The Good News Journal, Volume XLVI: The Sensational Saturday Edition – Being a Blogger, Part III

Hello everyone, hope You are all enjoying the weekend!  For My Sensational Saturday Edition of The Good News Journal, I Will be finishing up My final thoughts on how to get Your first Blog started.  The information I’m sharing is really geared toward newbies, so if You’ve been Blogging for a while and are looking to take things to the next level, or make some money doing it, I’ll include some links from other Bloggers who have considerably more experience and success in that regard later in this Post.  I Blog because I Love Writing and these instructional Posts were intended to inspire anyone else with a Passion for Writing to get started already!..  Which brings Me to My first point.

In My first Posts on Blogging (Being a Blogger, Part I and Part II) I gave all kinds of tips about Writing the first Post but negated to mention how to acquire the actual Blog! (Oops).  My recommendation is WordPress [this is a WordPress site and My Domain(vondehnvisuals.com)], but in My research others have suggested buying a Domain first and then uploading WordPress to Create the Blog.  That sounds more complicated to Me, and I’m not sure if there is any advantage in it.  In fact, the other Posts I read were also suggesting hosting sites that are more costly than WordPress, the most inexpensive being $1.99/month.  WordPress offers domain hosting for only $1.50/month and can be upgraded anytime to include all the bells and whistles One could want if it’s something One decides to get more serious about in the future.  You can even start the Blog completely free and if You decide You like it, You can purchase a domain (website address) of Your own  later without it having any affect on Your Blog.  It Will simply change from ‘www.wordpress/yourdomain.com’ to ‘yourdomain.com’.  Great way to get started, especially if You’re just testing the waters.

I’ve been Writing this Blog for almost ten years and now I’m doing research to find out what other successful Bloggers have done to become profitable.  I am learning a ton, even after ten years, which is why I decided to Write My own ‘how to’ for beginners.  There is a lot of information out there and it might seem a little overwhelming at first.  I also wanted to touch on some of the advice I found that I do not agree with, even though it’s perfectly logical advice if One is looking to make Blogging a full time profession.

Write ONLY profitable content that will get you clicks and views and shares – AND MAKE YOU MONEY. Don’t bother writing fluff. 

Frankly, I think if You are doing this, You are wasting Your time unless You only started a Blog in hopes of making money – and if that is the case, I would suggest there are probably much easier ways to make money.  I couldn’t tell You what they are, either, because that isn’t the intention of this Post.  Hopefully, You are interested in Writing a Blog because it Will be something You enjoy.  Writing with the exclusive intention of posting only ‘profitable’ content is likely to take the joy right out of it.  You may not have a ‘boss’ anymore, but You Will become a slave to the industry and latest trends.  Having said all of that, I did learn an awful lot from the Post and have tremendous respect for a woman who made a conscious decision to Blog and be profitable at it so she could become a work from home mom and spend more time with her children.  It’s a very inspirational post and there is Great value in taking the time to read it, so please check it out!

Mommy on Purpose

One of My personal goals this year, is to monetize My Blog.  I haven’t actually set any firm financial goals yet because I have no Idea what to expect.  What I do know, is that I’m going to have to put a great deal of time and effort into it.  However, a consistent theme that comes up in My research is,

“You can’t just write whatever You want…”

Again, if Your Goal is only to make money, perhaps this is true.  However, if I couldn’t Write whatever I wanted, I wouldn’t be interested in Writing at all.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider doing the odd product review or whatever, but even then, I am going to decide what offers I take or turn down.  I’m My own boss and I have hustled in My private life so I can continue to do what I Love here.  If I were to give up My ‘hustle’ only to find My Self Writing for someone else, I feel I’d be compromising My integrity.  I understand We all need to make money, My philosophy is that We all have something of value to offer the world.  Consider what makes Your Story Valuable to Your audience, and Write about that!  (Just My humble opinion). Having said that, if Your passion is health and fitness, then it’s worthwhile to be on top of the latest fitness trends and sharing Your take on them, that’s just Common Sense (and Will likely make more cents). 😉

The reason I’m harping on the Idea of Writing about things You Love so much is because

“People don’t see the years spent developing a unique writing voice.”

The above quote comes from “My Blogging Career – Questions and My Answers“.  If One is always Writing for others, there tends to be something of a generic ‘marketing’ Voice that is very specific because it has to be ‘professional’.  It really does take years to develop Your own Unique Style and Voice.  That’s why I’ve waited ten years before even thing King about monetizing My Blog.  I never thought there would be much interest in reading the adventures of a spiritualist and because I had virtually no one reading My Blog (or so I thought), I started ‘loosening up’ and really being true to who I am and being the kind of influence I want to be.  Maybe if I’d experienced success and thousands of views from the start, I’d have been too afraid to say what’s really on My Mind for fear of losing readership.  I Write about a lot of different things and they most certainly are not the kind of things One would perceive to be ‘marketable’.

My ‘Claim to Fame’ is a legal document (pictured above) most People probably don’t even fully comprehend, yet within the first month after publishing the document on My Blog, I had more views and followers in a single month than I had experience in any of the previous years!  And I mentioned My Twitter account went from 55 followers to 5,000 in the next ten months.  All I was doing was being true to My Self and finding My Way.  I guess the world believed it’s a Story worth sharing and I’m sure You Will have Your own Story to tell as You Play Your Unique Role on the world’s Stage.  I, for One, look forward to hearing it!

I also thought it might be worth mentioning that One should always re-read their Post before Publishing it.  That seems like a no brainer, but worth mentioning.  I also like to view the Post after it’s Published on My website, so I can see it as My audience would.  I find this is a valuable technique because it is very difficult to catch Your own Spelling and grammar errors (because YOU know how it should read and Your brain can autocorrect without You actually noticing).  Viewing the Post online sometimes helps Me to catch mistakes I missed in My final revision prior to Publishing.

Some other Posts on Blogging I enjoyed: Start A Blog, Why No One is Sharing Your Blog Posts, and 13 things to do before starting Your Blog.

Thanks so much being here, I appreciate You more than You know.

Love and Blessings,

Post Script – Also, although I’ve invested nothing in SEO’s, if One were to Google ‘Sean von Dehn’, the top search result will take You to “My Story“, which is far from My most read Blog Post (and once again, thank You to whomever may be responsible for that).  So don’t presume no one Will be interested in what You are doing – You won’t know until You put Your Self out there!