Ten Months Out: Confession of a Lazy Blogger

When I started this blog last September all I wanted to accomplish was to exercise my writing skills by posting about my attempts at making and saving money. I have really enjoyed keeping a regular posting schedule, which has forced a steady writing discipline. As for blogging money; I have made very little, which is entirely my fault.

CONFESSION (How NOT To Make Money Blogging)

My biggest problem is my half-assed approach to promotion. While I joined Blogged and Blog Catalog and a few others, I don’t have anything to do with My Space or Facebook, and I don’t tweet. I know, I know. The thing is I can’t bring myself to do it. I’m sure it’s money down the drain, but I just don’t want to devote the time to keep up with it all.

However, my Google analytics account tells me I am almost doubling my traffic every month, which is due to steady content and the few referring sites I do belong to. I know what I could do to bump up that traffic; I just don’t want to mess with it.

I have participated in dozens of blog carnivals, which can bring a brief surge of hits, usually lasting a couple of days. My first few months of blogging I would enter every post on up to three different carnivals, but now will enter maybe one or two a week, if I remember to.

Specific to my blog subject niche are Tip’d and PF Buzz, which I usually still submit posts to every week. I enjoy reading others articles on those sites, and it only takes half a minute to submit mine.

Another of my big no-no’s is I don’t usually leave comments on other blogs, and I don’t participate in forums. Like most internet readers I skim content first, and if something catches my attention I will go back to the beginning and read it. If not, I’m gone. While most of the personal finance blogs I read and subscribe to are useful, they are not particularly interesting enough for me to leave a comment. Looking at the lack of comments on The Buck List would lead me to conclude the same about my blog. As for forums, I guess they fall into the “don’t want to take the time” category.

So there you have it, my confession; contradictory but true. I will keep blogging for now (you have been warned) and hopefully will present something useful once in a while. And if you really want to know how to do it right, go visit ProBlogger.