Are you planning to start a blog? This post can give you some things to think about, even though it’s meant for people who start a business and give up too soon.
It’s the era of blogs that have no souls; it’s the era of marketing that takes a lot of successful strategies out of context. It’s the era of artificial intelligence, which makes it difficult to find great content.
So why start a blog? There are millions already.
I have been writing for a while, and I would admit I have been trying to make money. Earn six figures, travel to the Bahamas, and have a fun-filled life. However, the truth is that making money is complicated, no matter what field.
As I began to ask questions, I started to see answers. I tried some of them, but I need a long-term plan.
Out of the methods to make money, I picked Search Engine Optimization because I was already familiar with how to do content writing effectively.
It was the straw that killed the camel after breaking its back.
Someone taught me all I needed to know. (I owe him.) Now, it’s my turn to put that knowledge into action.
So, I need to start a blog and start implementing strategies.
There’s a whole niche where blogs are designed to solve people’s problems. But most of them focus first and completely on what search engine wants.
Many tools are developed for this purpose. The objective is to create content that has the chance of being picked by search engines and ranked at the top.
Some of these tools are like filling puzzles. They will do the guesswork for you, and you will fill in the gaps with words. For instance, if you’re writing about ‘content marketing,’ they give you a thousand words to fill into the blog post.
Things began to make sense. No wonder some of the blogs read like something a toddler has written while still trying to grasp the language.
And that’s problem 1.
There’s more.
Blogs that have no souls
Artificial Intelligence writes many blogs with a human in the back seat.
I think it should be the other way around. Humans in the driving seat and AI in the front seat beside you, telling you, ‘If you add this word or that one, we might have a better chance at ranking.’ When AI makes suggestions, you have to say, hey, I am the driver here, so please, shut up.
But, well, that’s not the case for many blogs.
So we have blogs with no souls and content written for an algorithm with little or no regard for the humans at the end of the scope.
Problem 2 is the derivative of the first.
There is even more.
Painting everything in black and white
Many blogs take things completely out of context to fit certain narratives.
I have been learning SEO (and marketing) for a while. Every question or solution should be answered with ‘it depends.’
Will my blog reach a million views? It depends.
Are you going to make money online? It depends.
Is our product going to sell? It depends.
There’s no absolute path. There’s no perfect journey.
But, some bloggers paint everything as a straightforward process. If you head straight down, you will drive down to New York. They forget that circumstances and new situations emerge. What if there are some accidents, heavy downpours, a racist police officer, an angry black cop, or the car breaks down, etc.?
Jessie J:
Am I the only one getting tired?
Why is everybody so obsessed?
Money can’t buy us happinessCan we all slow down and enjoy right now?
Guarantee we’ll be feeling alright
People need to read the truth. This is what journalism does (should do, because it, sometimes, doesn’t): Tell the truth.
Businesses have to know the other side of the story.
Our world isn’t black and white.
There’s no absolute.
THERE can’t be a straight line because the result is influenced by external things like your customers, search engines, or things you can’t change, like your background, location, or other external factors.
Problem 3 —
Everything isn’t black and white.
I know why some marketers paint the good stuff. People will not buy your course or read blog content if you discuss other things that happen before success.
But then, with some topics, you will frustrate readers, and people will give up on what you have explained to them because you do not explain the other half of the story.
I mean, this is my second blog. I gave up on the first one because I was told after writing a certain number of blog posts, I would be able to approve AdSense.
This could have been true, but it’s not a template for every business and blogger.
I want to do something a little better.
Who are my models
So I have to decide. Do I want to make money by focusing on what ranks or write content that moves people and tells the truth about everything?
Jessie Jay says, ‘It’s not bout the money, money, money.’
Doing something that makes you happy and pays you at the same time is the overall best.
I began looking for the type of bloggers and writers I want to model, people who are admirable yet making money.
Their names came easily: Janet Machuka, Sam Parr, Lauren Holliday, Steph Smith, Mark Manson, Aja Frost, Tim Uban, Fadeke Adegbuyi, etc.
I admire these people.
They didn’t take things out of context. Instead, they write like they are saving a life, even if it means writing things about marketing or how to land a client.
The other day, I saw a Twitter thread about how a millionaire makes his money. It reads like ‘how xyz transform xxx to one million. When we got to it, we realized the journey spanned 9 years. The money he got for a start was enough to set anyone up in a lifetime if they knew how business works. It’s not as easy as the headline says. And the whole post didn’t point things out unless you read between the lines.
This thought led me to why people quit their goals too soon.
Enough is enough
So I have a set of rules to work with. First, if it isn’t intriguing, don’t write it.
If it’s soulless like a manual that comes with electronics or the ‘terms and conditions,’ don’t write it either.
I want to help small business owners to create quality content that brings lots of ROI. I won’t be saying many new things, but I will try to make concepts resonate and divisible into daily or manageable tasks. So many people need to understand the fundamentals and mindset they need because when things get difficult, you have to go back to the basics. You deserve to know what you will face, both the good and the bad. And someone has to say it gently, with humor and kindness.
But don’t forget why I’m starting a blog in the first place. It’s to understand Search Engine Optimization. The first few blogs I wrote were about this topic. I have to see the results for myself first.
(Maybe I will realize how bad my mindset is. Maybe one day, I will delete this post in shame in the long run. You can’t tell.)
This isn’t my first attempt, though. I started a blog in 2020 and gave up, but I won’t let that happen again. So I’m willing to do the work here.
First, create 100 blog posts and implement the learned SEO strategies. Then go again with another 100 blog posts.
Some blog readers don’t care about fun and being human. They want tips and to move on.
Yet, you read Jon Morrow’s story, and you feel thrills. Then, you check Waitbutwhy, The Tail End, and your head is spinning with deep imagination.
The truth is, it’s not only about helping people. Best-selling products don’t just help users. It appeals to something bigger than that: emotions.
If you’re an SEO professional, are you wondering why Gen Z uses TikTok for search instead of Google? I have an answer for you.
Your content is so boring and stilted. Yes, I said it. You twist many sentences to accommodate extra keywords, and it’s difficult to read.
You probably can get away with that if your target audience is older people.
But younger people know you can still be fun, educative, and informative and pass your message accurately, all in a blog post.
So get to the point, but don’t be boring…
Start a blog if you want to, but don’t forget that you’re serving humans:
So that’s the summary of how I start a blog.
But in the end, there’s a potential to make money. Without that, I wouldn’t have started at all. But aside from making money and getting lots of traffic, I think the journey will be worth it anyway.
This post is my 47th on the blog. I won’t keep pushing if the journey isn’t giving some thrills.
If I had started with ‘how to start a blog and make money,’ I should be asking myself different questions now, especially because the results seem far off.
People who say they are working for money are denying the truth. You will fail at your goals. So, how do you rekindle your energy? Sometimes, it’s the thrill of receiving a new message from a prospect (which might not lead to sales). But that joy of seeing people respond to their strategy or tactics is an encouragement to push even harder.
I know I have more to gain if I start a blog.
I think Santiago from the book, The Alchemist captured the whole idea perfectly. The main character wants to visit the Great Pyramid of Egypt. After he gets robbed and stranded in a new town, the book says:
After all, what he (Santiago) had always wanted was just that: to know new places. Even if he never got to the Pyramids, he had already traveled farther than any shepherd he knew. Oh, if they only knew how different things are just two hours by ship from where they are, he thought.
The goal is to understand SEO better. I realized many things by implementing what I’ve learned.
What about you?
Aside from money, why do you want to start your business?
Check all the lessons I shared from learning SEO.