If you are a blogger already writing your heart out you can always hit the ‘J’ key and carry on your merry way as  this probably won’t interest you in the least. However if you are sitting on the edge with your fingers hovering over the keyboard thinking you are going to write the next great post to set the blogosphere afire and earn you recognition of the tech blogging elite then grab a coffee and let’s chat.

As you may already have heard blogging has been around for ten years now and as such the success pecking order has pretty well been set. Already we have consolidation into blogging corporations with CEO and acquisitions, blog networks rolling out faster than Google buying Web 2.0 startups and the inevitable chase for the next shiny new thing. All through this we are faced with the simple fact that probably 75% of the tens of million blogs out there are either scrappers, AdSense farms or just plain crap.

Sure there are good blogs out there if you dig deep enough past the crap or look beyond the A-List but the reality is that they are few and far between. This is what you are going to be going up against.

Yes we have all read the success stories of bloggers who ride the tech jet set or bank tens of thousands of dollars a month in advertising money. The reality is that they are few and far between - for every success there are a million blogs that fill the same space where you want to become the next Michael Arrington.

The lure of advertising dollars and the dream of being a self-employed blogger is a strong one that is constantly perpetrated by those wonderful make money on-line examples of journalistic integrity - or not. The reality is that Google AdSense is a rigged game in the favor of Google and those who manipulate the AdSense game. Yes if you follow the examples of these types of blogs you just might make some good money but the actuality is that even after a year of writing your heart out you’ll be lucky to make your hosting expenses. It doesn’t matter what advertising platform you might want to mix and match - whether it be Google AdSense or Text-Link-Ads or AuctionAds the truth of the matter is don’t quit your day job.

You’ll make sure to devour every tip that comes along to improve your blogging skills. Some of them are good and others are just filler to make the next top 10 list a hit on digg.com. You’ll read how important it is to make sure you are always right in there with the newest meme’s when really all it is is a verbal pyramid scheme that assures that the already top bloggers stay there because it is them who will always be at the head of the meme line.

Through all this you’ll see astronomical page view numbers, Technorati rankings that make you envious and Feedburner counts that you only would dream of having. The reality is that even after a year of posting those daily pearls of wisdom and regurgitated newsflashes you’ll be lucky if you ever see the upside of more than 500 unique visitors a day.

One can’t deny the rush of that first link back from the likes of Robert Scoble or a mention on Om Malik but the reality is that no matter how passionate you write or how many times you link to the A-List there will be days when your unique visitor count goes into a downward slide and will seem like a rejection letter for each negative number.

There will be a period where you pacify yourself with the A-List words of advise to blog for the sake of blogging itself. To enjoy being able to have a conversation with your readers. What a pathetic piece of advise - did anyone give them that piece of advice when they started way back when? … I doubt it. The reality is that if you are doing this to join the ranks of the blogosphere’s best bloggers then you had better go have another coffee and think this through again.

I can’t deny the joy that comes from seeing your thoughts and opinions published for all to read or the pleasure that comes from having conversation on your own blog with people who like what you write and keep coming back - that would be dishonest of me and of no service to you. The reality is though that you will have to deal with idiots who will call you an asshole, deal with enough spam on a daily basis to make you want to hunt them down and choke them with their own putrid spam generating software.

The reality is that blogging is not what it was in the beginning. You won’t get rich or famous. You won’t be read by thousands and thousands of people who look for your posts with every delivery to their RSS client. You will wonder why you even started in the first place - as you post your 1,000th post.

If at this point you still want to go ahead and start typing on that keyboard that is great - I’m glad because even with all the reality of what you are facing as you jump into the world of tech blogging there is one other reality ….

You could just beat the odds .. rise above the noise … and become one of those good blogs that everyone wants to read. The chances are incredibly slim but as all things in this life you may just beat the odds and I wish you all the best.

Good luck!

Conversation Tags: blogs, blogging, bloggers, reality check