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If you came to figure out if you should start a blog, you’re in the right place!

But wow, you guys. It’s almost been a full year of blogging, and I have some HUGE NEWS to share with you all!

Well, this special news is essentially me discussing all of the rough parts about blogging and everything I’ve discovered.

But, I promise it’s special! Because, although it’s been a full year, I’ve learned a crazy amount in that time.

I want to be as blunt and honest in this article. No fluff. Just straight to point, so all of you new bloggers, or wannabe bloggers can really know what this whole blogging thing is all about.

I was really excited to put this together and I hope you’ll get a good firsthand look into the life of blogging!

So, before diving into the 3 huge reasons blogging can negatively impact your life, I want to give a thanks to all of my new readers who are stopping by to learn – you all are who have gotten me to this point! Stop by the comment section and let me know about your experience with blogging, or just say hi!

Okay, so in this article, I’ll be referencing a handful of other articles on blogging, and will talk about different resources, products, and services we’ve used over the past year. If you are interested in blogging, awesome!

Be sure to check these out and read through the articles I reference, for more in-depth explanations into the many facets of blogging!

A Rude Awakening for All New Bloggers

Let’s be honest here.

You started up your blog to make passive income, right? As in, you wanted to start earning some extra money to pay off debts, to save up for something exciting, or to be a step closer to financial freedom.

Same.

For you new bloggers, is it working?

For you who want to start a blog, why haven’t you began?

For you experienced bloggers, has it been all you’ve dreamt it would be?

Here’s the deal: There are an incredible amount of bloggers out there who are making bank off of your desire to want to start a blog.

They bring you in with clickbait stating something along the lines of, “How to Start Earning $1000 your first month blogging!”, or, “How I Made $3500 in 2 months blogging!”.

I get it. It’s possible. But, you have to watch out with who you’re dealing with.

Many people start a second blog once their first becomes fairly automated. This can happen around 150 articles. They can bring in enough traffic through Google and Pinterest that you only need to do, say, 1 article a month to keep the website going.

In the meantime, I’ve seen many people then go and start their second blog to “help” others start blogging, having had experience with their first one.

But, unfortunately, it becomes a way to make money off naïve new bloggers.

Why else did you start a blog?

Now, this is not always the case! There are some lucky people who have chosen the right niche and had enough time and money to invest in their blog upfront, to make it grow and thrive fast.

I wasn’t one of those lucky folks.

If you consider yourself a fairly normal person, wanting to make more money, blogging is a realistic option…there are just a few things I’d like to make you aware of before you begin!

Let’s dive into the 3 topics for discussion!

#3. It Costs More Than You’d Think

Ah, money.

You’ll come across plenty of articles and pins on Pinterest that will promise that you can “Start a Money Making Blog for FREE!”.

Here’s the straight-up truth: It isn’t free.

But, I will say, blogging is hella cheap for a start-up. For a small business (honestly, that’s what it is), having a blog really doesn’t cost much at all in comparison to plenty of other options.

It just can be disappointing to some of you who are expecting to start it up for free, or even at a low cost.

In fact, how about I list out all the things you’ll have to pay for to start!:

Hosting = $200 (for 3 years)

• To have a website, you need website hosting. This is new to pretty much every new blogger, but it essentially is the server and service that allows your blog onto the website. I have a step-by-step article outlining how to set up hosting here!

Blogging Course for Beginners = $100 (one-time fee)

• I chose to take a course that taught me how to create articles, how to set up my blog, how to monetize, and so much more. Not sure where my blog would be without it. If you’re interested in learning more, click here!
• TIP!: If you want to take this course, I’d recommend you do their short 7-day course because you’ll get a significant discount at the end!

Social Media Marketing = $100 (for 1 year)

• Tailwind is one of the many options out there to have automated social media posting! A service like this is nearly required for bloggers to have steady pinning on Pinterest and Instagram, which is almost everyone’s primary source of traffic in your first year.
• If you’re interested, you can get a free trial and free month of this necessary service with my link here! Might as well save a few bucks!

P.O. Box = $80 (for 1 year)

• Many bloggers don’t inform their readers that this is a required expense if you want to send any emails to your readers or subscribers. We chose to not get a paid email service yet (MailChimp is free for us new bloggers), but email services are ridiculously expensive – I suggest you check those out to know what may be in store in your future blogging career.

Graphic Design = $100 (for 1 year)

• How else do you get beautiful pins onto Pinterest (to drive that traffic!)?
• Many bloggers I’ve come across recommend making at least 5 new pins a day, and you need a streamlined app or platform to make graphics for everything from your social media to website design.
• I use a paid app called Over, but there are other options like Canva, that I’ve seen advertised to bloggers.

Website Theme = $90 (for 1 year)

• Not only do you need hosting to have a website, but you need a theme. Now, WordPress does come with free themes, but most are not customizable, and won’t give your blog a professional look.
• I initally used the Divi theme from ElegantThemes, but switched to their more blog-friendly theme called Extra (you get both when you sign up!). Now, it does cost a good penny, but is very beginner-friendly and extremely customizable.

Now, the real question here is, “Do I really need to have spent all of that money to have the blog that I have today?”.

Unfortunately, yes.

And, in fact, I could have spent far more. I really want to take multiple courses and read more books about blogging.

I’d honestly recommend having $1000 set aside for starting up a successful blog.

You can absolutely start a blog for less, but it’s always safer to know ahead of time!

Now, do realize that many people make thousands a month by blogging, once it has gained traction and popularity, BUT that doesn’t happen in the first few months, and may not even happen in your first year.

Check out one of my most popular articles about making money blogging with affiliates here!

You don’t want blogging to ruin your finances. Be sure to do your research ahead of time! 

#2. It Takes More Time Than You’d Think

Do not take this topic lightly!

The last thing you want to do is invest hundreds into your perfect blog, all to give it up 3 months later due to the time constraints.

Here’s the deal on this one: To keep up your blog’s SEO (search engine optimization), you have to regularly post – check out my article on this topic here – and blogging can be time consuming.

To get straight to the point on this one, I’ll list out approximate times that it takes to do a handful of things for this blog:

Write, edit, publish 1 article = 2-4 hours

• It takes, on average, 2 hours to write 1 post. It then requires 20-40 minutes to add in links and to edit. It takes approximately 15 minutes to make a pin, publish it, then post it to this article.
• Take note that it’s recommended you write 2-4 articles a week. You do the math there. Blogging is literally a part-time job.

Initial website design = 10 hours

• No joke, this takes forever. Took 3 months to make it how it is today, after countless changes. Thankfully, I really enjoy having the Extra theme, and there are tons of videos by ElegantThemes on YouTube to walk you through how to design a website, whether you are using Divi or Extra.
• The course I took also helped with all the beginning steps for starting my website.

Making a freebie = 2-10 hours

• You can check out my current freebie here for reference. I made a small workbook, and many have loved it. But, it took quite awhile. I split the time up over a month.

Making pins for Pinterest + Tailwind = 20 minutes per pin, 1 hour per day

• Even though Tailwind does all the work and posts your pins for you, you still have to make new ones regularly, to keep fresh traffic coming to your blog!
• If it’s a good day, I can make 4 or so pins, publish onto Pinterest, and schedule them onto Tailwind. I usually accomplish this a few days a week, while on the toilet, while being a passenger in a car, or even while waiting for dinner to cook. That’s how I maintain over 300k regular monthly viewers on Pinterest! Blogging becomes your life, I’m not kidding.
• Remember, you can save $15 on Tailwind here if you’re interested! (They also have Instagram automation now!)

Learning from courses or books = 1-4 hours per week

• I really should spend more time on learning, but blogging already takes up all my free time! (Thankfully the money I’m earning from it makes it worthwhile!)
• I started out rushing through my first course, then spending a few hours a week, regularly, on learning how to optimize my blog. I am wanting to read this book next.
• From monetization, to graphic design, you literally can never stop learning. I am constantly surprised at how much there is that goes on with this blogging stuff.

In summary (and, as mentioned above), blogging is like apart-time job. It’ll take up some of your evenings. It may haunt you throughout your days. (just kidding, not really)

But, as I’ve also said, it really is worth it once you start making money.

This is really important for you to realize before you invest and get started. Make sure you can dedicate time to creating and maintaining your blog!

#1. It Takes A Long Time To Earn Money (Way Longer Than They Tell You)

Sure, some people are lucky, but let me tell you why:

They have more time, more money, or have prior experience with blogging.

(Yes, there are always outliers, and huge congrats to you if you’d made $1000 in your first month, but it is flat out unrealistic.)

As I stated at the beginning of this article, I have almost blogged for a full year. And I only now have started making decent money.

No joke, I am NOT one of those people you’ll see on Pinterest who can brag about making thousands my first few months blogging.

I have read the books, taken the courses, watched countless YouTube videos…and I only now started earning?

I will say, I made a few bucks every month since starting. But it wasn’t until I started affiliate marketing (another article I put together about this, here!) that I started bringing in the hundreds.

Unfortunately, you need a solid base of followers and traffic through Pinterest to make significant sales. Some say you can make good money “with only a few hundred visitors”, but I don’t believe it – at least not for my niche!

I don’t have a nice bulleted list for this topic, but I just want to emphasize to you that blogging is a LONG TERM commitment.

I would highly suggest any of you who only want to blog for a few months to make good extra cash to stay away.

There are other passive income options out there, but blogging takes months of dedication to get it to be more automatic and become an income machine.

If you start a blog, hoping it will bring in huge cash flow, I would ask you be more realistic, and add a few months to your goals. Not saying that it isn’t possible, but I don’t want you as disappointed as I was at first!

So, Now What?

I really hope you were not dissuaded from blogging from this article!

I just have seen too many dishonest articles out there about blogging for beginners, that I felt something blunt and honest was due for a change!

Blogging really is a fun creative outlet, and it can be extremely successful at creating passive income.

I don’t want you all to be really disappointed if your blog takes longer than you expected to start earning money!

If you are interested in blogging (really, you should at least look into it!) then check out a handful of my other popular articles about blogging! It’s always a good idea to learn as much as you can!

• Your FREE Step-By-Step Guide to Starting a Money Making Blog
• How to Be Confident as a Blogger and Skyrocket Your Profit!
• 6 Affiliates EVERY New Blogger Should Join!
• Our Favorite Books for New Bloggers!
• The Hidden Secret That Earned Our Blog Hundreds After 1 Month

Thanks for hanging out with me! We continue to enjoy helping our readers achieve their blogging goals! Be sure to check out all of the other topics in our blogging series!

Do you have other suggestions that other readers could benefit from? The comment section is just a scroll away!!

All advice and opinions provided in this post are reflections on experience and are for educational and entertainment purposes only. Affiliates were used in this article. Please see our disclaimer page details.