What I've Learned From 7 Years of Blogging & Making Money Online

I started blogging 7 years ago. Yes, I got into the era where blogging is still to become popular. I can say that at that moment, money is really easy. Well, people don’t know much about internet marketing and they don’t know about ads. Most internet users know is that blue text means link. In fact, having high CPC and CTR rate on Adsense at that moment were really not a big deal. It’s just common for blogs to have that and the 100 USD thresholds can be reached within a day.

But this year, it’s totally a different chapter. Blogging is common and internet users know the difference between an ad unit and a link or image. In fact, most of the users nowadays hate ads! Well, we can’t really blame them because of the fact that many publishers mis-used the ad. Instead of focusing on the content and giving fresh new content, they tend to focus more on marketing and earning money. That’s the reason why most bloggers fail now on converting their content to revenue. So with this in mind, how can we make a living out of blogging?

#1 Blogging is not a business neither a profession!

To tell you the truth, blogging is not a living. It’s neither a business nor a profession where you can earn money. It’s just a hobby and if you love your hobby, then you can possibly convert it to cash. That’s the mindset you should have if you want to turn your blog into profit. In fact, you should not think of money at first. If you have a job, then do your job! And when you have time, spend it blogging on something you love.

“Spend your vacant time blogging on something you love”- These words may not be as inspirational as “blog with a specific niche and earn money online” but, the fact is, this is blogging. The truth about blogging is that it is not a way to earn money. They are misleading you guys! Blogging is sharing something you really know well to all those people who go to your blog every day. In short, it is sharing something that you really like and love to people who have a common interest.

#2 Trust is an issue if you are blogging

Another really important thing that you should consider is that before you think of any revenue, you should think of your blog first. Is your blog legal? Is your blog not a scam? Is your blog trustworthy? Just think of this. You might get a click once or twice when you decided to make a click bait site with no quality content but in the long run, let me ask you this, “Will you still have anyone visiting your blog if people already knew that it’s just a page full of crap?” Definitely, no one will ever visit it again!

When they are saying quality content, they are referring to something that people will find interesting or, something that is full of facts and most of all, something that is trustworthy. Just for example, if your title will say that “Whiten your teeth in two minutes”, then your title must deliver that kind of result. But, if it’s just click bait and viewers will end up seeing a product that can whiten teeth or, a common method that they already know, then sorry pal, you just marked your site as a spam!

#3 Nowadays, there’s no such thing as “Best SEO Method”

I know you have bumped into different websites or blog offering that they know of the best SEO technique to apply on your blog to get tons of traffic. If you believe them, then you are really lost, my friend. I have been blogging for 7 years and I also did a lot of SEO and that kind of stuff. However, when I began to just blog and not use any SEO at all, that’s when I got a lot of readers on my tech blog. All those methods like correct keyword counts, backlinks, and other SEO stuff are not really important. It’s just flowery words in my own opinion. The thing is, blogging has no mathematical formula! It is just pure blogging, like writing an essay. If you know how to express your thoughts by writing, then you can blog. Also the backlinks. Well, they say that good backlinks can get your site on the front page. But the truth is, a good backlink refers to a good referral link. Say for example, if you are creating an article about an experimental drug and then, there are past experiments about this drug. Then you link your article to that past experiment for reference or proof that the drug has already been tested. Then that is a good backlink! You can’t really just choose a text and just link it to any links that have high PR. Instead, you need to link it to something that it is worth the read also, and has a common interest as your article.

So in short, there is really no formula in blogging. Once again, you just need to blog and know a thing or two about layout design on your blog and, just write something like you are just telling a story.

#4 Social Media is your friend when you are a blogger

In the early stage of blogging, your only friend is Google and you need to please him to get the top spot. You do tons of tricks just to rank up high and even try black hat SEO. But that’s not the case today. In the past, right after you post something great, you just then wish that Google will index it on the top but today, you have the power to share your post! With the help of Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and any other social media out there, people can easily find your content. But of course, POST CONTENT THAT MATTERS AND NOT CLICK BAITS!

Now, you can create a page on Facebook and then gather all those potential readers of your blog and then share your article. Or you can join a group (which is related to your topic of course) and then share your blog or even your page to them. You can also create a twitter account and invite friends that have the same interest as you or, you can go to Google Plus and also invite friends or, go to communities where you can share your blog. Just ensure that your blog has good info to share and you will definitely get that traffic that you desire.

#5 How successful your blog will depend on how much time and effort you’re put on it

If you want to have a great harvest, then you should work hard for it first. The fact is, it will take years before you can earn something stable with your blog. My first earning on my blog was 121 USD and, it was after a year of blogging. I was blogging while I was studying that time. I did not focus much on blogging as I prioritized first my studies but, every time I post something on my tech blog, I make sure that it is informative, new and reliable. I just did blogging for the sake of sharing technology news to other techies out there but after a few years of hard labor, I really earn stable revenue from it.

So that is all that I have learned from 7 years of blogging! I hope that my experienced and what I have shared with you will help you in some way and most of all, I hope that your blog will be successful.

For more blogging tips and articles, come and join our facebook community @ facebook.com/webjunkiesblog.