18 comments

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  LesB

  7 months ago

  Points well taken. The "build it and they will come" outlook is a notorious failure in this field, where millions have built, and continue to build, and few know or care. On the other hand, there are a lot of other reasons to keep blogging - and perseverence counts.
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  Pat Hawks

  7 months ago

  "Habits hard to kick."
  lol
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  Susanne Waldau-te Brake

  7 months ago

  good arguments! There is indeed a blogging hype sweeping through the world. In Sweden blogs make headline news on a regular basis. I wonder when we will see a backlash in the over exposure of private lifes....
  
  /susanne
  http://www.hanky.se/fracas
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  JohnMcDonald

  7 months ago

  Good advice, but I'd like to add one more myth:
  
  #11: You need tons of traffic to make any money online. Well-matched ads in a specific niche market can convert pretty well while "general appeal" sites can bring in a lot of traffic that isn't particularly intent on buying anything. Of course, I don't mean to say its easy to get that small amount of traffic that does convert.
  
  The whole thing is a lot of work and effort but if you enjoy writing and discussion blogging is definitely the thing to do.
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  Marius

  7 months ago

  Is not easy and is not going to make you rich. Why do all of us do it. Beacause is easier and it makes you reach to other people.
  If money comes...is ok but that is not the goal...
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  KeegsMom

  7 months ago

  Would Mr. Riley care to elaborate on: "You might be a stay at home mom, and a thousand or two is money you don’t currently have, and you might have 5-6 hours a day to home to blog…and that’s a perfect approach to it. You might be looking at adding a couple of hundred a month on top of your current job for spending money…another good approach." Is he talking all ad money? Wouldn't that take massive, massive traffic?
  
  this might be a dumb question but are there other obvious revenue streams not apparent to me? I blog about kids and film (outside the Disney realm), a topic that doesn't seem to be widely covered, and i'd hoped to make SOME $, but ... it's slow going. And ads are not gonna come until i have major traffic. Um, I think.
  
  I love what I'm doing, and I do it in addition to other freelance writing, but it would be nice to see some income, somehow, some way.
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  Duncan Riley

  7 months ago

  KeegsMom
  it was a scenario description, but I take your point, getting to even a couple of thousand a month is hard going. If you want to ping me on email duncan at nichenet.com.au I'd be happy to take a look at what you're currently doing and share some personalized advice if you like. Always happy to help.
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  Sheryl Loch

  7 months ago

  I have seen the numbers of blogs created each day but, do not remember it. Although there are so many out on the web there are so many that are just left to blow in the wind. It is almost like a craze that everyone must have one but, few will keep them going.
  
  I started mine just so, I would know how to work the script so it was not planned out but, have kept it, not to make mass money but rather to have a place to send people that want info I have.
  I also find that many people have no clue what you mean when you tell them to sign up to your Feed.
  Oh well, all in good time.
  My daughter started her 1st blog at age 12 (now 14) and her friends are all into the RSS Feeds. Maybe the kids are more open to new ideas!
  
  Thank you for your post. I am kinda glad to know that I does not have the 'easy as pie' blog results. LOL!
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  Dead Man Walking

  7 months ago

  Two points I disagree with from the above list:-
  
  6. Surprisingly there are bloggers out there who have made a successful business despite not posting once per day, particularly in my part of the world (UK), where blogging is seen more as a personal journal, rather than a way of making money.
  
  9. I write in UK English, so I smoke a fag, giggle at the word fanny and fill my car with petrol, I am not going to change because of a few idiosyncrasies in the language (which incidentally, we created :P), I feel I'd be cheating people if I did that.
  
  However, apart from that, I agree with everything else here. I probably don't show the effort to earn much, I just do it for fun!
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  RobinGood

  7 months ago

  Hi Duncan,
  thanks for this valuable reminder which should help newbies get a more realistic idea of what expects them on this path.
  
  Two very small and humble suggestions for me as well:
  
  a) you miss to define what a "blogging career" is in your intro and what are the traits or characteristics that make it such. It transpires then through your writing that you are looking mostly at those that want to make money via advertising or other online money-making activity. It would help to know, given the great range of online publishing careers that have now developed, to which one(s) you are really referring to, as for many of your points it would make a huge difference in value knowing what you are referring to and why.
  
  b) Point 6) is your personal opinion, but it isn't a hard fact. There is quite a number of very successful online publishers who publish one or less than one post per day, and they no problems at all in making it convert into solid revenue. I think this too much of your personal opinion and it would be nice if you could support it with some good examples.
  
  Thanks Duncan, and, regarding your site here, I like it quite a bit the content which I happily republish the most significant headlines on my MasterNewMedia front page, but personally as an international reader I hardly enjoy your gossipy and local (US) star low-level chronicles. I can see the positive advantages in terms of traffic for this, but you may want to think also about who you are alienating as, if I may, a success career online is NOT measured ever, in my humble opinion in terms of traffic or RSS subscribers but in what you actually are able to do with those.
  
  Ciao! :-)
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  Mahalia

  7 months ago

  yey, finally, someone who tells it like it is. No more, get rich here quick, write for blank dotcom and make millions. I'll subscribe for sure. Thanks
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  jeff

  7 months ago

  No, it is not easy and quality content does not guarantee traffic.
  
  In the introduction you write "...there are some good paid programs out there, but for every program I’d happily recommend, there is probably 100 I wouldn’t. " Would you mind sharing some of the ones you would recommend?
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  Reds

  7 months ago

  Really goog tips..I will follow from todays onwards
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  Robby G

  7 months ago

  Kind of discouraging, but truth hurts sometimes. Then again, I think it's hard to succeed in anything in life without giving it your all plus some more. Keep at it and don't give up and overtime more opportunities will present themselves.
  
  Good post overall though.
  Cheers.
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  laling

  7 months ago

  Yes I totally agree with you Blogging need patience , effort and knowledge skill. For me TIME is major factor either we can hold on in this Marathon or we doesn't and then easily give up. English in my second language and is really hard to me string two words together at same time try the best include keyword strengh to catch SEO need.
  
  I probably not to continue blogging if I found this post 2 years ago..LOL Too far for me to going back and "Kick this habit"
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  Millard

  7 months ago

  You've made me more negative about the future but also more realistic.
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  dfsd

  6 months ago

  I love this
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  dan

  7 months ago

  Very nice, it took me about a year to build up the audience I wanted, and this might not fit this article, but if you do one on the bloggers plateau I would love to see that. Let me know if you do. Thanks!
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