While blogging is easy to start due to low initial costs, many who enter dreaming of “passive income” fail due to the time required to generate revenue and a lack of correct strategy.
1. The Time Barrier to Monetization and Difficulty in Sustaining Motivation
Blogging, unlike FX or arbitrage, does not offer instant cash flow and is one of the side businesses that takes the longest to succeed.
- Poor Time-to-Income Ratio (Cost-Effectiveness):
- A huge amount of time is spent drafting an article (research, outlining, writing), and revenue remains nearly zero for the initial few months to a year.
- Before the monetization structure is established, facing results that do not match the time and effort invested makes creators feel the hourly wage is unviable, leading to a loss of motivation.
- Slow Reflection in Search Results (Google’s Evaluation Period):
- It takes several months to about a year for new blogs to be evaluated by search engines like Google and appear high in search results (i.e., to be indexed and ranked, or build Domain Authority).
- Since posts are not immediately seen by readers, even when many articles are written, creators are easily discouraged by the feeling that “no one is reading.”
2. Lack of Strategy and Knowledge
Simply writing articles like a personal diary will not attract readers. Specialized knowledge and strategy are essential.
- Insufficient SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Knowledge:
- Writing articles with self-satisfying themes or titles without understanding “what keywords” readers are searching for.
- Lacking fundamental strategies for driving traffic, such as keyword research and competitor blog analysis.
- Mismatch Between Reader Needs and Monetization Funnel:
- Operating the blog “to write” rather than “to earn.” Choosing only genres or themes that do not lead to revenue.
- Even if articles are read, the lack of a natural path or funnel to affiliate links prevents conversion into revenue.
3. Lack of Consistency and Self-Management Issues
Since blogging is self-managed, self-discipline is everything.
- Failure to Habitualize Writing:
- Because it is a side business, main job and private life often take precedence, leading to irregular article updates.
- The difficulty and tediousness of article creation can lead to perfectionism, resulting in one article never being completed.
- Slow Response to Market Changes:
- Google’s search algorithm is constantly changing (Core Updates). Creators fail to adapt to new evaluation criteria by clinging to past successes or outdated knowledge.
💡 Typical Failure Pattern
“I forced myself to write articles every weekend despite being tired from my main job, but after one year, traffic was still zero. Only the time spent writing and the server costs were wasted, so I gave up.”
| Failure Factor | Specific Risk and Outcome |
| The Time Barrier to Monetization | A period of zero traffic for one year is not uncommon in the blogging world. Failing to endure this long, non-earning period leads to the waste of all invested time (labor cost). |
| Lack of Strategy | Zero traffic despite writing articles indicates either choosing themes that readers don’t search for or a lack of basic SEO knowledge. The effort was misdirected. |
| Lack of Consistency | The stress of no results, compounded by the fatigue of the main job, leads to updates stopping. Blogging is a business that ends when you stop. |
Key to Success: To succeed in blogging, it is crucial to accept that “results will not come quickly.” The most important factor is “patience”—to continue writing high-quality articles consistently for at least one year, even without immediate results, while learning SEO and marketing knowledge.
