As we enter into December with Christmas and the New Year just around the corner, whilst I was putting up the Christmas tree and decorations it seemed a good time to reflect on an article I had written earlier this year about my own personal experience of Blogging I started to Blog back in April this year as a bit of fun and a hobby that I could mess around with once a week while my twin daughters were sleeping and my wife was working her night shift.
I chose the name "In Between the Tapas and Tantrums" for my first Blog because I thought it best summed up how the Blog was born.
Living in the "Campo" on the Costa del Sol with a lovely little family bar just down our lane, allows us the privileged position of being able to enjoy a cold beer and some nice Tapas with the girls at the weekends.
The tantrums part comes from the temper tantrums that go hand in hand with bringing up 23 month old twin daughters hence this Blog is written "In between the Tapas and tantrums" Not a name that was going to get me on the front pages of any search engines was it? It all started off very light-hearted and I was really enjoying posting the ups and downs of parenthood and even thought what a great thing this will be later on in life for my daughters to be able to read about their lives and the different stages of their growing up.
I even started writing articles and submitting them to EzineArticles and was really proud when they were accepted and I could see other people enjoying my ramblings as well.
Then it happened.
As I'm sure it happens to loads of other ordinary folk just like me in very much the same way.
I started reading articles about the dreaded SEO! And about how the dot com moguls and all those professional Bloggers had given up their jobs and were making embarrassing amounts of money from their laptops in the comfort of their spare bedrooms and I was hooked! I studied SEO at every opportunity I had.
When I thought that I knew enough to start making money from my Blog I set up a new Blog called "Timeshare Sales And Marketing Techniques" After all I've been in Timeshare sales and Training practically all my life.
Sales Training and Timeshare were high on the search terms it had to be a winner! I became so obsessed I would turn on my laptop as soon as I woke up before I'd even had a coffee, just to see how many people had visited my site and if anyone had clicked on my adverts or not.
I changed the name of my Blog nearly every two days to try to get a better placing on Google's search pages to get more traffic.
I even put "In Between The Tapas And Tantrums" on hold while I concentrated on building up my Timeshare sales training site.
I did everything that I'd read the professional Bloggers were doing to make money and lost endless hours of sleep trying to come up with the perfect domain name to keep me on the first pages of Google's search engines.
Guess what? I had become so obsessed and serious about making money from my Blog that I'd stopped enjoying Blogging.
Of course I was starting to get on the first pages of Google's search but I wasn't making any real money.
I think you really need to be established at least 12 to 18 months before you have enough traffic to earn any real money from affiliates and Google's AdSense.
The moral of my lesson is: If you cease to enjoy what you're doing.
You might as well stop doing it.
I'd started what was supposed to be a light hearted fun Blog, full of my ramblings about day to day real life happenings for my daughters to read later on in life and ended up with an obsession about making money.
Luckily I've seen my mistake before it devoured me.
Don't let it happen to you.
If I make enough money to pay for the monthly internet it's a bonus.
What's important to me now is that other people get a little bit of enjoyment from my ramblings, and my two little girls have something worthwhile to read to their children when they become parents! Keep Blogging Fun!
I chose the name "In Between the Tapas and Tantrums" for my first Blog because I thought it best summed up how the Blog was born.
Living in the "Campo" on the Costa del Sol with a lovely little family bar just down our lane, allows us the privileged position of being able to enjoy a cold beer and some nice Tapas with the girls at the weekends.
The tantrums part comes from the temper tantrums that go hand in hand with bringing up 23 month old twin daughters hence this Blog is written "In between the Tapas and tantrums" Not a name that was going to get me on the front pages of any search engines was it? It all started off very light-hearted and I was really enjoying posting the ups and downs of parenthood and even thought what a great thing this will be later on in life for my daughters to be able to read about their lives and the different stages of their growing up.
I even started writing articles and submitting them to EzineArticles and was really proud when they were accepted and I could see other people enjoying my ramblings as well.
Then it happened.
As I'm sure it happens to loads of other ordinary folk just like me in very much the same way.
I started reading articles about the dreaded SEO! And about how the dot com moguls and all those professional Bloggers had given up their jobs and were making embarrassing amounts of money from their laptops in the comfort of their spare bedrooms and I was hooked! I studied SEO at every opportunity I had.
When I thought that I knew enough to start making money from my Blog I set up a new Blog called "Timeshare Sales And Marketing Techniques" After all I've been in Timeshare sales and Training practically all my life.
Sales Training and Timeshare were high on the search terms it had to be a winner! I became so obsessed I would turn on my laptop as soon as I woke up before I'd even had a coffee, just to see how many people had visited my site and if anyone had clicked on my adverts or not.
I changed the name of my Blog nearly every two days to try to get a better placing on Google's search pages to get more traffic.
I even put "In Between The Tapas And Tantrums" on hold while I concentrated on building up my Timeshare sales training site.
I did everything that I'd read the professional Bloggers were doing to make money and lost endless hours of sleep trying to come up with the perfect domain name to keep me on the first pages of Google's search engines.
Guess what? I had become so obsessed and serious about making money from my Blog that I'd stopped enjoying Blogging.
Of course I was starting to get on the first pages of Google's search but I wasn't making any real money.
I think you really need to be established at least 12 to 18 months before you have enough traffic to earn any real money from affiliates and Google's AdSense.
The moral of my lesson is: If you cease to enjoy what you're doing.
You might as well stop doing it.
I'd started what was supposed to be a light hearted fun Blog, full of my ramblings about day to day real life happenings for my daughters to read later on in life and ended up with an obsession about making money.
Luckily I've seen my mistake before it devoured me.
Don't let it happen to you.
If I make enough money to pay for the monthly internet it's a bonus.
What's important to me now is that other people get a little bit of enjoyment from my ramblings, and my two little girls have something worthwhile to read to their children when they become parents! Keep Blogging Fun!
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