start-up enterprises use low-cost marketing techniques to gather an income from their effort.

What is a side of blogging no one talks about and is it part of a goal

Being realistic and achievable are parts of goal setting

Let not the doubters set the rules for you. They are your rules and you have complete control over the results.
If you are a home wife with a couple of kids juggling your time will have limitations that must be taken into consideration.

Maybe there is a full-time job and a family to cater to before you get a bit of self-time.

There are however 24 hours in a day and it is how you manage those hours that makes a difference. There will be the night owls and the early rises as well as the weekend warriors dedicating time to win your pursuits.

A good blog will take about 4 hours to create. This will depend on typing speed, research time, Keyword selection, and writing the appropriate number of words.
The current standard length for a blog post is 1400 words. ( Hubspot)

This is all a pretty big task so set your own rules by being as honest as you can.

Remember the lower the effort the longer the time, it is your call.

You can not outdo a professional

This is all about authority and if you don't have it you are pushing it uphill.

For example, you can write forever about medical issues but every Doctor and medical profession employee will rank before you. Google likes to take the best advice and be on the safe side of the answer. The Doc says it works it ok but you with just street smarts may be stretching the facts so your opinion does not count. Furthermore, you will never make page one.

Is a page one position so important

Let's face some awful facts here. Over 80% of readers never go past page one and in fact the first three free listings on page one.
Some others will click on paid ads and more on YouTube videos therefore position counts.

However, can you ever get to page one when there are twenty pages on the same subject?

What is a side of blogging no one talks about and does it include traffic

Traffic, competition and your keyword selection

This is the terrible trio that controls your future as a blogger.

Of course, you must have traffic but when there is a lot of it your competition will also be very high. You can check this out using a Keyword tool.

Your keyword is the same, if everyone uses it you will be the last on the list so you need to jiggle things a bit.

If your Niche is say Exotic Parrots. everyone wants to know about these birds so you need to take a different angle.

Remember that blogging is about answering questions or solving problems so make that your ambition.
Will exotic parrots eat regular birdseed?
Can you clip the wings of an exotic parrot?

With this approach, you narrow down the search to a balance of some traffic and low competition and importantly you get read.

Keyword research is the most important part of your duties and can not be ignored

What is a side of blogging no one talks about and is it money?

Forget about money because it will come in its own time

I don't mean to be glib here but focussing on money takes the effort away from content and brings the quality of your work down.

You can make money in lots of ways and they are employed from day one but should not dominate your work.

Advertising income	Only after achieving at least 10,00 hits a month
Affiliate income 1	The main one from day one
Affiliate income 2	gradually introduce them over time
Product sales	When appropriate, ie reviews
Training packages	Only if they fit the bill

You need to really contain yourself with affiliate links. particularly if they distract from your writing. Too many on a page will get readers quicker than they can log in.

As you build a following and get a lot of visitors more will click on links and your income will grow. Therefore it is a matter of time-based on the number of posts and page one positions.

What is a side of blogging no one talks about and is it Google

Google is not the only kid on the block

Google may be the biggest kid but there are many others that do the same job. In fact, YouTube is a close second in search queries. Then you have Bing and Yahoo plus a couple in China and Russia.

Therefore if you don't rank well on Google because of Keyword selection you may make it on Bing (Bing and Yahoo are reported as combined numbers).

Checking your progress is an important step to success. Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster tools, and Google Search Console are important search tools that should be consulted at least monthly.

You need to know you are on track to your ultimate goal.

The importance of mobile phones

When I say mobile phones I really mean Mobile data centers that are used every day to search for information in blogs. It has become necessary to write for a small screen and not use images or graphs that are too big.
Your analytics programs will tell you the percentage of mobile searches and it could be 30-40% so a high proportion.

Build your plan around the rules of blogging

I have given you a few starting rules and the rest you will learn on your journey. Your first attempts may not be prize-winning but they are the starting position and you will get better over time. Remember frequency of blogging is critical and more is better than less.
Success will not be overnight but it will achieve far greater highs than most other income industries.

Conclusion

I have written over a thousand blogs covering a couple of years so I am still an amateur writer.

You can get others to write for you and in fact, use AI writers to help with the composition.

Writing support comes from places like Hemmingway and spelling and literary help from Grammarly so you are never on your own.

Affiliate income is explained in-depth at the Wealthy Affiliate training

Therefore help is available at every part of the journey. You just need to focus on one area of importance, which we call a Niche, and work it hard to get all your knowledge shared with thousands of readers.

The only thing holding you back is you.

What is a side of blogging no one talks about by Peter Hanley

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• SEO keyword ranker and how to fix it