4 things nobody tells you about blogging

Woman on computer blogging

A lot of people don’t recognise and hardly understand the intricacies of blogging. Some go as far as dismissing it as hobby, rather than recognising it as the business it is. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares four things nobody tells you about blogging.

  1. It is not some get rich quick scheme

It’s nice to hear about blogs that charge thousands and hundreds of thousands for publicity or adverts of any kind. But what most people don’t get is that blogging is hard and it takes a lot of time and patience to be read widely enough to get noticed for publicity and advertisements. Most of the widely read blogs today took months, even years of consistent and tireless efforts to get to where they are and have the kind of recognition they have. Blogging is hardly a get rich quick scheme.

  1. It is not that easy

There is a general belief that running a blog is what you do when you either don’t have a job or don’t have anything better to do. Many believe it’s easy and requires little or no effort. That’s inaccurate. Aside having to constantly come up with interesting and engaging content for your blog almost every hour of the day (especially if yours is a news blog), you also must consider the mails, questions and comments that you must attend to, to help drive engagement on your blog. Eventually, as your blog grows, you’ll realise it’s hardly something you can do on your own.

  1. A blogger is not only a blogger

As a blogger, especially when starting out, to grow your readership, you are going to feel the need to be a web designer (trying to find the right web layout that will be attractive and user friendly), a social media strategist (ensuring you use social media to get as much publicity for your blog as you can), an SEO specialist, a web marketing guru and an amateur photographer all at the same time! It’s a lot. You might not exactly be a professional in all the above-mentioned areas, but you should be able to handle them well enough not to suck at it and to help grow your blog’s readership.

  1. The business side

Many people tend to underestimate or don’t understand the business side of blogging. They either start demanding for money too soon or are completely clueless about how sponsored content works around the policies of the corresponding firms, corporations and companies. A good number of people don’t realise that some brands or companies have payment terms of 90 days; meaning even after doing publicity for them, you might not get your payment until after three months. Some brands also have you working on sponsored content and you will have to send them draft upon draft till they like what they see. Since you’ve likely already signed a contract with them, you really don’t have much of choice. It is important to recognise the business side of blogging and try to understand it before going into it.