Blogging #1: The Cold Hard Truth
An overview of what becoming a blogger really means for your life
Welcome to the very first issue of Blogging. While you might have expected this first article to dive into how to get Wordpress setup and ways to optimize your SEO, that’s not where we’re starting. Instead, I think it’s incredibly important to start with the real expectations that you should have for how your life will change if you really decide to start a blog.
Now first things first, yes - anyone can start a blog, write a post a month, and say they have a blog. They would be correct, they do have a blog and I’m not here to take that away from them. That being said, that blog probably isn’t going to pick up tons of readers…unless your famous in which case, sure anything you do draw people in. And without lots of readers you can’t make any money.
I know what you’re thinking now. Wait, I don’t just want to blog for money, I love writing, or think I’ll love writing, and I want to develop a more creative daily practice. Good news, blogging does that no matter how you slice it, blog weekly, monthly, heck - blog every other month, you’ll get a benefit from it.
This Substack is about how to start a blog that can turn into a meaningful income source for you. Since people will read this first article at different points in time I think it’s important to explain why I started the Blogging Substack. Right now the world is in the middle of a global pandemic. People around the world are losing their jobs and find themselves at home trying to figure out where to go from here. I’ve been blogging for thirteen years and currently make about $50,000/year blogging. I’m not sure if I can really teach other people how to do the same, but I want to give it a shot and if I can help even one person who lost their job replace some of their income writing about something they love, well then it was all worth it.
So now, back to my original point - you can write a blog monthly, or once ever two weeks, or even once a week, nothing wrong with that. If you want to really build an audience, my experience has been that you have to right daily, period, end of story.
Why daily?
Here’s what I’ve seen over the years. Writing daily means that over time you can become a part of someone’s daily life. Just like they read the newspaper or watch their favorite TV show, they also read your blog. If they know you’re going to have a blog post every single day, without fail, you will become a part of their daily life. That is incredibly meaningful, and if you’re writing about something that is also helping them, then you’re also in a small way, changing people’s lives for the better.
While your blog might not teach people how to make money or how to turn their lives around, if it brings a little extra joy to their day, well then you’ve done your job IMO.
But this will come at a cost, to you.
I bet you were wondering what that image was doing at the top of this article. It’s the elephant in the room that we need to talk about before you go any further into this journey. So we’ve established that you need to blog daily, that really is a non-negotiable for anyone who wants to make money blogging. If you’re not someone who lost their job due to the Coronavirus and you just want to blog casually and that’s why you’re here - no worries, read on, but I do want to stay laser-focused on my core audience, those of you who do want to make money blogging.
Blogging daily is a serious commitment. When I’m on vacation, I write a blog post every single day. When I have a super busy day at work, barely have time for dinner, and just want to go to sleep - yup, still have to write my post. When I go to a wedding, funeral, compete in a triathlon, I still need to write that blog post. Most days it’s just a normal part of my routine, but some days, it feels like I don’t have the time or the energy, but I still need to do it.
Taking blogging seriously will come at a cost to you. You will be tipping the scales in the “work” direction more than you’d like on some days. That being said, I find the incredible joy and creative energy I get to release while blogging makes it so f@&king worth it that I couldn’t imagine having it any other way.
Think of the one sacrifice you’ll have to make.
In the end, blogging daily usually means making a sacrifice. There are only so many hours in the day and chances are, if you’re like most people, when someone asks you how you’re doing you say, “phew - I’m busy!”
So what gives? For me it was TV. I watch a lot less TV now than I did before I started blogging. When someone says, “oh you have to watch this show,” I know there’s a very small chance I’ll be able to do it…and binge watching for me usually means watching a show over a six-month time period. But it’s absolutely worth the sacrifice.
So here’s your homework.
At the end of every article I write here I’m going to give you homework. For those of you who are really, truly dedicated to this, I urge you to email your homework to me, morgan(at)morganlinton.com. You don’t have to, but I encourage you to do it as you start to re-wire your brain to become the blogging machine you’re about to turn into.
Your first assignment is to share what’s the one sacrifice you’re going to make that will give you an extra hour every single day of the week to be able to blog?
I want to make sure we’re all on the same page before we go any further. Also, for those of you who lost their job I want to be clear. Blogging is not going to replace your job right away (or likely ever) so you still need to find a normal day job. Nobody should be emailing me saying, “it’s easy for me to find the time because I’m going to be a full time blogger.” That’s not realistic. This is about making extra money, not making a living. And for those of you who are reading this and still have a job or are financially secure and just want to learn how to blog. Sit back and enjoy because there’s plenty for you to sink your teeth into as well.
Final thoughts.
Each article of mind is going to end with both homework and final thoughts. The final thoughts are meant to tie everything together in case you found the article too boring to pay attention to and just want to know what the heck I wanted to bang into your head. So here it is.
Blogging is not being a Wordpress expert, an SEO guru, a great writer, or a subject matter expert. Blogging is about consistency and connecting with an audience. While you are the one doing the writing, you aren’t writing for yourself, you are writing for an audience. As we move forward with future articles you’ll learn more about how to truly understand and develop a deeper connection with your audience and if you’re lucky, eventually you’ll even get a few people who don’t like you…but still read everything you write, and that’s when you know you’re really getting into a groove.
We’ll save that for another post. For now, do your homework, send it to me, and stay-tuned for the next issue which will come out a week from today. Thanks for reading and congratulations on taking the first step in a journey that has changed my life and could very well change yours.