When I launched my first blog I thought it was my ticket out of NoWhereVille and my ticket into a luxury condo on a beach somewhere in Thailand, with a cigar hanging out of my mouth, a coconut smoothie in my hand, and a million dollars of change shaking loose in my pocket, just like all my blogging heroes.
We’d all hang out together, of course. After a lazy morning of blogging, we’d hit up the CrossFit gym, then a session in the sauna, and a massage where we’d talk about our upcoming scuba trip. After lunch, we’d go to the Muay Thai gym and help our buddy Traveling Tom train for his first professional bout he has coming up later in the month, and oh what the hell, we decide to put on the gloves and train a few rounds too. Afterwards, we’d head to the local co-working space, check our blogs and count the passive income we had made last night while we slept. Not a bad life, we’d say. A starstruck fan approaches us, said we changed his life. Thanks, we’d say. Another begs us to be on a podcast, sure we say. We agree to meet for dinner to finalize our plans for the Koh Phangan full moon party. Just another day in the life, you know?
The only problem was my blog sucked because I didn’t know what I was doing and I lacked discipline. I grew increasingly frustrated when my expectations did not even remotely meet reality. I didn’t get to “quit the 9 to 5 jive” I didn’t get to “make money while you sleep” I didn’t get to be “location independent.” Wasn’t this supposed to be easy? It was all my fault, of course. I didn’t put in the work. I put in some work, but not all of the work. I lacked persistence. I lacked vision. I never set expectations that were anything but a fantasy.
11 Expectations To Set For Your Blog
I shut down all my failed blogs and went dark, not to disappear from the internet, though I did, but to learn and train and get better. I wrote hundreds of thousands of unpublished words to sharpen up. I devoured blogs. I made an anonymous Twitter account to learn the lingo and writing styles there. I read hundreds of books and now I’m back like Batman. Even so, starting from scratch, setting expectations to build toward success is a must.
Expectations For Blog Traffic
- Wrong Expectation: Google will immediately turn on the traffic spigot at 6 months if I work hard and post consistently.
- Right Expectation: The 6 month traffic will be a trickle, not a flood, even if I am working incredibly hard. I expect to push hard well beyond 18 months. It won’t be until 24 months of very hard work that I will receive reliable Google traffic. I won’t be part of the 80% of blogs that fail within the first 18 months.
Expectations For Posting Frequency
- Wrong Expectation: I will be able to post daily high-quality articles and nothing will stop me!
- Right Expectation: I will make time for writing and work hard, but I recognize life happens. My kids get sick. They will make me sick. I need to be present during family time. I have real life commitments I cannot ignore. I will commit to a minimum of one quality blog posts per week and there is no maximum, during the good writing weeks I will post daily or write an entire month of content in advance. I will take advantage of the good writing weeks.
Expectations For SEO
- Wrong Expectation: I will just focus on writing high-quality blog articles and SEO will take care of itself.
- Right Expectation: I need to learn the SEO game whether I want to or not, my blog will fail without me doing so. I need to understand keyword research, on-page SEO, backlinks.
Expectations For Blog Passive Income
- Wrong Expectation: Blogging will be a great opportunity for passive income.
- Right Expectation: There is no such thing as blogging passive income. There is a lot of hard work upfront followed by delayed income on the backend. While I will certainly make money while I sleep, there is nothing passive about it.
Expectations For Email Sign Ups
- Wrong Expectation: Readers will see my high-quality blog articles and will 100% sign up for my email list!
- Right Expectation: Readers will see my high-quality blog articles and then I will have to bribe them to sign up for my email list via a pop up with a high-quality lead magnet pdf or video course, if I don’t they will bounce.
Expectations For Social Media
- Wrong Expectation: I will drop by on social media every now and then to drop links to my new articles.
- Right Expectation: I need a comprehensive social media strategy to build an engaged audience by providing content tailored to that platform and I need to find a way to drive that audience to my blog.
Expectations For A Massively Successful Blog
- Wrong Expectation: The first blog I launch is going to be my $10,000+ per month blog.
- Right Expectation: There is a steep learning curve for my first blog. There are no guarantees it will be the home run I want it to be. Even so, I am going to work very hard on it. To reach $10,000 per month might take a combination of several blogs or my home run might be my third or fourth blog. However, if I stick with it I will reach pro-blogging status.
Expectations For Quitting Your Job
Wrong Expectation: I am going to be able to quit my job after one year of blogging.
Right Expectation: It is going to take between 3-5 years of blogging before I will be able to quit my job and it will be worth it. It will still be worth it if it takes me 10 years of blogging.
Expectations For Motivation
Wrong Expectation: Motivation will carry me through my blogging endeavors and I can rely upon it.
Right Expectation: If I rely on motivation alone, I will lose. I must rely on discipline. The implementation of discipline is the only way I will win the blogging game. “I’m not feeling it” doesn’t get a vote. “I’m tired” doesn’t get a vote. “I’m busy” doesn’t get a vote. Laziness doesn’t get a vote. There is only discipline.
Expectations For Knowledge And Skills
Wrong Expectation: I’ll just focus on writing, my strength. The rest of the pieces will fall into place.
Right Expectations: I must actively learn and improve my knowledge and skills in blogging. Blogging is more than just writing words. I must be more than competent in WordPress, Structuring Posts, SEO, Social Media, Email List Building, Analytics, Copywriting.
Expectations For Winning The Blogging Game
Wrong Expectation: 80% of life is just showing up! If I just show up with a blog I’ll eventually win the blogging game!
Right Expectation: Just “showing up” is a sure way to lose in the blogging game. Winning the blogging game requires discipline, persistence, improvement of knowledge and skills, and execution of a comprehensive strategy. The only winners in the blogging game are those that win by design. An athlete that just “shows up” doesn’t win championships and neither does a blogger.
What Expectations Are You Going To Set?
Since I relaunched my blogging on January 01, 2026, I have set the expectation that I will have the option to step away from my job if I’d like on January 1, 2029. The only thing it will take is all of my effort, relentlessly. A small price to pay! Are you going to join me in working relentlessly for three years so you can be free? It will be hard, but also maximally fun!
Next steps:
- Sign up for the Austin James Blog email list for blogging fire to be delivered straight to your inbox and in order to stay on top of current blogging trends so you can capitalize on first mover advantage.
- Make a commitment to build a solid foundation of blogging fundaments and to implement them correctly on your blog(s).
- Make a commitment to be free via your blogging efforts in 3-5 years, which is a realistic expectation if you work hard and consistently.
See y’all in three to five years!