Originally Posted by
moretimeoffguy
Sounds fair. Lotta writing to do. :-)
True to my wishes, I received my first blog comment; from--a neighbor. Exactly the type of person I'm trying to help / reach. Will I be able to monetize the blog? Doubtful. But then as people here have already said, essentially, Good Luck With That; it shouldn't be the aim. I can dream, but the reality's become clearer.
I did get approved by several affiliates--even CreditCards.com, via Commission Junction. No revenue yet. Likely best to keep writing and stop looking (at revenue and traffic). Could easily see it taking years to build up. Good thing I'm not betting the farm on this project. For now, and perhaps forever, it's just an extension of my miles and points hobby; like a business card I can hand out when people ask, "how are you taking all these trips?"
Thanks again to all for the help. Admittedly, it was Tough Love I didn't, at first, want much to hear. But I appreciate it now.
Let me put this in context for you.
When I started Head for Points five years ago, I wrote the first 2 months in secret. That was 60 articles that no-one read, because I wanted to see if I could do it.
I then rolled it out and ran it off 'free' WordPress for seven months. I had readers, but no income, since at that point you were not allowed to put ads or affiliate links on free WP sites.
So that was nine months with literally nothing.
After that point I switched over to a new theme, ads etc on self-hosted WordPress. And now, five years on, it may be the biggest site outside North America. But that is the sort of time frame you should look at.
* And, spookily, I am nominated for UK Business Travel Editor of the Year, Scoop of the Year and my colleague is up for Best Newcomer to Business Travel or Meetings & Events Journalism at the 2017 Business Travel Journalism Awards next month. Give it 5 years and you might manage the same.