My website https://www.english-to-tagalog.com yielded only minimal passive income. The fault was entirely mine since I may claim to know how to write – even with SEO in mind, but I hardly wrote regularly. The ten-day tutorial for solopreneurs at Sitesell held all the secrets for success, however, I perused the masterful tips for the first two days only, but skipped the rest, preferring to ‘wing it’ when posting my blogs.

Embarrassing to admit that all that money spent on the website hosting just went down the drain. Had I invested it in stocks, I probably would have earned enough dividends by now; probably, since I also don’t know anything about stocks. Retirement is scary when there’s no secure source of financial support for the retiree. But I refuse to panic. Instead, I would like to go back to more gainful blogging.

You tube videos on the topic of SEO insist that blogging is still relevant today. With Artificial Intelligence, blogging for websites is a breeze. You only need to ask the best questions for this robot writer to feed you the content you need for your business website. There is that assurance that you can be smart as you make this technology your ally. But with this new tool comes more insecurities – at least for this sixty-year-old, who is trying hard to come up with a retirement plan, with writing as a business.

Who is my primary audience?

The first and most important task is establishing my intention for this blog. Who am I writing it for? All the experts say that I need to be passionate about something in order to sustain a blog. One podcast maintains that a niche may seem limited yet robots gathering and distributing insights have the whole world to serve and satisfy. There is no denying a blog’s unlimited reach, once it is directed at someone. The blogs must address the perceived needs of the target readers. The topics must exude authority and the writing style must project empathy.

How do I streamline my intentions for this blog?

Every Monday night, I challenge myself to blog about a senior moment. {This is Blog B in my category of tasks. Blog A is for book reviews, Blog C, for writing, editing, and translation.] Neil Gaiman in his masterclass says that honesty is what carries him through as a writer. Maybe some of the experiences will resonate with the target audience, maybe they won’t, but If I stay honest, I might not run out of issues to talk about.

What decisions in blogging should be finalized as soon as possible?

I have long learned that keyword searches are a crucial next step. But before searching for free apps that will give me statistics on what senior citizens are typing on Google search, I should decide on a Webhost. It’s possible to overdo the research, subscribing to every YouTube channel that enlightens me on this matter. However, a friend writer always told me, “You need to overcome your lack of an ego strength to put yourself out there.” Going public with personal issues may be easier said than done, but if I treat blogging as a workshop platform for my word crafting, I might become bolder and more confident. Immediately, I invested on a domain, created a free website, and blogged on.