Webupon

So, here I am, flambergasted, sitting in front of a big text box that waits for me to fill it up with something nice, something comprehensible, useful, easy to digest… Something that my blog readers, all 50 of them, will happily consume before they leave the blog forgetting it ever existed. It’s hard to be a blogger. Or, maybe, let me rephrase that: it’s hard to be a blogger that hopes his blog will, sometime, actually be succesful. And, as I found out -the hard way, may I add- what’s worse in it is the wait. The stress. The worry. The psychological pressure, the “why not me” that stares you in the eye each and every night. For you didn’t have as many visitors as you hoped, or they were less than what you had the day before, or because they didn’t leave a comment, or, maybe, because they actually prefered -this- article but you had put your life and soul in -that- one that only three actually read. It sucks.

Now, keeping all of the above in mind, let’s add another parameter to the mix: you have to keep it up each and every frickin’ day… You have to write as many posts as you can… You have to submit as many posts as you can to as many different outlets as you can… You have to advertise your blog, your work, yourself. You have to keep up with whatever happens in the field you chose for your blog (and that translates as “a lot of reading”). And all that, after months and months of work, to keep seeing the same 50 people coming over and over to your blog, many of them friends, family, colleagues… Or, to put it mildly, “not-customers”. Theoretically, there are some things you have to do if you ever wish to be succesful.

• Your blog should cover a specific topic
• Your posts should be simple, clear and to the point
• You should “be true” in what you write and you should always do what you preach
• You cross-check whatever you write
• You should always remeber: google is your friend and can help you find more info on a topic

Now, those are the “rules” most others will tell you that will lead you to success. What they won’t tell you is that there are succesful blogs that earn money whose writers break one or more of those “golden rules”. So, how come you (and I) can follow those rules and still bite the dust while others do whatever they wish and are constantly in the spotlight? Well, I guess there’s one more parameter that noone ever mentions, like it’s some kind of secret: luck. You’ve got to have luck, that’s the only possible explanation. If not this… Then what?