Millions of blogs were started in 2018, much like every year. And much like every year, many of them never made it out of 2018 alive. Instead, a few posts may have been created, maybe the blog owner changed the theme, and then nothing. Dormancy is the death of domains, let us tell you. And nobody wants to fail at making money from blogging.
While we didn’t write that to seem pessimistic, it’s the cold hard truth. In fact, according to Blog Tyrant, almost 60% of bloggers surveyed admit to abandoning their blogs soon after starting them.
There are plenty of practical things that can be done to make sure that your blog does not fall prey to abandonment or failure. But what are the root causes of this failure? How can we find these problems and take them on mano-a-mano?
The sad truth is that most don’t even realize the issues when they are staring them in the face. Realization is the first step towards prevention. Let’s make sure you know the signs.
The Number One Failure Point For Newer Blog Owners
Many people who frequent BloggerTips do so because they truly enjoy blogging. This same audience is looking to make their blog a larger part of their lives.
There are many reasons why bloggers do this. Many are searching out new streams of income, either to replace old streams or boost profits. Others may have concerns about hot button issues and are looking to provide a contribution to public understanding of a topic.
Beginning a fresh blog is a great time that can be chock full of enthusiasm and dreams of success. However, many bloggers run out of steam and the excitement disappears quickly. This occurs when they start realizing that obtaining traffic and results is not the fast-track that they once thought. Traffic is minimal, earnings are not stellar, and growth is hard to obtain.
So with all things considered, the number one failure point for newer blog owners is timelines. What are these timelines? How do they adversely affect a chance of a blog succeeding over time? Most importantly, what can be done to not let timelines be the reason your blog fails to make money in 2019? Let’s dig in!
Timelines: Where The Success of a Blog Rests
When starting a blog, you will spend a good bit of time and effort in getting things set up properly. From choosing a web host to buying your domain, from installing WordPress to curating content and building up a mailing list, there are so many steps involved in the process from the get go.
While performing all these tasks, it’s difficult to find the time to put some thought into the time it will take to see results. You might be so caught up in the “honeymoon period” that you forget about how long things take to come to fruition. And there is nothing wrong with that at all.
However, the truth of the matter is that a blog is not much different than a small business. Small businesses typically won’t break even for at least a full year, often times more.
What kind of time are we talking?
This is a hard pill to swallow, and can be difficult for bloggers to come to terms with. Blogging takes time. Often, this time is taken when you are doing something else that is higher priority, such as:
- Working a day job that takes at least 40 hours per week
- Raising children
- Trying to remain healthy and active
For these reasons, blogging is usually reserved for time that would otherwise be utilizes with relaxation.
It’s best to begin thinking about your website as a small business. When you do this, it becomes less of a chore and more of a goal, and the timelines don’t weight as heavily on you. As a ray of sunshine, the United States Small Business Administration has recently stated that half of new small businesses make it to Year Five.
Maybe this statistic doesn’t seem as impressive. However, when you stop and think of all the businesses created year after year, fifty percent is not bad odds at all.
While sample sizes for surveys like the above linked are small, there is ample reasoning to show that people either run out of steam or lose interest. This is truly indicative that many people who start small businesses are expecting the “big break” to occur far faster than it really does. But what does this mean? Is it possible that the expectations and timelines for how long it takes blogs to succeed might need to be dialed back? Let’s dig in.
Ensuring Blogs Don’t Fail in 2019
There are some wonderful methods and steps that can be taken to ensure that new blogs in 2019 do not fade away before the year comes to a close. Following these tips will help to solidify your blog’s success in the long run.
Set solid plans with proper deliverable dates
This is something that we have spoken of time and time again on BloggerTips. This is truly a thing that so many new and seasoned bloggers will pass right over. When starting a new blog in 2019, take the time to plan the process out. Create a content calendar. Determine the content you want to produce. Start writing! This will help to craft realistic expectations for results off the bat.
Setting reasonable metrics and plans with deliverable dates is so vital. It is one of the most applicable methods to avoid blogging burnout. The starting phases of developing a blog are going to be very slow, but deliverables and metrics will definitely help with that.
Discover ways to make your blog a standout
When checking out statistics about all the blogs out there, it is easy to see that your blog is just a tiny needle in a massive hay stack. One of the most important things that can be done when blogging is to determine what will set you apart.
Are you writing about a saturated (i.e. popular) topic? If so, what can be done to make your blog stand out and become memorable? This step is crucial to make sure you do not end up lost in the crowd in 2019.
Set sights on the goals of new visitors
It is vital for new blog growth to obtain consistent and growing flows of traffic. We have plenty of guides to methods of building traffic. Enough to make you aware that getting this traffic is far more in-depth than writing up articles and sharing on social media.
If that is your only plan for acquiring traffic in 2019, you’re going to have a bad time. Make traffic growth a priority in 2019. Use our guides on content curation and on-page search engine optimization help you write compelling content that ranks organically.
Network, network, network
Remember the old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? That applies in the blogging world too. Most successes in the blog-o-sphere come from the kindness and generosity of others. Actual website visitors, comrades discovering ideas, and fellow bloggers whose posts give you inspiration for your own. It comes from all angles.
Take a little bit of time to learn how to properly network in your niche. Link out in your best blog posts to larger blogs in your market. Let them know that they have received a link. Eventually, build genuine relationships to harvest potential collaborations and sharing.
Don’t be afraid to spend money
There’s another old saying prevalent in digital marketing and blogging: “You’ve got to spend money to make money”. Many bloggers have issues with the possibility of needing to shell out some coin to make a real impact. If you think of your blog as a small business, would this change your mindset? Picture starting a coffee shop and refusing to spend money on coffee beans.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of bloggers who believe that spending some money on proper promotion and setup is wasted funds. Such could not be further from the truth. Once you know you have your blog built with a good base, check out advertising experimentation. Force your blog onto others.
Develop research skills on proper campaign creation
This is a simple but highly effective concept: learn how to properly research for your articles and campaigns. Discover how to check competitor websites to mirror their successes. If you are truly looking to have a flourishing and growing blog in 2019, it’s vital to learn how to research the things that work well for others in your target market.
Doing so will provide you with new ideas, and to learn from their mistakes. You can improve on their processes as well, which helps out your readership, and builds you up as an authority in your brand.
–
Our list of suggestions can go on for pages and pages. However, focusing on a strategy that has prioritizes the success of timelines is one of the strongest things you can do for your blog in 2019. This will help with boosting traffic and increasing profits. Additionally, it will also help you avoid the obstacles many bloggers face regarding unrealistic expectations and abandonment.
Additional Risks Present for Bloggers in 2019
There are a ton of additional variables working against your blog’s success in this new year.
One that is talked about a good bit but not as it relates to the blogging world is net neutrality. Just a few United States regulatory updates and changes can cause millions upon millions of blogs just like yours to completely alter their business model and structure. While most of the Net Neutrality rumblings occurred in 2018 (and we all made it out unscathed), this process tends to push back up sneakily.
Also, if your blog is hosted on something other than WordPress, there is always the chance that something can occur with the blog platform itself. An example, Medium went to a subscription-focused model in 2017, that affected many blogs in 2018. While it comes with an upfront expense, setting up a blog, domain and WordPress through a provider such as Bluehost has many benefits in both the short- and long-term.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that, if you are reading and absorbing this, you are one of the fortunate ones. Blogging has such a low barrier to entry. There is no need to hire an army of staff right off the bat. There are no business loans that need to be applied for or debt that you need to plunge into. Instead, with just a few dollars and a couple hours of your time, you can develop a career straight from the comfort of your own home. Many others around the world slave away in fields and factories hoping for the dream that you will hopefully set forth on in 2019.
With these noted and the Don’t List of how to fail at making money from blogging, you are set. We are quite progressive about blogging’s future in 2019 and beyond. With the current state of things around the world, more and more people will look to the internet to get their voices heard.
Your Thoughts on Making Money from Blogging in 2019?
What are your thoughts on blogging in 2019? We would love to hear from you. Do you think blogging will be replaced with an alternative? What are your thoughts on services such as Instagram Live and Snapchat Stories to replace the old written word? Drop us a comment and let us know your thoughts on the future of blogging, and what you are doing to ensure your blog, new or old, doesn’t fail in 2019.
