One day I was watching this movie "The Social Network" and like everyone else who had watched the movie, I thought of starting my own "Facebook" and eventually becoming a mid-twenties multi-billion dollar online entrepreneur.But little did I know about building websites, coding, marketing etc.I soon came across this word "Blogging", the idea of which was just what I was looking for.Sure I knew that I may not become a multi-billion dollar man but it was like the whole profession of "Blogging" was made just for me.Here is the story of how it changed my life, and the life lessons that it thought me.
It all began with a couple of humble Blogger blogs, that I was so proud of, I had something that others did not (at-least not many of my peers in India), it just kind of took off.I had never put much effort in SEO or marketing my blogs, but somehow I managed to get Page Rank 3 for both the blogs and soon a lot of visitors started to pour in.
At first I was blogging about Pet Birds, which were always present at my home since I was 10 years old and hence I had developed a good understanding of them, more than enough to blog about.I had good interactions with many a pet bird owner from around the world and I enjoyed every second of that.Soon people were asking me for tips about pet birds, it looked like I had become an authority in that niche.In a way Blogging gave me my first authoritative position, although people around the world could not see me, they had an image in their mind that I was there to help them and they could ask me anything in that niche.
Later I heard about Adsense, which Bloggers use to earn some extra cash.I was reluctant, being from India, I was inherently brought up not to trust any financial issues that occur online.But I went ahead with it and soon I realized that this "Blogging" skill that I had acquired could fetch me money, a good amount of it.I started to think more about monetization than helping out others, which I was doing before.I noticed that a while after this development, I began to get a lot of criticism and also lost quite a few of my regular blog visitors who had also become my close online friends.Yes, I made a good amount of money through Blogging during this time, but I lost out on the essence of Blogging.Blogging or a cause of it had again changed my life, but not exactly for the good.
I decided that I had no longer the same ambition that I had begun with and hence stopped working on the Blogger Blogs, I suddenly had a lot more free time and did not think much about Blogging for a month or so.Then I thought of starting afresh and I took my second passion, Technology as a niche and started to work on that.Again it took off, I was doing something write, I had not lost my touch of Blogging.It was terrible of me before, to compromise on the quality of the info I was giving others.But not this time, I would not do that mistake again.Again Blogging got me on to the right track.
This was my Blogging story, I would like to round this story up by picking out the life lessons that Blogging thought me -
People respect you more when you provide help that they need.
I was helping people out by providing my experiences with Pet Birds, they were very thankful for that.Later when I compromised on the quality of help I was providing, I lost that respect.
Money Is Not Everything.
I earned a lot of money through Blogging, but while trying to maximize my earnings (using many ads, pop-ups) I found that I was losing out on the Friends I had made online, and also on the respect they used to give and the plenty thanks they used to shower on me.
The Circle Of Life Changes.
I was on top, I blew it.I never thought I would lose those regular visitors(to my blog) who used to participate in comments and E-Mails and chat conferences which helped all of us learn more about our pet birds.Things change, you need to change with them.
Life Gives You a Second Chance.
Ok, this may be getting a little too philosophical, but I had to say it.I had great success with my Tech Blog after I had decided not to commit the same mistakes that I had committed with my earlier blogs.
You Learn From Your Mistakes.
You have to loose to learn how to win.I lost, learnt what I need to do to win.Enough said.
So these are some of the lessons I have learnt from Blogging, can you guys share the lessons you have learnt from Blogging?
Blogging is a learning curve, the curve touches infinity, so can you.
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