The Reality of Blogging

First and foremost, don't quit your day job. I smile every single time I read an article giving you 10 Easy Ways to Make Some Cash on the Side. Besides all the usual suspects on what are essentially, ridiculous posts simply written for the clicks they will no doubt generate, like walking people's dogs or renting out a spare room in your house, one that seems to always make the list is to start a blog.

Consider that as of May of 2023 there are an estimated 600 million blogs currently on the Internet. Yes. You read that correctly. 600 million blogs.

Granted, that's worldwide. Out of those 600 million blogs on the Internet, less than 1% are even remotely successful and generate enough income to do it full time. And most of those are literally businesses. So, the thought that making any significant side cash from writing a blog is quite a stretch to say the least.

That's not to say that writing a blog bears absolutely no fruit. With time, and a ton of content, you can slowly build an audience that is sizeable enough to at least make writing a blog worth your time. But it's far from easy to do this. And it's far from full time wages.

This blog, for example, has a rather large audience and does generate income. But it's not job replacing income. Not by a long shot.

It is also not meant to discourage anyone from writing a blog. If you love to write, like I do, it's okay if it is more of a labor of love than something that puts food on the table. And if you can write well, you will capture an audience. 

But it still takes many years, and like I said, a ton of content to do this. And in order to achieve any level of success, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to keep producing content even if no one sees it at first, or even if only a few people see it years later after starting.

The bottom line is that it is as tough to break in with blogging as it is tough to break in with most things. Just because you don't have to wait for an editor to give the go-ahead to publish something like the days of old doesn't mean it will be any easier to get your word out.

Many people who self-publish books, for example, quickly learn it's extremely tough to actually sell books. That is, until you can land your work before just the right set of eyes that helps things along. In the case of blogging, that's a set of eyes that likes what you do enough that maybe they share it with a few other people who also like it and share it with a few more people.

Even then, if it only happens a few times, it's not going to have that great of an impact on your overall success blogging.

Again, it is not to tell anyone, "Hey, don't waste your time." I have been doing this for decades and it can have its rewards. I am simply saying to not have great expectations when you hit that publish button for the first time that it will be a life-changing event.

It won't be. I assure you.

By all means, if you like to write and have something to share that people will enjoy reading, you will build an audience and you will enjoy some success. You may even join the precious ranks of the very few who break through the barriers enough to go at it full time and actually make a living doing it.

But if you are coming into blogging thinking it's an easy way to make money? Think again. It's not that at all. There are 599,999,999 other blogs out there competing for the same sets of eyes that yours is. And that's the reality of blogging.

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