I made $0 from all my websites 3 years after creating them. I was running 5 websites then and I was paying for the domains annually and hosting, monthly. Sometimes I will not have money to keep me for the week but I had to pay for my hosting or else my websites would go offline.
It takes more than money to achieve your dreams. Passion is the driving force. Sometimes you have to go hungry in order to keep the vision alive.
People hear you are a blogger and they think you are popular and you write a lot of fake news for traffic and you have money. My genre of blogging (business and entrepreneurship) isn’t much lucrative in Ghana compared to Entertainment and lifestyle blogging. This explains why many people are blogging about entertainment and lifestyle.
I could sometimes spend a week or month working on a business or entrepreneurship article only to get 300 reads or less in a month. We never come out to tell you these but it is the truth. Sometimes I feel like joining the entertainment and lifestyle bloggers (though some are also struggling to keep up) but I realize I do not have the passion and resilience to continue in that field.
Let me tell you 3 things they never tell you about blogging:
1. Many bloggers live fake lives. They want you to believe they are rich and they made it through blogging. The truth is, to become rich through blogging is like wanting to become rich though betting. You are never sure whether you will win or not.
2. To become a popular blogger is expensive. Many bloggers have spent over GHc20,000 just to promote their pages in order to get followers, not knowing if they can make that money back or not. You heard a blogger has 200,000 or 500,000 followers and you think people love them and decide to follow them. 30% to 50% of those followers were bought. With GHc10,000, one can get between 30,000 to 80,000 followers whether he is a blogger or not. Many bloggers are just buying the hype. Nothing else.
3. Most popular bloggers don’t write stories. Most of the popular bloggers you have heard of no more write stories themselves. They have hired writers to fill their websites with stories. Some don’t even like writing. Money can buy them good writers.
Final words: Adsense from Google, Media.net and Facebook ads can make you money through blogging but many successful bloggers made their money by directly advertising for businesses and promoting brands. Affiliate marketing is also another great way to make some money through blogging.
If you have no time to write stories, no money to hire writers and no zeal to keep spending on your website for 2 or 5 years until you become a hit, then please, relax and pursue your passion. Blogging isn’t for everyone just as teaching or nursing isn’t for everyone. Don’t let the hype deceive you, some bloggers are struggling to make ends meet.
WRITING BY; CHARLES WUNDENGBA
