I’ve said it before, blogging is easy.
Easy until you want to go beyond the personal blog that no one reads.
Sure, it comes easier to some than others but there’s real work involved. It takes Real Work just to be “Average“ with little hope of significant monetization.
Add in professional branding, blog monetization, SEO, increased traffic, list building, testing and analytics, and…
Well, you get the idea. This sh@!s not easy when playing for real. What’s really funny is that most bloggers quit before they even know how hard blogging really is. That’s the universe’s filter to keep out the week and lazy.
You’re still here. I’m still here.
So how hard is blogging?
Great question. That depends on how pro we want to go. I guess I’m an average blogaholic. Let’s look at my content creation goals each week.
Hint: I never meet 100% of my goal but I do have it in writing.
☑ Create a killer topic, based on my audience. Ask for feedback, study analytics, and consult with a fortune teller.
☑ Struggle with a killer title, and subtitles. Only after extensive keyword research and two cans of Red Bull®.
☑ Research. Find out if you’re as smart as you thought. See how to create must-have value that is original from the 16,850,540 search results you found in Google. Oh, and don’t forget to do it better than everything else out there.
Hurry, it’s getting late and you haven’t even started creating yet.
☑ Write 3,000 words. Remove the fluff and build on the remaining 500 words.
☑ Find clever quotes that makes you feel smart by association.
☑ Create an amazing featured image. And one for Twitter. And one for Facebook. Another image for Pinterest. Instagram. Google Plus. Etc, etc.
Have you read JJRH by Gary Vee? If so, you understand the strategy. [NEEDS LINK]
☑ Write amazing promotional copy. We need several intros and enticing teaser copy written.
☑ Write killer social copy. Write 10+ tweets to load into Buffer & Hootsuite. Create specific content designed for every social media platform under the sun to go with the amazing images we already created. (We’re still on Gery Vee’s JJRH here).
☑ Research again. This time, stay away from the YouTube abyss. Pinterest too.
☑ Setup external links. Internal links. Affiliate links. Attribution links. Short tracking links. Double check all links. Unfollow affiliate and product links.
☑ Rack your brain on a hypnotic call to action. Oh, crap, what was the call to action again?
☑ Read the post several times. Then hand the draft over to anyone over the age of five to find your fifteen ridiculous mistakes you made.
❤ Love this image on: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram
Should I make a SlideShare, video, or infographic next?
Maybe I’ll actually get 2 hours of sleep tonight and ship this thing as is.
Why bother blogging when it is so hard?
Why are we doing any of this if it’s so hard and lined with so much failure?
Maybe we just don’t know when to quit? Could be. I just finished reading “The Dip” by Seth Godin. 😉 [NEEDS AFF LINK]
Maybe we like punishment and are afraid of darkness. Maybe we’re just stupid.
I can’t be your shrink.
But…
As your blogging buddy, I think you have the drive and passion to make this thing work. No matter the obstacles, you seek out the answers (You’re here).
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
~ Colin Powell
What are you blogging for?
This is an important question that you HAVE to know.
❤ Love this image on: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram
As in that editing process I mentioned above, I just removed paragraphs of “fluff” that I included with each of the five reasons to blog. There’s one I want to keep since I know you are interested in profit.
Hold on, I went down another rabbit hole. I turned it into an sharable image.
To earn six figures a year,
❤ Love this image on: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram
You just need enough people to pay you to do what you do better than everyone else or for your product that is a better fit than anything else.
Isn’t Blogging Just Dying Anyway?
No. That’s just stupid. Don’t make me slap you. lol
Here’s a few stats to geek out over:
✎ 96.2% of bloggers DO NOT live in their parents’ basement (The Washington Post).
✎ Over 409 million people view more than 19.1 billion pages each month.
✎ Users produce about 60.1 million new posts and 61.5 million new comments each month.
✎ TechCrunch, TED, CNN, Major League Baseball and the National Football League publish on WordPress.
✎ Hot Blog Tips is 100% blogging awesomeness! Nuff Said.
(Get the latest WordPress stats on WordPress.com)
About Brian Hawkins
Hey Brian,
You’re right about most quit before the hard stuff even comes into play. Others only think they’re doing good until they learn what all is involved to “make it to the top” so to speak.
Blogging is rewarding though and I never thought I would be doing this myself. It was very difficult for me since the further along I went the more I realized I didn’t know and was confused about how the heck to learn it. I’m glad I stuck with it though because it’s so rewarding when you help someone else who so desperately needs your assistance.
Yep, blogging is hard but man is it worth it.
Hope you’re doing well and things have settled down over at your place. Be sure to enjoy your weekend now.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I agree, it’s totally worth it. Everyone should know that as hard as it can be for many of us, you are running circles around me. Not only on your blog but everywhere on the Internet. We obviously frequent the same circles but I don’t know anyone that is more sociable and present than you are. You deserve a lot of credit for that. 🙂