Spoiler alert: Blogging can be tough. I mean like real tough.

I am telling you this because I have been in it for over a year now.

I know what you are probably thinking. It is the same thing that an outsider thinks before he or she gets into the real-life situation.

You probably are thinking this: what the hell is he talking about? Blogging is just purchasing hosting, installing WordPress, writing a few sketchy blog posts, combining some blackhat SEO technics, ranking on the first page of google, enjoying the fruits of your “hard labor” in terms of paycheck after paycheck, quitting your job and then moving to your own private island.

Okay, I will tell you what?

That’s total bullshit.

There, I said it, it is bullshit.

I know what has happened to you.

You have consumed a lot of income reports that are published by A-list Bloggers to the point that they have led you into believing that everything is so simple.

I know the feeling, before I started blogging, I had the same feeling.

I thought blogging would be as easy as memorizing the letters of the alphabet.

Okay, that is true, the only difference is I am trying to memorize the letters of the alphabet and I am exactly three months old. I know you will have to agree with me on this one: totally impossible.

Enough of this scary shit.

Are you starting a blog?

Then I bet I have some advice for you pal.

Here is how you don’t quit blogging within the first few months:

1.    THINK REAL HARD BEFORE YOU GET TO SETTLE FOR A PARTICULAR NICHE

You probably have heard the word niche being thrown around a lot when it comes to blogging.

Some people claim that you should pick the niche that has the biggest potential for making money.

But I sat the other day down and asked myself this: what if the Topic that has the largest potential to make money is something that I don’t know and I am not even interested in?

Yeah, you can pretend you like the topic and even start writing articles related to the topic. But who do you think you are fooling here? Everyone has the ability to tell someone who does something because he or she has to do it from someone who does something because he or she loves it. Choosing to write on a specific topic because it has the potential to make you money is the wrong decision.

What do you think will want to read boring blogs written by someone who wrote them because he or she had to write them?

Sorry! Nobody!

So, what are the factors that you should look for when choosing a blogging niche or blogging topic?

FACTOR#1: LOVE THE TOPIC

It does not matter whether you know next to nothing about the topic as long as you love it. When you love the topic, you can make time for it and learn more about it. Once you are in love with a topic, your readers will tell about it in your writing. Due to the simple fact that you are writing about something you have passion for, you won’t write boring articles that you spin from the internet. This will keep your readers around.

FACTOR#2: LET THE TOPIC HAVE A PROBLEM YOU CAN SOLVE

If you are a blogger, then, you are supposed to be a problem solver by default. If your topic does not have any visible problem you can solve, look deeper, there are always problems to be solved. If you surely can’t see any problem to solve, leave that niche alone. People read blogs in order to solve problems. They don’t just read blogs to waste time. Who even has time to waste nowadays?

FACTOR#3: KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE TOPIC

You don’t have to be the guy who knows nothing about spacecrafts and colonizing mars and yet you want to roll your sleeves and write about this topic.  Just don’t do it. Let Elon Musk write about it.

Don’t write about rocket science if you do not know the first thing about it. People hate being lied to.

2.    AIM TO OFFER VALUE BEFORE YOU THINK ABOUT MONEY

Facebook solved the problem that we had about not being able to communicate cheaply. Look at Facebook now, worth billions of dollars.

Google made it possible for us to find information online easily. Look at Google now. Worth billions of dollars.

There is money to made when you offer value. There is nothing to be made when no value is being offered.

Consider this: who could be using Facebook if there is no value that he or she was gaining? The answer is nobody.

Now, can Facebook make any money while nobody is using it?

NO!

Then what makes you think that you can make money from your blog without offering value.

3.    YOU MUST HAVE PATIENCE IN YOU

You will agree with me that you can never build anything substantial in a few weeks.

To build something great will take you months and sometimes even years.

If you start a blog today expecting to get thousands of readers by the end of next week, I will tell you what, you are in for a very huge shock.

It is this lack of patience that works towards convincing you that you will never succeed.

But I will tell you this:

Even those bloggers who are getting thousands of views daily on their blogs started where you are right now. The only thing they had in them was patience.

4.    YOU MUST BE WILLING TO WORK WITH OTHER BLOGGERS

Don’t join blogging thinking that it is a personal thing because it isn’t.

Find other bloggers who are already doing better than you and get to know them.

These are the people who will help you grow and move to the next level in your career.

One thing that you have to realize is the fact that you have got nothing to fear.

Okay, I will be honest, I used to fear bloggers who were already doing really well in the careers.

But here is something I discovered: I had nothing to fear in the first place. These influencers are usually very social and are always open to helping newbies.

The only thing you have got to do is approach them and offer value. Any value.

That way, they will reciprocate and offer you what you need for you to grow.

5.    DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF WITH A-LIST BLOGGERS

Yeah, I know the kind of income reports they are posting online.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars each and every month.

Let that just serve as inspiration and not a way to measure your capabilities.

Believe me, if you do compare yourself with these bloggers, I assure you that you will quit blogging before you have even blogged for a year.

WRAPPING UP…

It is easy to start a blog.

It is not so easy to continue blogging until you reach the level of success that you would like.

But, now you know what to do which is an added advantage for you.

Know Your Guest Blogger Better

Hey guys, my name is Mathenge Maina and I am the person behind the blog mathengemaina.com where I write articles that help bloggers and writers level up in their careers. I am that coffee addict who by day is trying to figure out what chemical engineering is all about while by night I am writing for bloggers and writers. By the way am on twitter: @mathengemaina1