Pic Originated by Ann Sieg

As an Internet marketer, I could almost sustain my own growth without working 9-5. I know this is the dream for many, many people. Quitting the 9-5 job and firing your own boss sounds like something most Americans would like to do. However, I have to warn you that your expectations shouldn’t be too high if you just start out with your own Internet business. Success takes time. If you want to succeed at something, what it means is hard work and discipline.

When it comes to blogging, there are 7 major misconceptions about this industry. I call them “7 Great Lies.” Let’s walk through each one of them.

1. Lie: Content is the King. Just build it and everything else will follow!

Truth: Is content important? Yes, indeed. However, a website can hardly take off without good design and proper promotions. Imagine you have a great blog and you put out decent content everyday, but people can barely find the subscribe button on your blog, nor can they bookmark it or tweet it. Your readers just come and go everyday, and the retention rate is very low. If you have a site like this, it may be time to pause and rethink. Think of proper channels with which you can deliver your content to your audience quickly and conveniently.

2. Lie: You are your own boss. Hence, you can work whenever you want.

Truth: Success happens for a reason. Discipline is a must-have characteristic for all successful entrepreneurs. In my case, I tell myself to get up early every morning, read news from my favorite tech blogs, write my first blog post for the day, and hit the “publish” button no later than noon. This has become my daily routine. Over times, I do enjoy it. But my point is there is no absolute freedom no matter what you do. If you are not self-disciplined, you might as well not start your own business.

3. Lie: I make ______ (Fill in the blank) amount of money. You can do the same.

Truth: I’ve heard the claims people make about the amount of money they make monthly from their blogs. Some even show you their Adsense check. But the truth is there is no guarantee, because we are entrepreneurs. Owning your own business is risky. It requires hard work. The day you stop innovating and putting out new content is when you will die. For bloggers, you could have an accidental traffic spike in a particular month due to several possible reasons

1. You put out a contest

2. You published an E-book

3. Many guest bloggers write articles on your blog

4. There is a blog post which gets picked up by both Google and different social bookmarking sites

Moreover, your site could be hacked next month, and you get nothing.

4. Lie: I retired when I was _______ (Fill in the blank).

Truth: Personally, I don’t really the word “Retire.” In my opinion, if we are doing what you are passionate about, does it really matter? Saying you want to retire equates indicating you are doing something dull and tedious. Especially for Internet marketers, “Retirement” is an illusion. As a blogger, my mission is to help enough people develop their own sustainable business model via social media and technology. And this is a life-long mission.

5. Lie: Have you read the book “The 4-Hour Workweek?” If you have an Internet business, you can do the same.

Truth: This claim is even more exaggerated. It is misleading and distorts the meaning of a “business.” In my opinion, if you want to start your own business, you’d better roll up your sleeves and get ready for some challenging work. “The 4-Hour Workweek” is a great inspiration for me. And that’s the reason why I quit my full-time job.  However, I have to admit this model is hard to implement in my blogging business. Instead, I want to recommend the book “Crush It” here by Gary Vaynerchuk.

6. Lie: You should monetize your blogs as early as possible.

Truth: For some people, making money from their blogs may be the biggest reason why they started their business in the first place. However, let’s face it. A site without any traffic will produce no results, with or without the ads. Therefore, for every serious blogger, the critical task should be to figure out how to increase your site traffic, instead of how to monetize it, especially in the beginning stages.

7. Lie: Bookmark your blog on as many social networks as possible. Then sit back and watch your traffic grow.

Truth: Actually, I used to bookmark my blog posts on as many as 50 social bookmarking sites before (an example), but failed to see any significant traffic spike on my blog. I have concluded these two critical rules when it comes to bookmarking your blog posts:

1. Having someone else bookmark the site for you is much more powerful than you doing it yourself;

2. If you try to promote your website yourself, make sure you have a good number of followers/friends within that network, such as Digg, Delicious, or Twitter. The more friends you have, the faster your message will spread.

3. Don’t waste your time submitting your articles to hundreds of social bookmarking sites using some software

In conclusion, I hope you have gained more insight by reading this article. If you find this article helpful, please subscribe to our feed to ensure you get our future posts delivered. If you have questions or comments, feel free to share with us in the comment area.

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