Although I've had my share of itinerant blogging in the past, about five months ago I decided to create a professional blog surrounding the industry I've spent over half my life studying and working in. Thus began Wake Up Later and it's the first blog that I've found myself fully committed to. Although I am rather fortunate to see its solid growth, I've had to learn some hard truths about blogging along the way. Then again, if I knew these before, maybe I would have never begun in the first place. So here are five hard truths gleaned from the first five months of Wake Up Later.
Blogging Is a Huge Commitment When you first start your blog, posting comes easily because it's exciting and you already have a number of posts mentally composed. But as time goes on, you find yourself covering subjects and ideas that require more coverage and deeper fact checking. As traffic grows, so will accountability, which means more drafts and better proofreading. Furthermore, you'll probably need to keep up with pertinent news and information in your industry and keep tabs on relevant communities. Add all this up and you're looking at a pretty good chunk of time that most people don't have (without giving up other things).
Blogging Is More Than Just Writing We live in a world where books are labeled "Best-Selling," not "Best-Writtten." So when it comes to blogging and building an audience, you have to
market your blog in addition to writing entries. This means being involved on other blogs, writing guest posts, jumping into social media, answering comments and emails, and the list goes on. Furthermore, you will constantly need to be adding value to your posts, which may include tasks such as research, tracking down experts, and finding photos. And then there's the boring stuff, like proofreading or blog software updates.
Blogging Is a Crowded Space Technorati tracks 112.8 million blogs with some sources estimating that a new blog is created every second. Granted, many of these quickly become defunct or are nowhere near your niche, but the more you get involved in the blogosphere, the more blogs you'll find that are like yours. This can be good if you're just looking to rub shoulders with other like minds. But on the flip side, you're vying for the same visitors who can only subscribe to so many blogs. So you had better find ways to differentiate yourself and make your voice unique. (To be honest, very few blogs find a unique voice and many feel like their only source of information is other blogs.)
Blogging Is Profitable, But Rarely in Financial Terms Blogging makes you a better writer. Blogging gives you a public identity to help your network and business. Blogging teaches you discipline and time management. But blogging will not make you rich. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions or that you can't make any money. I am saying that in most cases, if you were to look at a pure dollar-per-hour "wage," you would find that many bloggers work rather inexpensively. If your goal is purely to make cash, then there are probably better options out there (especially if you're a developer or designer). As I mentioned in a previous post, paying some bills may be nice, but there are
better reasons for blogging.
Blogging Is a Starting Point It's good when people can speak intelligently about a subject. It's better when they can consistently write about it. But until you act upon your own advice, you've given people no reason to listen to you. This may mean starting a business, writing a book, or just implementing the productivity tips you so often dispense. Because how can you write about business or passive income if your advice hasn't even led you to action? Don't turn into a blogger who begins rehashing what other people have said because your own experience is lacking. And don't get so caught up in blogging that you stagnate in terms of new ideas and projects. Blogging opens you up to the online world -- just keep moving forward.
译文:
博客的五个真相
尽管以前我共享过浏览的博客。大约五个月前，我决定建一个专业的博客，主题围绕我花了半辈子学习和工作的行业。因此建了Wake Up Later，这是第一个我发现自己全心投入的博客。尽管我非常幸运的看到它稳步发展，但也无奈的发现了这种运作方式下的残酷现实。如果之前知道这些真相，可能从一开始就不会建博客。这里收集了运作Wake Up Later的前五个月里，发现的五个真相。
博客是一个巨大的承诺
当你刚开始建博客时，发帖来得容易，因为你早已在心里有了很多帖子。但随着时间推移，你发现博客涵盖的主题和想法需要更多的支持，并且更深入的考究现实。随着信息化往来的密切，出于责任心，这意味着更多的写稿和更高质量的校对。还有，你可能需要与你所在行业的新闻和信息保持同步，并且对相关的社区保持密切关注。完成这一切，你要找一个大部分人都没有的适当的充溢时间（不能放弃别的事）。
博客不只是写作
我们生活在所有书都被注上“最畅销”，而不是“最佳作品”的时代。那么对建立博客和发展访友来说，除了写作，你不得不推销你的博客。这意味着你的博客要被其它博客引用，写访客帖，进入社区媒体，回复评论和email，跟帖。再者，你要持续不断增加帖子的价值——可能包括完成研究和跟踪专家，寻找图片的任务。然后还有讨厌的工作，像校对，或者博客软件更新。
博客是个拥挤的地方
Technorati利用一些资源跟踪了一亿一千二百八十万个博客，估算出每秒就有一个新的博客诞生。无庸置疑，这些博客中的一些很快就不存在了，或者远不及你的博客，但在博客界里呆得越久，你会发现越多和你相似的博客。如果你只是想找到知音，这是件好事。但从他们的角度来看，你是在为争取只能订阅同等数量博客的访客竞争。所以你最好找到让你同他们区分开来的途径，让你的声音与众不同。（说实话，没有博客找到一个独一无二的声音，觉着很多博客只是其它博客的引用者。）
博客有用，但很难在经济方面体现价值
博客让你成为一个更好的作者。博客给了你网络和商业的公开身份。博客教会你自我训练和时间管理。但是博客不会让你发财。我不是说没有意外会发生或者你不能赚到任何钱。而是说大部分情况下，如果你在看一份一小时只有一美元报酬的工作，那么你会发现很多博客在廉价工作。如果你的目标是赚钱，那么可能有比这更好的方法（特别地，如果你是一个设计师或者开发者）。就如同在之前帖子里提到的，有利可赚是件好事，但有许多更好的理由建博客。
博客是个起点
人们能智慧的发表一个主题，这不错。能为这个主题不断的写作，那就更棒了。但只有你按照你自己提出的建议做了，别人才没有理由不按你说的做。这就意味着一笔生意的开始，写书，或者只是执行你经常提出的生产力建议。因为你自己没有行动过，怎么能写关于商业或者消极收入的文章呢？不要将其更名换姓发到博客里去，说：那谁谁说了。因为你自己没经验。对那些你经常浏览的所谓新观点新课题的博客，不要太沉溺。博客向你开放的是一个在线的世界——保持前进的步伐吧。