I remember when I blogged for months and didn’t get anywhere. No matter how many hours I spent a day and how much content I created, I wasn’t getting any readers outside of family & friends.
It turned out there were SO MANY myths about blogging I believed that actually prevented it from growing. I wasn’t getting any traffic, so I wasn’t getting any subscribers and we all know how important it is to build an audience, right?
So one by one, I figure out what these myths were and ignored them. Even though it felt very uncomfortable because they had to be true because everyone else thought it was. And can you guess what happened next?
All because I stopped believing these myths. So if you’re wondering why your blog isn’t growing, no matter how many hours you put on it, you could be putting your energy into the wrong strategy. So keep watching to find out what these 18 blogging myths are so that you can ignore them and explode your blog too.
If you want to make sure you don’t skip a few steps when you launch your blog, you can use my Bold Blogger Launch Checklist. I broke down the checklist into steps and let you know how much time is needed for each step. So you can schedule it to your planner and know exactly how much time you need to commit to it. Click the button below to download.
If you have any questions about blogging, I’m here for you! I have a Facebook group you can join where we can talk all things blogging. Click here to join!
Let me know which blogging myth you thought was true! I hope I debunked a few blogging myths for you 🙂
#1 You need to be a good writer to blog
The most successful bloggers don’t have a degree in English or communications. And most beginners think they’re not fit for blogging because they’re not good in writing. But the truth is, you only need to write like you speak. That’s it!
The great part about blogging is that doesn’t require you to be a professional expert who writes educational essays. In fact, as a blogger, you’re more like a friend giving advice to another friend. And because of that, you’re a lot more approachable which your readers will absolutely LOVE about you.
#2 You have to be an expert in your niche in order to blog about it
Here’s something for you: if you know more than a beginner in your niche, then you know more than enough. Most people actually search for simple tips & ask beginner questions. So as long as you know more than beginners in your niche, then you’re well-equipped to create content for them.
Also, you’re much more relatable once your readers know you’re only a few steps ahead of them. And we all know, the more relatable you are, the more influence you have.
And don’t underestimate what you know. You’ll find it surprising that your readers aren’t as knowledgeable as you are in your niche. That’s why they came to you to teach them.
#3 Blogging is dead
Some people think Instagram & Facebook is the new blog but it’s not true. Actually, if you go on Ubersuggest, you’ll find that at least 60, 500 people type “how to start a blog” in search engines each month. So there are thousands of people interested in blogging. If blogging were dead, these queries wouldn’t be exponentially high.
Bloggers are now making more money than ever. Because you’re not just someone creating content and putting it out there. You’re also helping people, promoting your brand, and if you’re not already yet, selling a product or a service that helps people. And it’s within that product/service you’re selling that you make money from. And it’s your blog posts that promote it.
Blogging is also an amazing way to market your business and it’s called content marketing. Many businesses from solo entrepreneurs to large companies have a blog to give value but also market their products & services. And based on my experience, it totally works!
When I started blogging for my social media management business, word got around about my helpful content and my service that clients started coming to me. I even got asked to speak at a business conference. When I asked the person creating the event how he found out about me, he said he saw my blog posts through my Instagram account and loved how helpful it was, that he asked me to speak.
I took the opportunity and oh man, that became a huge stepping stone for me. More and more people found out about me and it was great for business. So blogging isn’t dead. Blogging is the stepping stone to many opportunities.
Honestly, if blogging were really dead, you & I wouldn’t be here. This article wouldn’t even exist and you wouldn’t be here reading it.
#4 As long as you keep putting out content, people will come and your audience will grow
So just because you published a blog post doesn’t mean you’re done. That’s just half the work. The other half is marketing it. You need to market it by sharing your content across different channels (social media networks, email list, Pinterest, etc.)
You’ll also need to make your content SEO-friendly so that your post is easily found through search engines. You do this by using keywords & key phrases that people would normally type on Google to find your post.
If you’re wondering about how to do this, head over to Ubersuggest.com, type in your topic, and a whole list of keywords will show up. Insert those keywords into your blog post and title.
#5 You’ll immediately get tons of traffic right after you publish a blog post
It takes 90 days for your blog posts to get full-traction through SEO & Pinterest. So don’t worry if everyone isn’t flocking to your blog. It could take 1-3 months to get a continuous flow of traffic to your post.
But if your post isn’t getting visits 90 days after it’s been published, then you need to assess what didn’t work about it. Was it valuable? Was it SEO-friendly? Was your pin design easy to read? Does it solve a problem that your audience has?
#6 You won’t make it because your niche is too big
Actually, this puts you at an advantage. If your niche is too big or oversaturated, it means your niche is popular AND profitable because there’s a high demand for it. The key is to create content that is valuable to your audience. .And you do this by creating content that speaks to their pain points.
#7 You won’t make it because your niche is too small
There is no niche that’s too small or too “niche” to blog about. When there’s a will, there’s a way right? There are blogs about chinchillas that teach you how to properly take care of them that make money. And I’ll say it again, the key is to create content that is valuable to your audience and you do this by creating content that speaks to their pain points. And if you don’t know how your audience is, sit down, grab and pen & paper, think about the kind of person you want to attract with your content. What’s their age, gender, where are they located, what are they interested and what problems do they have that your content can solve?
But before you figure out who your audience is, you need to choose a niche first. If you need help with that, I wrote a great article about it here.
#8 You need to be a professional web designer to create a blog
Definitely not true. These days, most people don’t have web & design experience when they start their blog. And in the end, you don’t need an extensive website to create a successful blog. What you need is a theme with a simple & clean design and a responsive layout. I recommend you create a WordPress blog, watch my walkthrough on it here, buy a WordPress theme you like from Themeforest.net, upload the theme to your blog and boom- you have a beautiful website. All you need to do is customize it to your brand.
If you’re curious about my WordPress theme, you can find it here on Themeforest too.
#9 You have to post every day
You don’t need to post everyday. In fact, I highly recommend you NOT to do that because you could end up spreading yourself thin, thereby lowering the quality of your content. I’d rather you post less frequently with valuable content than frequently with invaluable content. Quality is always better than quantity.
If you’re wondering how often to post on your blog, it really depends on how much valuable content can you create per week without overwhelming yourself. I recommend 1-2x a week which is a good middle ground if you have a full-time job. Just never go less than 1x a week.
#10 You’re blogging as a hobby, so it should be a free blog
Even if one were to blog as a hobby, what person wouldn’t invest in their hobby? If your hobby is fishing, you would buy a fishing rod and lures. If your hobby is photography, you would buy a camera and editing software. If your hobby is makeup, you would buy makeup palettes and brushes.
If your hobby is blogging, you would buy a domain and WordPress theme. If it’s something you truly enjoy doing and it makes you happy, invest in that happiness. You totally deserve it.
#11 “Why should I spend money to start a blog when it hasn’t been monetized yet?”
Or to rephrase it, “why should I pay money to start a business to if it’s not making money yet?” It doesn’t make sense right? When you spend money to start a blog, it’s an investment to your business and to yourself.
Starting a blog as a business is also one of the least expensive ways to start a business. There isn’t a lot of overhead cost like renting a space or buying equipment. All you need is a computer (which you probably already have).
#12 Blogging is expensive
Word has been going around that blogging is expensive. It definitely isn’t. In fact, it will cost you less than $100 to start a blog. And if you’re starting your blog as a business, that’s actually a tiny overhead cost to start a biz.
If you’re wondering, how to start your blog for less than $100, you can read my tutorial on it here or head straight to Bluehost and choose the Basic plan which is perfect for bloggers ($3.95/month).
#13 You can’t make money from blogging
This gets a big NOPE. There are actually several ways to monetize your blog:
- Affiliate marketing – using affiliate links to make a commission from people who purchase through your links
- Ads – Using your blog as ad space to advertise
- Sponsored content – this is where you partner with brands to promote their products to your readers for a fee
- Sell digital products – Like e-books, templates, workbooks, presets, e-courses
- Sell services – Use your knowledge & skills to sell 1-1 coaching services, freelance, and in-person services
So there are actually multiple ways to make money from blogging. In my experience, selling products & services are the most profitable way to make money as a blogger when you start. So if you haven’t created a product or a service yet, consider doing that because blogging is an awesome & effective way to get customers and clients.
#14 You can make tons of money from blogging FAST
Anything that promises that you can make lots of money fast is a scheme. But we all know that right? Yet for some reason, many people believe this is possible through blogging. It’s not true. Growing a blog is the same as growing a business– it takes hard work and will only grow the more you work on it.
#15 You need tons of traffic to make money
This would be the case if your sources of income were through affiliate marketing and ads. But this myth isn’t true for other sources of income.
In fact, when I started my social media company, I only wrote 2 blog posts, getting a few hundred visits, and I already booked my first client for $500/month and got invited to speak. They loved how valuable my posts were that they wanted to work with me and speak. Of course, I used other channels to find clients but it was through sharing my blog posts through these channels that positioned me as a thought leader and an authority in my industry.
Also, at the end of each blog post, you’ll need to call your readers into action with a call-to-action which is where you promote your product/services, or even subscribe to your email list so that you can stay connected with them in the future. The key is to give value, value, more value without asking for anything back, and then promote your products/services.
#16 Blogging will get you nowhere
Whoever said blogging will get you nowhere really didn’t get anywhere themself. It’s all about how you work it right? If you blog with a strategy, you WILL get somewhere.
If it weren’t for blogging, I would have never:
#17 You need to spend money to promote your blog posts for people to see it
As a blogging coach, I would only recommend spending money on Facebook ads only if you’re launching a product, service or giveaway. I would not do it for your weekly blog posts. I recommend fine-tuning your SEO skills for search engines and Pinterest. Ever since doing this, traffic to my blog has grown 700% compared to when I didn’t harness SEO & Pinterest.
Also, social media isn’t the most efficient platform to promote your content since social media posts lose traction 24-48 hours after posting. And then you still have an algorithm that could work against you. With Google & Pinterest, that doesn’t happen- you can continually get traffic for years and years.
#18 You can’t blog with a full-time job
I get it. There’s a lot to learn and blogging is a time commitment. But so is any other business and side hustle. The problem with this myth is that you come in with the expectation that your blog has to be big, have a huge launch and a large readership from the beginning. I know by experience this isn’t true.
You can have a blog with a small readership and still be successful. A small readership that’s loyal is better than a large readership that has no interest in your content.
Back to the subject of time– if you really don’t have time, what requests can you make from other people to give yourself time? Can you wake up earlier or sleep later? If you can commit 90 minutes a day to your blog, then you have all the time you need to start, build and run your blog and post 1x a week.
If you want to learn how to start a blog but don’t know where to begin, you can find everything you need to start with the Bold Blogger Launch Checklist. It’s a PDF checklist where I show you how to start a blog on a step-by-step basis. I also include how much time you need to give yourself for each step that way you can work on your blog 90 minutes/day, and slowly but surely make progress.
Conclusion
Those are my myths! I learned most of these by experience and I thought I would share it with you so you wouldn’t have to jump through hoops and create content for a black hole like I did.
Drop a comment below on the biggest thing you learned and please share it with your blogging friends!
If you have any questions, I’ve got a private Facebook group where you can chat with me and other bloggers like you. Click here to join.
