What Every Blogger Should Know About Making Money Online
Thousands of bloggers start new blogs every year with hopes of fame and fortune. Several months later, nearly half of them give up once realizing that little or no money is coming their way in the near future.
It seems that most of these people have no idea what they're really asking for when they say they want to be professional bloggers. There's a lot more to it than just placing ads on your site and posting every day. After all, if it was really that simple, everyone would be successful. And is there any logic in that? Nope.
Here are three things that anyone who wants to make a living from their blogs needs to know and understand:
It takes a lot of time and effort.
Earning a decent income from a blog is something that comes with a lot of time and work invested. Bloggers must have the discipline to update their blogs regularly, provide high quality content, promote their websites, and most importantly- do this for a long period of time. Most blogs never reach their peak until at least a year old, and nearly half don't last more than a few months.
I must stress the amount of time that needs to be put into a blog in order for it to grow and become profitable. You will spend countless hours in front of your computer, typing up hundreds of posts before you can even think of actually 'going pro'. And for many, that means time not spent with their families, sleeping, and/or working another job.
In other words, unless you're very dedicated to blogging, I wouldn't suggest pursuing a career as a blog author. It requires a lot of time, discipline, and patience (and for many, money). That doesn't mean you can't make a little cash on the side.. just don't assume it's going to be easy.
You need a well-planned strategy.
What is your strategy for making this income? How are you selling yourself? Every successful pro blogger needs a 'battle plan', whether it be earning through contextual ads, affiliate programs, products created by the blogger, or consulting/design services, etc. There are thousands of options. Which will you choose?
How will you build your audience and push people to act in a way that allows you to profit from the money-making techniques you have chosen? How will you expand your network?
Remember not to 'put all your eggs into one basket'. Most successful bloggers nowadays do not rely on one specific source of income because, as many of us know, traffic, sales and ad clicks are never constant. You should have several income streams so if one suddenly drops off, you have others to fall back on.
Rewards don't come easily.
Blogging isn't and has never been a way to quick cash. I've seen a lot of new bloggers give up after a couple months because they weren't earning anything through affiliate sales or AdSense.
It takes a lot of time, traffic, and good, relevant content. Bloggers must also have a knowledge of blog "hotspots" and neatly blend their ads with their websites. Most of this knowledge comes with hard work and experience, which, in the end, makes a full circle back to time. Because of this, bloggers must be patient and constantly develop new ideas.
When rewards do begin to come in a few months or even years down the road, they don't come all at once. Be prepared to make very little profit for a long time.
I don't intend to give the impression that blogging for money is a waste of time and energy; I just think it's important that people know how deep the water really is before jumping in head first. Be realistic when considering a less stable career like this- you'll save a lot of time, money, work, and sanity.
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Great point. Don't forget passion. I am talking about passion for the subject of the blog here, not the act of blogging itself. If you try to blog about something your are not passionate about, you'll most likely run out of ideas and ended up posting something lame.
So, don't go for the niche with the highest paying keywords. Go for the niche that interests you.
Posted by: Pinyo | February 25, 2008 at 12:50 PM
It takes a long time just to get it. I started as an affiliate marketer. It was a year before my monthly income from that went into 4 digits. But all the work builds. Those who say this is easy don't remember learning and getting started and are now benefiting from all the past work they have done. At first, you do a lot of work with little results. Finally you get to the point you can do a little work and get a lot of results.
Posted by: Stephan Miller | February 25, 2008 at 01:26 PM
What a relief! I thought I must be doing something terribly wrong.
Posted by: Clark | February 25, 2008 at 01:53 PM
I totally agree about picking the correct niche for your blog. With all the time and hard work you need to put into it, you have to have a passion for the subject in order to keep going while not making any money. Great post Raivyn, as usual.
Posted by: Chris | February 25, 2008 at 05:04 PM
Yup...everything needs patience. I received my first cheque from Adsense after 5 months.
Posted by: Haney | February 25, 2008 at 07:51 PM
Totally agree. Blogging, like anything else in life, has to have alot of work put into it.
The key is persistence, if you believe you're onto something then keep plugging away, there will be many times you'll procrastinate and think it's not working.
Most people I know put a website up, be it a basic one, or one using a CMS and expect it to start making an income and give up in a couple months!
A couple of months is too short for almost any site unless it really does have good promotion and good USPs.
The internet is not an easy way to get rich like most think!
Posted by: David | February 28, 2008 at 01:59 PM
Great advice...I just started a blog about Jamaican culture (new stuff going on)...I'm passionate about this topic whether I make $ or not! (although would still be nice to make some at some point...) it does take lots of time but just meeting interesting artists make it worthwhile...so far anyway.
Posted by: Karin Wilson | April 06, 2008 at 05:08 PM
Great advice...I just started a blog about Jamaican culture (new stuff going on)...I'm passionate about this topic whether I make $ or not! (although would still be nice to make some at some point...) it does take lots of time but just meeting interesting artists make it worthwhile...so far anyway.
Posted by: Karin Wilson | April 06, 2008 at 05:09 PM