Part SIX of the 10 Ways to Make Money Online Series
The 6th method that Jimmy D. Brown suggests for making money online is blogging. You'll find this on pages 18-20 in your PDF.
Some of you may raise your eyebrows at the idea of making $10,000/month just by blogging, but I did a post almost 3 years ago featuring a number of people who were earning much more than that: Can Blogging Make You Rich?
All of the successful bloggers featured in that article devoted time and energy to a focused blogging project. They didnt set up 27 spam blogs (aka splogs) in 27 different niche markets and try to flip a switch on for automated profits...
So how do bloggers earn their bucks? A number of ways. And most use a combination of methods to monetize their blog. Jimmy outlines 4 ways to make money blogging in his report, and I'll add a 5th:
- Promoting Your Own Products
- Promoting Affiliate Programs
- Google Adsense
- Accepting Donations
- Selling Ad Space
The most important thing that you can do is define your purpose upfront. This will help you choose the best combination of ways to make money blogging. For example, if you set up a blog as a means to promote your own products then it doesn't make sense to also use Google Adsense - which will likely publish links that compete with yours for the buyers' attention. Would you want to lose a potential lifelong customer in exchange for 23 cents? I didn't think so...
When you define your blog's purpose, it should include more than just your monetization strategy. You also want to consider what's in it for the visitor. You need to know who will read your blog, and why they will read it.
The biggest mistake I see people make with blogging is too much focus on making money, and not enough focus on building a readership and staying true to the original purpose of the blog.
I'm going to leave you with 3 links for now, and of course you'll want to read this section in your PDF file and check out the link I mentioned earlier - there are some good tips there, still as true today as they were 3 years ago.
The first is a new post by Darren Rowse, aka Problogger - and the other two are for setting up a blog:
How to Optimize Ads on a Blog for Higher Profit
Checklist: How To Start A WordPress Blog
Are you struggling to set up a blog?
Are you blogging? I'd love to hear your thoughts & experiences with blogging as a means to make money online. Leave us a comment below, and as always feel free to post your blogging questions as well!
Best,
p.s. You can still get 25% off the Beginning Blogger course by using this link: http://beginningblogger.com/LTspecial.html
About Lynn Terry
Hi Lynn, this is Gary from TN. I follow you on Twitter as @GanderCo. Do you Merember me? 🙂 Anyway, yes I am trying to do the blogging thing with iTwitterToo, but the main "Blogging" project I'm working on is a self-help/motivational blog with a friend of mine. We just got it up and running last night.
His name is CJ, he also follows you on Twitter as @CJHallock, but we are not ready to give out the blog name yet.
Well, I seen your tweet about this post and wanted to comment and answer your question, "Do you Blog?" And say hi. So here it is.....HI!!!! :p
Thanks for the "Happy Fathers Day" you tweeted to me. As I was talking to my daughter on the phone (she's in Fl. with her Mommy and the rest of my in-laws), I told her about that, and she thought that was super cool!
Ok, I'm starting to ramble, sorry.
Til next time,
Gary. (from TN)
Thanks Gary - keep us posted on your blogging project. Having a partner is a great idea, as it brings two perspectives to the table and splits the workload!
Hi Lynn, good that you brought that up.
I think most bloggers are selling ad space. But has to be a little careful here to strike a balance between ads and content. A new blog with little content and ads all over is recipe for disaster.
Work on the content and link building first. Worry about monetization later.
Darren
Creating a balance is important, regardless of how you monetize your blog. It's important to stay true to your purpose, for the sake of building a loyal readership.
Hello Lynn! Hello everyone!
I agree that blogging is a very good way to make money online -- as long as one likes to write or enjoys the topic they write about.
Over the years I've seen some of my friends start brand-new blogs. They were always excited about how the blog was going to make them good money. Yet 2-3 months later, most of them quit. Their reasons were things like "It's just too boring" or "Writing that much felt like a job." (Make no mistake about it, to be a successful bolgger, you have to write!)
None of them made a dime.
When asked if they had enjoyed the topic of their blogs they all basically said "It seemed like a profitable niche so I decided to write about it."
In my opinion, that's an "Ouch!"
I know that some people can write about pretty much anything because they love the writing process. As for myself, I do love to write, but only about the topics I'm passionate about. Everything else just seems like work to me.
I guess what I'm really trying to say to anyone thinking of blogging is to choose your topic wisely. Choose something you truly are passionate about because your passion will show through in your writing. If you're excited about the topic then your readers will be excited too. And then they will not only tell others about your blog, but also buy the products you recommend.
-David
But as the comedian Dennis Miller often said:
"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."
OH! You're my new favorite blogger fyi
I agree David. Blogging is definitely not a "get rich quick" type thing. It takes dedication, consistency, and an investment of time and energy to get and KEEP it going 😉
This seems like a whole lot of work.
Wouldn't it be easier if you would just legally adopt me?
I quite fancy a new life in Tennessee
🙂
Special IM-style Disclaimer:
1) This is a joke
2) I am not a stalker
ps. Great Series, Looking forward to number 7!
LOL Rich! I've heard a lot of strange ideas but that one takes the cake 😛
For the right people, blogging is a great way to make money online. Like me for example. I absolutely love to write and love the community interaction. I find it very challenging and very rewarding - on a number of levels.
I have other blogs besides this one of course, so depending on which mood strikes me I can log in and blog away!
believe it or not its just not that simple it takes time and patience to make money blogging and building readership over years not months.
That really depends on your niche, how you position yourself, and how you market your blog. If you get actively engaged via social media you can easily build a readership and get rankings - and start earning money within the first 90 days even.
So bummed that I couldn't make it to the Tuesday webinar this week! It looks like you had a great chat.
It's true, most people are into blogging just to earn more money. There are lots of strategies in their mind (good or bad), just to make this possible. Moreover, some are trying to create more blogs rather than building single blog one at a time, without enough idea on how to blog. Then the possibility of common mistake in blogging is too high. In the end, they ended up earning nothing or just a small amount of money.
I do think its best to focus on ONE blog to start.
Hey Lynn
Fellow TN here 🙂 Just found your blog recently through a tweet that updated their facebook status. Talk about going around the world huh?
I have recently started a blog. I hope one day to leverage the blog to make money but for now I am writing because I enjoy it. Not sure if you allow links in comments so won't post it here. Click on my name and select blog would work though 🙂
I am looking forward to reading many more of your posts 🙂
Good luck in the future.
I enjoyed your blog, Scott - good stuff! Where in TN are you? I'm SE of Nashville, between there and Chattanooga about half hour off I-24. Nice to meet you 😀
My brother lives in Nashville with his wife. I live halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Glad you liked my blog. 🙂 I will work to keep it high quality 🙂 It is very nice to meet you as well.
Well we can't be more than an hour or two apart then! It's a beautiful area, isn't it? I absolutely love it here...
I do love this series. Thank you so much for going over the ideas in the PDF in more detail.
I love the puzzled look people give you when they ask what you do and you say, "I'm a blogger."
I give different answers, depending on who asks - and what I figure their level of understanding would be 😉
I have three blogs, and none of them make any real money, I have to say. One isn't supposed to, that being my business blog. Another one is a niche blog that I've had since December, and it hasn't made a cent, but I'm still hopeful, if traffic ever grows.
The final blog is my internet and anything blog, not niched, but the one I have the most fun with, and probably the one I've monetized best. It does made some small change here and there through Adsense, but never through anything else I have on the site.
Doesn't mean I'm not going to continue blogging; just thought I'd share some info.
A blogger must stick to the niche of his/her blog to avoid possible confusion to readers. Moreover, useful contents can drive more readers. Can you share other important things to remember in creating your own blog? Thanks!
Recently, there has been a great deal of inquiries by the
FTC against bloggers and website developers
for not publishing their advertising profits, or existing
connections with ad networks.
What are your personal thoughts about how this could potentially hurt
the blog world?
See: http://www.clicknewz.com/2061/ftc-update/ 😀
Okay, two things I'd like to comment on about this post.
One, you seem to think that when marketers are "focusing too much on making money" that is not right. Not sure what the problem here is. Are you saying that's a problem because maybe not everyone is looking to make money? Or do you mean that OUR focus as marketers should be in the sub-niches, and not just on money-making?
Either way, the whole "making money" niche is crowded to be sure, but I don't think it's an outdated or tired niche at all.
Second, and this is just an open query, really... you mention that a money making blog should have a space for people to accept donations. Interesting. Donations for what? For me? I'd love to know how that works, since I have a blog.
Hi Tim,
I meant that you should focus more on serving your market. It works better than looking at your market like a cash cow. A successful business is one that adds value to the space.
A donation option can be as simple as the "buy me a beer" plugin. That was simply in the report we were studying which you can download free if you want to read more on that.
WOW! I spent hours on this blog without even realising how much time I have spent, very well packed with lots of useful information and resources. I just find another virtual home to be frequenting. Kudos to you, good job.