Like many others, I started as a personal blogger happy to write about how my day was. For me, blogging was like keeping a diary except that it is online and because it is, it was sort of “hip”.
My first blog, though it was for everybody to read, was purely for my entertainment. I used to blog to express pent-up emotions, to amuse myself, and to talk to myself. There were times when I got really personal in my entries. I never meant to be read and I always thought that even if I was, nobody would know that it was me since I was using an alias.
The anonymity was the very reason why I was brave enough to put my life online like that for all sorts of normal and creepy people to read.
Except for me, my first blog wasn’t really relevant. It was just a collection of pretty but useless nothings I grew out of after some time. I had run a series of personal blogs carefully deleting each one as I move on to a new one.
It went on like that for years but it slowly changed when I got in a small circle of personal bloggers who commented and read each other’s posts.
The realization that people I don’t personally know read my blogs and take some of the things I say seriously urged me to see blogging in a different light. I learned that you can educate, convince, encourage, and know some really great people through blogging.
From then on, I started posting articles that could help or entertain people other than myself. I also started reading other people’s blogs and learned a lot from them. One of the best things I learned about blogging is the fact that one could earn money from it. I was doubtful about it at first but was eventually convinced by bloggers who gained my trust.
It’s been more than three years now since I earned my first dollar from blogging and I never looked back.
I tried many ways to earn money from blogging. I submitted articles to revenue sharing sites for residual income and I did some paid reviews too. I also displayed some ads and sold stuff through my blogs. I actually did some link selling too (and got spanked by Google for that by taking my PRs away).
There was a time when I was running 13 blogs that provided me with a decent amount at the end of each month. Last year I downsized to five blogs because I got caught up with moving to, and adjusting in, a new country.
Other than the money, the advantages I get from blogging include:
- Blogging helps me refine my writing skills
- Blogging urges me to learn new skills like understanding html, css, and php
- Blogging helps me build and expand my network
- Blogging urges me to be up-to-date
- Blogging opens many doors leading to professional writing opportunities
It is easy to conclude that I still blog because of the money but the truth is; I still do it because I like to write and the money is just the wonderful icing on the cake.
