If you’ve been considering starting a blog, what the hell are you waiting for? Right now is a perfect time to start! Don’t worry about what you know or don’t know, just dive right in and start one.
If you wait until you feel comfortable, and that is a perfectly fine thing to do, you might have more hair on your head at the end of the day, but you’ll miss out on the opportunity of time. The longer your blog has been around, the better.
Just like hot air balloons, each one can rise to the same level as the others in the crowd, but the one that starts out first will stand out from the crowd.
Time is on your side, but the longer you wait to start, the longer you delay the rewards.
Some measure of success can be guaranteed when you continually provide the effort and drive behind anything you might do. This is especially true for blogs that you start. I found some wisdom in the following snippet:
I think Chris Brogan said it best, when he mentioned that being an overnight success required 11 years of hard work. Remember that when you see a blogger that appears to have come from nowhere. It was probably 11 years in the making.
from A Guest Post by Nathan Hangen of Making it Social on the post “The ‘It Factor’ – How to get It as a Blogger” on ProBlogger
11 years hard work, that’s all it took for Chris Brogan to reach his level of influence and notoriety. I don’t happen to follow Chris, but when you meet him online via Twitter or by happening upon a post he’s written, you understand why he’s where he’s at. He’s a smart cookie for sure, and knows what he’s talking about.
He’s honed his craft and continually put out the effort to improve and learn more and more.
You should do the same when it comes to starting your blog.
Starting your first blog
When you first decide to try your skills at blogging, you’ll quickly get overwhelmed with all the technologies involved, the acronyms that you don’t understand, and what you should really do to get your blog off on the right foot. That is, if you’re not already familiar with them of course.
Unless you’re a research maniac and spend the next year digging into everything involved with blogging, you are better off just starting one for the sake of starting one to find out everything involved.
Don’t go out and spend any money, that would be a little foolish at the start. But even so, everything is pretty inexpensive that it really wouldn’t hurt the pocketbook terribly much if you did!
But, and here’s the big but, the domain name is very important as it is not only your calling card, but can also help you reach higher in search engines for your topic when the domain name is keyworded up to match your topic.
My point is, the beginner won’t know nor understand all this, so what should they do?
Just do it. That’s right, just dive in and start rambling out anything you want. Pick a free service like Blogger or WordPress, and just start blogging. Get yourself over the need to define something to write about, and just start writing about anything at all. It really doesn’t matter.
Play around with all the widgets, gadgets and themes. Find something that appeals to you and roll with it for some time.
You’ll find that after playing around a little, you’ll naturally discover what you need to learn. If you take it upon yourself to teach yourself what you need to learn, you’re well on your way to becoming the next Chris Brogan. It just takes effort and focus, and the focus will come after some time if it isn’t there already.
It’s what I realize after two years of blogging
I remember when I started my blog near January 1st of 2008. It was with very little fanfare, people were not coming out of the woodwork to congratulate me on my decision to start. No. It was a very lonely experience.
I didn’t have any commentators for months, I had no clue what I wanted to write about, I didn’t know much about blogging in general or some of the unspoken rules of the road that are involved with being social on the Internet. I didn’t know about all the associated services that I’d like my blog to be a part of, nor did I know who I should be following.
I persisted though, and now two years later my blog has a following that I’m very proud of, and it makes about $50 a month in passive search revenue. It didn’t start that way, I had to work at it.
Hindsight is always 20/20
I made several mistakes along the way when I started my blog. I didn’t like the theme I was using, nor did I find enough online resources for the blog engine I was using. Over time though, I changed what I wanted to change, added what I wanted to add, and done away with what wasn’t useful anymore.
You’re going to end up doing this anyway…I think it’s just a natural progression that every blogger goes through.
So if you feel like your hung up on something, like what you’ll write about, or not understanding everything there is to know about the technology you’re using, or the nomenclature being used, don’t worry. You’re in good company, and there is plenty of time to overcome the challenges you’re bound to face.
It is better to start and fail, then to never start and never fail. Just do it, and you’ll be glad you did.
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Starting a blog isn’t the easiest thing to do. I can understand you have all the tools, but you need to know how to do SEO in order to earn a decent amount of money. Some people use blogging for money, some use it to let off steam. I kind of agree with when you said “it’s the best time”, because it truly is!
One thing I notice about you Wayne is that you interact heavily with your readers comments. I think this is what separates the popular bloggers from the casual ones.
Jayna´s last blog ..Cheap Dedicated Hosting & Dedicated Servers
Dive in? Make sure you are ready for the swim. It is all about setting goals and sticking to them. Love the hot air balloons, by the way. they remind me of the Spirit of America festival in Decatur Alabama
ppo´s last blog ..PPO Insurance and Plans and deductibles
says:
Nothing needs to be prepared…just do it. But then, I know you just wanted to place a link here, right? Tell me I’m wrong!
I have no clue where the pic is, but it sure looks wonderful!
says:
“It is better to start and fail, then to never start and never fail. Just do it, and you’ll be glad you did.”
Great message, Wayne! I like the message in the snippet too. It just absolutely nails the essence of being successful. Just take it slowly but surely and, one day, you’ll just wake up and realize you have a ton of articles, a ton of readers, a ton of friends, a ton of opportunities, and a ton of money. It’s like building a pyramid… you put more stones at the bottom and spend more time and effort doing so, but when it’s time to place the last stone at the top, you have already reached the sky.
Btw, your post kind of motivated me in some way. Thanks for this one! =)
Ryhen Satch´s last blog ..Suffering & Pipe Dreams Of A Virtual Bodhisattva
says:
This article came from the same man who described experiencing a serious dose of block only a few posts ago!?
I’d say you’re past it.
Manz´s last blog ..The King Of Comedy (1983)
Excellent points, Wayne. My sister just started blogging and i have meaning to convey these points to her.
I just forwarded your post from my feed reader to her as I couldn’t have said it better.
I have been blogging for 3 years now and the only thing I did right was to NEVER quit. Plus, I have replicated my experience into a second blog which does much better (3x traffic) than the first and just got started on a third one which hope I will be better than the second.
It’s about gaining experience and replicating that success over and over in other areas if you hit a ceiling in a niche.
In my new blog, Google didn’t even index all the pages until I had like 15 pages in it even though I submitted the sitemap as soon as I had 1 post. So, I think your recommendation is valid.
Keep up the good work mate!
Karthik´s last blog ..Dropbox Hacks: Upload Files To Dropbox By Email
says:
Yeah, it’s really hard to instruct or teach when everyone comes from different levels, but the one thing that is needed by every blogger is persistence. A healthy dose of curiosity can be helpful too, lol.
Oh so true! Happy end of the decade to you and your family Karthik!
says:
Mike! Good to hear from you buddy! Hope that everything is going well on your end.
Zzyzx, just keep swimming!
Roger, very good advice. I’ve heard that some people will queue up 10 posts before wiring everything up with Google in Webmaster tools and analytics. At least, that seems to be the minimum number of posts people recommend for the best bang for your first indexing by the big G. Not sure how accurate that all is tho…
Switcher, you’re making $100 month on a Blogger blog? Now, can you replicate that success 99 more times?
I’d say that’s really, really good! And no worries about the link!
Holte, yeah, know exactly what you mean. It isn’t easy at first, but those that forge ahead anyway are the people that will be around a while right? Glad you did!
I’m still trying to define my own niche too…lol
Good advice Wayne. I started mine in February 2009 and after a few months of wading through quicksand, finally got some sort of handle on things. After the initial “I don’t know what I’m doing” phase, it suddenly became a lot of fun. Still haven’t found my niche though, hope to next year, or the year after.
Holte Ender´s last blog ..Slaughter The Bill
Sorry about the long url in my last comment, I should have used tinyurl.
BTW, it’s not an affiliate link.
I have blogs on both Blogger & WordPress, I use most of them as CMS.
One of my Blogger blogs (single 2-year old blog) makes over $100 a month, & actually bought $1,200 in christmas presents this year:
1) HP Desktop PC
2) HP Notebook
3) HP Netbook
4) NetGear wireless router
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+Slimline+s5212y+Desktop%2C+18.5%22+Monitor%2C+G60-535DX+Laptop%2C+110-1125NR+Netbook+%26+Wireless+Router/9999118200050002.p?id=pcmprd118300050002&skuId=9999118200050002&st=PC_Home_Makeover&lp=1&cp=1
The reason I like Blogger is, no matter how much I earn, it’s 100% profit, no worries about hacking or upgrades, hosting, etc…
It’s not like it’s big time or anything, still it’s fun & I only post when I’m in the mood
Sometimes I go a week without posting anything. Still I have 253 subscribers, keep’em happy is all ya gotta do! 
As far as a blog subject, it’s true, do what you enjoy, do it better than the next guy, then monetize.
says:
The thing I recommend – WHICH I DID NOT DO, BTW – is to write two or three posts before posting the first one. That way, you don’t write one and immediately have to deal with tabula rasa. ALSO, writing a couple pieces may help focus on what kind of blog you want to write (or not, he said 4.5 years later).
Roger Green´s last blog ..X is for X-Men
Yep, this is exactly where I’m at Wayne. Getting to know the widgets and the entire wordpress interface at my own pace. I just signed up for ping.fm so I can post on multiple social networks at the same time. I’m just tryin’ to figure out how to make my blogs post on my facebook page once I publish them on wordpress. Lots to learn but at least I’m learning and not just wondering. Thanks for this post and the words of encouragement for us “newbies”.
zzyzx´s last blog ..Just a test…
Absolutely right! Just do it, dig in and chase after your passion. It will show in your writing, and your blog will improve over time as you pour yourself into it.
It does take time, prepare to devote plenty of personal time to your new blog. It does pay off, but not right away, and the money will come later, as your success builds little by little. Blogging can be a lot of fun, but it’s not an overnight thing.
Thanks for sharing, Wayne. Content is king.