The Entry Barriers for New Generation Bloggers
The complexities faced by new entrepreneurs today aren’t similar to the ones faced by people some years ago. To start a business a couple of decades ago, you would have required:
- Money to rent an office space
- Money to buy office equipments
- Money to pay your employees
- Money to provide health insurance to them
- Money to pay for licenses, utilities, and taxes
Okay I agree these costs have to be incurred today as well. But we can opt to work from home as well; a benefit that we couldn’t have enjoyed then.
So, the constraint of huge capital has been now eradicated. You don’t really have to spend huge amount of money to gain money, which was not the case initially.
But you do have to spend ‘some’, in order to star a blogging business.
Some? How much is ‘Some’? A vague answer would be not much. If you are looking for the precise amount:
$8 every year for domain name
AND
$100 every year for Web Hosting
These are the costs you have to necessarily incur to start a blogging business. There may be some other expenses which may vary from person to person like buying a new desktop or notebook, fees to pay for web designing, and probably some software. So, my vague answer still persists, ‘Not Much.’
So for new entrants, money cannot be termed as a barrier.
So what are the problems faced by new bloggers these days?
Knowledge
Although knowledge about the business was always a barrier and an important path to success, today is the time when you need it the most. The market today is completely knowledge driven. In recent times, the ones who lead the business are the one who learned knowledge that wasn’t imparted in schools or universities.
Although knowledge is freely available today, we don’t find many people fully informed about anything. You can avail all the useful information through internet, however people don’t. So the one who wins is the one who gains the knowledge and applies it first. He has to rush, he has to hustle.
Hustle
Few decades ago I wouldn’t have believed I someone would have said ‘Time is Money.’ But today, time is more expensive than money. If you don’t hustle to acquire knowledge and apply, you lose more than money. Hence, it is another barrier for new entrants.
You will have to hustle to be the first one.
You will have to hustle to keep up with the pace and rapidity today.
You will have to hustle to compete.
You will have to hustle to be the best
If you fail to hustle, you fail to survive.
So, before you decide to start a blog, don’t forget to consider these barriers.
What do you think? Any new barriers you can think of?
Gojeg on 
Daniel @ Passive Income on 
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Blogging Tips on 
In my experience, the one of the biggest barriers with my clients is the technical side and simply knowing where to start.
WordPress and premium themes make things easier but there is still a fair amount of technical knowledge required.
Another barrier is fear. The fear of making a mistake, looking stupid, not being a good enough blogger. Fear really holds people back.
Andrew
Andrew @ WeBuildYourBlog.com´s last blog ..Free Premium Theme
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Hey Chris, I like this post and I also agree with the guy above. When I first started blogging, I went through a lot of difficulties and made a lot of mistakes, including buying a website design program that cost me around $200 when something like Wordpress was free!
Even though Wordpress is free though, you still have to be able to know the basics of HTML, CSS, etc. For a newbie like me, this was like a totally new language. It was definitely something that I had trouble with since I was more skilled with using a pencil. But I guess you can say this falls under the category of having a lot knowledge in anything, including the technical side of using the internet.
Oh yeah, like you said, psychology time is very important. We can always buy more knowledge, we can always hire people to do stuff for us, but we can never buy more time. I think knowing that and learning how to spend you’re time wisely is a crucial factor in becoming a good blogger.
Hulbert´s last blog ..Finding Relief: A Painful Way to Get Out of Pain
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I don’t know why “website design program” is linked, but I’ll just let it be. Have a good day man.
Hulbert´s last blog ..Finding Relief: A Painful Way to Get Out of Pain
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I agree with Andrew that a major barrier is fear to start a blog, or really to start anything. The fear of putting yourself out there is huge, as it’s your name and reputation on the blog.
Realizing that there are already so many blogs in your niche is also a fear factor. What do I have to say that hasn’t been said before? It’s important to remember that with the internet, we all have a voice. What you say, in your voice and based on your experience is what people want to read.
For the money aspect, in addition to the domain name fee and the yearly hosting fee, there’s also the premium theme cost, cost of joining problogger forums, cost of photos to enhance your site, cost of ebook or online courses to learn technologies and marketing. It goes on and on. None of this include the opportunity costs, of course.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the easier (and least expensive) businesses to get into and is worthwile, but there are many costs that you never think of until you actually start blogging.
Just my $0.02
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Just For Today Challenge, Day 11: Get Outside Today
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Time is really more expensive than money. I value time a lot. I always find new ways to save time.
Knowledge is equally important but unless it is used, it is nothing but garbage.
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Hi Chris,
I actually believe there are quite a few barriers for the newbies of today. And I know because I am one of those newbies!
There is knowledge in content and what to write about, knowledge needed on how to actually get your visitors, knowledge on how to then leverage your site to actually get it to start making money, plus you also need to have the technical knowledge to upload the site, change the graphics, make the posts etc etc etc.
It isn’t just the $108 per year in actual costs. It is also the cost to learn to include whether that be time or whether that be paying a mentor to learn step by step.
Growing an online business is no different to growing an offline business. Yes there is the slight difference in money, however both need time, money, focus and most importantly the person creating the business really needs to love what they are doing for it to succeed!
Great article.
Kind Regards
Jacinta
Jacinta Dean´s last blog ..John Thornhill’s Internet Marketing Master Class Coaching Program Week 19!
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As a new blogger,I feel that I have to put more things than money to succeed.Time is the biggest barrier to a new blogger I think.These days I always worry that I will not have time to write posts regularly because of too many daily works.
Darni´s last blog ..The Longer You Blog, The More Successful You Will Be
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Yes, knowledge plays a very important role in a blogger’ life. It is surely a barrier for the new generation bloggers who lack knowledge.
Akash | AM Blogger´s last blog ..What Type Of Blogger Are You?
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This is great advice, I agree with the hustle part, time is money and you have work hard to make your money. You can’t waste your time and have to work hard to get results. Also knowledge is key to a good blog, no one wants to read anyone who does not know anything about the topic he is blogging about.
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