I started blogging at the age of 16, with a Blogger blog and every first experience of mine is still fresh in my memories. My first time of setting up link exchange deals, my first time getting all the dunks from the blogosphere, my first and last time trying to game Google Adsense and of course, my first time knowing bloggers of all sorts from all around the world.
Photo by: cambodia4kidsorg
Blogging is attractive for minors even though only few that will eventually step on a success route. Carl Ocab, the 14 years old make money online blogger is the leading idol for kid blogger wannabes and statistics on How Old Are ProBlogger Readers? Poll Results also shown that young bloggers own a big piece of the blogger’s demography.
Blogging at a young age has never been easier than blogging when you are halfway through your lifetime or when you are an experienced corporate figure.
Blogging Difficulties That Young Bloggers Must Brave Through
Discouragement from parents
Most parents on Earth want their children to pursue a Degree or Masters program rather than becoming an online entrepreneur or blogger. Most of their excuses are such profession will not secure a fixed income and it is risky.
Photo by: CarbonNYC
They rather send their kids to colleges and varsities which might need them to pour out tens of thousands of cash. When this happens, some young Internet talents out there will just follow their parents’ desire due to respect. It is lucky for me that my parents did not stop me from blogging.
Fatal experiments
Kids step into the Internet fearless and with their curiosity, they might get involved with some negative activities which might make their future at stake. Getting involved in an Internet fraud is one thing that will leave bad reputation for a particular young chap because search engines basically saves everything that we have done!
I have experienced this myself as a 16 years old kid when I got myself banned from Google Adsense for fraudulent clicks. I did this because at that time, I don’t know how superior Google is and of course at that time, I regretted my actions because the popular money making platform was basically just Google Adsense.
Social outcast among friends
At a young age, conversations often revolve around topics like entertainment world gossips, sports and outdoor activities. Even if persons of such age group do get online, they spend most of their time chatting and gaming. Normal kids will not think of make money online or write niche articles everyday!
Photo by: Tom@HK
If you step into the world of blogging or other forms of online business and discover the magic and passion of you in it, your friends will start to distance themselves from you because you start to have different conversation topics and no time for gatherings. Some friends might even crown you with names, calling you a "Internet Slave" or "Internet Millionaire" sarcastically.
Disheartening and sarcastic critiques
The Internet is a cruel place, at least some parts of it. Internet users will not care if you are a 12 years old or 80 years old. When you do something not in their favor or you are wrong with your facts, they will blast you as if you have just stepped on their tail.
You must be brave and have a solid heart to make it through as a young blogger. Even though the comments and critiques will rain on you, you must not take them personally nor make them chase you out of the blogosphere.
Health problems
At a tender age, it is very easy to get caught up with many health problems related to long hours working in front of the computer. Eye strain, back pain, weight gain, stress and most commonly repetitive strain injury are one of the few bad things that will happen to our body after long hours of working in front of the computer.
Photo by: gotplaid?
Young chaps will feel the significant effect of such discomfort compared to adults. Also, harming the body at such a young age will give way to diseases such as arthritis, visionary problems and obesity when becoming older.
Lacking of credibility
Bloggers don’t only thrive because of their knowledge on a particular niche. Some bloggers get onto the success path very fast because of their credibility and reputation. Readers trust them and make them the authority of the niche.
When you announce to the blogosphere that you are a, say, 13 years old kid, most people will not read what you’ve written. Even you are very good in your writing, they will call you an adult faking as a kid. Internet users tend to have the mind set that kids younger than them will have lesser knowledge than them.
Programs requirements
Many programs out there, especially affiliate networks and advertising networks only accept registrations from people over 18 years old. Monetizing a blog with the age of below 18 is sometimes a headache because the best and easiest blog monetization tool, Google AdSense will not accept your honest application.
Anyway, this problem is not a big deal compared to a few years back since affiliate marketing and direct ad sales are booming, blasting monetization opportunities for young bloggers with great blogs.
Naivety will be exploited, False praises
The Internet is a place full of scams and traps. Ambitious kids will fall easily into these and they are much more easier to be persuaded compared to skeptic adults. To make things worse, kids nowadays have supplementary credit cards from their parents which will raise the risk of them exposing the numbers to phishing sites or being conned by unscrupulous parties.
Sometimes for being young, people give nice comments about your blog. It might be a honest comment but people might be giving a thumbs up just because they are impressed that you are young or they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Time constraint
As a child, you don’t have a day job but classes that you can’t think of quitting, to attend everyday. Kid bloggers are not like adults, they admire those adults that proudly announce to the world that "I have just quit my day job to devote my full time onto blogging!"
Photo by: laffy4k
They just can’t. They do not only have to attend classes, they have deadlines for their assignments and of course, exam grades to achieve. Creating readable contents and for some very talented, useful contents deserved a praise as all bloggers know content creation can take a lot of time, not to even the time spent on marketing our blogs!
Look Up To Successful Young Bloggers
After reading the whole article, what is your view on young bloggers, especially if you knew some of them? Do you think successful young bloggers deserve more attention?
I know they sometimes lack the flair in using words or producing contents compared to blogging powerhouses but some of them are quite creative and innovative as they might be able to see things from a different angle.
Lastly, what do you think a young blogger should really possess if he/she wanted to stand out in the blogosphere?
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February 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Tackett
February 5th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Great post! I think the young bloggers that are successful deserve the credit! It isn’t easy and some of these young guys are more than showing us up!
February 7th, 2008 at 3:49 am
The first time I landed on Carl Ocab’s blog and I learned he was so young, I must admit I dismissed it maybe a bit too quickly (I am 34 and I must say he made me feel very old!).
After your article, I feel more respect for “Baby Bloggers”. It is not very easy at that age to have the necessary willpower required in order to suceed.
Young bloggers are lucky when they have their family and friends’ support but I think their parents should make sure they don’t sit all day at their computer: make sure they eat well, don’t neglect their studies and get some exercise too.
PS. I “stole” your blog’s feed and put it on my Squidoo lens: please let me know if it’s Ok with you. If not, just leave a note in the guestbook and I will remove it (the url is http://www.squidoo.com/internetjunkie).
February 7th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I’m 15 years old and I guess I can be called a ‘young’ blogger!
that’s too big a case with me!!
Yes wayne you are right that we young bloggers have quite a lot of difficulties. I can’t register at some affiliate network because I’m not 18 enough. Then there’s the ‘trust’ issue too. Who’s gonna trust a 15 year old to give useful information?
Nice post, though, outlining the hardships faced by young bloggers!
February 7th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
@ Chris
Thanks for the complements. Hope to see you here again.
@ Thomas
Young bloggers deserve the credit when we are doing something good. Some older guys just can’t accept the fact that they are being over-stepped.
@ Internet Junkie
Young bloggers can be inspiring sometimes because they see things from a different point of view. If they have the ability to convey their world views, they should be allowed.
Supportive parents are crucial but sometimes, the Internet can be a dangerous place for kids. Porns and illegal trades can be traps that could pollute a child’s mind.
The amount of excerpts is OK for me. I even tolerate scrapers
, but of course not those who copied my whole article. 
@ Muhammad Siyab
You will need compelling contents to keep them listen to you. Also, you must avoid using some kiddo words and try to be professional (uphold your own style but don’t cry like a baby if something bad happen).
15 years old. I think you have a bright future as you have a nice blog (this is a sincere comment). As for monetization issues, try to build your blog now and not rush for monetization just yet as you are not yet in dire need to feed yourself.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I have nothing against young bloggers (by definition of age) but I personally feel that if they are too engrossed with blogging, they will miss out a lot on life - actual social skill. If they spend more time networking online than they do spending their time interacting offline, this can turn out to be a handicap for them in interpersonal relations (offline). There are just some things which you cannot substitute for.
I would not trade my life as a teenager for life as an enthusiastic blogger for the things which I learnt back then shaped me for who I am today.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Young bloggers deserve the respect. A lot of times they can be much more intelligent than adults. Just because some is younger doesn’t mean they don’t know more about the topic, or that their writing skills are poor. Young bloggers can actually have plenty of good information and should not be dismissed so quickly.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
@ pablopabla
This is definitely a food for thought for me. One thing that happened after I am so into blogging is that I had to sacrifice my entertainment hours for productivity.
However, I think it is good to have a realization of being productive now than in my later life. At an older age, one might not be able to blog like I am now, at least for some.
I am now reaching a diverging end of a road but maybe I will be able to balance things out or make a wise decision on choosing. There will be pros and cons for everything but hopefully, everything will work well for me.
@ Tay
Yes, especially in recent years where younger kids are more exposed to the Internet. You can’t just crown a “no credibility” tag on them right from the start.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Most of my friends are actually quite impressed with my new video show. So not everybody is anti the blogger. Perhaps times are changing.
February 9th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Well-written post, and very relevant for student bloggers (I am 15 myself).
Though I have not had any serious abuse from oldies complaining about my age or not trusting me because of age. Maybe it is because I don’t have my age plastered all over like Carl Ocab, or because I try to present myself in a professional way (you are professional too, but just take care of your grammar and typos - it should not overshadow your brilliant content).
PS: I can help with your design, if it needs just structural and functional upgrades. I don’t do image-heavy themes, but like clean, quick themes with optimization, that can handle a text-heavy blog like yours (mine is much the same, so see it for an example
)
I recall you in your blogger days - you asked for link exchange
I was on digitol.blogspot.com back then.
February 9th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
@ Sauce The Game
Cool. Nice initiative in trying to impress your readers. I have to admit that the time is changing and we, being in front of the wave must hang on and if possible, set up our own trends.
@ Sumesh
Thanks for the tip on my grammar and typos error to make myself more professional.
I will be nudging you for the a design after I am sure what do I really want with a new design because apart from finding designers for a quote, I am also evaluating what are the features that this current theme lacks and my own requirements.
You must be from Blogger forum I guess as all my link exchange requests are made there. It is too bad that link exchanges doesn’t give much results today.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Well this is a very different post. i like where you have gone with this post, something i have never seen before. I. E the fact you were looking at specifically young bloggers under the age of 16, and you have raised some great points.
I personally started my blog at 15 years old, run it for about a year and got board due to the fact i had no readers and gave up. Back then i never knew how to advertise or market my blog, so its no wonder why i didn’t receive any traffic.
6 years on and i’ve now started blogging again on SEO & Marketing issue’s, so far its going really well, and hopefully it will continue to do well in the future.
thanks for the great content.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am
yeah, you’re right. it’s quite hard starting blogging when you’re old. i am 46 already and i have so much respect for young people and teens who began this thing early in their lives.
i have encouraged my nieces and nephews to take up blogging and have helped set up a BLOGGING SEMINAR (http://dustdiangas.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-blog-seminar-in-soccsksargen.html) in my province which fortunately drew in almost 200 participants, mostly college students and young professionals. A second one is on its way now and we hope to target 300 young future bloggers this time.
Thanks for this article. Will link this to our aggregator site.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:35 am
You are definitely bringing up interesting points. Not only that but your content is written with time and interest. The layout of the blog is pretty cool.
From the first time I stumbled here by mistake, been reading your articles.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
@ Andy
Well, being young doesn’t bring an age limit over it. I guess the “young” here means being immature of what the Internet and blogging are all about.
Glad to hear that you are now doing well. I realize one thing, which is the younger we started blogging, the lesser trail and error that we need to go through when we have a mature style of writing.
Nice blog you have there and all the best in blogging.
@ bariles
Wow, having 200 visitors to one seminar is a great success, definitely. Don’t put too much pressure on your nieces as they might have their own interests as well.
All the best to your upcoming seminar!
@ The Cubicle Guy
Thanks for the complements but may I know how did you stumbled here by mistake?