Are You Sure That You Want To Be A Blogger?

If you have never blogged before, your mindset would probably be, “Blogging is a walk in the park.”

And, if you are a personal blogger who recently started blogging, you probably said to yourself on more than one occasion, “What the hell did I get myself into?”

In regards to blogging, you never know what you are in for until you actually start a blog of your own.

So, before you choose to go deeper down the rabbit hole (in the proverbial sense, of course), you should know what you are getting yourself into.

You Will Need To Be Fully Committed To Your Blog

If you are the type of person who starts a project and gives up without ever completing it, there is a high probability that blogging is not for you. The harsh truth is that you are not allowed to give up on your blog when the creative juices have dried up; you will need to find a way around your so-called writer’s block.

At this point, you probably opened your eyes hugely and thought to yourself, “Do I really need to find a way around my writer’s block?”

My answer to that question would be, “Yes, you do!”

Since one of the reasons for the lack of commitment to keeping personal blogs updated regularly is this imaginary fearsome demon known as writer’s block, I suggest having a look at my article, 10 Ways To Overcome Writer’s Block (It would provide you with useful suggestions).

You Will Need To Make Time For Blogging

Blogging is one of those things that you will have to make the time for (Especially if you truly want to blog consistently).

The God’s/Goddess’s truth is that the timing for putting a blog post together is seldom perfect and in a lot of instances, you will have to make sacrifices; such as:

• Writing the draft copy of your blog post before you go to your place of employment.
• Writing the draft copy of your blog post during your lunch break.
• Writing the draft copy of your blog post after you have come from work.

Dear friend, there is no getting away from making the time for blogging (It is one of those things that you must do in order to ensure that you have a blog post to publish on your blog).

Instead of finding an excuse to not create a blog post, you can change things around by making the time for blogging (Consider it as a necessary sacrifice ― one that pays off in the long run).

Your Blog Will Be A Ghost Town In The Beginning

Yes, it is true about your blog being a ghost town in the beginning.

As a matter of fact, you will be starting from the beginning.

You will learn the hard way that it takes time to build an audience.

My article, The Power Of Being Your Own Blog’s Cheerleader, will inspire you to keep on blogging despite having little or no interaction with others.

On a positive note, your blog is not going to be a ghost town forever (It will eventually be noticed in the blogosphere).

You Will Have To Endure Your Fair Share Of Bloggers Leaving The Links To Their Blog In Your Blog’s Comments Thread

I hate it when bloggers leave, “Please check out my blog,” along with their blog’s URL in my blog’s commenting section.

My blog’s Commenting Policy page mentioned that there is no need for a blogger to add the link to their homepage in the commenting section of my blog and that it is okay to leave a single link that pertains to the topic along with their comment.

When you have reached a certain level of popularity in the blogosphere, you can bet your last dollar that some bloggers are going to do the same thing to you.

You Might Have An Encounter With A Troll Or Two

The last thing I want for any blogger is for them to be harassed by trolls via their blog’s commenting section.

Unfortunately, some bloggers abandoned their blogs when they could no longer handle being verbally abused by trolls.

On a positive note, WordPress.com is a friendly blogging platform (Most of the bloggers there are kind-hearted and the trolls are in the minority).

My article, 5 Ways Bloggers Can Handle Trolls, will teach you how to handle things the day that you and your blog are attacked by trolls.

You Might Lose A Small Portion Of Your Blog’s Followers

Most bloggers are known to lose a small portion of their followers (This does not hurt their blog when it gains a bunch of new followers).

For the record, some people unfollow blogs because:

• The owner of the blog published content on their blog way too often.
• The owner of the blog started publishing content that the viewer did not like.
• The owner of the blog stopped publishing content on their blog.
• The owner of the blog did not pay their blog a visit.

Truthfully, people unfollow blogs for a whole lot of reasons (Many of which are not listed here).

There are many bloggers who keep a close check on the number of followers that they have and they feel dejected whenever they have noticed that someone unfollowed their blog.

Dear friend, do not worry about people unfollowing your blog.

Why?

Because other people will follow your blog (And that, my friend, will add to the number of followers that you already have).

You Might Have Your Content Stolen By Someone

Unfortunately, the internet is filled with lazy bastards; people who publish other people’s content and pass it off as their own.

If you write well, some people will boldly steal one of your blog posts.

Truthfully, no one likes having their work stolen.

Darren Rowse’s article, What to Do When Someone Steals Your Blog Content, will teach you what to do the day that someone steals one of your blog posts.

The sad truth is that content theft happens regularly on the world wide web.

Final Thoughts

People should have prior knowledge of what they would be getting themselves into before they create a blog of their own (It would cut down on the number of people who abandon their blogs).

To recap, people will need to expect the following things when they venture into the world of blogging:

• They will need to be fully committed to their blog.
• They will need to make time for blogging.
• Their blog will be a ghost town in the beginning.
• They will have to endure their fair share of bloggers leaving the links to their blog’s homepage in the comments section of their blog.
• They might endure harassment from a troll or two.
• They might lose a small portion of their blog’s followers.
• They might have their content stolen by someone.

Knowing all of that, do you still want to be a blogger?