I know, I know: there are all sorts of articles and posts out there that are telling you “how to start a blog in 10 minutes.” “How to start a blog to make money.” “How to start a blog so that you can quit your day job!”
It’s hogwash.
If you’re going to start a blog, you shouldn’t do it just to make money. The honest truth is that most bloggers don’t make much money if any. And if you don’t love what you’re doing, is it really any better than working that day job that you hate?
4 Reasons to NOT Start a Blog for Money
Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t start a blog to make money. Or at least not JUST to make money!
1 | Your audience can tell if you’re just in it for the money
If your blog is all about making you money your audience is going to notice. How many blogs have you read and you were your first thought is that this post is just to make some money on affiliate links? Yeah, there’s plenty of them out there. Do you really want to be one of those blogs?
I’m not saying that you can’t make money on your blog. In fact, you probably SHOULD aim to make at least a little money if you’re paying for anything to run your blog. But if the primary intent of your blog is just to make money, it’s not worth it. It’s a lot harder to build up an audience if all you’re doing is plumbing them for their cash.
If you’re going to write a blog post to make money make sure that the real intent behind the blog post is to benefit your audience. You making money is a side bonus.
2 | Blogging without passion will become work
So you want blogging to be your full-time job? Well, think about why you’re leaving the job you have now. Is it because you hate it? Because it drags you down? Because you don’t have a passion for what you’re doing?
Well, guess what: blogging without passion is going to do the same thing to you. If you’re blogging for the money and you don’t really care about what you’re blogging about, you’re going to burn out. Regardless of how often you end up blogging, you’re going to get tired of it if you don’t enjoy what you’re talking about in your posts.
Instead of blogging about something that you think is going to make you a boatload of money, take a look at your passions. Do you love dogs? Find pain points and problems that other dog owners are facing and address those in your blog. Use that passion as your jumping off point, and you’ll be able to find ways to monetize it from there.
You can get creative with finding your niche, too. Just because you think something isn’t marketable doesn’t mean that’s true. Find the other people who are passionate about the same things you are, and chances are they’re looking for you. They want someone to be their voice, to speak to them specifically and not to the masses. Be the voice for them and they’ll probably all but hand you monetization opportunities eventually.
3 | Blogging isn’t the easiest or most fulfilling way to make money
I’m not saying the blogging can’t be fulfilling – it definitely can be. But if you’re in it for the money and only the money it most likely won’t be very fulfilling. If money is your driving factor for blogging, you may want to explore other avenues to reach that goal.
Again look at your passions and what you enjoy doing. Find other ways to monetize things that you want to be doing. For example, Luc over at Scintilla Studio loves creating music and stories. He built Scintilla Studio so that he could pursue those passions and maybe eventually monetize them. However, because monetization is not his primary focus, he’s able to find other ways to make money besides blogging, and he’s better able to serve his audience.
Income from blogging often comes in tiny increments. a few pennies from some ads, maybe a dollar from some affiliate links – it does add up, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or fast. If you’re trying to create a money-making blog, you’re probably going to be better served finding something else to do.
4 | Blogging is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme
We’ve all seen the stories of bloggers who hit it big. They go from being a broke single mom who can barely pay rent every month to making more in a month than she made in a year at her regular job. It sounds like a dream! The kind of situation that we would all die for, right?
The problem is that you don’t see all the behind-the-scenes work most of the time. You don’t see the sleepless nights that the single mom took to get where she is, working while her kids were asleep. You don’t see all the beans and rice that she ate to get by when she was making pennies per month on her blog. You don’t see all of the people that she had to talk to you, all the sacrifices that she had to make to propel her blog up the popularity ladder.
It may end up looking like an overnight hit to most of us, but I can almost guarantee you it isn’t.
Blogging is not going to make you rich overnight.
The blogs that never make it past a few pennies a month or generate no income at all drastically outnumber the success stories like those single moms or deeply in debt people who have made blogging their full-time income and paid off their loans. Blogging is often hard and thankless work. You could write 100 blog posts before getting a single comment or you might never get any at all. You may never get the traffic that you need in order to join the bigger affiliate networks and start making more than pennies.
If you only want to get into blogging to get rich quickly, just don’t. I wish you success elsewhere, but this probably isn’t the field for you.
I’m not telling you all of this to discourage you. If you’re going to start a blog, you need to be aware of their realities, though. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it may never make you any money at all, and if you’re going to be blogging solely for the money, your audience is going to be able to tell and probably won’t stick around.
If you’re starting a blog because you’re genuinely passionate about what you’re talking about on your blog; if you’re ready for the hard work it’s going to take to get to where you want to be… go for it! If you’re in it for your audience’s benefit and because you care about what you’re sharing, then you’re setting yourself up for more success than if it’s just to make you rich.
