Yeah, yeah, I know it’s actually “third time’s a charm”, but let’s pretend you don’t know that! So, second time’s a charm? You’re probably wondering what in the heck I’m talking about, right? I won’t keeo you curious — I’m talking about blogging. My second blog, iBlogPlanet, has been a charm, thus the statement second time’s a charm. Let me explain further.
My First Real Blog
financeadvisorystop.com, my first real blog. Now, why would a 17 year old want to write about finance? I didn’t, and I can honestly say (please grant me immunity) I only choice finance because I realized it had one of the highest paying keywords. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be a businessman when I’m older, but that only played a little roll in me starting a finance blog. Coming into blogging, one thing had a huge spot in my mind – Adsense (money in other words). Like many other beginners, I began blogging because I thought I would make money. I bought a domain which I thought was great (which I later realized sucked), put a free theme up, and started adding content. After a month of not seeing any money, I slowed down, and even stopped updating my blog. I would post once or twice a month.
Where did my above mentality get me? No where. Summer time came, and slowly started getting interested in blogging more (maybe because it was summer, and I wanted money). Oh god, back to the whole money thing. I thought I was past that! Guess not. I began blogging a bit more seriously, and updated my site more often. A month later, I was back where I was in the beginning of my blogging career — lazy.I did a bit of thinking recently, and it makes perfect as to why I was getting lazy. The reason was that I was blogging to make money, and not because I love it. So yeah, you may think, oh, so he only blogs for money. Nope, not at all! Let me put it like this, and I hope this makes sense to my fellow readers. Hobbies, people, and so on, grow on you. Let’s take love for example. I meet a girl, and I like her. We date, and liking her progresses to loving her (yeah I know, I’m too young for love). Point is, loving something comes with time. How can you love something without experiencing? How can a beginner blogger say s/he loves blogging, when it’s their first day blogging? I didn’t suceed with my first real blog, because I didn’t love what I was doing.
Second Time’s A Charm
Here I am now, in my 7 month in the blogosphere, and I can truely say I love what I do at iBlogPlanet. It feels like an addiction in a sense. When I’m out with my family sometimes, I just can’t wait to get home and update my blog. Sounds weird, but it’s the truth! Above I said time is what lead me to love blogging — which is true. I think another big reason I began to love blogging is through experience. I learned that blogging isn’t that easy, and not everyone can do it. All us bloggers deserve a pat on the back. Running a blog and updating it regularly is a big achievement, and to anyone ho does that, kudos to you. Sure, it was hard starting over, but it’s been 23 days since I began iBlogPlanet, but it feels like it’s been months.
What Have I Learned?
I’ve honestly learned so much, that I could go on forever. But to save you the trouble, I’ll cut to the chase!
- Blogging is not easy, and not everyone can do it
- Never start blogging with money as your primary focus
- Short domain = better
- You need to interact, in order to be interacted with (comment on other blogs, and people will comment on yours)
- Results may be disapointing when first starting out as a blogger, but stick at it, and good will come
- Buy a good theme from the get go, and save yourself the trouble of changing free themes constantly
- The list goes on!
Let’s look at some quick statistics, to prove that I really have improved as a blogger, partly because of my love for it.
FinanceAdvisoryStop.com (first blog of mine) After 6 Months
- Alexa Rank: 267,661
- Backlinks: 5518
iBlogPlanet.com (you’re at it now) After 23 Days
- Alexa Rank: 463,337
- Backlinks: 1339
Did you succeed with your first blog? Or was it a trial and error type of process, as it was for me? If so, what did you learn from your first blogging experience?
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
I started with a blogspot blog.. Purely for “adsense”. But later as time passed a lot about blogging and SEO and then I finally got a domain. So basically it was trial and error process for me.
I basically did the exact same as you! And look where I am now — and where you are now. I think many bloggers have experienced what we both experienced.
Ya, same with me..I also started with a blogspot blog with adsense ads around everything but slowly I learned that it’s not gonna work and then changed something which was good for blog..Then few months passed purchased a domain..Then again after few months purchased my own server and shifted to wordpress and I am Liking it…
Yeah, Wordpress is great.
Sorry if I misunderstood, but you said you removed Adsense from your blog?
If that’s the case, good choice. It’s very difficult to make decent money from Adsense.
Very true and nice post. You hit a lot here. Your doing better cause you learned a lot with your 1st blog. Glad to see that this is doing much better right off the bat and you took what you learned and were able to carry it over and get off to a running start.
The more the do things the easier the are. Blogging is not easy I complete agree it is also not the most difficult thing in the world espically if you get the help of others. Bloggers like to help and share with others. Blogging is for those that like to learn. You will constantly learn and must continue to try new thing and repeat those that work. Best of luck.
Thanks Jared, I’m glad you liked this post. Of course — it’s all about learning, carrying what you learned, and implementing what you learned into future projects (as I’ve done here, and many other bloggers do constantly, or as do affiliate marketers).
I completely agree with you. There are so many bloggers out there, and most of them are very friendly and willing to help other bloggers.
That’s really the way to go, Gooroo. Yes, there’s nothing wrong with making money, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t defer to people who say that we all should only write about niches that make money, especially if we don’t care about those niches. Of course, I write a finance blog, but I like it, in a way, and I certainly like commenting on it. And I’m also much older than you, so it figures better.
Just keep writing on what you like, and you’ll do just fine.
Thanks Mitch! I agree — nothing wrong with making money, but it isn’t good to pick a niche because it pays (as you said). Sure, I like finance, but there are things I like more, so why not write about those? That is basically how I began looking at things.
Fair enough — I don’t think anyone my age would say finance is their favorite topic to write about. Maybe in the near feature though
Well, if you’re talking “near future” and me in the same breath, you have many, MANY years to go to catch up. lol
Haha! Not in the same breathe. I’ve seen some individuals in their late teens (18, 19) who enjoy keeping up with finance.
It is good to know that your (this current) blog is doing this good. Thanks for keeping us up to date. Just work hard and it will pay off.
I like that you actually came out honestly about why you started blogging. Lots of people would have just made something up, but you said you did it to try to make money, then it turned out you like it more than money. At least you are honest.
Thanks Jason! I see your blog is doing quite well also. Can’t seem to run out of things you hate, eh?
Yeah, I realize most others wouldn’t be up front about it. I always try to be honest. Lying can only get people so far.
Yup there is something new every day that bothers me, so I blog about it.
Haha, keep it up! I enjoy reading them, as they are pretty much the same things I hate.
I enjoyed reading that post. I am also 7 months into my blog and I know what you mean about the addiction part. I too will be out and can not wait to get back to blogging and interacting with other bloggers. This is my sixth blog, I have sold some, some I have neglected and I actually still maintain one. My blog about blogging (Tycoon Blogger) is the one that I am most passionate about and when you have passion for a subject it is easy to create content and keep the blog going.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
7 months into your blog — right around where I am as a blogger. As for the addiction, glad to see I’m not the only one. Since beginning my blogging journey, I’ve met tons of great people, and am continuously meeting more.
Wow, sixth blog!? Nice! This is only my second, as the post of this title says.
I agree with you — passion pushes you to keep working, which in turn brings success. Your blog is doing great from the looks of it. Keep up the good work man!
I think everyone benefits from a “failure” like this. Even though you can spend hours reading up on how to create and make money through a blog you can’t read up on experience.
Thinking back on it I created my first real blog (not niche site, forum, etc.) for about two years ago. For some reason I had a huge interest in piracy and politics back then so I named the domain something like “piracy news” in English. My first mistake with this blog.. Even though I wrote some great content a lot of people didn’t take me seriously since I had “piracy” written in the domain. After a few months I got bored to write about piracy since my beliefs changed. This resulted in me leaving the blog and let it die.
Today I still make $7-10 a day on this blog even though I haven’t updated it for a long time.
I agree. A little failure can’t hurt at all. It’s not something which you can learn, unless you actually experience it.
Dang, a piracy blog? I would think that would be a pretty popular topic, and lots of people would want to read about it. Well, if you weren’t passionate about it though, it’s a good thing you let it die. At least you’re making $7-10 a day from it, by doing pretty much nothing!
I actually started to use it again a few weeks ago simply to promote my smaller niche sites. Since it is a PR4 domain it helps a lot for a new born site.
Dang, PR4 — pretty good! If you ever stop using it completely, you should consider selling it. I think you good get a decent amount of money for it. On the other hand, if you enjoy updating it once in a while, keep it for sure.
I did quite OK with my first blog. It didn’t have a good domain name. I was doing good getting good back links and comments but it died due to bad hosting.
I would say good hosting is also required for good blogging.
You are doing very well with your blog when I compare it my current blog you look more sucessful.
Good to see someone had success with their first blog! And ah — the popular domain issue. Many people choose a domain which they later realize is not all that great.
Hosting is also very important. Thanks for pointing that out.
I wouldn’t say that. Your blog is coming along great!
Change is good always
Only thing we need to do is, just go with interest, don’t go into un known areas just for making money or rich keywords hunt 
Good that you shared all your learnings here.
I agree! That is something I’ve learned, and will definitely not make the same mistake again.
My first blog was somewhat of a success. It took me a year to know what topic I wanted to cover on it. My main blog now is off to a good start. We will see where its at once it hit the 6 months mark.
Good to see someone had success at their first shot. Would you say your current blog (DeneilMerritt.com) is doing better at the 6 month mark than your previous blog was doing at the 6 month mark?
Not at the 6 months mark yet. Just hit 3 months and I can say its doing a lot better than my first blog did. 6 months should below it out the water.
Oh yeah, I knew that — my bad. Yeah, your blog is doing phenomenal, especially considering it’s only 3 months old.
What tool do you use to measure your backlinks?
In google, using “like:domain.com” doesn’t work very well, in my case, it shows 23 links – but according to Google Webmaster Tools, I have over a thousand…. so quite a difference.
And what you’re saying about just can’t wait to get home and update the blog – yeah, tell me about it, I feel the same way sometimes
I can snap a picture of something just to remember it and say to myself, “I gotta blog about this!”.
Klaus,
I use backlinkwatch.com. It seems to be quite reliable, as it was the 2nd result in Google for the keyword I searched. I know doesn’t give it 100% credibility, but like I said, seems pretty reliable.
I believe “like:domain.com” will only show how many pages of your site are indexed — not how many backlinks your site has.
Haha, yeah, me too! I love blogging about things that have happened to be recently. That way, I never run out of things to write about.
Oh, I see that I wrote “like:domain.com”, but what I really meant was “link:domain.com” – which is how Google explains one can see which sites are linking to that URL … except it doesn’t seem to be working very well.
In my case, google claims there’s 23 pages linking to me.
Yahoo says 1500 inlinks and backlinkwatch says 1400. I wonder what’s wrong with the way Google shows it?
You can use “site:domain.com” to see how many pages are indexed by Google.
Oh, that’s true. Hm — that is really weird. I’m going to have to look into this. I want to know how many back liks I REALLY have.
As for me… if we are just talking about my blog MakingMoneyOnline.com, I have actually attempted making a site out of it several times over the years, and I believe I started a blog with it one or two times. The issue was I had so much other stuff going on, I totally neglected it and I never could build any kind of momentum. I remember I created a blog for it at the end of last year or the beginning of this year (I am not sure exactly when) and I wrote about 5 to 10 really good posts (at least I thought so). One of the last posts I wrote was about the importance of writing posts on a consistent basis, something like once a day. Well the next thing I knew it was like a month since I wrote any post and I said to myself… if I can’t follow my own advice, why would anyone listen to what I have to say, so I took the blog down.
After that… I made a commitment to myself that when I relaunched the blog, I would make it one of my top priorities and since it has opened I have been having so much more fun with it than with almost any of my Internet endeavors. Not only do I enjoy writing posts… I REALLY LOVE the interaction the site gets in the comment section, plus I have met several great people that I hope I can build a long term friendships with.
So for me Gooroo… the fifth or sixth or seventh time is the charm
No worries Doug — I guess the second time isn’t the charm for everyone!
I know what you mean — I’ve done that before (given advice, then not followed it myself), so I try harder now to avoid doing that.
Your blog really is turning into a community. The interaction is great and allows bloggers to meet other bloggers. It might have taken you five, six, or seven times, but you sure hit things right on!
Thanks Gooroo… I do appreciate that!
iBlogPlanet is turning out great as well. Not only does it look awesome, but you are a really great writer… which is most important!
Thank you Doug!
Doug and Gooroo,
I had a similar issue with my blog posts as I failed on a self imposed 30day challenge after about 11days of consistent posts. But rather than closing shop I realized the importance at being real and authentic, and hope readers can appreciate the real me. My current goal is really to post at least once per week with hopefully something that has alot of thought behind it.
I’m on my 3rd blog. The first 2 are still a around and were strictly for the money. I like to consider these false starts as “projects deferred”
. I may return to them one day and haven’t given them up completely. Without these first two “projects deferred” I wouldn’t have learned the things I now know or been at a point where I am feeling that I am on the right track and hopefully providing something that will truly be of value to others.
Gooroo,
Great Posts, I don’t think there is anything such as failures when it comes to trying something. We the “false starters of the world” are already ahead of the game considering those who won’t even attempt to get in the game.
But I’m still wandering did you try to monetize that site with over 5000 backlinks and how did you get so many?
First of all, welcome to iBlogPlanet!
At least I now know I’m not the only one who’s been in that situation. I think many begin blogging for money, but realize it is not as easy as they thought.
Nonetheless, you’ve learned, and now you are doing better as a blogger. I also have a few old projects which are just sitting around. I’m trying to concentrate on this blog for now.
I agree with you on that also — nothing wrong with failure. Failure only makes you better at something, right? Couldn’t have said it better!
I was going to start trying to monetize, but then suddenly decided to change my domain — thus I had to move over the content to this blog.
great stats… 23 day blog but have a nice stats. i wonder the formula you use for this .
Thanks! No secret formula really. Just post, comment, and all that good stuff.
We all have to start some where, be happy that you have learned very quickly and that you have a bit more knowledge now and you can do it better and faster than before.
I only maintain 1 blog and that’s more than enough for me.
That’s true George. I was pretty bummed about restarting, but am not so much anymore. I came to realize I am almost where I was with my first blog, but in a sixth of the time.
1 blog is more than enough for me as well.
I started with a free-hosted site and when I ‘thought’ I already knew everything about it, I bought a domain name. All my ventures were of course influenced by all those glib-talking webmasters who tell me I could leave my job within a couple of weeks thru blogging. Here I am now, still not earning what I thought I could earn and realizing that I still have a lot to learn in the blogging business.
I envy you who seems to have hit it off right the very first time, and hit it off again the second time. Guess, my case is about ‘learning the hard way’. If someone should study the pattern of my posts, one will find that only very recently did I try to enjoy posting for the fun of it.
James,
I started pretty much where you did! My head was fill of that crap from those individuals who told me i would make $10,000 a month, etc.. Numbers that are obviously not realistic for a beginner blogger. We all have lots left to learn.
No problem with learning the hard way — sometimes that’s the best way to learn. The important part is that you have learned. I’m glad to see you are taking the approach of posting for fun. It really works. I’m going to head over to your blog right now and check it out!
Loved the way you wrote this post Gooroo. I created once two blogs with blogspot just to understand how it worked. I only posted about 4 times and left it. of course, a blogspot blog without a real domain or a cool theme doesn’t motivate anyone.
I really love my new blog and my website
.
Thanks man! Yeah, to be honest, I really don’t pay much attention to blogspot blogs (or in other words, non self-hosted blogs). I know it isn’t right to do that, but I think it’s just my nature. I like to see a blog that I can tell the person has put effort (and possibly some money into). Your blog is a great example. The theme was enough to have me dazed the first time I visited!
Thanks Gooroo, although I want to change it. I think that was attracts people to my blog is my header, but the theme is not that great. I like told you before, I want to see if your theme works for me but without one sidebar.
Oh yeah, I remember you mentioned that. Do you need me to send you the link to the theme, or have you already found it?
I think those are great stats. Good going, buddy! I think when it comes to blogging, its not about second or third, as long as you love what you do, it would show in your work & people are sure to come.
I’m with you all the way Chris. Love what you do, and it will show. It is easy to differentiate between someone blogging because it is their passion, and someone who is simply blogging to make money.
Thanks for the appreciation. It can not be a superficial way to do things profitable, but a passionate drive. You have it. Although great stats, I believe they are just a start of long productive results.
Thank you Chris! Needless to say, you’re well under way of achieving long productive results.. You also seem to be quite the amazing affiliate marketer! How long have you been affiliate marketing?
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