You may not realize this yet, but the vast majority of people who blog never make an amount of money that you would consider significant. Most people earn pennies a day if even that. There are reasons for this. Let’s look at some of them.
New Bloggers Don’t Make Money
With very few exceptions, people who are brand new to blogging generally don’t make any meaningful amounts of money. They don’t make money because this job is kind of like any other job in some aspects. It takes a while to get good at your job. You learn by making mistakes that you then correct. There is only so much you can learn from reading what other people are saying. You have to actually try to do the work to really learn. You will make mistakes. You don’t start getting good until after you have made enough mistakes.
Another reason new bloggers don’t make money is because they end up quitting relatively soon. A lot of new bloggers have this preconceived notion that they are going to start earning money within a couple of months. That simply isn’t going to happen unless you are really lucky. Making money right away does happen for experienced bloggers when they launch new projects, but it doesn’t happen for brand new bloggers. When a new blogger discovers that she isn’t going to be making any real money within a few months, then she loses her motivation and decides it is not for her. Chalk up another failed experiment in life.
Persistent Bloggers Make Money
If you read the stories about the bloggers who have become big earners, you will discover that most of them kind of fumbled along and kept plugging away for quite a while before they experienced that first breakthrough. They were persistent. They just kept going despite their lackluster results. Low and behold, one day they happen to write a blog post that really touches a nerve or happens to get ranked high for a high volume keyword phrase. Next thing you know, their blog traffic triples, quadruples and more. Bingo, the magic happens. They become well known and their income skyrockets.
It might seem like their success came overnight; but in reality it took a lot of persistence, time and effort to get to that point.
Bloggers Who Provide Massive Value To Their Readers Make Money
The reason why people will follow a blogger for any length of time is because those readers are getting something out of the relationship. If you are giving those readers something they really want, then they are going to stick around. They are going to tell their friends about you too.
If you can write in such a way as to really capture the reader and captivate him, then you may very well succeed on that talent alone. People just might find your writing so enjoyable that they want to keep coming back. Most of us don’t have that level of writing talent. It takes years of practice to develop.
Sex sells online just as it does offline. I hate to admit it, but when I come across a blog where a girl has a photo of herself and she is really attractive, I will probably read a bit more of her blog than I otherwise would. I do that without even consciously thinking about it. It is not an intentional thing because I would like to believe I am not that shallow. Yet, I am still a guy. There are forces of basic human instinct at work that are undeniable. Sexiness is charismatic. It attracts people whether it is because you are physically attractive or because of your sexy personality.
Humor can bring people in to some degree. By being exceptionally funny you can get people to stick around and read more of what you have to offer. You have to question the long term viability of this strategy though. People eventually get sick of the same humor if they are exposed to it too much. Comedians are really funny if you only see them from time to time. If you heard their jokes every day or even once a week, you would eventually get a little bored with it.
Another way to give readers what they really want is by sharing some kind of insider information that you possess about a topic they are really interested in. Remember that the rules of supply and demand apply here too though. A perfect example of this is the make money online niche. Lots and lots of bloggers build blogs around the idea because they know that kind of information is in high demand. The problem is that there are lots and lots of talented competitors. That means that you have to somehow get people to want that information from you instead of from one of those more experienced people. Good luck with that. I know from firsthand experience that it is much harder than you think.
Any Experience Level Blogger Can Make Money With Authority Blogs
Part of the reason I was so drawn to the idea of building authority blogs is because I think it takes a lot of the talent out of the equation. It is more about who is willing to do the work than it is about who is more talented.
You see, when your goal is to really help the website visitor by delivering some high level of insight or information about a very specific topic, then it becomes easier to follow through on.
If you are an expert archer and I want to learn archery then you have something that I want. All you have to do to capture my attention and keep it is to simply share what you already know about archery in a way where you are really going to help make me a better archer. Just about anyone who is an expert archer could do that. It really doesn’t take that much blogging talent. If I was standing next to you and asked you how I should go about becoming a great archer, you would probably be able to rattle off a whole bunch of things that would really help me. That is all you are doing with an authority blog. You are helping people by giving them the knowledge that they seek.
I guarantee you that you possess some kind of life experience that other people would find interesting and really want to learn about. You could bury that knowledge inside of a generic blog like every other new blogger does and never make a dime from it. Instead of burying that life experience inside a general topic blog where you talk about everything else in life, you could create your own authority blog to really help people figure out the answer to that one major question or dilemma.
Read some more of my blog to learn how you do that. There is money to be made doing this. Plus the satisfaction of really helping people out pays you back in ways that money cannot.
Some excellent points made there, especially about giving up too early. I was very close to giving my blog up after 2 months with no rewards, but I’m so glad now I didn’t – while it’s still in infancy it’s now growing and gaining attention.
My lightbulb moment came when I changed my whole mindset from “how can I make money from blogging” to “how can I make this blog of value to others and build it just as great as I can”. From that day the whole direction of the site began to change, and I’m actually enjoying what I do every day :)
Hey Lisa,
Yes, I agree it is much more fun to work on sites when you are actually trying to help people. It actually makes your site easier to work on in my opinion. You’ve got some good content on your site. Good luck with it.
Thanks for the kind words – I think it’s all down to the fabulous guest posters ;)
Ted – you’ve made some very good points here. I tell all my readers that they quit too soon or they are not persistent. They just jump from one idea to the next instead of sticking to one and treating it like a business. in my view , a blog is a business and it should be treated as such. When someone starts a blog or another avenue to make money on the internet they should all come up with a business plan. A revenue projection, risks, communications & marketing plan, expense projections, etc. Then stick to it. Money will flow if they have something to offer.
With Google Panda etc, many of the easy tactics that are taught by many gurus, won’t fly. Just another reason why many people quit too soon. The spend ton of money on resources and don’t get the results they hoped for.
Anyhow, good article. Keep it up. Check my site as well.
Thanks for the comment Guna.
No doubt that a blog should be treated like a business if your intention is to actually make money with it. I also create business plans for every new authority blog I launch. It helps me stay focused and clear about what I am doing with that site. Without those plans I would meander way too much.
As far as Panda goes, yeah Google is making it a lot harder to make money with things like autoblogs or any other kind of semi-automated thin content site. That doesn’t bother me so much because I make money from more legit sites intended to actually benefit the visitor in some way. Algorithm changes like Panda make it all that much more attractive to be building authority sites instead of the old school style of niche sites.
I’ve been blogging for a couple of years now (on different blogs than the one I listed here with you) and over the years I’ve noticed that there are a lot people that write about how to make money online but don’t actually TELL the reader how to make money online. It is like a teaser headline, and it is very annoying to the people that are trying to find ways REAL ways to make money. I’ve created a Facebook group called We R Bloggers that is for bloggers by bloggers and the topic is monetizing our blogs. You might like to check it out and join in on the discussions.
Hi Linda,
The reason why most MMO blogs don’t actually tell the reader how to make money online is because most of those bloggers honestly don’t know how to do it. And a lot of the people out there who actually do know how to do it aren’t going to share their personal methods. They won’t share their personal methods because in some cases, if they did share them, everyone would start doing it. Then that particular method would cease to work.
My goal with this site is to encourage people and show people how they can use my system of building authority blogs to make money. I hope you find it useful.
Thanks for the tip about your Facebook group. I hate to admit it, but I am not a “Facebook” guy. I prefer to spend my time discussing those topics on blogs because then I can earn links at the same time I am doing the talking.
Thanks for your comment.
Hi Ted,
Just wondering, are you more concerned with building authority than generating traffic? Please don’t feel that I am challenging you, this is a sincere question. I am always trying to look at all sides of things. Are you thinking that if the web page has great authority that the traffic will come? I understand the reluctance to use Facebook, no problem.
More and more people are finding themselves in economic hardship situations and a lot of them are turning to the Internet to try to find ways to generate income. I am one of those people. I do spend a lot of time trying to find ways to earn (notice I saw EARN) more money – it is not laziness, it is not greed, it is survival. So when I find articles online that are titled something like “How to make money online” I get frustrated when the article is a vague teaser, like “find yourself a sponsor.” I feel duped into giving this guy traffic and I feel that my time has been wasted reading the drivel. (Please don’t feel that I’m calling your site drivel, I know you are trying to encourage people to build authority.) From time to time someone that I meet will find out that I’m a professional blogger and they will send me a link to one of their blog’s articles about how to make money online and it is a bunch of vague stuff that is a waste of time. And sometimes it is an article about how it is impossible to make money online.
I don’t know, I just think that if the people who go online and say “you can make money online” should “put up or shut up,” you know what I mean? If they DO know how to do it and aren’t afraid of a little bit of competition, then “put up.” If they don’t know how to do it, or don’t want to share the information because you don’t want the competition, then “shut up.”
Well, thanks for “listening” and letting me rant and rave. You have a great day!
Linda,
Yes I am definitely concerned about building authority. And yes, I do believe that if you have authority it will help bring in new traffic. I try to build authority by targeting a very specific type of visitor. If I shape my site to benefit that specific target customer and I do that well enough, then I will get lots of targeted traffic from referrals. That person will tell their friends who then tell their friends, etc.
I wouldn’t say that authority is more important than traffic. I would say that authority is kind of like a prerequisite for getting targeted traffic. The more authority you earn, the more traffic you get. So, the reason I build authority is to get more traffic and to get traffic that is more targeted.
I know what you mean about most of the content online about MMO being drivel. That is so true. The vast majority of people talking about making money online are people who don’t know anything about it. And, when you actually do come across someone who knows what they are talking about you end up discovering that this person is just leading you on so that they can sell you something. They aren’t just honestly and openly sharing. Unfortunately, that is the nature of searching for this kind of information online.
My advice would be to try to search about more specific methods that you hear about. For instance, in my case, I specifically try to educate people about building an authoritative blog that targets a specific audience that can then be monetized.
Other people might educate you about how you can build an affiliate website that is specifically designed to make money as an Amazon.com affiliate.
There are people who educate specifically about building MFA sites (niche sites that are Made For Adsense).
There are other examples as well. I would suggest you try to focus on one method and drill deep down into that topic to figure out as much about it as possible.
Great article!
I agree about new bloggers not making money. Interestingly enough, the ones who come to the blogging game expecting to make money immediately also tend to be bad bloggers!
Hi Alex,
I suppose everyone is a little rough around the edges when they first start out. Thanks for stopping by.
This is a great write up Ted.
I just started my blog about 3 months ago and I have questioned if it is something I want to keep doing. But I keep telling myself that being persistent will pay off. I know making money off blogging can be done, but I know it is not the easiest thing in the world. After all will live in the microwave era, if it were easy, we’d all be doing it.
Thanks again!
Hey Joe,
Yes it is harder than it looks. There are a lot of blogs out there that you think are making big money when in fact they are earning very little. A lot of people think it is all dependent on how much traffic your blog gets. That is part of it. But I will take a few dozen interested visitors over a few thousand non-interested visitors any day.
Hi Ted,
These are great points here.
I started making some good figures online last year 2011 and that was only after I realized I had to focus on one thing and tweak it. However, this had nothing to do within blogging.
My blogging activities started early this year. In fact, I didn’t just go into writing articles. I started off reading a lot on other blogs. I commented and gained some experience. I took quite some time to study the blogging landscape and got myself enough information how to start and grow.
3 weeks ago, I began real blogging and with what I studied, my new blog does not really look new and I have been able to generate over $100. This may not sound something reasonable to dance home with. I believe I can do a lot better in a few years
Hi Enstine,
Sounds like you are well on your way to succeeding. $100 in 3 weeks is excellent for someone just starting out. It takes some people years to start earning like that.
I wish you great success.