With blogs growing at an incredible rate everyday you have to ask yourself if blogging is the best choice for you before you get started. The reason you see so many blogs hitting the net is because the cost of entry is anywhere from nothing to a few bucks a month, the software is free, and the content can be created easily. Too many people read sites and see stories of people getting rich online logging about random stuff and think it is a no brainer. Well what they fail to tell you is that the rate of success is extremely low and the failure rate of blogs is just the opposite.

Most blogs are often left for dead after a few weeks or months when money doesn’t start rolling in. You have to realize that in order to make money online you have to be willing to take some steps and devote time to building an online presence. Some thing to consider when deciding if starting a blog is right for you will be discussed in this post.

1.What are your goals for starting a blog for the short and long term?

• Remember that in order to make any sort of income online takes time and effort.  This amount of time it takes to see a financial return on your site will vary from person to person and site to site, but assume that with hard work you can start to see some sort of revenue within 6 months.  This will take into account your effort to build your site, network with other site owners, get your site known, generate traffic, play with various advertisers, and eventually make enough money to receive a check.

2. Do you have the time to dedicate to a site?

• A blog starting out can die as quickly as you bring it to life.  A new site needs to be cared for and nurtured like a baby and if you don’t have the time to do that you should hold off until you do.  In order to accomplish the things laid out in the first question you have to keep your site growing or other sites won’t be bothers with you, you won’t gain traffic, and without traffic you will make no money.

3. I am not a coder, but I understand computers

• Luckily for you blogging does not require for you to be a programmer.  You can learn enough basic PHP, CSS, and HTML to get around as you play with most free software packages.  If you don’t want to learn that there are enough forums and free tips out there that will walk you through anything you might need.  Being a bit IT savvy does help eliminate some headaches that will creep up from time to time running a site.

4. My interest is in an obscure topic can i Blog about it?

• No topic is to obscure for a blog.  The whole purpose of creating a blog is to cover the stuff you might not see covered in the main stream media.  Sometimes the best sites on the web are about weird or unusual topics that you just don’t find great content on.  It will always surprise you how many other people have the same interests you do.

5. I need money fast

• Don’t bother blogging!

A problem some bloggers have is thinking small when it comes to their content.  You have to remember that just because you think a topic might not be what people want to read doesn’t mean it still can’t be a big hit.

I will take another story from my entertainment site as a point of reference.  I posted a story about Dorota Rabczewska.  She is a popular singer in Poland and I only posted it because she had some sexy pictures.   I figured none of my readers would care all that much, but I might gain some page views.  To my surprise a large site in Poland picked up the story and it generated over 20,000 hits and sent me traffic for weeks.

Looking at that little story you can see how a post that you might think is alright can lead to great returns.  As a blogger you have to remember that you aren’t just writing for your friends, your state, or your country because the web is everywhere.  Staying on the topic of seeing the world as your user community don’t be afraid to reach out to sites in other countries for link exchanges or story proposals. In order to be successful on the web you have to be willing to think big.  Part of thinking big is seeing the world as your target audience and generating a global presence.

This topic always seems to come up when you talk to a new blogger or a blogger trying to get to the next level.  Most people will start out a blog with one of a few theories on how to best create their site.  Some people will write for themselves and their friends with no thought of the outside world.  Others try to write for everyone else and lose the personal touch a blog should have.  The trick is to find a balance that allows you to be yourself, but also allows readers to connect with you.  The question is how do you accomplish this?

I believe when you look at the ways to create your voice you have to first investigate what you are trying to accomplish with your site, who you believe your readers will be, how you can draw them in and make them return, and finally how do you create user interaction on your site.  If your site doesn’t offer anything to visitors why will they stick around or spread the word of what you are saying?

1. Be Knowledgeable Within Your Niche

This step is critical if you are going to be taken seriously with your site.  Your topic has to fit your skill set or it will come off as a waste of time to serious readers. If you are creating a site about financial advice make sure you have a strong financial background.  If you are starting a cooking site be sure to have a solid knowledge of the subject. If you do not have sufficient knowledge your site will lose steam quickly and become a lost cause. Remember that wanting to do something can only take you so far without knowing how to do it properly.

2. Make Your Writing Fit Your Topic

Aside from having knowledge of your topic your writing style has to fit also. Creating content to match what you believe readers are expecting is crucial.  If you want to be taken as a leading expert within a niche make sure you are able to back that up with your writing.  If your site is designed to be carefree and loose try to avoid being overly critical or serious.  i find people frequent sites that they believe will provide consistent content.  Look at the sites you frequent most often and ask yourself why?  In my case I hit sites where I know i will get the information i want or sites I enjoy reading.  Where does your site fit?

3. Be Consistent

Once you have decided you have a niche you have a passion for, are knowledgeable enough to generate content, and have decided the feel of your site make sure you remain consistent.  This is very important if you decide to incorporate guest writers, paid reviews, or you expand.  Once you have gained an audience don’t alienate them by becoming something that your readers don’t want.  I am not saying to be afraid to take some chances or drift a bit, but just remember that there are a lot of sites covering the same topics and losing readers is easier to do than gaining them.

4. Listen

A big advantage of the blog is the user interaction it is able to generate.  Don’t be afraid of criticism you might get because that is sometimes the most useful information you can receive.  Also users tend to make suggestions on way to improve a site or make it more interesting. A lot of times they will bring up thing you never thought of or overlooked in your zest to get content on to your site.  Interact with people and you will find it beneficial to you in the long run.  On my Celebrity site I contacted people that commented and found many owned similar sites which led to link exchanges, story ideas, and in the end increased traffic.

5. Above All Be Yourself!

Read that again!  If you can’t be yourself when you are writing your content your site is doomed to fail.  if you trying to create an original, entertaining, informative site you have to make sure to stay true to who you are and not what you think you have to be.  If you are able to do be yourself while providing quality content that peolpe will care about you are well on your way to creating a successful site.

1. Cut down on spending! The best way to increase your income is to cut your spending. This will allow you to keep more of the money that you make.

2. Do you have any items that you can part with? You would be amazed with how much money you can make by selling things on eBay.

3. Are you arty or crafty? Websites like etsy.com are a great place to sell your arts and crafts projects.

4. Finding a part time job or signing on with a temp agency is a good way to create some extra income to get you through the lean times.

5. Expand your business. One of the best ways to bring in more clients and customers is to expand into another area. For example, if you have a graphic design business, you might consider devoting a small portion of your business area to printing services—color copies, faxing, etc.

6. Can you turn any part of your business into a “members only” service? Membership dues are a great way to bring in some more income.

7. Can you create a training program or any written materials from what you do? Many people will gladly sign up to take a class or buy a book that will teach them the basics of how to do your services themselves. This will also free you up to take on the more complicated projects that you might have had to pass on in order to keep doing the basic stuff.

8. Sell advertising space—sell ads on your website. If you don’t have a website, start one! Create a short newsletter and sell advertising space within its pages. Advertising will provide you with considerable extra income—especially if your site or newsletter is popular.

Motivation is an important part in achieving anything. If you aren’t motivated to do something, chances are you won’t do it. This is why it is important to have someone or something that motivates you to blog. Goals are an example. Since I have already talked about the value of goals earlier, I will focus more on the other types of motivation in this post.

One of these other methods of motivation is inspiration. Inspiration is something that moves you or energizes you to work harder. It might be the accomplishments of others or the determination someone else has for something. You can often find inspiration from your role models and those who you look up to. Specifically for blogging you may want to check out the top blogs in your niche for inspiration. Analyze how things run on these blogs because if they are the top blogs in your niche chances are they are successful. Seeing how they work may motivate you to try out similar things on your blog and you may even think of an enhancement to something to try out.

You can also get motivation through your readers. If they think you don’t post enough then it might be time to up your posting frequency. Listening to your readers and having the feedback they give motivate you is perhaps the most important type of motivation because after all its the readers that count.

If you are a very competitive person then other blogs in your niche should also motivate you to work harder. How is this so? Well seeing the achievements of these other blogs should push you to further your blog’s achievements (to beat the others).

So next time you are looking for a little push think of your goals, something that inspires you, reader feedback, and other blogs in your niche and you are bound to get some blogging adrenaline pumping.

What am I talking about when I say “set them to achieve them”? I am talking about goals. Goals are another very important part of achieving success, whether it be in blogging or in anything else. Without goals you have nothing to look forward to, nothing to work for. If you have nothing to work for, then why work at all? As I wrote about in my post keys to success, motivation is needed to achieve success. Goals can be a great form of motivation because they push you towards something. They are perhaps the greatest of motivators because they should be based on your desires and achieving your desires should be important to you.

Deciding to create goals is only the first step in achieving success. Once you have decided that you want to have goals it is time to actually set some. When setting goals there are a couple of things to remember. First, remember to aim for something that you want (and are willing to work at). Don’t pick something that you don’t really care about because chances are you won’t achieve the goal. Also, don’t aim too low or be afraid to fail. There is no harm in failing because in reality all successful people have failed at some time. By setting your goals too low, you are just demeaning your abilities by not giving them a chance to show what they can do. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself because what have you got to lose if you don’t achieve your goal in time? Nothing, absolutely nothing because no one else has to know your goals if you don’t want them to. Also, if you do challenge yourself, you are more likely to work harder to achieve the goal and if you do accomplish it, it will be much more rewarding compared to accomplishing a goal which you absolutely knew you could do.

Notice that in the last paragraph I asked a question about achieving your goal in time. With this I lead you to my next point in setting goals: make sure you set a deadline. Deadlines further push you to work with more rigor. Without deadlines you may get lazy and stop working at your goal by thinking something like “I have plenty of time, I’ll work on it later”. And when “later” comes your may think the same thing again until it turns into an endless loop of doing nothing and achieving nothing.

I constantly try to set goals and achieve them. Some goals are long term while others are over a shorter period of time. You should have both and hopefully your short term goals will help you achieve your long term ones.

Hopefully this helped you and you will use some of the advice I offered (or maybe you already do). Either way, remember the importance of goals and also remember that failing to achieve your goals is no need to get discouraged. Just get back up and try again and I am sure you will achieve them someday.