Bloggers - What would you have done differently?

[MoBowen]

I recently launched a new blog. By the time I started promoting it, I had 7 articles listed. It's kind of a boring topic, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect as far as traffic or interest.

Surprisingly people started showing interest right away. Traffic has been steadily growing and now I'm scrambling to get some affiliate offers up there to monetize the traffic. I should've known better, since this isn't my first blog.

So my question to you is, now that you have some blogging experience under your belt, what would you have done differently in the beginning?

 

[atomic76]

I would second guess the niche I was getting into in the first place. Sometimes I get so enamored with a topic that I fail to see that there really isn't much interest in it, nor is it something I can write decent content about on a regular basis. I tried to set up a web site about streaming media players, and pitch them with Amazon affiliate links. It was almost impossible to come up with fresh and interesting content about them.

 

[Trista]

If I reflect back upon what I would have done differently, I would have put more focus on authority sites and blogs. For a while, I went along with the "microniche" craze and I have a lot of exact match domains for various keywords. Collectively they all did pretty well back in the days when you could do that sort of thing. But in the long run, of course, there is nothing to show for the efforts.

I do have authority sites and that's where I put all of my focus these days. It's clear that now more than ever, there aren't any shortcuts. I also believe that being in a niche that you can provide continual content is important. Updating your site frequently is crucial these days. So fortunately I do like the niches that I focus on these days. Otherwise it would be sheer drudgery!

 

[BigJ]

I would have started sooner instead of procrastinating.

 

[Vanpa]

I had an entertainment blog on blogger. I worked hard at churning out content for two months but noticing that I wasn't getting many visitors I stopped writing. Six months later, when I logged back in and noticed that traffic actually did spike after three months then trickled down in the following months because there was no new content, I very much regretted quitting.

Out of that experience, I at least learned one important lesson: to never give up because if your blog is online you'll get traffic in the end if you at least work hard at creating quality content.

 

[Hank]

Since you already had experinece with blogs and so probably had all the right accounts in place to monetize, I would have had all my adds and stuff in place from day one. Easy for me to say, I know, but it's a strange world out there and if you fill a niche, it can just explode on you and then again may die out in a couple of weeks. So be there wit the right set up when the money is up for grabs.

 

[calebmelvern]

If I could turn back time, I would have made learning HTML and all coding related stuff a priority. When I first started and honestly until today, I focus on various CMS and revenue-sharing sites. I was completely clueless about HTML when I first began writing online, so I decided to write in platforms that make it very easy for writers to publish their work. I don't regret it though, because I'm still earning well from these sites.