Have you found trying to start a blog a challenge?
Today’s post is written by my friend and SEO expert Kimsea Sok.
With his unique voice and colorful personality, Kimsea explains what to realistically expect when you start a blog.
Warning: Kimsea’s post contains modified expletives.
by Kimsea Sok
You might have heard bloggers generate hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars from blogging.
Have you heard about that?
The Forbes magazine has demonstrated the truth—10 wildly successful blogs that earn an outlandish income. Last year, the Entrepreneurs magazine also stated 8 people who made $1 million from blogging on its website.
Much more information has been published that substantiated the bloggers who are making a pretty revenue from blogging.
So what now?
You’re intending to start a blog and insisting on creating an amazing story like the above-mentioned bloggers.
Are you?
Wait a few minutes, please.
Before you answer me, I need you to be patient and spend a few more minutes to finish reading this article.
Sometimes, you will change your mind and give me an unexpected answer. Here are my 7 untold reasons you shouldn’t start blogging.
1. If You Start a Blog, You Won’t Get Rich
In fact, blogging isn’t all about the money but people mostly start blogging because they expect to make a huge income from blogging.
The reason, I first have to clarify the point.
Reading the success stories and income reports of the bloggers inspires you to build your own story since you believe that you will get everything in place.
You’re looking for instructions to start blogging or perhaps you’ve already started a blog.
Here is a magical question:
If all these bloggers easily make $1 million from their blogs, why aren’t all of them driving Ferraris or souped-up sports cars?
Blogging can be extremely different from what you’ve contemplated.
I’ve spent 9 years of my life with blogging. The first three years were to learn from my mistakes and making the first f***ing d*** $25.
Depending on your personal experience, you aren’t going to make a huge income or even a small buck if you’ve just created a new blog last month.
Don’t be confused.
I’m not trying to persuade you to get away from [blogging[ or saying blogging isn’t a real way to make money.
Look!
If people couldn’t make money blogging, why did I spend 9 years of my life trying?
My point is blogging isn’t an easy business, and you won’t make any income unless you’re committed to it.
Of course. I’m a full-time blogger who earns a passive income from blogging. Although I don’t make a million dollars from my blog, I enjoy the lifestyle plus find more freedom for myself and family.
2. You Will Fall in the Hell of Blogging
Freedom, huh? I have no f***ing idea what I just said.
Maybe I’m different or maybe I’m not different from you.
I’ve never predicted an overnight success or getting rich because of starting a blog, but I’m wrestling with lifestyle changes and getting more freedom.
I’m sick and tired of getting up in the early morning and the rushed eating of breakfast.
I don’t want to leave the coffee shop at 7:30 am to put my finger on the finger print machine before 8:00 am.
I’d love to spend at least an hour chatting or commenting with friends on Facebook before I get to work in the morning.
I definitely hate the Cambodia Labor Law—working 8 hours a day and 46 hours a week.
So what happens after I became a full-time blogger?
Well. Everything is completely unpredictable.
I forgot what month of the year it is.
The last time I looked at the calendar was the earlier part of July. After a few days, “Welcome to August!” appeared when a friend updated a Facebook status.
What a surprise!
I passed over 3 weeks without any acknowledgment.
You know what? The earlier part of July seems like yesterday to me.
To be honest, I prefer to work four or five hours per day and five days per week.
As I told you, everything is unpredictable.
The clients drove me to work past midnight, and I scheduled the phone call with another client at 8:00 am.
I didn’t take any holidays for over three months.
In spite of working for the clients, I have to keep my own business running—to write articles and market my blogs.
The morning starts with hundreds of emails which include terrible advertisements.
I have to commit to reading and commenting on at least 15 articles every morning to ensure stronger relationships in the community.
In addition, I need to embarrass myself in front of the camera in a private studio for my YouTube channel two or three times a week.
Most importantly, even if I am so busy with clients, I have to manage time to write content for my own blog. But if I don’t write for my own blog, my blog will lose traffic so that clients can’t find my business.
Tasks scheduling and time management are so important for blogging and freelancing.
“Is my dream about starting a high blood pressure business?” I frequently asked myself.
It seems that blogging is putting me in hell.
In contrast, I’m enjoying working, reading, and communicating with other people at the coffee shop each morning.
If I want to make life a bit easier, I can say “NO” or ask the clients to wait for me.
For sure. You’re not saying “NO” to the boss.
3. You Will Never Be Proud of Your Dream Job
Regardless of making money from your blog and getting more freedom, is there any fact that inspires you to start blogging?
I’m dreaming of having my photo on the book cover.
I will contribute the book to all universities in my locale and make my community proud of what I’ve ever done.
People in Cambodia will shout out the story and struggle to follow what I did in life.
Of course, they won’t…
If you were in Cambodia, you won’t tell your friends anything about your career because they don’t believe in an internet job.
You might be considered as a scammer If you try to chat or persuade them to do anything relating to blogging.
The knowledge of an internet job in Cambodia is distinct from your country.
“Stop wasting time with a nonsense career because you aren’t going get it done,” my friend advised.
“What are you doing for a living now?” another friend asked me.
“I’m a full-time blogger and work online,” I answered my friend.
You know what?
His wife looked at me using an attitude which was difficult to explain in English, but what I’m sure is she was worried that I will cheat her husband.
Holly s***! What a terrible job I had!
On the negative side, it seems all things are wrong in my life, but when looking at the positive, I’m going to make some changes.
A majority of Cambodians are following my work and are always proud of the achievements I’ve done. Moreover, I was featured as an expert blogger on the HuffingtonPost and variety of fortune blogs.
The most inspiration is, a blogger mentioned my name as a mentor blogger on his blog; that pushes me to continue the blogging career.
4. The People on the Internet Are A**h****.
Being a man on the internet is a serious trouble.
You might be considered as a scammer by your close friend’s wife or by many more people.
Last month, I saw different and typical questions from the newbie bloggers regarding how to apply for Google Ads.
I wrote an experience of how to get an AdSense account approved after publishing the 4th article to help those who need to monetize their blogs with Google Advertising.
Guest what?
A guy commented on the Facebook group and tried to explain that I wrote the worst advice and in the most unethical way.
“You are lying”, another guy said in the forum discussion.
I’ve no f***ing idea why people love judging even if they know nothing at all relating to another person.
Those two guys didn’t even read my article but considered me as a scammer.
Are people on the internet a**h****?
Wait! Do not answer. That’s not all I faced.
A few years ago, a Cambodian guy pinged me a message and told me the current situation of his life. He asked for help with starting blogging as he’s hungry to change his lifestyle.
I taught him everything I knew and bought him both of the essential things such as hosting and domain.
After a short time, the guy abandoned his dream and told [me] that it’s impossible.
He didn’t want to waste his time anymore.
I never help and pay anyone to change their life unless they are struggling to change themselves.
In spite of being considered a scammer, you might be cheated on the internet.
Last month, I saw a friend posted a status and said a guy cheated him just for a buck.
The first time you start blogging, you will be cheated by a variety and typical scammers from anywhere of the earth.
Me, too; I was cheated many times but not too much.
As I remember, a man who I knew over a year cheated me $75 for paying for business kinds of things.
The internet is full of surprises!
While wasting time discuss the bad guys, why don’t we value the good guys?
During 9 years as a blogger, I know so many people from different parts of the earth such as US, Canada, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and so on.
Those friends are much too similar to me—they are struggling to change their lives.
We’re helping and motivating each other to enhance a better lifestyle and to succeed in this career.
I have the biggest family on the globe.
Those bloggers aren’t cyber friends, but they’re a real family.
Back in 2013. As far as I remember, I needed $100 for paying for the business. “Anyone, could I borrow a hundred dollars?”
A friend from Facebook messaged me his credit card and security number. Lol!
He said, “Use any available balance you need.”
That’s crazy, huh?
Many amazing things to remember such as an editor from Canada helped me with editing an article for free of charge, an Indian SEO created .gov backlinks for free, and sundry.
Maybe, I’m wrong. The people on the internet aren’t always a*******.
I decided to end the memory with the good friends rather than the a******* who are using illegal ways to make money.
What about you?
What do you want to end up with?
5. People Are Lying—Start Blogging with a Free Platform
Free blogging business is another significant factor to clarify.
I’ve seen a majority of advice suggested the newbie start a blog with free blogging platforms.
An answer from my heart: It’s completely terrible advice.
Absolutely, you should not.
A million mistakes I did with blogging, but the biggest was, I wasted two years with free blogging platforms like Blogger.
I understand people from developing countries are serious about investing money on the internet.
If you’re not sure, you will never spend a buck.
Me too! The first time I start blogging, I didn’t even have ten dollars for buying a custom domain for my Blogger blog.
I spent eight months blogging on a BlogSpot subdomain and deleted that blog when I realized the mistakes.
Again, I created a new blog and bought a custom domain from a local hosting company as I didn’t have any credit cards.
“Even if I made ten dollars a year, I still wouldn’t lose,” was the only thing that inspired me to buy the custom domain.
Unfortunately, that $10 didn’t help me to generate any income.
I was overwhelmed and giving up…
No matter how, I gave myself another second chance to change my life so I made a bigger investment in my blogging career.
I went to a local bank and deposited five hundred dollars for a Visa card.
I paid a hosting provider $350 to put my blog on the internet for three years. Also, I bought a premium theme at $69 and content upgrade plugin at $77.
The last second chance is three years long.
How many times did you give yourself a second chance, by the way?
Since it’s my business and last chance, the thing changed. The investment compelled me to set a game plan and take everything seriously.
I’m not mentioning the benefits of online reputation and others, but the changes of personal attitudes.
Once you invested both money and other resources in blogging, you made your blog a business and that will drive you to:
- Put more eyes and more time on blogging.
- Develop strategies, plans, and figure out what works and what doesn’t
- I don’t know, but you can tell me in the comment below
It’s now your choice.
Do you want to start blogging as a business or as a place to learn to blog?
6. Blogging Isn’t Just to Start a Blog
What are the duties of a blogger in your opinion?
Creating a blog, writing posts, and marketing the contents via social platforms are the very basic, but there is so much routine work that needs to be done.
To be a blogger, you are obligated to perform different duties that require multiple business skills.
In general, you are an entrepreneur and business owner. Once in a while, you are an author and editor. You sometimes are a marketing guru. And spasmodically, you’re the customer service worker who deals with clients’ problems.
Those works are stressful plus they require a high-level of knowledge and typical experiences, especially the time management.
To start blogging isn’t as easy as breaking a piece of cookie in your mouth.
Blogging will be much more difficult when you have other duties at your office of your regular job.
Is blogging a flexible business, though?
It seems that you will have overload and challenging work when starting a blog. In contrast, those works won’t be stressful but enjoyable if you love what you’re doing.
What’s more, many bloggers will give a hand to solve the issues you face.
You need to pay attention and spend more time on blogging, but it doesn’t have to be a specific time. Also, there are wildly helpful tools available to leverage blogging power and to make your life easier.
So, you have more than enough to go with if you’re good at arranging your schedule.
7. Branding A Blog Is Difficult and Costs a Fortune
When it comes to being a blogger, a lot of work is waiting for you, but the most I’m so sick and tired of is branding a new blog.
Branding a blog isn’t a one-time process but continually takes much more time, requires hard work, and sometimes costs a fortune to maintain improvements.
According to the statics, there were 173 million of active blogs in 2011. On average, 12,000 new blogs with 275,000 articles were created every single day.
How do you plan to stand out with the highly competitive rate?
Please do not tell me you’re progressing on the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
Mark Zuckerberg and his team said they’re doing the best to provide better users’ experience. Hence, a hundred times they changed Facebook’s algorithm so your post only reaches your mom and girlfriend.
Google LLC is the same. Depending on Matt Cutts, the web spam team, your article isn’t going to get on the top of Google unless it’s quality content.
Google doesn’t pass all the links’ values to the article unless they are high-quality and relevant. The low quality or bad backlinks will damage your SEO ranking.
When hearing those people shout out, blah, blah, blah…, it seems to me that they’re trying to tell me, “Hey, spend your money with Google or Facebook’s advertising program, and they will help with exposing your new brand.”
As I told you, the first time I started blogging, I didn’t even have $10 for buying a custom domain, so how can I invest candy dollars for the advertising campaign?
In fact, you don’t have to…
You don’t need to reach a million page views in order to make money from your blog, but a few people who are intending to buy your affiliate products.
To be honestly, on average, my blog generates 3k — 5k visitors and around 10k —12k page views per month. 267 people subscribed to my channel, and usually, YouTube brings 5k views a month.
However, I could generate a pretty income from that less trafficked blog and small YouTube channel.
When your blog is very new, you don’t have to focus on driving massive traffic, but keeping consistency and trying to engage with people in their areas of interests.
Start building the online reputation and great portfolios so it’s more than enough to monetize your blog.
WRAP UP
To start a blog isn’t as difficult as bringing your inborn talents out of your body.
If you’re enjoying what you’re doing with blogging, you’ll bring the processes straightforward to be successful.
Invest yourself and other resources in the business. This helps with changing the mindset that will lead you in a positive direction.
Interact with the professionals and your audiences to raise your new brand and to create your online reputation. That is much more important than traffic.
When you’re new to blogging, you have to focus on keeping consistent progress and enjoying what you’re passionate about rather than making money from your blog.
I swear, your payday will come at the right time after your hard work.
Host Blogger’s Comments:
In his introduction, Kimsea wrote, “Here are my 7 untold reasons you shouldn’t start blogging.”
His article shares the reality of blogging. These are truths many bloggers never tell.
For this reason, you can become disillusioned when you start a blog.
Kimsea’s post takes the “rose-colored glasses” off the blogger. While cynical, his post is important. It prevents people wishing to start a blog from starting blogging with unrealistic expectations.
Readers, please share, so other people who want to start a blog realistically know what blogging entails and what they can expect from the experience.
What do you think? Did Kimsea keep it real or was he too cynical? I look forward to your views about the kind of picture he paints when you attempt to start a blog.
