3 Things I’d Do Differently If I Were a Beginning Writer
I’ve been through it all, and I’m still not finished
Writing started as a hobby for me.
In the beginning of 2019 I created WordPress blogs to host my travel articles. I was hoping that I’d be making money off of those some day — Google AdSense was my only sense of making money online.
That was before I discovered the world of social blogging.
Before you might say that I’m not an authority to speak about writing, that’s true, I’m not — but if you’re interested in my experiences you’re more than welcome to stay.
Don’t Be Desperately Looking For Money
This used to be me, trying to find a gap in the market where I could earn some money from — it didn’t work, and it only cost me money.
Website hosting isn’t free, you know.
I knew how to work with WordPress and other CMS systems because of my software engineering degree, so these websites looked alright, and the SEO was okay — just not good enough.
And I wasn’t patient enough, that’s for sure.
The only thing I did was post content, a lot — then I submitted my Google AdSense Application and got rejected because the content wasn’t original enough.
Then I quit, just after a couple of weeks.
And a few months later, I started all over again. New domain name, new ideas, more money spent — and it happened all over again.
Suddenly, all I forgot where it was all about: writing.
Stop Begging For Followers and Reads
Sharing your content on Facebook or Twitter is fine, great even.
But don’t get desperate. That’s just annoying for everybody else around you — if you’re good, people will see that eventually.
Marketing and promotion is something else than just sharing links out of context in random blogging Facebook groups.
One of the things that really bothered me were the people on Facebook literally begging and asking for followers because of Medium’s new 100 followers policy to be able to join the partner program.
Doing the old ‘follower for follower’ method has never led to any success.
Getting to 100 followers and getting readers really isn’t that difficult if your content is good.
Creating organic interaction with an audience works much better, not only on blogs, also on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and TikTok — people like real other people, so talk to your followers.
Build a Big Library of Content Before Quitting
If you’re like me: inpatient, you should take this advice very serious — everybody can write, and if you are willing to understand the rules of the online writing game you can be successful.
You just have to dedicate yourself to it and prevent quitting.
When you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you’re already familiar with this platform.
Go for it, create an account and start writing here.
Nothing’s more scary than hitting the publish button, but ones you’ve done it, it feels great.
Building a large portfolio will help you succeed on the long term, people are still reading content that I’ve published a very long time ago, and it’s still earning me some good cash.
If you’ve created a lot of content, you can re-use that content.
Wrapping Things Up
Remember you’re not alone, the internet is full of useful tips and tricks to become more successful being a writer online — it has never been easier.
So if you want a short reminder, here are some key things to remember:
- Stick to the writing, don’t overdo your ‘marketing/link-sharing’
- Dedicate yourself, so don’t quit after a week of 0 views
- Build a big library of content that you possibly can re-use