You do have time to blog if you play your cards right. Blogging is one of those things that sounds easier than it is. If you’re starry eyed from the idea of monetizing your blog and enjoying passive income, or making millions like one of the rare YouTube sensations, it’s time for a reality check.
Yes, you can make a decent living as a blogger but it takes a lot of time, skill, and commitment. However, the “time” part is what a lot of people struggle with.
Exceptionally good bloggers dish out equal parts of high quality content and speed. Once you get your own system down, it’s very possible to whip up a post in under five minutes. This can be done with a variety of approaches, including acting as a curator, wherein you search for videos, images or other information and simply share it with your audience. A great example is CakeWrecks, a highly popular blog cum book where followers send in “cake fails” and the blogger writes witty descriptions.
As you can see, this would be fairly easy to do in under five minutes. However, you have to build a following first in order for this to be effective.
Time management
Newbie bloggers can easily spend hours writing their blog posts, and even more if they’re perfectionists. Your time is valuable and should have a dollar amount assigned to it. It’s rare that someone who takes four hours to write a blog on how to apply eyeshadow (with no video production requirements or the like) will ever be able to write timely text blogs. Sometimes you either have it or you don’t.
However, almost anyone can make better use of their time and that starts with pinpointing your weaknesses. Do you suffer from writer’s block? Maybe you need to figure out what inspires you and indulge in that before sitting down to write. Are you distracted by time killing sites like Mashable or Facebook? Creating a productive blogging space and refusing to engage in distractions can work wonders.
The time crunch
If your time issue is more along the lines of struggling to blog while you juggle a full-time job, family responsibilities, taking care of your health or other hobbies, you might want to re-think blogging right now. It’s not something you can do haphazardly. It requires full concentration and the ability to engage your audience. Much like a customer service rep, this means you need to be “on” and accessible once you start getting followers on a regular basis.
Not sure if you’re ready to start blogging? Here are a few red flags that you’re not prepared (yet) and might need to re-structure your priorities or shelf blogging for now:
- You dread blogging and you haven’t even done it that long yet. If you don’t enjoy it now, how are you going to keep powering through five times per week (or more) six months from now? An abandoned blog is worse than one that hasn’t been started.
- You’re not good at your medium. Whether your blog is text-, image- or video-centric, if you’re not good at your medium, your quality suffers. Low quality is the biggest blog killer of all. Instead, consider where you naturally shine and work your blog around it.
- You’re just in it for the money. That’s like taking an acting class just because you want to have all the money of Brad Pitt. You need to have a passion for blogging and realize that only a scarce few will “make it.” Statistically, you probably won’t be one of them.
There are the rare bloggers who find their stride quickly and choose a subject that’s enjoyable and profitable. Trust your gut. If it feels right, stay on track even during those days when nobody “likes” your posts.
