The following is a reader question that we recently received,
I really want to start a blog but I’m worried that I don’t know exactly what I want to blog about. I feel like that I need to find my voice or my niche; otherwise I will end up going on different tangents. I’m also worried because I don’t know how to run ads.
One of the biggest hurdles in trying to overcome anything is the fear of failure. The only way you can fail is if you actually start.
The above question is a frequent one that we get regarding getting started blogging. If you look more deeply into the question you realize the person has already failed before they’ve even started.
Starting a blog does not require you to have a clear voice. You don’t have to have a clear mission statement. There is no perfect time to start. There is no perfect recipe. When both my wife and I got the idea of starting a blog, we had a general idea what we wanted to do. Hers was to be more about family, mine was to be more about personal finance. But over the years our blogs have evolved.
My wife’s has covered our family extensively but she’s also covered plenty of DIY projects, adoption, fashion, home decor, and even started her Stop and Smell the Rose’s Vlogging link up.
On Good Financial Cents I’ve definitely covered every aspect of financial planning, but if you dig deep you’ll also find articles talking about my obsession with In-N-Out Burger.
How I think Five Guys doesn’t even come close to comparing to In-N-Out Burger. Why I love CrossFit; benefits of using your non-dominant hand, and the easiest chicken pasta recipe you’ll ever find.
The beauty of starting a blog is that it is yours. You have the freedom to write about what you want to write about when you want to.
The one thing that you’ll eventually realize is that you can’t make every single reader happy. Certain readers are going to connect with you on certain topics while others will be disinterested and most likely won’t engage you, and that’s fine.
Blogging starting off should be for you.
It should be fun. It should be something you look forward to. If it’s a chore and you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to move on. Addressing the question regarding your ads, you don’t have to know anything about making money on a blog starting out. When we both started blogging we were clueless about advertising as well.
Some days I still think I am clueless; although I have picked up a few tricks along the way. The point is that you have to blog consistently before you get any following and any revenue in the form of advertising will come.
Worrying about advertising before you even start your blog is the equivalent of worrying about the weather of a family vacation nine months from now. For now it’s nothing you can control. You just have to live within the moment and get started.
No more excuses. Just start.
Want to start a blog, but don’t know how? Check out our 4 step process to get your blog started in less than 10 minutes.
Love this! Mandy – Your hubby is a character!!!!
That was funny. I love the white screen and how you didn’t edit out the Frankenstein looking paralysis stuff. Ha! You both are so fun.
I haven’t watched the video (phone data packages woo!) but I totally agree with the text. I felt a similar fear when I started because my niche is so large and I didn’t know what to focus on. My advice is start now and you can change as you go. If you find something amazing nothing is stopping you from starting another blog!
Thanks for the video. Folks just have to start. Everything is not going to be perfect in the beginning. In fact in the beginning it’s a series one more thing has to be added and something else has to be done. Just work on your blog. Blogging itself is it’s own reward. It’s fun. Once again, great video!
Hello 😉
Most of the time I spend on seaching for online incomes of others, and I wish I started my own online business.. but for now I have one problem, its my patience.
Im a student and I dont really have any money, except 100$ I saved, its enough to start a domain and pay the hosting.
If I have to start a blog, I will have to earn at least 100$/month from it, I know it sounds a bit greedy or something but thats reality. Time is the essence, I cant afford to wait 4-5 months for my first pennies..
Im new to setting up website and running it, your experience in this field Is far more bigger so I would like to ask you, If you were on my place right now, how would you monetize the blog to get that 100$ a month? Is this possible?
Best Regards,
Raphael
@ Raphael,
Then you shouldn’t start a blog. I’ve never talked to one blogger that has made $100 in their first month. First, even if you posted 100 new articles on your site, Google will take some time to crawl your site and get it indexed.
Blogging takes time which sounds like you don’t have.
hi Jeff,
For your niche site, how did you find your virtual assistant?
@ Jessica I was lucky to find my VA. 1. I had just read 4 Hour Work Week so I was aware that VA’s actually assisted. Beforehand, I was completely oblivious. 2. I received an email from an assistant to a blogger asking if I was interested in accepting a guest post to my site. My hunch was that they were a VA so I took a chance to see if they were and had some time to work on my site. Sure enough they were and we’ve been working together ever since.