I’m Kevin. I blog about personal finance, setting goals, and green energy/home design over at KMull.com.
As a reader of Blogtrepreneur you’re probably interested in starting your own business. Branching out – entrepreneurship and the lavish lifestyle that comes from success. Fair enough. I’d like that too. Are you actively involved in running a business? Have you started the dream? No? Why not? Look at the opportunity around you!
Blogging can be your first business. Let’s break it down in business terms:
- Barriers to entry – very few; hosting + domain, or use a free service
- Competition – millions, and more every day, but you can carve out a niche
- Metrics – can you tell if you are successful? Yes! Page Rank, number of RSS subscribers, unique visitors, Technorati links, etc.
- Requirement of high level of skills? No, just the ability to express your thoughts.
Blogging requires advertising and marketing in a multitude of ways: you can buy ads on Google, purchase links, and participate in free Carnivals of/Festivals of [your topic]. The Carnivals are sort of like going to giant conference in your niche with attendees from around the world. Except this time you don’t have to buy a plane ticket, stay in a hotel, etc. It’s all free.
You also must network to be successful as a blogger. Comment on other blogs, e-mail the authors personally. Work the link exchange game with bloggers that are bigger than you. Reach out to less established blogs and help them, too. You would be doing the same networking in any other business and blogging is no exception.
I started putting serious effort into blogging in February. My blog currently has a Page Rank of 2, and 33 RSS subscribers. I consider it a mild success thus far, and will continue to push forward.
So consider blogging to be your first business. I believe it can teach you some of the fundamentals you will need to get started on your next business. There is money to be made with text link ads, Google, or paid posts.
And if you fail, perhaps not that many people were watching anyways.