We’ve run over why blogging can have profound effects on your career as a freelancer in terms of gaining exposure and “expert status” but what most people won’t realize is regardless of its advantages, blogging may not be for them. Here’s why.
1) Nothing to start, nothing to keep
Starting up a blog virtually costs nothing, especially if you already have websites up and running (you can use a reseller/dedicated that you’re already using for hosting, and domains cost next to nothing) so there a very easy and cost effective asset to put up – however, this inherently has its problems. Because it costs nothing to setup, many people do not take it seriously, and as a result once they see little to no success in the beginning of their blogging run, they just stop blogging.
2) Blogging is hard
That brings up another point which is blogging is very hard, especially in the beginning because usually the reward/time ratio is too low, you give up a lot of time for little visible reward (monetarily or any other way). This is one of the main reasons people don’t continue writing content on their blog, and it’s why you see so many dead blogs spamming the Internet.
3) Requires good knowledge
If you’re responsible for producing new, fresh, exciting content every so often, then you need to have in-depth knowledge into the niche you’re writing in – without it, you’ll struggle to write a new article and come up with new ideas and inspiration. Blogging is an on-going creative process, and some people are just not up to the challenge of writing new content on a regular basis.
I’ve outlined a few points that you need to consider if you’re looking to start blogging, or already have a blog which isn’t doing so well. I’m not implying that blogging is not worth it, far from that, it just takes a lot of time investment and patience, and I’m not quite sure the majority of people are willing to invest into a blog in that sense.
What do you think? Do you own and run a blog yourself? Comment below.
Also, please be sure to:
- Subscribe to our RSS feed
- Promote the article using the social media buttons below
- Check out our marketing ebook for freelancers
- Sign up to our mailing list (see sidebar)
April 14th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Yeah, blogging is a whole breed unto itself.
April 14th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I agree to a point. I think it does take dedication, but I would go as far to say that it’s hard to come up with content.
If you are interested in getting traffic to your site, you need to have a target market sure, but I think creating content is as easy as scowering the web for what is trendy in regards to your market.
I find the most difficult task with blogging isn’t coming up with content as much as finding the time to write about it.
One thing that is very handy is not always assuming that you have to write long articles.
A picture says a thousand words. Having posts from time to time that focus on imagery can be great, and get just as much attention.
Thanks for this article. It got me thinking..I need to go write a new post.
cheers
April 14th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
I agree with this article and this should be promoted more. Everybody has the ability to blog, but it isn’t right for everybody. Take me for an example, I am full-time student with a business, I rarely have time to spare outside of education and freelancing. I enjoy writing articles for others, but the demand readers of articles readers ask for is not right more. I don’t have enough to post every day or even once a week.
Nonetheless, if you do, blogging can be very rewarding. If you have the time and the ambition, I say go for it!
April 15th, 2010 at 1:37 am
I read your post and came to conclusion that its for me. I have enough to keep me going untill I am dead. Because I am forced to blog , I am passionate to blog. Visit my blog have a look around you will feel it.
April 15th, 2010 at 3:40 am
I agree whole-heartedly that blogging can be hard and/or time consuming. I do know some friends who have a hard time blogging even once a week, while others overflow with content daily. Topics surrounding your area of expertise will usually bring you the best flow of content.
April 17th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I have my own blog on my portfolio website but I’m not really using it right now because I simply have little time to work on it. Also another reason is I don’t know what to write on it. I would probably write some tutorials on programming but that is really time consuming and right now I’m on a tight schedule.
November 30th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Great article. I do think blogging suites my purpose and others will benefit from my material. Thanks for sharing.
January 12th, 2011 at 7:55 am
[...]
Is Blogging Really for You? | Freelance Apple [...]