The Softly, Softly, Catchee Monkey Approach To Blogging

I’ve been doing this blogging malarkey for a while now and if there is one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that you have to be patient, especially when starting from scratch.  I get lots of emails from people asking for help with their blog (which is fine, always happy to help), but a large portion seemingly expect that after a few weeks they will be getting millions of hits and earning tons each day.  This is just not true and if you think this, you are in for a shock!  That is why you need the right approach to blogging.

Blogging Takes Time

Blogging is no different to any other business.  It takes time and a LOT of hard work to get it up and running online.  This can be even trickier if you are starting from scratch as there is a lot to learn on a wide variety of subjects.

You will need to learn;

• How to setup your first blog and get it online, including registering a Domain name, setting up web hosting and installing WordPress.
• About setting up a WordPress Theme for your site and adding useful WordPress plugins.
• About email marketing and getting people to subscribe to your site.
• How to setup Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools for your site.
• How to submit your site to the search engines so that people can actually find you.
• How to setup Google Authorship so that your face appears in the search results.
• How to speed up your site and properly optimize your images.
• About setting up social media profiles across all the major social networks.

…and that is even before you start writing content for your blog and making money with it!

Don’t Let That Put You Off

I’m not trying to put you off, far from it in fact, I’m just trying to make you aware of the work that is involved in blogging.  It’s simply not for everyone.

Blogging is an amazing industry to get into, as there is so much to learn and great people to meet.  There is no better feeling than seeing something that you have worked hard on grow into something much bigger, where people from around the world come to visit on a daily basis.

This site is far from being a massive site, but it has allowed me to meet and get to know some wonderful people from all over the world – some from the other side of the globe and some just down the road from where I live.

There are not many jobs where you get to learn something new every day and grow as a person.  I can safely say that I have totally changed since I started blogging and am much better for doing so.

There are plenty of positives for choosing to become a blogger, you just need to make sure that you are the right type of person.  After all, you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck to make sure you get all your work done, so if you’re not a self-motivated person, you may struggle.

If You’re In For A Quick Buck, You’re Destined To Fail!

Yes, there are examples of people creating sites that make plenty of money pretty quickly, but those examples are few and far between.  You have to remember that those types of examples are created by very experienced bloggers, who know exactly what they are doing.  For those who are just starting out, you will need to be prepared to earn your badges and gain some experience first.

It can take time to begin to earn money from your blog.  You need to work on driving traffic to your site and then monetizing that traffic in numerous different ways (all of which requires work to setup).

It took me at least a month before I made any money with my first site, and even then it wasn’t that much.  Many people would give up at that point (I see it all the time), but if you persevere, keep working hard and have  the right approach to blogging, that can change.  What may start out as only a few $ per month, can turn into much, much more when your site begins to grow.

Be Prepared To Make Mistakes

I can guarantee that you WILL make mistakes along the way, so it’s pointless thinking that you won’t.  Mistakes aren’t bad, in fact they can be very good as long as you learn from them.

I have lost count of the number of times I messed up my site and brought it down temporarily after changing some code or messing with some HTML.  Learning from your mistakes makes you better at what you do.  I’m sure I’ll make plenty more of them in the future, but thankfully I have never made the same mistake twice (let’s hope it stays that way).

Have The Right Approach To Blogging

If you approach blogging in the right way, you will get a lot more out of it.  You certainly aren’t going to become a millionaire overnight, but if you take a long term approach and put the hard work in, you can create a successful business that you will be proud of.

Just be patient and never give up – that’s what the “Softly, Softly, Catchee Monkey” phrase means.

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree?  What misconceptions did you have (if any) when you first got involved in blogging?  What advice would you give to any new blogger?  Please let us know what you think in the comments section below!