Something stood out as I was reading How to Start a Successful Blog Today by The Minimalists Joshua Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. It was their three reasons for not blogging that caught my attention.
- Money. You should not start blogging to make money.
- Notoriety. Don’t plan on getting internet famous right away.
- Traffic. Not all traffic is good traffic (as we explained here), so don’t worry about getting thousands of readers right away.
Whoa, wait a second. Those are the exact three reasons why I started blogging. Aren’t they yours too? Let’s take them on one by one.
You Should Not Start Blogging to Make Money
The authors went further, writing, “If your primary objective is to replace your full time income from blogging, forget about it. It doesn’t work that way.” Yet, these guys quit their six-figure jobs and did just that. I guess we’re not them so it can’t be done.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with blogging for fun and not expecting to make any money off of it. For me, blogging takes time and time is money. If I’m not making income from blogging I would much rather be fishing or spending time with my kids.
Don’t Plan on Getting Internet Famous Right Away
If you’re blogging and not looking for notoriety then why are you writing it online? Why did you register a domain name? Why do you have an about page? You could have just used a pen and notepad or a journal.
Notoriety doesn’t have to be personal. It could be for your brand or your business. You blog because you want people to know about your content and to read and share it.
Not All Traffic is Good Traffic
If you’re doing paid advertising then I would agree that not all traffic is good traffic. With blogging, any traffic is better than no traffic. Now, there’s better traffic, more engaged traffic, more targeted traffic but there is no such thing as bad traffic.
To be transparent, I started this blog to make money, make a name for myself and to get as much traffic as I can. Now, in all fairness, Joshua and Ryan did write that these things could happen but warns that “you’ll be miserable.”
So if you’re thinking about starting a blog, do it today, do it now. Join me in being miserable 
. Finally, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Henry Ford whenever I’m thinking about starting anything.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. <- Click To Tweet This
What About You
Why do you blog?
A husband and a father first. I love blogging and helping others with blogging. 
Hmm interesting points.
I started blogging to show my expertise. Blogging isn’t the end game for me – I don’t intend to make money from blogging. I intend to make money from providing services, and I get those clients that buy my services to know, like and trust me through blogging and other social media strategies.
So for me, blogging is just a step forward to my end goal, which is making money by selling my services and programs.
Why do I blog? At first, it was a sideline, a way to express my views about the travel industry, web marketing, social media and new technologies: all things that, combined, represent my passions and expertise. It was tough at first, since I was employed in a time-consuming, high level VP position with a team to manage and lots of work, as can be expected.
I went my own way at the end of 2011, so my resolution for 2012 was to get more serious about blogging. Not necessarily to make money, get famous or generate loads of traffic, as per your post here, but in order to get my name out there and express some thought-leadership in my field. Blogging in both French and English, I have been consistent all year long and guess what? Traffic has been increasing steadily as an outcome for the efforts. Money? Not coming from the blog itself, but from the consultation and speaking gigs that stems from the blog popularity. So, all in all, it does indeed take time but things do come through if you stick to quality content and use social media to amplify it…
I’m reminded of a famous saying (so famous I can’t remember who said it). Anyway, it went something like if you focus on being happy, you’ll never actually be happy. The moral of the saying was that happiness comes when you’re doing other things, and it’s those that you should focus on.
I think it’s a similar thing with blogging. We may all want those three things, but if we focus purely on them, it’s probably unlikely that we’ll get there. If we instead focus on writing great content or securing speaking engagements then it’s more likely we’ll get to that superstar level where blogging can be classed as our career.
I think the reasons for blogging is naturally different for everyone. Some people excel at social media and playing the fame game, becoming a part of everyone’s online circle and peer group, yet attract traffic that isn’t necessarily targeted or interested in what their offering is. Other bloggers are very niche specific and focus on content generation and enjoy loads of relevant traffic by virtue of the fact that their blog has useful interesting information that everyone finds helpful.
With so many people online, different styles of writing and personalities attract different types of people. I think it is fair to say that most people that are online are blogging to create a source of income. Now, the levels of financial success are different for everyone and so is their marketing strategy, technical expertise, social media skills, etc. The bottom line is, blog because you enjoy it, focus on creative, witty, interesting content that will stand the test of time, and hopefully your efforts will be rewarded with targeted traffic that cares to read what you’ve got to say.
Very intriguing, very well thought out. I agree on all your points and I love your work. Marry me as soon as possible.