Remember that while you’re new to something, you have a fresh perspective to offer, and that’s extremely valuable in this line of business!
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I don’t think anyone is truly a newbie. We all have something to bring to the table. What one person blogs about may not attract everyone, but I’m sure it would help thousands (or more), who have the same interests.

Too often people sabotage themselves before they start. I especially liked your parallel with “blogging without a blog.” Indeed many people have been blogging without a blog for years, and they’re the last people who should refer to themselves as newbies.

I think that using the word “newbie”, in the wrong context, can deter readers from exploring your writings. A lot of online searches are being done for credible information, or information others can use in reports, stories, school projects, etc. If someone says, “I’m a newbie…….”, it may be construed as information that is not reliable.

Plus, how long is a person a newbie? A day? A week? A month? We have to remember, our posts are timeless (unless we update them).

And….a lot of readers do not understand even though a blog is written in chronological order, on our home page, the posts are listed in reverse chronological order. So, what I’m getting at is, if a reader links to one of your first posts, and you say, “I’m a newbie, blah,blah, blah….”, but you have 160 posts since then (and you’re no longer new to your subject, or blogging), they could very easily click off of your blog, and never come back….thinking yours is not a creditable site.

I’m not saying I have never done the same thing, but I am going to go back over all of my old posts, and see if I am sabotaging my own credibility.

With regard to your blog, Asako, I do believe patience will pay off for you. You have a great concept that you appear passionate about, and it’s an idea I haven’t seen elsewhere.

I do not think the word Newbie undermines your great content.

I think the word Newbie was created among the community of experts of “making money from blogging”.

There are some blogs I often visit around health care and politics, etc. They often have no ads, their blog formats are primitive, and they seem to not be paying attention to SEO. They seem oblivious of any problogging discussions. But they have huge readership. And they have great contents.

I am also thinking to move away from “making money from blogging” and focus on the quality of content, and getting the right readers.

Borrowing your most recent post, for example, my focus seems to be quite a niche among the today’s blog readers. Recently, I did some statistics research and found “small business” is really not the most popular topic in the blog world. “Making money from blogging” community would say I should change my style, content, and approach to get more traffic and have readers click on ads.

I do not think I will follow their advice. I have a belief my niche will grow in the future, and I just stay patient. And when we know our niche, we are definitely not Newbies.