11 Years of Blogging + The Power of Written Content

Show Notes: * The content management system I’ve been using from day one; * Should you pick a niche you’re passionate about?; * How the topics I cover have changed over the years; * My experience with having guest contributors; * My most profitable blog income stream; * Why focus on impact over money; * How to be your biggest critic as a blogger; * Why you can’t overlook SEO; * What to do instead of obsessing over blog design; * Can you rely on just one blog income stream?; * One thing I’m doing that’s slowing my blog growth; * Why I don’t want to be a full-time course creator anymore; * How’s affiliate marketing going for me; * Is social media necessary for a blogging business; * Why you should never leave your blog behind for a few weeks; * Your business needs structure; * What to focus on to grow your blog. Last month marked my 11th year of blogging. I’m not self-employed since then, it all started as a hobby and I took my time figuring things out, because I knew nothing about online business when I started. But officially, I did start a blog in April 2013. Even in March, actually. That’s when I set up the site, but I see that the first published articles are from April. The point is, I haven’t stopped writing and blogging and creating written content online ever since. And I believe that’s the single most important reason why I managed to turn it into a business. Even though there have been ups and downs – financially, emotionally, creatively, and in every other possible way – that little business of mine makes me so happy, even more today than it did before. It allowed me to relocate to my favorite country, travel to different countries, work whenever I want, take breaks – big or small – whenever I want, impact people online, survive the pandemic, earn passive income, and so much more. So, this article is a tribute to that, to the consistency. I hope it inspires you to keep working on whatever it is you’re creating online, or get that blog started, or focus more on growing it strategically if you’ve left it behind and creating written content.  Too many people give up before they see results, or they switch direction without allowing their blog to unleash its full earning potential.  Here’s what I want to cover today. I’ll share a few things that have worked well for me over the years, a few that haven’t, some lessons I learned, and things you can focus on now to grow your blog. Let’s dive in.  What worked well in those 11 years of blogging The first thing that comes to mind is that I picked the right content management system. That’s WordPress, that’s what you’re using to actually distribute the content on your website, to create it, publish it. And there are many platforms,