Pros and Cons of Blogging

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My Pros and Cons of Blogging

After a full year of blogging, I’m going to discuss the Pros and Cons of Blogging!

Let me start out by saying that blogging isn’t as easy as some bloggers make it sound (at least not for me).  I figure I spend at least 3 to 4 hours a day, everyday, blogging and doing blog supporting activities.

Blogging Pros…

  • The major reason I blog is for the freedom of expression of thought!  It’s a liberating experience!
  • Blogging allows a tighter focus and re-enforcement of the learning about your blogging topic.  For me, this is personal finance.  It allows me to hone in on the topics and obtain a mastery that would be difficult to accomplish without blogging about it.
  • Free books on your blogging focus.  I get to re-enforce me learning by authors asking for a review of their book.  So far, all the books I’ve read have been pretty good!
  • A great unrealized side benefit was the continual improvement in my writing and communication skills.  I’ve improved both my writing and speaking skills via blogging.
  • I continually learn things everyday by researching topic, and by reading other great blog sites.
  • There is a little bit of money to be made.

Blogging Cons…

  • There is a little bit of money to be made.  (no, this isn’t a misprint of the last Pros sentence above).  While there is a little bit of money to be made, for the amount of hours worked, its way below minimum wage rates (at least so far).  For my first 5 months I only made $5.00.  That said, I really didn’t know what I was going for at least 3 of those months!
  • Without support from other bloggers, the first few months can be lean and discouraging.  I almost gave up a few times.  If it wasn’t for another beginning blogger that would visit and comment daily at my site, I would have quit a long time ago.  Unfortunately, her non-blogging world got busy and she had to quit blogging herself.
  • There is also a never-ending amount to learn!
  • The stress from outages!  I continually check my site to make sure it is up and working.  This is a necessity because various networking parts external to my site can and do go down!
  • The addicting “statistics monitoring” activities.  This may drive you crazy if you are a constant stats checker!!!
  • Writer’s block!  Quite a few times I would be blogging at 2:00, 3:00 and sometimes 4:00am…  Augghhh!
  • Reading other blogs and commenting.  This is a mixed blessing!  I was an avid reader of blog sites before blogging for many years.  But after you jump in the blogging world, you discover that there are a ton of quality blogs that should be read and commented on daily.  This is a huge chuck of my blog supporting activities, even if I do love it!
  • Prioritizing blogging and family.  I’ve seen some great blog sites have to be shut down because of family turmoil!

So there you have it, for me the Pros (while less in number) outweight the Cons

If you are a blogger, how has your experience been?  Do you have any additional details on the activities of blogging?

-MR

39 thoughts on “Pros and Cons of Blogging”

  1. Great Article! I enjoy Blogging but….. it can be a huge time sucker! Day to day events are potential blog articles… and I am writing them in my head, but by the time I get home and actually sit down to compose the post…. I have started reading other blogs and the time is gone. It is close to midnight and I have to get to sleep to get ready for the next day.

    I learn from fellow bloggers and I like that part. I also enjoy the support from fellow bloggers…. but I have to prioritize my time better.

    It is a mixed blessing, to be sure!

    I have more to add… but I gotta get to work!!

    • Hi Lisa!

      Yes it is a mad rush isn’t it. Sometimes my son or daughter interrupt me, and for a flash second I’m mad (don’t they know I’m busy!), but then I get a grip, because they are the first priority. Later I get a small desperate chuck as I sometimes manage to finish my blogging work at 2:30am, wondering where the time goes…

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  3. I appreciate your blog!

    Hm… it’s 6:40am and I’m doing my morning blog trawl before my preschooler wakes up. If I weren’t blogging I’d probably be surfing the internets.

  4. I totally agree with what you wrote MR (surprise…)

    I know the payoff is so low at the beginning. But I am hoping that it is something that will grow and have a greater payoff with time. (Remember, they do say that most startups make nothing the first year! 🙂 )

    I plan on blogging for as long as I can. I do worry about running out of topics since I post everyday. Once I am more established, I will probably cut back on the number of posts.

  5. I can completely empathize (I know shocking 🙂 Anyway, the fun factor is huge for me. When the fun seizes, that’s probably a good stopping point for me. Otherwise, I’ll attempt to fit blogging around the rest of my life!

    • Hehe, It’s so reaffirming knowing that other think similarly out there in the great big blogosphere…

      I agree about the fun factor too. I read pf blogs for a long time, and now I get to participate… It’s great.

      I do have to remember to pace myself though. I’ve seen many a great blogger either burn out or have other issues with time spent on blogging.

  6. You’re absolutely right about blogging making “a little bit of money.”

    To fight writer’s block, I subscribe to twelve (that’s right–TWELVE) magazines to keep my mind moving forward. Only three of them are related to the actual blog subjects.

    If I get blocked, magazine articles make great little mind massagers. They offer new focus, new angles, and let your mind untangle from the subject you’re trying to write about.

    Plus, each article takes less than five minutes to read, and it gives my eyes a break from the computer monitor.

  7. Blogging allows you to be a bite size writer. I always thought it would be fun to write a book about my mom’s life, but the reality is that I wouldn’t do it without people’s encouragement for regular Babci articles.

    Second I think it helps document one’s life and thoughts. I have a bad memory and I forget way more than I remember. It’s nice to have a place to put it somewhere that’s semi permanent.

    The biggest con is the time suck. Oh and I was afraid of nasty hating commenters but so far that hasn’t been a problem. I guess I’m not that controversial.

  8. My Blogging Pros
    1. Meeting new, great people.
    2. Considering myself an actual writer.
    3. $4200 in the last 8 months.

    My Blogging Cons
    1. Time suck.
    2. Writer’s block.
    3. Being hard enough on myself that I have been up at 1-2am adding an update post I forgot about and refused to miss. I also don’t let myself slip on my posting schedule in general (7 days a week on BFS and 3-4 for each of my other 2 sites). Blogging really is a second job.

    Great post MR!

    • Hand down you are the most impressive blogger I know of. The sheer quality volume you handle in 1 day would probably take me 5 days!

      It’s good to watch you rise to see what is possible!

      I like you “My Blogging Pros” #1! I which I live around more blogger to have a get together like some of the big city bloggers… Or Sam flys us us out to his Yacht… 😉

  9. Good post. Blogging is such a fun experience, and you get to meet so many cool people that you never would have gotten a chance to meet before.

    Personally, one of the biggest pros for me is the joy I get in creating something.

    Taking a thought and putting words around it to create an article that gets read by others is a great feeling!

    • Well said 🙂

      I agree, writing something others read is exciting. Actually, when I see a google search come in and it wasn’t what the reader was looking for I feel bad… So anymore, I try to anticipate what they want.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  10. very nice of you to open up your kimono to us. i have been blogging for just about 3 months and have enjoyed every bit of it. perhaps a year from now i will be able to furnish a similar list which applies to me. reading through your list however, i can understand where you are coming from.

    so after publishing this post, are you going to continue to blog? why or why not?

    i wish you all the best and continued success no matter what you choose to do…

    • Yeah, I’m going to continue because of the great support of fellow pf bloggers! It’s great to have such support in any hobby!

  11. Well I tried blogging and felt flat.This didn’t worked for me at all. Probably need to have some more experience before I start doing this.

    • Good way to look at it 🙂

      It’s mostly a hobby for me too…

      But if it would hit big, that would be just fine also!!!

  13. I actually didn’t expect to meet great people or anything through writing. But I actually have!

    I really just set up the site to be a reference point for my clients, but it has morphed into much more than that in such a short period of time. Now I actually made a couple of dollars from it!

    • Great way to start out! You have some great posts on your site too!

      I good to hear others enjoying blogging as much a I do 🙂

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  15. I think you summed it all up really well. There are definitely pros and cons but, in the end, the pros far outweigh the cons. It’s a long haul (especially in the beginning where I am with my new site), but it’s worth slogging through. 🙂

    • I hope so, it’s a big mountain to climb, even to just make minimum wage off of it (I’m not even close to making minimum wage off of my site yet…)

      Still, it’s fun for me, regardless of the monetization of it…

    • That might be the best way to do it. Honestly, I didn’t think there was any money in blogging (and I still don’t make much with it either). But I did realize that I could tell my story and help people along the way 🙂

      Yeah, I saw the video that Scott had, that was great. His blog looks pretty great too.

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  20. Nice summary, I have learned that blogging should be seen as something you would do for free, not for money in first place. And second of all, it takes time, so one should be disciplined and motivated to keep up.

    • Ahh, very true… For me it’s just a fun hobby. I would like it to break even though so it doesn’t cost me anything 🙂

  21. I think blogging is a passion that relates to the first “pro”. As long as your objective doesn’t change to living from your blog, you’ll have the freedom to manage your time and devote as many hours as you can to this experience.
    I started my own blog, also in personal finance – but in spanish – some 6 months ago. There aren’t lots of sites of personal finance in spanish, that’s why I’m constantly surfing on the web looking for blogs as your’s, with great original content and valuable ideas. I’m having trouble getting people to comment on my blog and suscribing to the site, but it’s become such an interesting challenge that I’m devoting long hours to research and trying to find out how to make it.
    Thank you for your post… I’ve related to it. Hope the pros grow and the cons dissapear!!!

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