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This is a Guest Post written by Sharron Field. If you would like to write for EAB, then check out this page - Write For Us. We bloggers are a pretty dedicated bunch on the whole. We work hard at making our blogs look nice, read well, feature as high as we can get in the search-engine listings. We impart valuable information to do with our specialized subject in our chosen niche, much of the time without charge to any readers.
All in all we put a heck of a load of work into producing what is often some pretty good quality material, and to some extent our efforts are a reward in themselves. But it’s nice to get a little financial reward too, don’t you agree? – so many of us set about commercializing our blogs, not necessarily are we after making a fortune, though that would be very nice indeed thank you, but we’d just to make at least a little something to show that our efforts are appreciated if nothing else. Usually though, try as we might, it seems that no matter what we do, we just don’t seem to be able to make even a pittance.
All in all we put a heck of a load of work into producing what is often some pretty good quality material, and to some extent our efforts are a reward in themselves. But it’s nice to get a little financial reward too, don’t you agree? – so many of us set about commercializing our blogs, not necessarily are we after making a fortune, though that would be very nice indeed thank you, but we’d just to make at least a little something to show that our efforts are appreciated if nothing else. Usually though, try as we might, it seems that no matter what we do, we just don’t seem to be able to make even a pittance.
So, we step back and take a look at ourselves: Maybe we’re not posting enough? – So, we post more. Maybe we’re not reading enough other blogs to gain sufficient enlightenment to write the quality of material that we’d like to. – So, we read more of other people’s blogs, then we spend ages search-engine-optimizing our blogs in the hope of a higher ranking. Just to make sure that the message about our blog-posts and the topic of our blog is getting out there - we post to social-media more, and we write more and post more…
Ultimate Result: Burnout, and no money. We’ve used up all our spare-time to get a few more readers and stay broke. Really frustrating!!! Isn't it???
This is something that a friend and colleague of mine, himself a professional blogger – making an income large-enough to comfortably support himself, his wife, and their two children from being so – calls “The Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom”: When you’re on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom; no matter how fast you go and no matter how much work you put in, you get nowhere. Even if we light up our blog like Times Square with banner-ads hardly anything changes Why is this? Something somewhere must be wrong – but what?
Imagine if you were in an offline scenario and you just published a new magazine that doesn’t seem to be selling. In parallel to it, we add more content and read other niche publications for inspiration. We mail all retail and social premises, ensuring they’ve heard about the magazine, and we advertise more and we increase the content again, adding many more glossy ads…
Will that make more people buy the magazine? No!!! All that'll do is just increase our workload. Why? Because we have the wrong mindset in both cases. Let me make that a little clear: If you want to write a blog, you need to think like a writer. If you want to sell a product, you need to think like a businessperson, a marketer. If you want to run a blog that sells product and make money from doing so, then you’ve got to think like both a writer and a marketer: You’ve got to become a complete package. Either be complete package or you stay on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom.
To know more about Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom, just check out the article here : “Most Internet Marketers/Bloggers are Broke”.
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I am quite new to blogging and am still in a see how it goes phase. I am still gaining followers.
REPLYI was thinking that the only way of getting money, would be to build your followers to 100+ and perhaps then some would click on your adverts. I don't have any adverts on my blog as I didn't want to be disheartened with only having a handful of followers. I am getting 20+ page views a day though
@AMBIVALENCE: I think you are on the right track. Build your readership and make sure you drive enough traffic to your blog!! The rest will obviously follow you, that is, money!!!
REPLYbloggers are not making money because they don't have patience.
REPLYI enjoyed your: Hamster of Doom analogy but, I didn't get any new information about how to achieve this goal, what type of marketing strategies work-
REPLYTake care,
P.s. Overall, a well written article needing more substance- feels incomplete.
@AMBIVALENCE: Unfortunately your secret formula to success doesn't work: A blogger friend of mine has over 100,000 visits a day to 1 of his blogs and makes only just over $15,000 a year from banner-advertising. His other blog has lower traffic, no banner-ads whatsoever, yet he makes a six-figure-income from it.
REPLYYou say ur getting 20 hits per day: Those 20 arrive at your blog, read ur article, and leave. - That's 20 potential customers a day walking away empty-handed. Result = $0.00
@Mukund: So AMBIVALENCE builds his readership to 2000 visitors a day... Now 2000 potential customers are walking away empty-handed. : Result = $0.00.
This is an example of being on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom.
Read the revised Six-Figure-Blogger-Blueprint available as a free download by clicking on the appropriate banner at the top of this blog.
This comment has been removed by the author.
REPLY@Anthony Souls - Did you download the free revised Six-Figure-Blogger-Blueprint?
REPLYWhat do you want - a free course on successful blogging in a single article?
Here's how to download the free 6FBB: Look at the top banner on this blog; the one that says "Are YOU on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom? - Free Download" etc. (It's on my blog too at http://kkomp.com )Click on it. Watch the short video presentation. Enter the requested details. Respond to the confirmation email. Download the Blueprint: Easy. :)
@usman@firsthosting: Keep waiting patiently while the rest of us progress and make the money that you left on the table.
@Mukund
REPLYI have also been working on making my blog look more pretty: eg a new header, some blinkies. Trying not to go overboard, but adding things such as music, or any quotes or pictures that reflect me as a person, or why I blog.
I think the focus for bloggers should actually be more on quality instead of money.
REPLY@Jay Quality is always a good thing to have; but quality doesn't pay the bills. A quality blog that is marketed the right way can actually have your readers asking to buy something off u!
REPLYExcellent information, Thanks for the post!
REPLYSeo companies
@sharon:hey you sharon if you hav 2000 readers, you may get atleast 3000 views a day.so ad company like trafficrevenue.net pays u 3$ a day
REPLY.and it your readership increases,site rank increases,it get listed first in google search and finally huge amount of traffic which gives you a lot of money
@sharon if u gain readers, your traffic increases which results in the increase of your site rank and your site gets priority in google search which further leads to lot of traffic and finally u earn lots of money$$$$$$
REPLYI still think most blogs are written by people that love what they do. Money it's just a consequence.
REPLY@Tax accountant Oh yes I'd agree with u 100% to a point: However if u love what u do and start a blog about it, with the aim of generating an income, using the right marketing methods, then it's always a good thing - and money IS a consequence. - But please please get the idea out of your heads that money will always eventually start to flow if you set up a blog. Whilst that may have been true 12 years ago; these days it's just going to eventually result in disappointment.
REPLY- Look I'm due a £60 payment from Adsense soon; but it took over a year to generate that. I don't have an incredibly-high-traffic blog, and most people ignore banner-ads anyway. I generated over 4 times that amount using other methods in January 2010 alone.
- So yeah; if u start blogging then pocket-money might start flowing in, granted... But if you're after a serious income, rather than enough to visit Starbucks weekly, u will need to do more than just love what u blog about.
@adithya I like ur agrgument: It's logical but far too basic.
REPLYI wish I had 2000 readers a day - I'd be making far more than a poxy $3 a day if I did...
Let's look at that another way; and I'm gonna name-drop here: David Risley - professional blogger and entrepreneur - my guru who taught me a large percentage of everything I know, makes over $200,000 a year and gets about 10,000 visitors a day approx to his 2 blogs. Using your business-model he'd be making $5475 a year - which, incidentally, is about what he makes from banner-advertising each year from 1 of his blogs. (The other one doesn't run banner ads.)
I suggest that you read his FREE Six-Figure-Blogger-Blueprint - May I write a URL here owner? I need to do so in order to tell people where to go to get it from. - http://shazza-recommends.com is the link you'll need to visit to get hold of a copy. :)
@sharon:Oh k Sharon let me read it and give u feed back
REPLYSharon, after many years of blogging and trying to earn from adsense I turned to proper sites (as in not blogs) and now I earn an incredible living from it!. Blogs just don't get the positioning and the visitors that a website can.
REPLY@Can Can Dancers I'd be interested to hear h9ow you manage to differentiate between a "real website" and a blog: By "real website" do you mean inactive Web 1.0-style fixed pages of html? - As opposed to the interactive and changeable/malleable nature of a blog?
REPLYU say "Blogs just don't get the positioning and the visitors that a website can." but a blog IS a website - just not a static one.
Do you yourself own and run these static websites u speak of? If that is the case, and I'm not being funny here, but have you ever considered that it may be that you are fully adept at designing static websites but your interactive blog-designing skills suck? - In other words you're a good internet-marketer but a lousy blogger? Maybe u need to find the middle-ground and ur income will increase even more.
Search-engines absolutely LOVE blogs, particularly SEO-optimised blogs with great layout, efficient-marketing, and high-traffic.
(P.S. Here's a tip - which quite possibly has no relevance to the above: Using a great and well-designed flash animation on a blog does nothing for search-ratings, because spiders don't read flash: They just ignore it until they get to some html code that they can understand. - Just thought I'd m4ention that.)
I have to agree with your reply to Can Can Dancers there Sharon. Blogs can be just as good on the search engines as static sites. I think to be a good blogger though you have to know how to write and communicate and involve your readers.
REPLY@Baby Monitors I agree wholeheartedly... But there are different types of bloggers: There are hobby bloggers and there are marketing-bloggers. It's true that in both cases, as u say, you have to know how to write and communicate [with] and involve your readers; but more than simply communicating, particularly from the standpoint of a marketing-blogger, you need to interact with them, as in 2-way communication.
REPLY'See as I've stated elsewhere, such as in a guest-post I wrote for davidrisley.com - http://www.davidrisley.com/value-of-free - a vast majority of marketing depends upon the seller or vendor's relationship with the buyer or emptor - hence it's known in problogger-speak as 'relationship-marketing'...
-I mean, let's be honest - would u buy off me if u could buy the same product off ur best friend at the same price?
- So why would someone who's just visited ur blog for the first time buy off u? (OK it happens - even to me occasionally, but rarely.) If you already know that person, though, and that person knows u as a reputed provider of quality-product, then u bet they'll buy !
In the case of a hobby-blog, though, it is basically as simple as stated: Communicate and involve... Even interact on a hobby-blog why not? - It won't hurt in any way. :)
Making money through blogging is getting tougher and tougher nowadays, as competition is huge. There are so many bloggers that want to make money with their personal sites, so you really have to find a good niche in order to have better chances.
REPLY@Fraud Solicitors I agree with u totally there; although some sort of a market does exist even within most obscure niches to some extent. - Thing is that if u love blogging in an obscure niche then it'll be an uphill-struggle to make a decent income. - But one or two probloggers do manage to do just that, surprisingly.
REPLYAs a rule it's always a good thing to research your chosen niche before embarking on creating a business in it: If there are crickets chirping it doesn't necessarily mean that it's an undiscovered market sector just waiting for someone to monetise it. - It might just mean that there is no market to start with in that particular niche.
Hi Sharon, I don't think I have found a blog before with so much interaction from the blog owner. Quite often you see blogs where people leave comments and get nothing back... seems a bit pointless to me. Not only are your articles of great reading, but I love the way you talk to your visitors too. I think many people could learn from your ways.
REPLYI do agree that finding a niche is essential, but it's really tough finding a good one. Sharron is right when saying that you may find a segment of the market that has few competitors, but which is very unlikely to allow you to make some money.
REPLYWe're all forgetting something pretty essential when it comes to writing: ORIGINALITY. As long as you're original, you don't have to find a specific niche. Maybe you just need to have your own style of writing or of presenting events and news
@Flight Simulator I'm not the owner of this blog; I just follow up comments on the article I contributed to it. My blog is at http://kkomp.com ; I reply to comments that I get there too. - That's to my mind good manners as well as a sensible interaction with my readers - which, after all, is what blogging is meant to be all about.
REPLYYou say that originality negates the need to be in a specific niche: Whilst this may be true with a personal or hobby-blog, if ur serious about doing online business with the help of a blog then simply blogging about any topic on the same blog, originality or not, is just going to confuse the reader as to what exactly the blog is all about. This, in turn, will scramble your personal-branding and detrimentally affect the online-image that ur trying to convey.
U see people will come to know u by the type of thing that u market as well as the by-line of ur blog. I hope that when people think of me they think 'geek-girl' and 'somewhat-unconventional blogger'. - And that's what my blog at Kkomp.com is all about: computer help. - Not just help with optimising and the general operation of ur puter, but also using it to make money. - That's my brand. - So when people think 'computer help' they think of me as well as any number of fellow bloggers and visit my blog in addition to others for the information they need.
If I had no specific niche they'd never know what to expect when they visited and therefore probably wouldn't bother doing so.
@Sharron Oops - I'm replying to myself here because I replied to 2 people's comment at once in my last reply: those being @FlightSimulator and @Cairns Web Design, but I didn't indicate that I had done so. :S
REPLYI also agree with the fact that you really have to target a niche in order to have a certain success. Unless you are Lady Gaga, you will not be able to have a very successful blog writing about anything that comes to your mind. Unfortunately, we are not all that famous, so we can not afford writing about anything we want. I really know for sure that finding a niche and becoming the best known in that area will ensure you a bit of on-line success.
REPLY@Immigration Solicitor That's where the hardest part of it comes into play: Becoming the best-known in your particular niche. - That can entail the dedication of a lot of resources these days,depending upon what niche you're in. In my niche which is mainly tech there are literally thousands of players, and I currently don't have a hope in hell of outdoing major established sites like PCMech or ZDNet. - However what I also intend to bring to the table via my blog, in addition to the usual "How to..." articles and tech news, is ideas for utilising the technologies for making money online. With that extra angle it makes my blog stand out a bit and appear a lot more unique. However, having said that I still have immense competition from blogs such as davidrisley.com, although that particular blog looks more at making money online from a technological perspective in addition to a tactical perspective, rather than, in the case of my blog, looking at technology and PC-optimisation with a view to utilising the end-product to make money online... So it's all swings and roundabouts I guess. :)
REPLYI am just about to start my own blog after years of people persuading me to take the plunge.. I have taken on board a lot of what has been said here. it has given me a lot of encouragement thank you all.
REPLY@Wedding Photographer Kent I'm glad that u have benefited from the dialogue as well as hopefully the original article.
REPLYHello Sharron and everybody! I think there's just too much competition out there. I mean, there are millions of bloggers. It's pretty tough therefore to make lots of money.
REPLYI honestly think that the most important thing in making money through blogging is to write really well and to be really creative. If your posts are awesome, making lots of money is just a matter of time.
REPLYPS Great blog by the way Sharron.
Cheers from France!
@Direct Marketing Services UK I agree that there's a lot of competition, but how much of that competition is worthy competition? The fact is that there are, at most, a few hundred bloggers making a six-figure-income, and there are a few thousand making pocket-money. The rest make nothing but a loss or they break even. Why? What's the secret? ... There is NO SECRET. Anyone who tries to sell you "the secret" is a con-artist. You do need to know how to do it though; and a good start is to read the Six-Figure-Blogger-Blueprint.
REPLY@Bonbons Look; ppl aren't gasping in awe at the creative writing genius of bloggers and showering the most creative with money. - Ppl want a solution to a problem or problems. Provide a decent solution and they'll pay for it, regardless of how creatively or not you write about it.
REPLYNobody gives a shit about an entrepreneur's literary creative talent, and they don't want and won't buy genius. - Yours or anyone else': They have problems and they want solutions. - End of. 'Provide those solutions satisfactorily and u can make money from doing so - whether u write like Shakespeare or Sid Snot.
I certainly do agree that bloggers to provide answers to really popular problems are very likely to make some money. I also agree with Sharron, that most visitors search for a specific solution to their problems, and not for artistic posts.
REPLYA very important detail in making money through blogging is having a very well optimized blog. I also agree that exploring a niche is beneficial.
REPLYI agree with the niche thing. After all, you can not be an expert in everything.
REPLYWhy necessarily a niche? You don't need to be an expert in all fields to talk about different things!
REPLY@AMBIVALENCE: Unfortunately your secret formula to success doesn't work: A blogger friend of mine has over 100,000 visits a day to 1 of his blogs and makes only just over $15,000 a year from banner-advertising. His other blog has lower traffic, no banner-ads whatsoever, yet he makes a six-figure-income from it.
REPLYYou say ur getting 20 hits per day: Those 20 arrive at your blog, read ur article, and leave. - That's 20 potential customers a day walking away empty-handed. Result = $0.00
@Mukund: So AMBIVALENCE builds his readership to 2000 visitors a day... Now 2000 potential customers are walking away empty-handed. : Result = $0.00.
This is an example of being on the Blogger Hamster Wheel of Doom.
Read the revised Six-Figure-Blogger-Blueprint available as a free download by clicking on the appropriate banner at the top of this blog.
@SEO Manchester Heyya SEO Manchester. I just thought I'd pick up on that point you made: -
REPLYHaving a well-optimised blog is a good thing - but is just a single piece of the jigsaw, and won't, in itself, make you money. Blog-optimisation, the look and feel of your blog, the interactiveness of it, the various outposts drawing traffic in from other sources... Etc etc... All go to make up the bigger picture in successfully running and making money from your online activities using a blog as the hub of your online empire.
@Solicitors Slough Do you want a blog on a number of different subjects where readers have no idea what they're gonna read about next and become confused?
REPLYSharron, u said "Blog-optimisation, the look and feel of your blog, the interactiveness of it, the various outposts drawing traffic in from other sources... Etc etc... All go to make up the bigger picture in successfully running and making money from your online activities using a blog as the hub of your online empire", all i wonder about it is, how you make money out of your blog kkomp.com, the look and not sleek or tidy, it looks like a jumbled mess. the feel of your blog is not much better itself. its over populated with ads which is a big problem!!! guests dont want to see ads all over your site, the odd few look neat and tidy and if done properly will make your more than enough money. if people are viewing your site they want infomation not stupid popup telling them to sign up for free stuff and update about your blog if they want info again they will come back for it. if your a true blogger then you would take pride in your blog and tidy it up, there nothing worse than jumbled mess.
REPLYIMO, successful blogging depends a lot on the strategy you're sticking to. If you don't plan this really thoroughly, chances for succeeding are way higher.
REPLYGreat to see a wonderful blog like yours.
REPLYSuccessful blogging is something you either plan for months, or it just happens because you have talent and skills!
REPLYBlogging is not something everybody can successfully do. A great blogger is just like you: he/she can write so well that people start commenting on for months!
REPLYJust wanted to let you know that I love your blog a lot.
REPLYI think you should stick to blogging for a long time from now on.
REPLYI think blogging is for everybody! Each one of us can be a successful blogger if he/she loves to write and socialize :)
REPLYGreat to see such a great blog like yours.
REPLYThanks for sharing your unique point of view on this subject. You are a successful blogger :-) I wonder if that's your full day job!
REPLYYou should be really happy for having so many comments.
REPLYYour post is awesome. I can't wait for a follow up.
REPLYWow, massive comments trail, very interactive! Good blog post too. It's good to see more and more people posting about blogging.
REPLYMost of them don't make that much money as competition is huge and Google is tough to conquer.
REPLYDue to Panda update, I am sure there will many bloggers affected.
REPLY@Cénduil :D 'Sorry I haven't replied for a while. - Yes I see your point, thinking back: The blog was in a bit of a state around the time that u wrote this comment. My blog is constantly evolving. I do my own coding and I don't get it right every time. Sometimes, occasionally, I run out of time and have to leave my modifications half-finished.
REPLYIt's interesting to note that you yourself either don't have a blog or you're not confident enough to tell us how to find it.
@Find a tradesman Here's the long and the short of it: People aren't buying big from banners any more, neither are they buying big products so much now either.
REPLYCompetition isn't really much of a factor when it comes to online-marketing. What matters these days is strategy, popularity, trust, and reputation...
I could rattle on for hours and write a whole blog-post as a comment, whilst hardly scratching the surface... But I'll leave that one there for now.
Google is another subject that is worthy of a series of posts on the subject of SEO and rankings etc, but though only 1 blogger can have the number 1 spot, many more than just 1 are making money in any given niche.
Sharron, you're doing a great job. If I may, how many blogs do you own?
REPLYIt's so much fun reading this.
REPLYI'd love to be a full time blogger and have no other job!
REPLYIt's tough being a blogger and not having a steady income. At least, that's what I think..
REPLYThat's the tough part in being a freelancer. Sometimes it's worth, sometimes it's not.
REPLYI love your post so much, that I've sent it to all my friends.
REPLYUse the tab below to comment. No spam please!!!
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