Should You Start A Blog?

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The internet isn’t short on blog posts about “how to start a blog,” or, “how to make $1,000 a week doing this!”

This isn’t one of those posts.

I see at least 5-10 pins a week with claims on how to make 6-figures, best affiliate networks, how get sponsored content, how to grow your audience, etc.

This isn’t one of those posts, either.

Seven years ago when I made the decision to start a blog, I knew NOTHING about what I was doing. I didn’t even know there was a community of bloggers, let alone legal stuff to think about, how much time it would take me, and the utter frustration of building an audience. 

What I want to share with you today are things to think about before starting a blog.

Should You Start A Blog?

Know your WHY

This is the first step. WHY do you want to start a blog? To make money? Help people? A hobby? Knowing why you want to start a blog is the first step because everything you do after will differ depending on your why. 

There are several things you need to know from a legality standpoint. It would be best if you had a Privacy policy, cookie policy, disclosure policy, and you must familiarize yourself with the FTC (for US bloggers), should you want to monetize. This is just an example of why you need to know what your plan is.

Decide How Much Time You Have to Dedicate

Blogging can be as little as putting your content out there, to a full time, 80+ hour a week job. Again, depending on your WHY, it will depend on how much time you will need to put into it.

Don’t be discouraged by that! There are so many tools available to bloggers for automation that make our blogs SO much more manageable (like Tailwind!). I don’t spend nearly as much time as I used to on my blog.

You May Also like 5 OF MY FAVORITE BLOGGING RESOURCES, YOU SHOULD BE USING

Writing content is just a fraction of the job. Not only does your content need to be great, helpful, and strong, you have to promote, engage, create graphics (this isn’t optional in my opinion), build an email list, learn SEO, maybe learn to code, and so much more. Blogging has made me a Jack of all Trades.

Blogging is a Marathon

Nothing happens overnight; it takes time to build. When writing out your why, also write down what your goals are. But start small – you can work your way up to larger goals. Celebrate every success you have, and try not to be discouraged. Things do get easier. Followers will happen. Page views will come. Just remember that this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.

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…your passion is what will make you stand out

Blogging is an Investment

Yes, of course, you can start a free blog on WordPress or even on Blogger, but if you want to monetize and make this your job, you need to invest. 

A lot of companies require you to own your own domain before they consider you for sponsored content. Why? Because the content on a free WordPress or Blogger blog isn’t yours. Those posts can be taken down at any moment, without notice and without reason. It’s happened before!

In addition to owning your own domain, you need to pay for hosting service. Possibly pay to update your resource accounts, like Canva (graphic design program) and Tailwind (Pinterest automation tool), paid ads, and more.

Again, investing in your blog isn’t a requirement, but HIGHLY recommended.

Know your Passions

You can blog about anything. You don’t have to be an expert on the matter, or even be a great writer. But your passion is what will make you stand out against the other millions of others that run a blog. Your dedication and love for whatever topic will shine through in your content, and your audience will respect that and trust you. 

Which is what you want; to build trust.

It’s okay if those passions change! Don’t feel that once you set into a niche, you are stuck there. This blog was dedicated to books ONLY for five years. 

Whatever it is you decide to blog about – make it YOURS.

Should You Start A Blog? Here are a few things to seriously consider before you do. Click To Tweet

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Let’s Chat

Bloggers:

• What advice would you give someone that is thinking about starting a blog? 
• What is something you wish you knew before starting?

Readers:

• Are you considering starting a blog? If so, what niche?
• Were any of these tips helpful?