Walk before I run

I have big plans for this blog. I'm going to do my best to post every day if I can with a minimum of five posts a week. I'm going to do my best to make my posts interesting, funny, and helpful. And I want to make some money with it to help fund the Half-Assed Studio.

The problem is, I have no patience.

I want things to happen RIGHT NOW. I want my readership to go up steadily every day. I want to have daily comments to moderate and post. And, I want people to click on some ads. The thing is, I've only had this blog for a few weeks. No one knows I'm here except friends and family. I've been treating this blog like an established entity with dedicated readership, and I did so by signing up for a bunch of affiliate programs and loading up the site with ads.

It looks like crap.

I have too many ads and the site is too busy. There's no way I'm going to make any money unless my readership goes up. And I mean way up. And the only way my readership will go up is if I keep the content up and the presentation clean. So I rethought my blog priorities and pulled most of my ads off the site. I want people to come here and read my stuff. I want to have an outlet where I can share my experiences. That's what it's all about. I went a little ad-crazy and expected a big payoff. I know now that it was a foolish thought and I've corrected my mistakes.

I'll write this blog because I want to. Because I enjoy it. Because I'm writing about things I'm passionate about. And because I want people to share my excitement. Maybe someday I'll be able to make money with this blog, but for now I'm happy to just write.

For anyone looking to start a blog, please heed this advice. Work on content. Write about something you love. Don't worry about making money with it. If you're going to make money, you will. If not, you won't. But if you're not writing it because you love to do it, you should't be doing it at all.