There’s an old saying about markets from the Great Depression.
“You know it’s time to sell when shoeshine boys give you stock tips. This bull market is over.”
The idea is that markets come about and a certain point they get saturated.
So is this true for blogging? I think there was a sweet spot, around maybe 2007 to 2010, when if you created a great blog, you had the potential for massive growth and creating considerable cashflow if you kept it up for a year or so. These days the appeal of making money writing and living a freelance life has attracted more bloggers than anyone can count. So is it too late?
I’d say the answer isn’t quite so simple. But I think if you jump into blogging these days you should be aware that there is a lot of competition and the easy money is gone in my humble opinion. These days there’s an abundance of FIRE related blogs. “Financial Independence for Vegetarians that Eat Meat on Weekends and Holidays” and “FIRE on FIRE” a blog about financial independence for people who’s house is literally on fire right now. Ok, I made these up. But still.
Some recent posts on popular blogs share ideas that are similar.
Famed blogger “The Mad Fientist” mentioned Reddit’s FIRE community in a recent post.
Back when I started the Mad Fientist in 2012, I noticed that the Financial Independence subreddit had a healthy number of subscribers (50,000-80,000) and was growing.
Mad Fientist
This is quite a good test for business viability because it shows that…
There’s a potential audience for what you’re planning to build (e.g. if the number of subscribers is over 10,000)
Interest in the topic is expanding (e.g. if the subscriber numbers are growing at a good rate)
It’s not already so big that you’ve likely missed the boat (e.g. if the number of subscribers is over 300,000)
Interesting that he highlights the idea of missing the boat. I’m not sure where the number 300,000 came from to indicate missing the boat. Perhaps it’s tied to some metric that indicates it’s too late.
I saw another post recently about how blogging can be challenging from Jaymee at Smart Woman blog.
What Does this Mean for Bloggers?
I think it means a few things for new bloggers. Some of the supposed old rules you’ll see don’t apply anymore.
- I’ve heard it quoted in a few places that bloggers need to keep it up for at least six months and then they’ll start to see significant growth. I don’t think this is necessarily true anymore. It is true you may start to get some SEO juice after 6 months but the timeline is longer if you are looking to build a profitable blog
- It’s possible it might not ever come. There’s simply too many bloggers writing about the same thing.
- Vlogging is a potential pivot to what audiences are looking for these days.
So Why Blog?
There’s still reasons to blog. And I’m continuing for at least another year or so.
- You can stumble upon some success. The right article can do well organically and drive traffic to an affiliate ad resulting in a steady trickle of income. Over time this can increase
- You’re learning a good skill. As you delve into the world of web site development, you’ll learn about e-commerce, javascript, HTML, CSS, analytics, marketing strategies, conversion rates, and much more. Before you know it, you have marketable business skills
- You can connect with great like-minded people
What are some good tips if you’re struggling with your blog?
- Don’t write about the exact same stuff everyone else is
- Niche down. Writing about something specific that you are interested in
- Solve a problem
- Tag and title your images for good SEO
So Should You Start a Blog?
Sure why not? It’s relatively cheap and it’s fun. I plan on continuing Getting Canned for the foreseeable future. If you’re interested in creating a blog consider these two hosts which have great price packages and services
- Site Ground – Great first-year promo price. Great service
- Big Scoots – Great consistently low month to month price even with no commitment. Great service.
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