Blogging Tip: Pay Your Dues

Bloggers, show of hands if you’d like to become something from blogging. Whether it’s rich, famous, relevant, or all three. Everyone wants this? Well, me, too! There are bloggers who just want to blog for fun and have no interest in monetizing their blogs, but for most of us, we want something out of blogging. For me specifically, I want to be rich and famous. And very, very relevant. I know it’s usually funny when I say I want to be rich and famous, but if only you knew how serious I am. Now, I am not a fame whore who will go do just about anything for fame, but I have plans for when I do get the fame. If you are like me and you want something out of your blog, then read along.

I get asked so many questions by current and future bloggers. How do I make money blogging? How do I get more people to read my blog? How do I get more people to comment on my blog? How do I get brands to sponsor posts on my blog? How do I get brands to send me products for reviews? How do I make more than $10 a month from Google Ads?

All valid questions. While there are some bloggers who have started blogging and almost immediately been struck by unbelievable luck, for most of us, it’s been work. For the record, I do not consider myself a top blogger (yet), but when you put us all on a scale, I’m not doing bad, if I do say so myself. I started blogging in 2006, and I did not start really [consciously] monetizing my blog until June of last year. That’s 7 years later.  So for those who start blogging today and want to make money off it tomorrow, you can see why this may not be very realistic. For those who want to make money before even putting a post up, well, goodluck with that.

Think of it this way: when you get hired into a position that you don’t know much about, you do not get promoted into the Director position the next week (and if you were, I’m sure you’d be freaking out). You start by being a junior employee, then mid range, then senior, then manager, then director, then CEO. You get where I’m going with this?

Pay your dues. Enjoy your days of humble beginnings. You have only 5 readers a day? That’s fine. Next week you might have 10. And next year, you might have 10,000. Most of the successful blogs you read today didn’t pop up overnight. It may seem like the fame/popularity happened overnight, but more than likely, it didn’t. Perhaps, you just only noticed the blog after it blew.

Fact is, advertisers may not find the worth in paying money to have 5 people read about their product. If you were an advertiser, you’d feel the same way. I know this may sound crazy, but when you first start blogging, don’t think [too much] of the revenue. First, pay your dues by building a community.

I hope this tip has helped. I have a few more written down, and I promise to blog every one of them. Also, I’ve made some mistakes in my blogging career, and with time, I’ll share them all. There’s no need for you to make the same mistake, if it can be avoided.

P.S You do NOT have to wait 7 years to make money from your blog.