Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
In reality, blogging itself is quite an easy venture to get into. A lot of it comes down to writing and whether you can keep someone’s attention through your words. However, it takes a lot more than simple text to be successful.
Then again, “success” is a bit of a subjective term. After all, everyone has a different idea of what that means.
Some people view themselves as successful according to visitor traffic, income, or how much they wrote that week. So, it really depends on what your goals are for the blog.
In this case, though, I’m talking about gaining an audience and driving traffic.
Yes, Blogging Itself is Easy
In the grand scheme of things, being able to crank out content isn’t all that difficult. As long as you have a few strong strategies to keep yourself writing, you can quickly gain dedicated readers.
If you have a good web host for WordPress, a lot of things can be easily streamlined. And once you get the preliminary setup completed, you can spend most of your time just putting thoughts into a blog post.
When it comes to writing in general, the hardest part is dealing with writer’s block. However, there are all kinds of ways you can address this.
In fact, some of my best-performing articles were simply opinions I had on any given topic. And I know quite a few successful bloggers who do nothing more than write about their day.
Then again, you need a specific audience for that kind of content. Not everyone is going to take to Google to see how your date went last Friday.
The downside to blogging is that it takes more than slapping words up on a post and crossing your fingers if you want to improve traffic. A lot more comes into play outside of how you write.
What Makes Blogging Not So Easy?
When you’re creating a blog for a specific purpose, there are all kinds of things you need to address. Yes, your words are what generate interest for someone to click the link from search results, but there are plenty of cogs turning in the background.
Some of these will actually hinder your growth.
Website Performance Issues
First, you need to consider the performance of your blog. Is it slow? Can visitors easily find specific content? Does it provide the best user experience?
These are things Google looks for and will rank based on what it finds.
This doesn’t mean you have to become a coding expert. But, you will have to regularly test the performance of your site to make sure it’s still doing well.
SEO Research for Ideal Phrases
It’s easy to just get into blogging if you don’t care about search results. But if you’re trying to get more visitors, make money, and build a popular website, you need to focus on keywords and phrases.
Depending on the size of your blog and the sheer amount of competition, this means you’ll dump a lot of time into creating the best possible content you can with those terms.
Just because you used a high-volume phrase doesn’t mean you’ll attract a massive audience.
Understanding Search Intent
Finding the best keyphrases is only part of the equation. Now, you have to use those terms according to how someone is using them in Google.
This is called, “search intent.” What is the intent of the person searching for that particular phrase? How are they using it to find information?
This means you need to understand your target audience fairly well. Having something like a visitor persona sheet can do wonders.
Optimizing Image Usage
Images will take up the vast majority of the size of your pages and posts in WordPress. It’s easy to add too much when blogging, so you might need to reel it in a bit.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to optimize content for images, especially for mobile devices. You don’t need to go without visual stimuli. After all, images play a big role in certain types of content.
However, you need to make sure they aren’t hindering the performance of your page loading times.
Addressing Security Issues
Even the smallest blog is a target for spam and hackers. Usually, it’ll be bots testing the security of your site for a variety of purposes.
On the upside, you can install plugins like Wordfence, which does an incredible job of keeping your site safe. In fact, Wordfence is among my favorite plugins for WordPress.
Then you need to consider managing backups. Because it’s better to be prepared than to spend time trying to fix a mistake or if your site was hacked.
Updating Older Articles
After writing those easy posts, you’ll have to eventually go back to blogging and update the content. That’s because both visitors and Google appreciate relevant and current information.
Updating old content also works to improve page performance in search. In one instance, I saw a post gain over 8,000% in traffic over six months just by making a few minor modifications.
When you don’t have a lot of time, it’s a pain to rework older articles. But, the rewards are worth it if you can make it part of a routine schedule.
Maintaining a Constant Flow of Content
Not everyone can maintain a constant flow of content to the blog. While some people will think it’s easy to jump into blogging and write anything, being too diverse in topics can hinder performance in Google.
This is because the search engine loves ranking articles that are relevant to a site’s niche. Not to mention how the majority of your visitors are looking for specific topics according to what your site provides.
For example, would you expect to see a recipe for keto brownies on a blog that often posts about care repair?
Also, consider how an active website gets priority in search results. This means you need to keep publishing content at regular intervals.
Finding Viable Money-Making Platforms
Now, this one is more of an optional pain. It really depends on how much money you want to make from a blog, if you even want to make any at all.
But if you’re looking for the best methods for generating income, it’s going to take a lot of research.
This is because not every website is the same. What works extremely well for one blog may not pull in a single dime for another. You’ll have to do a bit of trial and error to see what methods work best from your website.
What money-making method works best with your specific audience?
Blogging Is Still Fun, and it Can Be Easy
In the end, it all comes down to how much maintenance you have to do for your website. The more you add, the more time it’s going to take.
One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress is the ability to automate some of the things I mentioned above.
Don’t get me wrong, even though the list above does look a bit intimidating, most of it all centers around the initial setup. Once you get things organized, you’ll find blogging to be easy in the long run.
Just keep in mind that it could take weeks or even months to develop a good strategy for your website. Don’t expect instant gratification.
Have a realistic expectation of what you’re getting yourself into. Personally, I strive to do better year-over-year. This means I really don’t stress unless it looks like the blog won’t grow within a 12-month period.
And so far, every blog has. Well, with the exception of the fitness journey blog. But that has more to do with algorithm changes and a lack of enthusiasm.
It’s a long story.
Keep Adjusting Your Tactics
Getting into blogging is relatively easy. You just gotta make sure you’re keeping up with trends and performance if you want to drive traffic or make a lot of money.
Because the simplest change in Google’s algorithm can take away all of your progress overnight…literally.
Keep writing your content, but keep everything else in mind.
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