So, you’ve decided you want to make your own successful blog? Awesome! I have been blogging since 2009 and made it my full time income in 2011. Since then, I’ve never looked back. Blogging for a living is by far the best way to make a living for me, but is that necessarily the case for you? Before I show you how to make your own successful blog, we first need to determine if this is really the path for you, and we also need to figure out what “success” really is.
What Is A Successful Blog?
When I first began blogging back in 2009, the thought of earning a full-time living from it wasn’t even something I had considered. To me, at that time, a successful blog was one that would truly help people. I was just getting ready to start a truck driving career, so my very first blog was for an established trucking website. I wanted to document my experiences from truck driving school to company orientation to the physical exams and life on the road. I did not make any money on that blog, but I created a following, an audience, and I was thanked almost daily for blogging about my experiences as a truck driver. I even had a YouTube channel with video blogs which you can still watch here. I had a blast with both my written blog and my video blog. A success indeed.
With that said, my idea of success changed over time. Here I was, spending hours and hours of my time dominating a niche market with an undetermined amount of loyal followers, but I wasn’t making any money! So, a new definition of success was born. I still wanted to help people (as I hope you find this very post helpful!) but I also wanted to figure out a way to also earn some money while doing what I love.
At that point, I began creating information sites like SharkSider.com and review sites like DogFoodInsider.com. I start at least 2 new sites per year with this site being one of my more recent ones and FreelanceWriterClub.com being my newest creation. I developed monetization plans for all of them and nearly all of my sites earn me at least $1,500 per month within’ about 18 months of creation (some sites earn much more than that).
So now, I earn a great living writing about topics I love while simultaneously helping other people and promoting products and services that deserve to be promoted. Success!
Before you ever get started, you must determine what success means to you.
How To Know If Creating A Blog Is For You
Before you get started with blogging, you have to consider the reasons WHY you want to be a blogger. Is it because you love to write? Is it because you want to make money from home? Is it because you want to spread information to people for free? Is it a little bit of everything?
In order to truly succeed with a successful blog, there needs to be a perfect storm. Having a strong drive to earn money online is great, but that alone will not help you to create a successful blog. Being a great writer is a fantastic start, but if you don’t know how to gain an audience, nobody will see your masterpieces. If you love dealing with search engine optimization, but you don’t like to write, you will get burned out very quickly.
The way to know if blogging is for you is if you can truly say that you enjoy ALL aspects of developing and building a blog. That means, you must be willing to learn how to build websites (WAY easier than you probably think), you must be willing to do industry research, you must be willing to learn about how to send people to your website, and you must be willing to write (a lot!).
If you can honestly say that you would enjoy doing all of those things, you are a great candidate to be a blogger. All you really need at this point is a step-by-step plan to get you going. You need someone to show you the right steps in the right order. So, if you’re new to all of this and don’t know about search engine optimization, industry research, how to build a website, or anything else about building a successful blog, you will definitely want to sign up for a FREE account here.
Reality Check: How Long It Really Takes To Build A Successful Blog
Every year, literally millions of new blogs are started by people all over the world. How many blogs, out of those millions, do you follow? Chances are, not many. But WHY are so few blogs ever successful?
Whether you’re seeking an audience or monetary benefits from your blog, it will need to withstand the test of time. Back when the web was still a new thing, creating a blog and getting noticed was actually pretty easy. As time goes on, it’s getting harder and harder. This is another reason you shouldn’t wait to start your blog. Start it NOW, because it’s getting more and more difficult to get noticed as time goes on.
A few years ago, I would have told you in about 6 months you could have a successful blog. These days, I think it’s closer to 12 to 18 months before you will see much success. It will require hundreds of pages of high quality content on your blog. And not just any content, but content people are actually searching for. Do not expect to find success on your blog quickly, even if you work really hard on it. You’re looking at a good 12 months or more before you can claim any level of success at all.
Some Final Thoughts
Creating a successful blog may be a bit difficult and require a lot of patience, but it is something ANYONE can do. By contrast, what other business can literally anyone start in their free time with almost no capital investment upfront? You don’t have to quit your job to start and everything you need to know is available online, for free. If you think starting a blog is for you, do not wait a second longer. Things won’t get easier with time, they will get harder. The time to start your blog will never be “just right”. So just start now!
Don’t know where to begin? Create a free account here and get step-by-step instruction!