Blogging: Why You're Not Making Money Online
984 words | Last Updated: October 29, 2008 |
Many people are turning to blogging, hoping that it will help them make money online. What a lot of bloggers eventually discover, however, is that after many months of posting (sometimes as often (?) as once a week), they end up with nothing much to show for. Their friends usually just keep politely quiet, yet you sometimes wonder if people think you simply wasted your time.
If you knew why you did not make money from blogging, then perhaps you can reverse some of those reasons and thus turn things around, right? Let's find out how...
Angel Cuala of FatherBlogger.com shares 6 Heartbreaking Reasons Why We Are Not Making Good Money Out Of Blogging:
- Youth and Impatience.
- Being Good.
- Listening to the Experts.
- Underspending.
- Overspending.
- It Simply Is Not Meant To Be.
Okay, so we need Patience. Patience to do what, exactly? We need the patience and perseverance to create something... for others. That can be in the form of a tutorial, an entertaining story, a program or script, or even a collection of videos.
True, Robert Plank made over $2,600 in less than 8 hours with his jQuery Tactics package, but he invested time creating the words, scripts, and videos in that bundle. He patiently (I think) tested several ideas, and pushed himself to type word after word, and record video after video... all the way to launch date.
(NOTE: If you're just starting out with blogging, you do not need jQuery tactics yet.)
We don't make good money because we are good? Angel Cuala writes: "Being good cannot give us good money in blogging, as there are hundreds of thousands of bloggers around who may be better than us." I don't quite agree with this because when you help people online by providing them with what they need, then you are being good.
And when you (and your content) are good, the search engines will reward you with traffic. Good content plus traffic equals healthy online earnings. In some cases, "good enough" content can translate to even higher earnings, but that is a short-term strategy that a lot of bloggers dare not risk.
Watch and test what the experts say and do. I agree with Angel. If we just listen to the experts and do nothing else, then don't expect a lasting high level of income online. We need to take action, as well as test what we have read in ebooks and forum posts. What worked for gurus might not always work for you. In fact, doing the opposite can sometimes even bring you greater profits.
For example, some AdSense gurus will spout: Place 336 pixel ads on the upper lefthand corner of your content? Well... that doesn't work all the time. Sometimes, a differently-sized ad placed in another part of your web page will out-earn the popular upper lefthand 336.
Now Angel briefly wrote about affiliate marketing... Here's my recommendation on how you can succeed in this extremely challenging way of making money: You need to make it blatantly obvious that it is significantly worth the customer's time and money if they purchase the product through your referral link... if they know it is a referral link. If they don't know? Then there's no need to be too obvious.)
Underspending vs Overspending? We tend to underspend on important tools, and overspend on entertaining ebooks sometimes. Okay, more often than sometimes. 
While it is ideal to find the perfect balance, some folks simply have to experience the pain of an unwise purchase in order to (hopefully) avoid a larger foolish purchase in the future.
If you're a beginner blogger, it won't hurt to start blogging using a free host. A lot of probloggers began that way (i.e., Geocities, Tripod, Hypermart, Blogspot).
Just remember, however, that if you're even half-serious about problogging, you will need to get your own domain name and webhosting, so that you will have the flexibility to test certain changes in your blog or website. The key to internet marketing success is to test small changes, and find out which ones will create a significant improvement towards attaining your goals.
Is it part of our destiny? Boy, that's a tough one. Some groups favor the "as you think, so shall ye be" line of thought. Others go for the know your strengths and focus on those. So, are you destined to be rich?
Perhaps. Are you destined to get rich online? It's hard for me to say. Only you can answer that question.
Alexys Fairfield interviewed Angel and blogged about it in Angel Cuala: Humane Blogger At Large (Part 1), and in Blogging Family Style (Part 2). When you get to know about the life of Angel, ask yourself how you would have fared if you were in his situation.
From what I've read, I believe that Angel Cuala is destined... to be happy. I don't know for sure if earning money from blogging will make Angel happy. All I know, based on the interview, is that Angel will do what it takes to succeed. He will sacrifice, persevere, and endure. And in the end, things will turn out well.
Anyway, here's the bottomline: If you're not making money online from blogging, you're most likely just spending or consuming, rather than saving or creating. You're probably just reading, and not taking enough action. You're perhaps mousing, scrolling, or page-downing more, rather than typing on the keyboard. You do realize what I'm saying, right?
In other blog posts, I'll give you more details on how you can blog more profitably and make money online.
Make money by selling ebooks and downloadable products. Accept payments via Payloadz.ยป Find out how you can make this work for YOU.
Manuel Viloria is your friendly multimedia internet publishing coach who helps you gain more traffic for your web sites. Whether it's through blogging, podcasting, article marketing, videoblogging, email listbuilding, or even through Web 2.0 or social network marketing, you can increase your website visitors today. For more information, please visit Get More Traffic | ManuelViloria.com
"Blogging: Why You're Not Making Money Online"
First Posted: October 29, 2008 | Filed in: Make Money Online
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Hi,
First of all, I thank you for using my post as a reference. Secondly, my sincerest gratitude when you read my interviews by Alexys. That was one of the happiest moments in my blogging life. But before I expand my thoughts about my happiness about blogging, I would like to clarify something if you don't mind.
When I mentioned that "we are not earning good money online because we are good", I did not mean good being "kind" or being helpful to others. I mentioned being "good" as a raw attitude of doing things. In short, why be good when we can be better? In fact, my last sentence on that paragraph was - We must aim to be the best among the rest.
Now, here's my share of happiness. If you will notice, most of my posts are How To...especially when it comes to family. This is my major source of happiness, to share tips on how to make a family happy. This is because I am a product of a product family, and rest was explained in the interviews. And I do not expect to earn money out of it.
But of course, making money on-line will make me happy too. That's why I turned myself into a full-time professional blogger. I am doing my best to build a lifetime career here. In fact, I am very much open to any opportunity that will come. However hopefully, it will not to be a hinder to my advocacy about families.
Please bear with my long comment, and promise to be back since I find your posts very interesting.
Sincerely yours,
Angel Cuala
Thanks, Angel. I look forward to reading your posts about family. I'm certain you will be able to attract quite a readership.
Making money through blogging does take a set of skills including some basic computer knowledge, SEO and of course good writing skills.
I have been testing out Flixya.com for posting media and blogs and so far the results are good. It still requires work but I dont need to know the computer stuff or SEO as its done already. Just need to create quality content. The search spiders seems to pick it up well.
Anyway, thanks for post. Wife is calling.
-Roger
hi. i agree with this one!
many people nowadays are really engaging into blogging. whether part-time or full-time..
some or probably several internet subscribers make their own blogs and consider it as a source of income..
i am also engaged with this "new form of media" and one reason is to earn money online.. i just want to help my parents in raising our family through this online money making..
all i want now is to be a good SEO blogger for me to optimize my blogs on most of the search engines.
@Roger - There are lots of techies out there. Now all we have to do is find a way to match them up with people who like to produce content.
@jhelo - Focusing on optimizing blogs is great. It also helps to team up with people who don't necessarily want to deal with SEO and backlinks, but who are able to write effectively and connect with online shoppers. Once you find that person, work together and watch your online income climb.