To Blog or Not to Blog

Blogging is a popular avenue for many writers today.  I was totally unfamiliar with it until a little over a year ago. 

Sure, I'd heard the stories of people making their living as a blogger, but how they did it, I had no clue. 

All I knew was, while I was working on my novels, I wanted a quicker outlet for my writing.  I wanted to reach people right now. 

So I started a blog.  I jumped in, not knowing really what I was doing.  All I knew was I had a message and I wanted to share it. 

I started the blog, Be You. Live YOUR Dream! in December 2012. 

It took off slowly.  I published posts several days a week.  I was passionate about my message.  It came from the heart.  In the first several weeks, though, I had only single-digit viewers. 

But once I started leaving comments on another very popular blog, along with my name and a link to my blog, I started to get more readers. 

I got into a routine.  I wrote my own blog post.  Then went to this other site, read their blog posts, and left lengthy and thoughtful comments (along with my name and link).

After doing this a few weeks I started to see a rise in traffic on my own blog.  Double-digit views for each post were great to see.  Some posts broke 100, which, for me, was a lot. 

The kicker... my blog made no money.  I didn't know how to monetize it.  I didn't want to monetize it. 

I thought random ads all over the place would be tacky and take away from the purpose I intended for it.  All I wanted to do was get my message out there, inspire people, and help others in their own lives. 

So that's what I did.  I got several comments from readers telling me how much they loved that blog... which meant so much to me!  This is where I started to gain confidence in my writing style.  I was getting encouragement from actual readers. 

Encouragement is great... but I was still making very little money from my writing. 

At this point I'd been writing about two years.

How am I paying the bills through this time, you may be wondering? 

I do believe in the Universe (or God) providing for us.  I can testify to having seen it in my own life.  Here is one example:

I had just made the decision to walk away from my stable, well-paying job as an educational sign language interpreter to be a writer.  At the time I had about 4-6 months' worth of expenses in savings.  I thought that would be enough (showing my naivete again). 

Two months of my only "job" being to write, my grandfather passed away.  This is a grandfather who I reconnected with over the past 7 or so years.  I had had no contact (zero) with that part of my family for 25 years. 

Much to my surprise, I was in my grandfather's will, and I received an inheritance.  I know this was the Universe providing for me.  It was giving me "the ok" to continue on the writing path. 

I could live off this unexpected money for the next couple of years... and I did. 

This gift enabled me to pursue my dream of being a writer, continue fumbling around just how to do that, and still pay my bills.  I was lucky, you might say.  But I say, take the leap and the net will appear. 

I continue to leap to this day. 

This blog is my latest "leap."  I don't know how it'll pan out.  I don't know if anyone will read it, let alone like it.  But I felt it in my heart to start it anyway.

But back to blogging...

I believe blogs are a great way to get your voice out in the world.  To build an audience for yourself.  I'm still learning how to monetize my blogs (which I intend to share on here as/when I learn that). 

What I DO know, at this point, is you have to put in time and effort to build your audience.  For me, I had the most success going to another very popular website/blog and leaving comments.  I did this nearly every day for months. 

The key is to leave valuable, thoughtful comments.  To really connect.  People will sense your genuine-ness and want to connect with you in return. 

This is how I built my audience for my first blog. 

Facebook, and other social media, are also great places to promote your blog.  After publishing a new post, I'd hop over to Facebook and post a comment there, along with the link to that day's blog post.  I got many visitors this way as well. 

None of this is hard, but it does take time and effort.  Also, don't expect your blog to take off right out of the gate.  I wrote nearly a post a day on my first blog for weeks, while only getting single-digit viewers. 

Don't be discouraged!  If you feel that it's right in your heart, keep going!  You WILL find success.  Your ship WILL come in. 

Now I need to learn how to monetize my blogs....