Ever since I started bringing my note pad around and becoming more active on social networks, it has come to light that I have something else going on besides my day job. Friends and families have been asking me – “What have you been up to?” – a lot. My usual straight forward answer is – “I’m blogging”. But that isn’t the only question they have in mind.
Blogger isn’t the typical occupation that you would find in school textbooks, so clearly, most people (including you) are quite intrigued by it. Here are 8 questions that I get asked all the time as a budding blogger and I thought I would share some of my personal answers with you.
Q 1 – “What Makes You Want to Blog?”
Blogging was a turning point in my career. I realized that I was unhappy at work and I certainly don’t want to be like that until my retirement age. At the same time, I have been wanting to boost my financial income and was finding ways to live a better quality of life – hence my pursuit for time freedom.
At my day job, I have no space to express this idea, but through blogging, I am able to explore them at my own pace and creativity. So I took up blogging because I felt it will give me some new learning experience (and much needed inspiration) to help me move forward in whatever I choose to do.
Q 2 – “Do You Have to Be Good in Writing to Be a Blogger?”
Not really. I am actually better at scribbling (and talking) than writing a proper article. In fact, I was rambling a lot in my first few posts, which made me wonder if readers even understood what I was trying to say.
I later realized that the art to writing a good blog post isn’t so much about just writing what you think or imitating the style of professional writers. It’s more about organizing your thoughts and creating an easy-to-understand flow for the readers.
When you do that, the words are more constructed and it will appear as if you are really good at writing. And the good news is, the more you blog, the better you become.
Q 3 – “How Do You Find the Time to Write?”
I make sure that I find the time to do it. Just like any budding bloggers, I too struggle with a busy schedule and I could only write at certain hours of the day. In fact, the writing task isn’t that time consuming at all; the researching part is the most laborious.
In the past, it took me days to understand a certain topic before I could even come up with a draft. It felt so unproductive that eventually, I came up with a more effective plan. Now, I am able to research, write and publish, all in the same day.
I don’t really fancy the term “time management”, but in essence, that’s what it’s all about. Focus on one task, don’t get distracted and you will be able to find the time to write.
Q 4 – “There Are so Many Bloggers, Who Is Going to Read Your Article?”
Every blogger is unique in their own way and what I mean is that, they write with a certain interest and audience in mind. This is called niche blogging. For example, someone who wants to learn about Yoga will not be reading a blog about Zumba, right?
Yes, your blog will not be seen by the entire world, but because it is designed to be targeted, it will be read by readers who are interested in the topic.
One of the main technique to achieve this is to write keyword elaborated content. When you know which keywords to use (or avoid), you’ll be able to come up with an article that will interest a certain group of people, which, by the way, is still a large percentage of the world’s population.
To learn how to search for appropriate keywords, I would recommend to use the Jaaxy Keyword Tool to help you out.
Q 5 – “Why Do Some Bloggers Asked for Personal Information?”
Bloggers generally DO NOT ask for your personal information. They do invite you to sign up for newsletters, download guidebooks or offer you a free trial. So, the most they know is your email address. If you come across any blogging sites that requires your credit card details or contact information in advance, you should make sure that they are not scams.
If they have plenty of negative reviews, the site is likely not trustworthy and not a professional blog. Unless the website is providing something you think is useful and practical, you should not disclose your personal information to the many bogus bloggers out there.
Q 6 – “How Do You Make Money as a Blogger?”
There are basically two ways you can go about monetizing as a blogger. Firstly, if you have a certain skills that can benefit other people, you could create your own merchandise – physical or digital – and sell them through an online store created on your blog.
Physical products can be something that is easy to ship and digital products can be things like eBooks, tutorials, podcasts or even online memberships.
The second method is to do affiliate marketing. If you don’t own any merchandise, you can promote other people’s product on your blog and earn a commission from each sales transaction.
All you need to do is to provide useful information or reviews about the products to help your readers decide which is more valuable for their purchase. Several networks that offer affiliate programs for bloggers are ShareASale, Amazon and ClickBank.
Q 7 – “How Do You Get Started?”
I know you are going to ask me that sooner or later 🙂 The good news is you don’t really need to be a tech savvy, but it pays to understand how web business works. To get started, you will need 3 important things;
- A reliable internet connection – Why? The faster your internet speed, the more efficient you’ll be able to blog online.
- A website – Why? This is where you publish all your blog posts. (Check out how you can create your own website easily with SiteRubix)
- A training program – Why? If you are new to blogging, you’ll have lots of questions to ask. Although you can find plenty of tips online, having someone with experience to guide you through the foundation of blogging can be a great help especially if you are planning to start an online business.
Find out why I use Wealthy Affiliate as my preferred training platform for blogging.
Q 8 – “So, Is Blogging Worth the Time?”
I don’t really have an answer for that. If you consider online interaction an effective way to learn more about your niche, then you may find blogging very rewarding. However, if you see it as a tedious task, it’s probably not worthy of your time.
Two years ago, I never thought of becoming a blogger, but I did and I am enjoying it so far. So let me ask you back – would you like to give it a try?
Has anyone ever asked you any general or mind-boggling questions about blogging? It would be interesting to hear it in the comment area.
Another great post, Cathy. I really don’t get many mind boggling questions but I do get a lot of people asking me if it is hard. I tell them it is easy. But it takes time and commitment if you want to earn money.
I think it is easy because you get to do it your own way and work at your own pace. Yeah there are things to learn and it takes time, but it really is easy. I mean all we bloggers really do is type out our thoughts. We are all unique and have different styles.
Hi Wendy,
I do agree with you that there’s nothing too difficult about blogging. But it does involve learning a lot of new stuff all at the same time and this can be overwhelming for some people, even for me. The challenge here is that not many are committed to doing it long term.
But if you are very determined to pursue a goal like time freedom (like me), then you would take it as part of a blogger’s journey in building a successful online business.
Here is a question. I read a lot of different blogs and really enjoy them. I feel like I want to start blogging as well. What if I want to blog, but don’t feel like I am an expert at anything? What am I suppose to blog about?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Hi Jason,
This is a very common question yet it’s not easy to come up with a satisfactory answer.
To start off, none of us are born experts in anything. We all learn and eventually become good at something. I am very sure you have a unique knowledge or skills that I don’t. And when I said that, I don’t mean that you have to have a PhD for it. It can be something as fundamental as your hobbies. Blog about that and share with people what you know.
The other method, which I find works very well for me, is to research on the topics that I don’t really know or understand. Starting an online business, for example, is something that I am interested in, but have no idea how to go about. So the more I learn about it, the more I blog about it.
If all things fail, follow my dad’s advice – follow the river and you’ll find the sea. In other words, follow where your heart leads you to and you’ll discover what to blog eventually.
Hi Cathy,
I think you summarized blogging, or the art of it very nicely! Blogging does require some commitment. I am with you on the fact that it requires some research and dedicated time.
I have a full time job, so I don’t get to write content as much as I would like, but I still make sure I do regularly. I interact with people on social media to keep the interest high as well. Someone has to be dedicated to it but there are also lots of satisfaction in it.
Welcome to my blog, Emily.
I have a full-time crazy job too, but I am also very determined to become a blogger. Social media and positive comments from my readers certainly keep me going. Here’s an article on how you can blog while working at the same time. Maybe you can find something helpful from there too.
Hi Cathy,
Another great post, funny that I came across it because I am starting to get a lot of the same questions about what I’ve been up to. The thing is that I love telling people all about blogging and never thought I would be doing what I am today. You did a really great job of summing up the whole thing in a great article. Looking forward to more !
Hey Jesse, I have mixed reactions when I tell people that I am blogging.
Some think it’s a great way to discover one’s passion and purpose, but some think that it’s just another hype like all the internet scams out there. It will take time, but I am confident that my blogging business will be successful one day.
Hi Cathy,
You have so many solutions to the questions asked for bloggers. This is awesome and very informative. Becoming a blogger can sometimes be challenging, but the beauty part of it is enriching our readers with knowledge. Great FAQ article here!
Hi Edy,
My biggest challenge as a busy blogger is probably finding the time to research on my articles. Just like you, I want to offer something valuable for my readers and I don’t want them to leave my site without gaining anything positive. So research and refining my content information is a big part in my blogging routine.
Nice post and you answered all my questions I had about blogging.
Readers will quickly learn that blogging is really not that hard. Hard part as you stated is finding time to do it. Without a powerful keyword research tool, getting your blog in front of users will be difficult.
I have been using Jaaxy for awhile now and a lot of my content is highly ranked in Google. An effective blogger can make good money by selling eBooks, products or affiliate products from vendors like Amazon or ClickBank, thanks for pointing that out.
Your site is a goldmine and thanks for putting your readers first!
Hi there Tony. I second what you say.
Learning how to create my WordPress site only took me days, but getting traffic to my website seems to take forever. But I am not complaining. Learning from my mistakes is probably one of the best ways to write a better blog post with the readers and search engines in mind.
I have found enjoyable moment when I shared my thought publicly at my blog. I did some research to strengthening my blog hence the content becomes useful. I felt that I should learn more from professional bloggers who have unique style to writing in different niche and your blog is really helpful for me 🙂
Welcome to my blog Fidha,
I have just started blogging myself and am no where a professional blogger that’s for sure. There are several ways to create good quality content and one of it is to use long-tail keywords for your article. If you are not sure what this means, do visit Jaaxy to learn more.
If you need any help, just let me know 🙂
I honestly have never really been approached or asked blogging questions directly before, but I have been approached for blogging jobs (which I guess would count as a question in itself).
Indirectly, the closest forms of questions I’ve gotten have been relating to money and how to get started with blogging.
Welcome to my blog, Daniel.
The ‘money question’ is quite common actually. Full time bloggers have been known to earn thousands from their job and it has created a somewhat false perception that if you know how to write, then you can be rich.
That’s not entirely true because most of the successful bloggers have to work very hard – not just writing – to reach where they are today. Joining a good training program like the one at Wealthy Affiliate actually put people in the right mindset from the very beginning. Business blogging is all about following a system that works; no hypes, no short-cuts and definitely no get-rich-quick kind of thing.