If
you have always dreamed of having and managing your own blog, you need
to go through this list of things no one tells you about the business.
A lot of people don’t recognize and hardly understand the
intricacies of blogging. Some go as far as dismissing it as some kind of
hobby, rather than recognizing it as the business it is.
Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 4 things nobody tells you about blogging.
Blogging is Not Some Get Rich Quick Scheme
It’s nice to hear about blogs that charge thousands and hundreds of
thousands for publicity or adverts of any kind. But what most people
don’t get is that blogging is hard and it takes a lot of time and
patience to be read widely enough to get noticed by firms, corporations
and companies for publicity and advertisements. Most of the widely read
blogs today took months, even years of consistent and tireless effort to
get to where they are today and have the kind of recognition they have.
Blogging is hardly a get rich quick scheme.
Blogging is Not That Easy
There is a general belief that running a blog is what you do when
you either don’t have a job or don’t have anything better to do. Many
believe it’s easy and requires little or no effort. That’s inaccurate.
Aside having to constantly come up with interesting and engaging content
for your blog (almost every hour of the day if yours is a news blog),
you also have to consider the mails, questions and comments that you
always have to attend to, to help drive engagement on your blog.
Eventually, as your blog grows, you’ll realize it’s hardly something you
can do on your own.
A Blogger is Not Only a Blogger
As a blogger, especially when starting out, in order to grow your
readership you are going to feel the need to be a web designer (trying
to find the right web layout that will be attractive and user friendly),
a social media strategist (ensuring you use social media to get as much
publicity for your blog as you can), an SEO specialist, a web marketing
guru and an amateur photographer all at the same time! It’s a lot. You
might not exactly be a professional in all the above mentioned areas,
but you have to be able to handle them well enough not to suck at it and
to help grow your blog’s readership.
The Business Side
Many people tend to underestimate or don’t understand the business
side of blogging. They either start demanding for money too soon or are
completely clueless about how sponsored content works around the
policies of the corresponding firms, corporations and companies.
A good number of people don’t realize that some brands or companies
have payment terms of ninety days; meaning even after doing publicity
for them, you might not get your payment until after three months.
Some brands also have you working on sponsored content and you will
have to send them draft upon draft till they like what they see. Since
you’ve likely already signed a contract with them, you really don’t have
much of choice. It is important to recognize the business side of
blogging and try to understand it before going into it.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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