About 10 years ago I had an idea for a blog.
I dove in (on Blogger), started creating posts, figured out how to add images, jazzed up my copy, and… waited…
I had three readers in total: my husband, my MIL, and my coworker who was also launching a blog at the same time.
Over the course of the next year, I acquired a handful of readers. I got my first angry-troll email. I updated my design. Then I got bored. I ran out of ideas. There was a huge lull in posting. Then fits and starts. Then I just closed up shop. I couldn’t sustain it because I was uninspired. I launched a blog because I wanted a blog, not because I had an idea for that blog. So, it failed.
By the time I launched this blog in summer 2009, I had learned that the first thing you need when you start a blog is {{insert drumroll here for major truth-telling}} a TOPIC!
If you landed here from a Google search, I imagine you want to start a blog, and you want it to be about pets. That’s awesome! Congrats! I can’t wait to read it!
BTW, if you’re trying to figure out how to start a pet blog <—– start there. Then come back to today’s post!
Now that I’m coming up on 10 years of blogging–9 here–I thought I’d pull together some thoughts about what I’ve learned over the last decade. I figured I’d share five things I wish I knew before I started this www. (Note: This is just part one! I tend to get wordy, but if you have any questions at all about blogging’s ins and outs once you finish reading, leave ’em in the comments here, and I’ll add those to part two. Or three. Or a Facebook Live. Whatever you guys need!)
Pet blogging 101, aka 5 things I wish I knew before I launched:
- Don’t over-analyze or overthink or obsess. Just work.
Blogging requires a ton of behind-the-scenes work, and it’s easy to let those details pile up and bog you down. Should I edit my photos in Canva or should I invest in Photoshop? What should my content marketing strategy be? How should I manage my editorial calendar? Which plugins do I need? Does this post hit my ideal SEO terms? etc. etc. etc. until you’ve spent a ton of time doing everything but blogging! I lost a lot of time trying to figure out lots of things before I actually did the work. Just start. Just work. Then, adjust and tweak and research as you go. As Marie Forleo says, “Everything is figureoutable.” It just doesn’t need to be figured out before you start working. Stop analyzing; start working. - The huge successes you see in blogging or on Instagram? It took a LOT of effort, plus some lucky breaks.
Sure, an overnight success can happen. Just not often, and what a waste to pin your dreams on being amazing with little effort. There’s that whole saying about not comparing your beginning to someone else’s middle, and it rings especially true for the digital space where people curate exactly what they want you to see. You can rest assured that there is a whole lotta toil behind that star Instagrammer’s perfect pic. Same thing with the blogger who landed the book deal. It takes loads and loads of hard work, so instead of lamenting about not making progress, focus on what you can do to affect your long-term success every single day. - You probably won’t turn your blog into a full-time gig, but you can turn your brand into a sustainable business.
Here’s a super-zippy primer on how bloggers make money:
– Sponsored posts or collaborations: These can come in through a network like BlogPaws or Bloglovin’ or they can be sourced through a pitch from the brand to the blogger or the blogger to the brand.
– Affiliate relationships: A brand can come to me and say, “Hey, if you promote our awesome dog product, you’ll get commission on every sale.” Same thing for Amazon affiliate links, Etsy affiliate links, etc. It takes a great big audience to be able to sell/earn much. I think Amazon has like a 1% average (for every 100 folks who click a link, only one person actually buys something). And, the rates are low, like a few cents to a few bucks. (Feel-good tip: If there’s a blogger you love and you’re going to purchase something on Amazon or Etsy, head over to her site, click one of her product recommendations, then go make your purchase. You don’t have to buy the item they recommended or even add it to your cart… they get credit for the referral.)
– Ads: You know the drill on these, and since most people have ad blockers these days, bloggers aren’t earning much this way.
– Products: Books, ebooks, T-shirts, mugs, online courses, mastermind groups, membership sites, webinars, speaking gigs, spokesperson gigs, etc. THIS is how many bigger, successful bloggers are making their living. They’re not just relying on their URL to generate income but branching into relevant, related products. <— THIS is where you can turn your brand into a meaningful business. - The only truism in digital is that nothing ever stays the same. Get ready to adapt and change, like, every day.
Whether it’s Facebook’s algorithm, Google’s mysteriously magical search formula, GDPR (look that doozy up if you haven’t heard of it yet), a WordPress update that crashes your site, Pinterest terms changing, etc. etc. etc. the digital landscape changes every single day. It makes perfect sense, too. The comparison I like to make it when this country was being built roads were installed, towns cropped up, infrastructure started to link the disparate areas, laws were established on the federal and local level. Well, the internet is a country being built. Just because we use it SO OFTEN (like, all day every day), we forget how young the internet actually is. Of course things are going to shift. Of course things are going to change. Of course rules that don’t make sense will be stricken and replaced with new rules that may, one day too, be stricken. I wish someone had clued me into this reality before I started blogging because I totally took the internet for granted a decade ago. - You need to be a Jack (or Jill) of all trades, but don’t be a master of none. Pick a couple and nail ’em. I wrote a post on my freelance site about how bloggers need so many more skills than “just” writing or “just” photography. You need those skills, of course, along with a basic, passable understanding of HTML and SEO and marketing and editing and design and social media, among probably many others. No one can master all the things it takes to run a blog. So, pick a couple. Master those. Then get by with the rest or hire someone who can help you. Spending hours and hours and hours watching how-to videos on YouTube or reading tech tutorials to figure out one little thing might not be worth your time if you can get a tech guru to complete the fix for a reasonable fee. Figure out what skills you want to nail. Nail ’em. Workaround the rest. My example: photography. Not a skill I have, and I have no interest in getting a camera to figure it out… so I do my best with what I have, and I’m going to be hiring a photo-genius friend to batch edit some pics for an upcoming project. Time and sanity saved!
As promised: wordy! 🙂
Really, though, I feel like those are five truths that unfolded for me over the 10 years since I first said, “I want to blog about my dogs,” that would’ve been helpful to know up front!
For those of you who are blogging veterans, what would you add to this list? What is a truth you learned since you launched your site?
For those of you who are new or who are thinking about launching, what other questions do you have? Anything I can clarify or expand on?
See ya next week for part 2!
I love this so so so much. Blogging is about 2% what I expected it to be and 98% unexpected surprises of varying levels of enjoyment. (ie. the friendships I’ve made are amazeballs. GDPR is probably going to give me an ulcer.)
For me, mine would be: Learn to LOVE the Hustle – especially if you have goals of being paid for your work. So little of blogging is the actual WRITING. When the Facebook algorithm changes (again), you need to be the one that considers it a puzzle to be solved, not a problem Facebook created to screw you. You have to find reading papers about social media strategy interesting. You have to, if not LIKE, at least not utterly despise tech problems. They say the only way to make it in blogging is to do it because you love it, but not enough people realize that “it” is everything: the writing, the promoting, the tech and the never-ending change. It’s more than you think it will be. Learn to love it.
YES! YES! YES! Learning to love the ever-changing landscape and all the hard work is the only way to keep going. Thank you so much for making that valuable point!!
The past couple weeks I’ve been more concerned about my dog, Linus then GDPR. This past weekend I asked a few friends (who are in charge of or part of managing the company website) who work for small businesses that sell millions in products online what they thought about GDPR. Two had never heard of it and the other said he has zero concern about it. From a bloggers perspective it sure seems like something everyone (myself included) is worried about.
Of course, Colby. I’m so sorry for your loss.
In case this is helpful to you, I bookmarked two posts that I found to be the clearest. Here are those links, which might be a good place to start:
https://xomisse.com/blog/gdpr/
https://bloggersseo.com/how-gdpr-affects-bloggers/
Thanks Maggie! I’ll check these out.
Absolutely excellent. Some of the success I’ve had with my blog is similar to yours–it’s not necessarily the blog that is profitable but the relationships and connections that you form from the blog.
In truth, the people who have the greatest ROI in blogging are people writing about how to make money blogging (is that a new direction for you? because there is still plenty to share on the topic). I make some money on my blog. But it has also led me to jobs, writing for other people, and other opportunities that I only found because of the blog but are not money earned at the blog.
In the end, blogging is a creative, fun, and challenging job/hobby/lifestyle. Probably nothing else will challenge you more (outside of living on a boat, living with animals, or raising children). 😉
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, Pamela. Just thinking as I type… The “how to make money blogging” niche baffles me. There is a large segment of that sector focused solely on quick fixes, tips and tricks, hacks, etc. that (it seems to me) people are willing to shell out a ton of cash for but there’s no proven, long-term data to back up those fast fixes. Then, there’s another segment, like what I was trying to achieve at BP, where it’s focused on purposeful, intentional growth. People aren’t willing to spend as much in that second segment. If I were to explore more in this arena, though, it would still be squarely in that second segment because that’s where the real value is. Lots to consider, and I always appreciate your insights and expertise!!
You may make lots of money doing the quick fix thing. But even the smaller, more thoughtful audience has the potential to make a decent living.
You don’t have to earn millions. You just need to earn enough, right?
@Pamela, I enjoy reading and chatting about the “how to make money blogging” niche, but I rarely write about it on my blog…my once a year Pet Blogger Challenge post 🙂 After making some changes to my affiliate links and my ad management service I do see the possibility of making a full time living blogging about pets.
I didn’t think it was wordy…it was detailed!
YES to #4! Remember Digg and Technorati? They were pretty big back in their day. When I started blogging Pinterest was still several years away from launch and mobile traffic wasn’t even a stat in Google Analytics.
One thing I learned the hard way is don’t rely on your host’s backups. Do your own backups using something like updraft, backup, vaultpress, etc. At some point it will save you a lot of headache.
HOLY MOLY. That is a really unfortunate lesson to have learned the hard way. I’m so grateful you shared your experience to serve as an important reminder, but I’m so sorry that happened to you…. Now, off to go check on my backup system right now!!!
10 years blogging, wow you are a real Veteran! I wish I had known these things when I started too. I had a great topic, which has now evolved since I’m attempting to make it some kind of business – so I can justify doing it full time! I thought “if you build it they will come – to read it” So not true!! There is so much more work to blogging than I’d ever imagined & the learning curve was huge. I do love most of the work, it’s challenging and I loved learning & mastering new things like how to Promote your blog, good digital photography skills, video editing, figuring out SEO. Well, OK so I still haven’t completely figured out SEO but really who has?? I don’t love the algorithm changes, they are frustrating especially when you build up a audience only to see Facebook refusing to let them all see your content. I think back on how much I’ve learned & grown in this space and it amazes me. Thanks for writing this, I will share so hopefully brand new bloggers can get a head start with this important information!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing, Cathy!! I really appreciate it!!
And you’re so right… so much of this landscape shifts under our feet as we work! Whether it’s changes to search or changes to social algorithms, staying on top of everything is practically a full-time job by itself! But the emphasis on learning and growth is so important, and it’s one of the things I truly love about this space!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!!
Ah the horizons that we are about to embrace on so many levels…..this is spot on advice and I really feel confident in the future. I am glad to have suffered growing and learning pains to get where I am today. My hard earned steady stream of traffic is never about auto pilot. There are ways to monetize and make blogging one of the tools in the full-time toolbox…and on that note, so much goodness ahead. xo
YES! Growing and learning can be super painful!! It’s only when you come out on the other side that you see just how worth it it’s been! 🙂 We’re on the other side, my dear! So much to come!
Nice post and helpful.
Fantastic tips, I’ve had a travel blog for a while but with the way 2020 is going I decided to focus on my second passion, dogs!
It’s been great with a second website, avoiding the pitfalls of timewasting you go in to above! But I still definitely have a long way to go. Blogging takes time and is not a get rich quick scheme, but it is such a rewarding experience when you are genuinely helping others.