If You Build It They Will Come. It’s that easy.

Or IS it?

When I started writing this post, it didn’t have a title. I knew exactly what I wanted to write about, but the title completely evaded me.

I wanted to come up with a title that said everything about the post’s topic, but even as I’m writing this sentence, the title space for this post is “Enter title here”. LOL!

After reading some of the comments on this blog, I wanted to write about patience in starting your own blog.

I know that when I started this blog, I was so incredibly impatient! I wanted it to grow and start making Money like…yesterday. Because I was in a job that I really hated, and I NEEDED an immediate ‘OUT’.

All of the information that I’d previously read online about starting a blog said that I should be able to start and grow this thing in about 3 months.

But all of that shit was SO MISLEADING!

My expectations were that I’d be able to quit my job in 90 days because of this blog, and that didn’t happen. So out of frustration, I walked away from it, and I stayed away for six months.

I’d grown to resent it. I resented all of the time it took me to realize that this bitch is a TON of work! But I came back

That experience taught me that there are two things, and only two things that you absolutely NEED to have when you start a blog; Patience and a healthy dose of cynicism.

You need to know that when you create the name for your blog, and sign up for your domain and hosting, you haven’t even scratched the surface. You’re starting out on a journey, and with that domain name purchase, you’ve only just decided on where you might like to go.

That’s what getting your name and hosting amounts to in the ‘real world’.

Are you re-thinking your decision?

Honestly, had I known how much actual work this blogging thing was going to be, I might not have started it. Which kind of makes me thankful now that I didn’t know.

What I knew at the time, was what I was reading all over the www. Which was, that was that I could “set up my new blog in 20 minutes!”

Any honest blogger will tell you, that’s pure horseshit.

And think about it; blogging is probably one of the only things you can start, that has the potential to make tens of thousands of dollars a month.

You could create a blog that makes more money in a month than you could make in a year (or three).

Where else could you do this?

Seriously! Where?

I’ve always said “nothing worth having is easy to get”. Why should a successful, money making blog be any different?

Regardless of what you want to blog about, you can start a blog in one of what I call the “Big 6” niches, and be all but guaranteed to pull in a minimum of 4 figures a month.

But it’s anything BUT easy.

Here’s to all of that “If You Build It They Will Come” advice:

Did you ever see the movie “Field of Dreams”?

Kevin Costner plays an Iowa farmer, who hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying “If you build it, he will come”.

He feels the irresistible urge to build a baseball diamond on his land. As a result, the ghosts of great players start emerging from the crops to play ball, led by baseball great “Shoeless Joe” Jackson.

But the farmer learns that this field of dreams is about much more than bringing former baseball greats out to play.

I like to compare the “Start your blog” landscape to Field of Dreams.

When you decide to start a blog, all of your attempts at research via other bloggers are saying the same thing; “If you build it, they will come!” Meaning blog traffic, and of course, mad money.

But unlike Field of Dreams, the voices whispering at you are those of more successful bloggers, who’re also saying, “It’s super easy! You can do it in about 20 minutes! Just use my link to get your hosting for $2.95 a month!”

So you click on the link, and get your domain name and hosting.

Happy? Relieved?

To some degree, you are

But both of these feelings are short lived, as you soon find out.

You start to experience more than a few ‘bumps’ in the road to getting that blog up and running. First, thanks to that link you clicked, you got ‘dinged’ for 3 years of hosting in order to get that kick-ass price. You’re not sure you even want it for the next few days!

In addition, you get to the task of setting up WordPress and the installation fails. You have no idea why.

Next, your SSL certificate isn’t ‘installed’, and when you type in your blog address, you keep getting a blank screen with a message telling you that your connection is “dangerous” and you should click away to ‘safety’ as quickly as you can.

It scares the living shit out of you because you now think that your own blog has opened you up to some kind of virus!

The trials continue, and your new blogging journey quickly starts to feel like you’re on the road to hell.

Whatshisnose (that big blogger) didn’t mention any of this!

No shit. They never do.

When I started this blog, I started it with the intention of making money. Period.

How I was going to make that money? I had no f*cking clue! But I “knew” that if I started it, they would come, and so would the money.

I knew that all I had to do was build the damn thing, and I’d be making upwards of $3k a month. Because that’s what all those ‘other bloggers’ told me that they’d done. And they told me that it was super easy to do!

“I’m not stupid! It’ll be easy!”

Blogging fatigue set in at about the six month mark.

The “if you build it, they will come” mentality is a fallacy. It’s untrue. What’s more difficult than building the blog, is getting the traffic and readership that you’ll need to make money with it.

People say that you don’t really need traffic to make money with a blog.

But those people lie.

Think about how stupid that sounds; “You can make money blogging without any readers…”

And there’s no doubt, some course ‘valued’ at $997 that’ll teach you how to go about doing just that.

Don’t buy in. Don’t gulp the Kool-Aid.

Blogging is WORK. If you enjoy it, that’s half the battle. But like I said before, a healthy dose of patience and cynicism will go a LONG way to maintaining your sanity in this space

Peace. 

Debbie

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