Many of us think blogging looks easy and that it’s the quick route to riches. The common misconception is that you share your thoughts and feelings on your blog, and millions of people come to your website within a short space of time.

Perceptions…

Everyone who comes to your website will, of course, agree with everything you write and think of you as a demigod and you will earn millions from endorsements and advertising. Another incredible misnomer is the idea that bloggers roll out of bed at 1 PM after a long night of relaxing on a beach and drinking cocktails with a beautiful mistress.

This blogger will then proceed to spend 1 hour per day writing intellectual and wonderful content which runs off the tongue like liquid gold. The blogger’s ideas stream onto the page with no effort and once his/her article is published it instantly earns cold hard cash and it spreads across the Internet like wildfire.

Reality…

Are you ready for the cold, miserable, hard and uncomfortable facts of being a blogger? Right then, here we go.

First of all let me say right away that yes, there are bloggers who do have the lifestyle I described above – but believe me – they are few and far between and they support this lifestyle by other means, not just blogging.

It takes a great deal of effort and personal sacrifice.
Starting a blog is easy and fun. When you first get started, it is super exciting, and the adrenaline rush you get from the whole process is incredible. You smile as you imagine your fully grown blog and the riches ahead.

Nevertheless, after about a month or so you start to realise something – no one is coming to your blog.

Why is this? “My thoughts are amazing.” “I am amazing.” “Why is no one coming to my blog?”

Well, here is the sad but uncomfortable truth. Success takes a long time!
A few facts for your thoughts;

• Google has no idea who you are or what your blog is about.
• Your blog is brand new and has no page rank or authority.
• You have zero social influence – no likes, shares or influence over anyone.
• Your niche may be a highly competitive one where hundreds, possibly thousands, of other bloggers are writing about the exact same topic as you.
• Depending on your technical skills your blog may be difficult for Google and Bing to index and crawl.
• Are you structuring your content properly? Such as – keyword placements, Alt Tags, SERP optimization, H tags, mobile compatibility, to name only a few!

I have personally created about a dozen or so blogs, and I can tell you for a fact. You can easily go two or three months before even receiving a single organic visit to your website through a search engine – depending on your niche of course.
An important point is coming up so read on!

The Importance Of Understanding The Process…

If you are aware of the timescale from the “get go” then you have nothing to worry about. Almost all bloggers fail simply because they are impatient and “can’t be bothered to wait and put in the effort” even though they may only be one month away from seeing positive results.

Blogging has a snowball effect.

• The more you write, the more Google will trust your website and rank you higher in the search results.
• The better your rankings, the more people come to your blog, as time goes on you start earning money.
• Once you start earning money, you can outsource article writing, plus write yourself, which means you can double your article output – which in turn will increase traffic, and increase earnings.

This is why the first six months or so are so incredibly hard because NOTHING happens.
During those pivotal first six months;

• You will have virtually NO traffic.
• You will get no feedback from anyone because no one is reading your content.
• Your patience and commitment will be tested to the max.
• Your frustration will be incredibly high as writing content to a non-existing audience is very, VERY hard.

BUT! This is a big BUT! When the search engines finally trust your website and start to show your website/blog in the search results you are going to see traffic coming to your articles.

First, there will only be one or two clicks per day, then about ten per day. Within a few weeks, you may start seeing 20+ clicks per day, and this is when the ball will start rolling.

Once the money starts coming in, in drips and drabs, suddenly things get easier, and that is when things start to really build momentum, and you see results a LOT faster.

What’s The Solution…

PATIENCE!

I am sorry for shouting at you but it really is as simple as that! Be patient.
You do need to have certain criteria in place to ensure that the search engines can crawl your website properly and the readers have a good user experience.

However, these skills are not that difficult to learn from places like Wealthy Affiliate.

You can have a look here at the core skills required to create a website that will be Google friendly and rank quicker. I won’t go into the core skills here because that’s a whole other article all together.

Once you have these rather basic skills in place, the rest comes down to patience and willingness to KEEP WRITING. Not much else is really needed to be honest.
Have you ever wondered why you sometimes come across a website which looks amateurish and dated and you can’t help but think – “How the hell does this guy outrank me?!”
Well, the answer is simple. This outdated and poorly designed blog is old, has a large amount of content, is trusted by Google and has good content within the pages which provides value to the reader.

The person who writes for this blog has spent years building up backlinks, social following, a readership and a large quantity of good quality articles. This takes time.

Another important tip is coming up so keep reading!

Let’s take a realistic look at some number here;
Let’s say, for example, that on average each article you write will generate 10 clicks per month from search engines over its lifetime. Some will produce a LOT more, and some will never generate a single click, ever. However, overall, each article will generate roughly 10 clicks per month.

• Articles written per month = 10
• Time before search engines starts showing your content in result = 6 months.

The following figures are merely a demonstration of a rough scenario. Some people will see results a lot quicker and a much higher reward, some will earn less over a much longer period. This is just to illustrate my point. Nevertheless, from personal experience, this is usually the pattern of my own blogs over the years.

Month 1

• Articles = 10
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

Month 2

• Articles = 20
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

Month 3

• Articles = 30
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

Month 4

• Articles = 40
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

Month 5

•  Articles = 50
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

Month 6

•  Articles = 60
• Traffic = 0 clicks p/month
• Income = $0

The 6th month has come and gone and Google now trusts your site enough and start showing your blog in search results.
The income will be calculated as 1% of your visitor numbers with the average commission per sale sitting at $25 – this is of course completely variable depending on the niche, products being sold, and commission structure but it will give you an idea of how much money you can earn.
Month 7

• Articles = 70
• Traffic = 700 clicks p/month
• Income = $175

Month 8

• Articles = 80
• Traffic = 800 clicks p/month
• Income = $200

Month 9

• Articles = 90
• Traffic = 900 clicks p/month
• Income = $225

As your authority and visitor numbers grow it will be easier for you to rank well for more competitive keywords and your average click per article will increase. In this example let’s say it doubles to 20 click p/month, per article.

Month 10

• Articles = 100
• Traffic = 2000 clicks p/month
• Income = $500

Fast forward to month 24 (2 years) and you will be;
Month 24

• Articles = 240
• Traffic = 4800 clicks p/month
• Income = $1200

What to take away with your from this article.

The figures above are purely for illustrations purposes. There is no set “guarantee” for traffic volume and earnings. However, doing these kinds of predictions will help you see and dream ahead in a more realistic way.

2 years is NOT a long time, and there is no reason at all why you cannot be making $2000 + per month within that time. But this will only happen if you are willing to PUSH THROUGH that initial painful barrier when you earn literally nothing.

This is very important! Imagine if you are the poor beggar who gives up after month 5 – just a month or so BEFORE you start to earn money from your hard work.
This is why it is so important to be patient.

I hope this article helped you to stay focused on your job at hand.