What do you expect from blogging?

When I first started blogging I didn’t really know what to expect. My first expectation, I guess was that it should complement my writing for the print media. I had several novels and picture books for children in draft form, I had a significant body of poetry and short stories ready for magazines and there were several other writing ideas I though worth pursuing.

I had heard that some money could be made through blogging but didn’t know what this involved, or what it took to get even a modest income. My learning curve over the last eight months has been steep. I now have a much more realistic idea of what it takes to be a successful blogger.

How you define success is an individual thing:

• it could mean significant income,
• it could mean huge traffic to your site,
• it could mean developing a loyal readership,
• it could mean developing a small but dedicated community of readers
• it could mean providing a service to readers who access your site
• it could mean all of the above – and more.

Many first time bloggers expect instant success with a big income. The reality is harsh. It takes effort, perseverance, discipline, a business sense and above all, time. In today’s instant society, these are not high on some people’s priority list of desirable qualities.

To read an excellent article explaining this better than I can go to Darren Rowse’s article here:

• Entering Problogging with realistic expectations