The Truth About Blogging No One Will Tell You-What I’ve learned over two years of posting

by: Nancybinspired

Table Of Contents

• Intro
• Why Do You Want to Blog?
• How Often Should You Post?
• Is there money in blogging?
• Affiliate Marketing and becoming a millionaire
• Images, Web hosting and Blog Templates
• Purchasing programs that teach you how to make money blogging debunk
• WordPress.com or WordPress.org-yes there’s a difference
• Summary

Intro

Happy New Year! Yep, it’s 2025 and I started my blog in February 2023, just approaching my two year anniversary. You’ve dropped in to take a peak at this post because you’re curious about the truth, how long does it take to start piling up your bank account deposits, right? I mean that’s all you see everywhere. How to make money blogging. What about supposed professional bloggers selling you their program “Let me teach you how to make money blogging”, right? You’ve researched them I know, perhaps purchased their program like I did. (What a waste of $1,000s)

Don’t you want to make front cover magazine as the premier influence who made it rich blogging? Do you have a dream to take that space and lead others? Well, I’m about the spill the beans, the truth, once an for all based on my experience and money wasted in this industry, yet I still blog.

Let me share my story with you and the intention behind this post is to give you the truth, based on my experience, two years of consistent blogging, courses purchased and as an affiliate marketer. I’m not selling you a thing, just asking for your time to read through this blog so you can gain some insight from a novice blogger who’s been at it for two years and still blogging. Spoiler alert (No, I’m not a millionaire blogger, have made less than $40 from this blog in two years). TRUTH.

Are you still interested? Did I spoil it for you? Sorry, the truth does hurt. For those who want to learn more about the truth of blogging, let’s go.

Why do you want to blog?

Let’s start with the fundamental yet crucial question. Why? Why do you want to blog? Have you been searching social media looking for a way to make easy money? Have you seen advertisements or beautiful Pintrest posts that entice you to consider blogging as a profession? Have you seen blogs you adore? Do you follow bloggers and aspire to be one yourself? There are many reasons to start a blog and each of us has a story, but for sustainability, what is your intention behind starting a blog? Truly this is the key question for all success in life, what is your intention?

Let’s start with the obvious, money. If money is your driver and you think you can quit your 9-5 full-time income, start blogging and become a millionaire in a few short months or years, just quit while you’re ahead. Bounce now. Seriously. Here’s a vintage tip for you, never make money your intention because if you do, you’re guaranteed failure. Re-read that sentence.

Now, let’s try a different approach. Do you have something you are passionate about and want to share to the public? Do you love a certain top and want to write about it? Do you love writing, telling stories or even educating people? Is there one topic you love or multiple? Would you be okay with investing in this little hobby and committing to it even if you never make a dime? That’s right, you’re willing to spend money, but not profit, will that work for you? Remember, all hobbies cost money. Would you be okay with your blog being a hobby? And what about consistency? Can you commit to being consistent with writing a blog? At a minimum, could you commit to one blog post a month, 12 a year? If you answered, yes to those three questions, money is not your intention, you’re willing to spend money and not profit just as if it were a hobby and you can commit to posting consistenty, then should start your blog in my opinion.

How often should you post?

In a world of algorithms you have to set a rhythm, so what will that be for you? This is where the commitment factor comes in. You don’t want to be spontaneous or impulsive with the algorithm. Consistency is key. Being realistic, how much time would you dedicate to your hobby? Let’s say you have a lot to say, many blog post ideas in your mind (in the beginning), you can certain write them, but I’m talking about “posting” them. Because remember this is a marathon, so months from now when you hit a wall and have nothing to write about, what will you do? Remember this: “you have to feed the algorithm”, so did you?

Setting realistic goals is key. My opinion is for you to set on you can keep up with. You could start once weekly, once every other week or once a month. If weekly, which day of the week?, etc. Think of “feeding” the algorithm.

Now, once you get going and have a rhythm in place, you can most certainly pop quick blog posts out their because you have something you want to share with your audience and those posts would just be in addition to the regular cadence you’ve committed to, like giving the algorithm a “treat”. Follow me here with this logic?

Is there money in blogging?

Do you want the long or short answer? Potentially, the answer is yes. You could earn money blogging and there are several ways to do this. Now remember, I’m not a millionaire blogger, so I’m only speaking from my two years of experience and most importantly, the aesthetic look I want for my blog.

1. You could add Adsense to you blog. This would then allow Adsense to fill you blog with all sorts of pop up advertisements. I believe if people visit your blog and click on those ads you will receive compensation/commission of some sort. I never opted in for this because every blog I went to that had this seemed “cheesy” and I was not interested in lowering the vibe of my blog for monetization, yet many people do. Your call.
2. You could become an affiliate marketer. This was the option I took. Why? Because I’m authentic I wanted to share brands and products I love with. my audience, so I became an affiliate marketer to promote the products I use with others so they could experience them as well. If you choose to do this too, just look on the website of your favorite brand for “affiliate” and register. They will have requirements. Be mindful, earning a commission is possible, but there is never a guarantee. Your mindset should be, cool, if someone buys something from your affiliate link. Period.

Affiliate Marketing and Becoming a Millionaire

Well the title of this section should give you pause. I’m not saying there aren’t people making millions out there from their blogs, but how?

For example, if you go on Amazon and go to their “influencers” section, it appears as though these individuals are extremely successful with their affiliate marketing setup with Amazon. Did you know Amazon pays a fraction on affiliate products, I mean pennies….. Therefore, do the math…

Keep in mind moreso than affiliate marketing commissions, it’s about branding collaborations. If your blog gets to the point where it has thousands of page hits a day, a brand or company may reach out to collaborate with you. Then not only would you be an affiliate, you would get paid by them for the branding partnership. Make sense? What out for the illusion that all you need to do is add links to your page to become a millionaire, not so.

There’s another popular blogger who started with a fitness spin with the word blog in her branding. Over time she has grown into a huge business, has created a clothing line and collaborated with tores like Target, etc. Keep in mind bloggers who started before the blogging industry became saturated with “wanna be rich quick bloggers” they had less competition.

I’m not saying it’s not possible, but it’s highly unlikely to reach that level quick, if ever. But you never know, only time will tell.

Images, Web Hosting and WordPress Templates

Images are everything in the blog world. Take this part seriously.

Yes, you can take great pictures with your phone for sure. I started out with my phone and free online stock photos, like Pexel, however, i quickly invested in a company for images and it definitely elevated my posts, to my liking and brand vibe. For me the investment was worth it. There are several companies out there, here is the company I use click link below.

Hosting, you’ll need a hosting service for your blog on the web. Not a choice,. I use Bluehost i can’t speak to any other company related to this space, I’ve been completely satisfied with my decision to go with Bluehost, therefore, I highly recommend them. Click link below for more information.

Templates are everything too in blogging, but when you’re starting out you do need to spend a fortune to get a really great site. If you like my blog template and want to learn what other options are available at a very reasonable price point reach out to Katy’s company here:

Purchasing Programs That Teach You How To Make Money Blogging Debunk

Well, I can only speak for myself here. I spent thousands on programs to learn about the blogging world and process, not to make money. First, I spent money with a very well established blogging influence who started her blog with travel and then switched to teaching people how to blog. Although she seemed genuine, (how would I really know?) I couldn’t stand her voice. I got sick to my stomach listening to her training. I just couldn’t watch her anymore. It was dreadful. Her little intro sessions were fine, but her evergreen training sessions were nauseating. That was a really hard price to pay for me. Now when I see her come up on social media, I block here everywhere, I just can’t handle that voice. So weird right? But guess what, she’s not the first. There was another person i purchased her Pintrest course, omg!!!! Here voice!!!!! Again I wasted $1,000 on her program.

Lastly, there was indeed a third successful blogger, actually the original one who’s voice makes me cringe to this day. She’s popular on Youtube and has free content for you to read (which is helpful, sign up for it if you find her). But her voice, omg. What did I learn from her? Bluehost and WordPress.org

Be careful who you listen to. Be careful of what they’re trying to sell you. Their recorded sessions are hyped up, scripted and the furthest thing from authentic. Trust me the only thing I learned was to have a table of contents for your blog. The other, have hashtags and original images on Pintrest. You’re welcome, I just saved you thousands of dollars. I’m not bragging for losing money here, trust me, it’s painful. But it’s like taking a course in college and the professor was a bust. You spend money to learn, you invest in yourself, but the deliverable is less than par. It’s just life and lessons learned. If i could give you their names I would, but perhaps your hearing is more tolerable than mine. Oh those voices still make me cringe. Maybe because it’s 100% online, you’re just listening instead of interacting with breaks and different folks asking questions, but definitely not the route I’d ever take again. I will never purchase an online course from anyone ever again! She even taught how to create a course yourself to sell, but if she only knew how painful hers was for the consumer.

WordPress.com or WordPress.org yes there’s a difference

WordPress.com you don’t own the contents or blog.

WordPress.org you own the contents and blog.

Simple truths. Otherwise, they’re exactly the same. You want to own your blog and it’s contents. Period.

Summary

Whether you decide to join the blogging world or not is up to you. I wrote this blog to help you understand the truth and reality of blogging that you’ll be hard pressed to find out there. Writing blog posts to help people is a passion of mine, but I love words and pictures, so this is a perfect blend for me. It’s a hobby that I enjoy, I’m not a fan of social media whatsoever and have been burned by it as mentioned in this blog and why I wrote this post. I want to help people who are considering blogging to understand there are no overnight one hit wonders, there’s no quick fast lane tips or tricks to get you anywhere in this world. Understand all of those people trying to sell you that promise are profiting from you on their creative strategic marketing for money in the bank.

In summary, be true to yourself and be true to your audience. if you look at those folks trying to sell you something to help you make money fast today, they’ll be offering you something else in a few weeks, remember they need steady income.

This was written from my perspective and experience solely for informational and educational purposes. I am an affiliate marketer and could receive commission on items purchased from my blog that have no affect on consumer price.

Best of luck.

Let this inspire you today!