Have you been hearing that most bloggers never make money? Sadly, this is true, and it is a problem that is growing, rather than shrinking.
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with Brian over at Blog Engage about the success rate of many of the blogs out there. As we talked, one thing that he mentioned is that a large number of his members that he chats with fail to actually make a decent living from their blog. As blogging becomes more and more popular, the fact remains that most bloggers never make money!
You see all these programs that tell you that they will teach you “the secret to making money with a blog” but so many of the people out there tend to struggle along, and never see the income that they were promised.
On top of all of that, you will find a lot of people claiming to make money that they didn't earn through their blog, which just compounds the problem.
But, once you realize that blogging isn't just a fun game that will make you rich overnight, the burning question that I am often asked is “Why Do Most Bloggers Never Make Money?”
After all, although I have met some people who are successfully making a lot of money from their blogs, a large number of people that I chat with fail to make more than a few hundred dollars a month. This led me to look at what people are doing.
I started doing some one-on-one coaching with people from my email list just to get a look at what they are doing, and where they struggle. As I did this I narrowed it down to a few reasons why people fail to make the money that they want, and I thought I would share those with you, so that you can blast away the problems and start focusing on what works.
Bloggers Never Make Money With The “One Man (or Woman) Business” Syndrome
A huge problem that many people have is trying to do everything themselves. If you have ever played just about any sport, you will know that it takes a team to win, and the same is true for blogging. If one person tries to do everything, you will struggle to succeed.
After all, there are tons of things to learn.
You need to learn how to build links, technical aspects of your blog, writing content, continuously researching your niche, and tons of other stuff to make your blog a success.
There is no way you can be an expert at all of them.
I generally recommend setting an income goal for your blog. To set this goal, take what you need to make to replace your income, and triple it ( this way you cover outsourcing fees and any relevant taxes). For example, say you want to replace an income of 2,000/month. I would reinvest every dime your blog makes until it gets to $6,000/month.
This way, you have enough funds to continue outsourcing, pay your taxes (it is a business after all, and you do need to pay business taxes) and pay yourself.
Most Bloggers Never Make Money Because They SUCK at Monetization
The next big issue is to look at how you monetize your site. I could write an entire ebook on how people monetize their sites wrong, but I will try to keep it brief. You could be over monetizing your site, or underdoing it.
You could also be offering ads that aren't targeted to the traffic you are getting. You have to find a balance in order to really get the goods. Blogs are very different than static sites. Most of your posts should be geared towards engaging and helping people, not selling.
Too Many Ads = Too Many Distractions
I was looking at a blog from one of my clients the other day, and his blog was way out there. He had 3 adsense blocks, a ton of affiliate banner ads, and an opt in form on every page of his site. His reasoning was that if he gave people a lot of choices, they would find one that fit them. This is a common misconception that many new bloggers face.
The reality is the opposite.
If you give people a lot of choices, often, they will not make a choice and they will simply leave your site. I generally recommend limiting the choices that they have. Too many ads will be more of a distraction, and will limit the success that you find. Choose the method that you want and stick with it. Don't over do it. Otherwise people will run away, and you will be stuck with a ton of traffic and low conversion rates.
Bloggers Never Make Money If Customers Never See the Option to Spend Money!
The other side of that is not having enough monetization in place. For example, I had someone who called me up the other day and was furious because they had only made 1 sale on their site in about 8 months. They had followed my website traffic guide, and they were getting some good traffic, but they weren't making any sales.
When I went to check out their site, it was pretty clear what was wrong. They didn't have a clear monetization plan for their site. I went through 10 pages before I found an option to buy something or sign up for their newsletter. They were so scared of overdoing it that they didn't have enough ads in place, and the pages that were getting the traffic didn't have any ads on them. When they did monetize the page, they were afraid of running off the customers, so they didn't promote those pages as much. If you don't have ads, people can't buy anything, so make sure that you have them ready to go.
Using the Wrong Ads
The last one that I want to talk about real fast is using the wrong ads. A lot of people fail to target their ads to the right people. Part of this is the keywords they use, but part of it also has to look at where your traffic is coming from, and the topic of your blog.
For example, the other day, I was reading up on a blog about personal development. Since I have a blog where I discuss many personal development issues, I thought it would be a great opportunity to follow this blog. They had some really great content, but they are talking about emotional issues, relationship problems, goal setting, and other personal development issues, but all of their ads were for IM related products and services.
If you are running an IM blog, this is great, but if your content is targeting people with dating problems or weight loss issues, they probably don't care about starting an online business. You have to choose ads that fit your content, or else you will struggle to survive. You might get a few lucky sales, but you won't get the highest conversion rates.
The good news is that once you properly monetize your blog and you get some help to do all the work (which is really massive if you really think about it), you can turn your blog into a full time income that will sustain you for years to come.
Negative Thinking About Your Blog Will Cause You To Fail!
The last issue that I want to confront today is how your thinking affects your blog. This isn't a technical issue, but it is often the reason people fail. In fact, from all of the people that I talk to, the way they think is why they struggle to succeed.
A long time ago, I learned that your thoughts influence your beliefs, which will in turn influence your actions. And of course, your actions will always influence the results that you get. So, in a way, your thoughts will greatly impact the results that you get.
When it comes to your blog, for example, what you think about yourself and your content will influence what you do to promote it. Often, when I see people struggling, they don't believe their content is “good enough” so they don't put enough effort into promoting their content properly. This becomes a huge problem that will leave you struggling.
Honestly, with all the physical things that you have to do, if you change the way you think, you can transform the success that your business has. If you struggle with worry, doubt, and fear controlling your business decisions, then I would recommend that you learn how to stop negative thinking and take control of your mindset before going on.
Where does Your blog struggle to make money?
So, today, I want to ask you where your blog is struggling. What is your biggest problem with making money from your blog? where do you need the most help? The lines are open, so share your comments below! I want to know what you think about why most bloggers never make money.
Recommended Reading:
- The Ultimate Guide to Blogging: What To Write About, How to Promote Your Blog, & How to Make Money Blogging
- Zero to Blogger in 30 Days!: Start a blog and then join the 30 day blogging challenge to get results (Blogging book 1)
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Absolutely fantastic James and I have to admit that despite trying to look for things to add, I can’t really find any. You basically hit the “sweet spot” on why many fail to make a decent income on their blogs. As you said, there are no quick roads to success, but there are some short cuts. These short cuts are “listening” to the “right” people, learning from them, and taking action. Business, whether through blogging or not, is hard to succeed by being a “one man show”. It is possible of course, but very few can make it.
On a side note, this one really made me giggle a lot 🙂 > “His reasoning was that if he gave people a lot of choices, they would find one that fit them.” haha..
DiTesco, you certainly did add something of use 🙂
“Business, whether blogging or not . . .” A blog is a business first, not a way-station on the route to someone else’s business. And one essential to making money from a blog is recognising that.
Thanks DiTesco, Glad to see you liked it. I hear that one all the time, and I have to admit, when I am talking to a client, and they say that I have to try real hard not to laugh in their face…
What a cool post. I recently saw Willie Crawford comment over at Warrior Forum stating that exact same thing…that too many choices = no decision = no conversion.
Excellent article…confirms what I suspected already…:)
Mark
hey Mark, thanks for your comments. Willie is a smart marketer. Back in my early days, when I hung out at the WF, he gave me some great advice several times. He is one of the few people that I met there who I actually still trust.
Thanks for this great post. This is an eye opener for many bloggers like me. I agree that lot of choices will distract the visitor. With the ads matches what people are reading, then there is a great chance of conversion. Apart from the contextual advertisement, delivering the right kind of advertisement requires careful monetization plans to be successful.
hey macman, thanks for stopping by. That is right on. unfortunately, I see a lot of blogs that don’t choose the right ads. You hit it right on the money. Planning is crucial for everything that you do with your blog.
A very detail description on the reason of most blogger cannot make money from their blog. A blog full with ads definitely will chase the reader away from your content as i am having the same feeling when i read though this kind of article.
Hi James,
I admit, I never knew these things and how to get real money on blogging. Thanks for sharing this and its a big help for me. 🙂
hey Sophia, your welcome. contrary to what most people tell you when they are trying to sell a blogging guide or course, it takes a lot of work and time to really make a blog into a full time income. but with persistence, you can do it.
Someone really hasn’t had enough of marketing yet! 😀
About the article: Just fantastic. I agree with the fact that people generally tend to do all things by themselves, which not only puts up too much pressure on themselves but also messes up their complete plan many a time.
Everything else was just fantastic. Looking forward to hear more from you.
I agree with you. also, people often expect too much too early. I see people starting sites all the time, and wanting to quit within a few weeks because they aren’t making tons of money yet. its frustrating to see when I spent over 6 months to make consistent sales, and 3 years into it, I still don’t make as much as most people expect to make within a few weeks.
Exactly. The common notion among people is that the internet is an ATM that coughs money without having an account, how silly. They never know that it actually takes more labor and efforts many a time than a regular job for earning an equivalent paycheck.
It was great hearing from you!
Hey great post here!
Bloggers might be building high traffic blogs but it takes experience to actually get the income. I totally believe that if they just keep going..everything will click one day and the money will roll in..They will know where to put the link and how to get people to click it.
Here are some of my tips I use:
– Do SEO on your post
– Focus on a clear subject for each individual page
– Always link out to an affiliate product as the answer to the problem or
– Link to a page on your blog that links to an affiliate product
– Have one goal for each page
– When you get an authority post with heaps of traffic add a few more goals
– If a post with traffic is not converting, test different products
You can make your own rules up because there are so many tactics to use.
through some testing I have done with one of my niche blogs, I find it converts better to link from my posts to a product review page, and then to the product, but you are right. it takes some time and testing to learn. the best thing anyone can do is to test things and find what works for them.
I guess that depends on the landing page for the product…Does it grab the person and convert or do you need to convince them first..?
I like to get a product that converts itself, but I just wish there were more! 🙂
Hey James,
This is a very insightful post. I am not making much money with my blog at the moment. I thought that after 7 months I would be at a little higher than I am now.
What I don’t get is hardcore bloggers, ones that post every other day and leave tons of comments on other blogs who don’t have any type of monetization on their blog at all.
I also have a PD blog so I will check out yours as well.
hey Justin, one thing you need to realize is that people have their own reasons for blogging. I know TONS of bloggers who aren’t interested in making money from their blogs. they blog for personal reasons, and because it is their passion.
‘His reasoning was that if he gave people a lot of choices, they would find one that fit them’ The number of people who think this is crazy, and also the outsourcing and making connections within and around your niche is vital to get a blog successful. Great post James!
I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I know several people who have started making money as early as six weeks in. I have had some sites that made their first sale within 4 days of going online. However, it does take time to build it into a full time income, and generally it requires help. I haven’t really seen anyone go full time that was doing all the work themselves.
I don’t think they had the heart in the first place. Passion is something that you have or you don’t. you wont lose it if you really have it. I have had sites that I loved working on but never made money, and I still love working on them. Passion comes from inside and wont be influenced by what happens or doesnt happen on the site.
the people who give up are the ones who are in the wrong niche and only care about the money.
hey Will. it is simply astounding how many people actually believe this. Not having gone through tons of courses myself, I am not really sure where it comes from. none of the guides or courses I have studied or reviewed actually perpetrate this myth yet it is still popular among many bloggers.
Wow, this is depressing! I am a beginner blogger and my idea is to use blogging as another tool to market my products. I have found that we are such an info society now, I need to give more info of why my products are outstanding & finally, face to face is so effective with customers. Yes, I am in the Wellness Industry and fortunately for me most people want to feel better and look better than they do right now.
It shouldn’t be depressing, it is simply a matter of understanding your expectations. don’t expect to get rich overnight.
That being said, you can make a lot of money from a blog if you do it right. its all the mistakes that cause people to not make money, not the business model itself.
One thing that I learned early on is that you have to build your own brand and reputation first through loads of content. This will build trust with people, and get yourself known within the niche.
You really need to get that right before you can expect your site to start seeing consistent sales. But, once you get there, it tends to start growing itself.
Monetizing a blog is a skill. Although it is quite true that newbies suck at it, they need not be that way for the whole of their blogging career. It is very important that bloggers study the strategies associated with successful blog monetization. Of course there will be a lot of trial and error with the process. But it pays.
Nice post James.
Hey Jane, thanks for stopping by. I agree it is a skill that you can learn. Loved your post on Getting Rich Slowly. Testing different things is critical to long term success. unfortunately most people don’t take the time to test. they just follow what some guru tells them, and often when it doesn’t work they quit rather than trying to test different things.
When I started out, I followed a training program that I found. Once i figured that system out, and started making money with it, I started testing different things. some i read about and some I just decided what I wanted to do, and figured out how to do it..
but, without all the testing I have done, I probably would still be struggling like most people that I have seen.
Yes, many bloggers just give up too soon and are not discipline or creative enough. With just a little bit more effort one could significally increase chances of earning extra cash. I love blogs like yours one, you share really useful tips, thank you
Thanks for your comments Tanja. I appreciate it. You are right it does take some effort, but in the end, it is well worth the time invested.
I think most people quit too soon, or don’t put enough effort into content. It also depends on what you’re using your site to do. If you’re relying entirely on ad revenue or product sales, you could be looking at a multi-year project–most people aren’t that patient.
But a lot of people are selling their services on their sites as well (realtors, financial planners, IT, etc) so they have multiple income sources. I also do freelance blog writing for other sites, and my blog serves as a resume for my services. So not only do I get ad revenue from the site, but also freelance writing fees. That’s a way of building sustainablity–I’m making money while I’m building the site.
A blog is really about building a business, so you have to be prepared to be flexible and to dig in for the long haul.
Hey Kevin, interesting idea, but I don’t totally agree with your last statement.
A blog is a great tool for building your business, but as I said earlier, Not all bloggers are in it to make money. If you want a hobby you can do that, and make hobby money, but if you really want to turn it into a business, then you need to treat it like one.
Reading this post made me think of the Fugees song “Killing Me Softly” where Lauren sings about going to listen to a very talented artist. While listening to his song it was as if he was singing her life with his words.
I could definitely see myself in what you are writing, I’ve now been rethinking a lot about what I have in my sidebars. I will revisit my adsense with fresh eyes over the course of the next few days to revamp the layout.
When I first started with WordPress in April the set up was all new to me. When things set up I put a lot of code in my sidebars but haven’t revisited it since, I now see why that is a very important task, one that I have neglected far too long.
Thanks for bringing this to the fore front of my thought process.
“When getting things set up…. “
Thats Great. Your sidebar doesn’t look nearly as bad as some of the others that I see though. I saw one the other day with (literally, I counted this….) 25 Ads in the sidebar before seeing any real information. No opt in form (although they are trying to build a list I think…), and the Recent Posts tab was below the end of the actual blog post…
Sidebars is one of those things that I am constantly tweaking and testing to see how people react. Right now, I don’t have ANY sidebar ads, and people seem to like that.
This is one reality in the Blogosphere. Some claimed they have gotten a lot in blogging while some are still struggling. Thanks for opening the eyes of those who are near to give up the blogging passion.
you can do really well with it. You always have to remember though, a blog is not going to make you money by itself. it is just a tool that y0u can use to communicate with potential customers.
think of it like a hammer. Just because you own a hammer doesn’t make you a master carpenter. The same is true for your blog. it is a tool you can use, but just owning one doesn’t mean you will make a ton of money. you have to use it right, and master how it works to get the full benefit.
I must frankly admit that I fall into the category of One man syndrome trying to do everything myself. But earning money online isn’t a difficult task. It’s just like any other business which needs research and hard work.
Hey Mani. I understand that. When I started out, I was a one man business too. But, adding people to help with certain tasks doesn’t just get twice the work done. In fact, I found that I get 3-4 times more work done with 2 people than I did with one. Its amazing how having someone there to help works.
Hi James, I totally agree with everything you have said. It is true that lots of individuals are doing everything by themselves, which is not a healthy way because as the saying goes, “no man is an island”. Sure enough, doing alone can make them struggle to reach their goals. And another thing that I like about this article is the limitation of choices. All in all this article can be very helpful to all the bloggers that are struggling to make money through blogging. Thank you…
Thanks Robin for your comment. Every time I write an article, I try to identify a specific problem, and adress the problem as I see it. I don’t write articles to target Keywords like some bloggers do, leaving thin content that really doesn’t do much.
IF you do that with your blog, you can get tons of exposure with every post that you make.
Choosing right ads for your blog is very important to make money. If visitors are coming to your blog it means they are interested in your niche and if you’re showing ads for any other niche then they won’t buy it at all. So choose ads which relates with your blog.
hey priya I Agree with you, unfortunately I see it all the time where the ads don’t match the content.
What type of ads are these, if I may ask? Adsense? If so, I don’t think the website owner is targeting non-related ads. The IM ads are showing for you because Google uses your browsing history, search history and cookies to show interest-based ads. Though the website owner can turn off this option in their Adsense account, interest-based ads pay better and get more clicks if the website niche is based on low-paying keywords (from my own experience).
While website creation ads show for me on my food recipes website, my hubby sees finance related ads when he visits the same site from his laptop.
Making money online is not an easy thing. Unless you’re willing to work and you have your own voice. It will be an uphill battle.
A. Tatum–Truest words ever written about making money online. Believing otherwise is one of the main reasons people quit. They think that if they aren’t making money after a few months (or even weeks) that either it’s too hard, they don’t know what they’re doing or the whole thing is unworkable.
Bringing a proper attitude is critical!
I agree it’s tough doing all the work yourself but at first I think you should be doing it all. Best advice is keep trying and learn from your mistakes.
Well, i would disagree slightly. its not that hard to do, its more that it is hard to learn how to do for most people. the actual work is one of the easiest jobs that I have ever had.
Relevant ads increase the sale but irrelevant ads pay nothing. According my opinion ads should me niche dependent.
Hello James.
I think the most important point here is trying to be an expert at everything. It’s VERY important to choose a niche and stay within. It’s okay if you veer into closely related topics, but blogging about cooking and dog walking on the same platform causes your readers to lose focus.
Hey Ivin, I agree with choosing a niche to a point, however, I see a lot of multi niche sites doing really well also. One thing that I find is if you have a specific theme, you can vear away slightly. For example, the main focus of my Thoughts On Life Blog is mindset and personal development. However, I also talk about specific areas of relationships, business and wealth, fitness and health, etc…. because these are all specific areas where mindset is important.
When I said don’t be an expert at everything, I was talking more about all the work into running your blog itself. For example, you don’t have to do all the SEO, link building, social networking, article writing, technical tweeks in wordpress, all yourself. This is something I see TONS of bloggers doing, and they never make more than a few hundred dollars from their blogs because they try to be an expert at marketing their blog, as well as being an expert in their niche.
HIRE people (either freelancers, services, or full time employees…) to do the work for you. IT takes a TON of work to run a successful blog, and there are not enough hours in the day for one person to do it alone.
Yes you right!i remember my past and i am newbie i never stop do research work before i start my daily work i wanted to start with my head lot’s of idea.in that way i can share to the readers some of my thought that they may apply for there self.
Wow, this really opened my eyes. The part about wanting to do everything ourselves hit especially close to home to me, because that’s exactly the kind of person I am. I get really overwhelmed sometimes because I bite off more than I can chew.
Thanks for the excellent post!
Paula
Hey Paula, its more common than you might think. most people get so overwhelmed trying to do it all themselves. I started paying other people as soon as I had any money at all to spend on it.
This is very true. I find that when I go to some sites and there’s ads all over my face, I get annoyed and shopping there gets thrown out the window. Building up a blog though for a business really is a lot of work.
I don’t understand why so many people get hung up on trying to build their one blog into something that can replace a traditional full time job income. Trying to do that with your first blog is likely to end in failure. Instead, wouldn’t it be more realistic to build a handful of blogs where each one earns hundreds of dollars per month instead of thousands. Chances are you won’t be able to get your blog to earn a thousand dollars per month anyway.
Doesn’t that make more sense than struggling so hard with one blog? Think of all the advantages of segregating your expertise onto different websites.
hey ted, actually I know people who do both, and if you do it right, the single blog can be more focused and more profitable, with less work. The problem isn’t with how many you have but how you do it. You have to realize that most bloggers aren’t marketers. they aren’t targeting different niches.
You can build up a small income on a lot of blogs, using content curation, or you can build 1 authority blog where you establish yourself as an expert in a given niche topic. Most people I know aren’t experts on tons of different niches, and the ones claiming to be turn out to be liars and scam artists just out to rip people off.
Honestly, running one blog is a pain for a single person, and I can tell you from experience, running mutliple blogs without 1 being successful first is a nightmare. The more blogs you add to your mix, the more critical it is to have a team of people helping you to do all the work.
Having too much add is bad for the site and sites that have pages that don’t have adds or product to sell doesn’t give customers an option to buy. Indeed, that creating a site that can generate money needs to have balance. With so many techniques in order to be successful online, I agree that being a one man team is not enough. I could definitely learn a lot from you James, you provided advices to problems I had encountered.
Distraction is one of the major issue that need to be solved by you.
I haven’t yet used my blog to make money online. It has just been there to share knowledge with others. But your post has provided a lot of insight about making money through blogging.
hey Shree. I often don’t monetize my own sites until they build up a following anyway. Start them out by focusing on helping people, and building your reputation, then monetize the site. you will upset some people, but often these are freebie seekers anyway, and they won’t ever spend money no matter what you do.
Great share James … Agree with you on the fact that many (especially noobs) use wrong ads as well use too many units, thereby distracting the reader and allowing them to leave the blog the very next moment ….
Hi James,
Nice post. When I started blogging I found it difficult to make money from it but now I think if traffic to your blog increases then you start earning money as well therefore I work on my traffic and its outcome is good.
traffic is a good factor, but just one of many that you need to look at. also you need to make sure you get the right traffic. I have seen tons of high traffic sites that never make more than a few dollars a month.
This comment came late and I’m not sure if I will get a reply from you, but to be honest, I didn’t make much money out of my blog and to be more exact, I do earn some advertising spot from my blog and got some lucky sales out of it, though all my earning from the internet are from other niches that I invest in PPC to generate my income, blogging is still not earning.
Maybe I had done something wrong from my blog or may be I can hear a few advice from you.
Hey Wong Chendong, It’s never too late. I like to keep up on guest posts :).
I have actually read your blog for a while, and I am surprised you don’t make more from it than you do. this is where learning to analyze things comes into play. As you get to where you can hire people to do things for you, you can free your time to do more analysis.
First of all, I would look at the buyer intention of the keywords that you are getting traffic for. You can build a blog with thousands of keywords, but if people aren’t interested in buying something, then you have already lost them. Also, how are you running your list? most of my sales come from my list, not directly through the blog. More and more, I am using my blogs to build my list, and advertising through the emails, rather than directly on my blog.
Most of my direct sales come from Product review pages. I review loads of products and do product reviews with a strong call to action and my affiliate link. often, when I review the product, I will find 1 or 2 areas that the product is weak. using these, it makes my review look more genuine, rather than reviews that glowingly state all the positives about the product and ignore the down sides of the product. I often take these weak points and use them to create a bonus that solves those weaknesses, eliminating that excuse from not buying the product.
Look at what people do on your site. Are they clicking links in your pages? when you have an affiliate link, do you get clicks, or do people ignore it? is your call to action strong enough? it the product highly relevant to the post or page?
You should also test different advertising methods. Do you advertise your own products? affiliate products? adsense? Do you offer a service? These are all great ways to monetize your blog, but different ones will convert better depending on your niche. Testing and analyzing what happens are critical to your success. Once you see something working, analyze everything about it to see what worked, how it worked, and what you can do to repeat it. If you have made 1 sale from your blog then you can make 100. its simply a matter of knowing what led to the sale and how to repeat that process.
People like the one on one attention of coaching services, and it is easier to really help someone when you get an inside look at their specific situation, rather than trying to create or sell a product that is very general trying to help masses of people in a variety of situations.
You can do that with just about anything IM related very easily, or in just about any other niche.
I know people coaching people on how to create or choose images for their posts, writing techniques, social media marketing, seo, link building, etc…. but also dating advice, building confidence ( I have my own coaching service on that one…) and just about anything else. I have a friend with a woodworking blog, and he does 1 on 1 consultations helping people choose and find rare and exotic woods for their projects. He even gets a referral fee from several of the lumber companies that he refers his clients to, so he gets paid on both ends.
Ya, you are right, may be I’m not so good at analyze things, I mean I did get a few people wanting me to review their products for an amount, but seriously when I read their products which are mostly ebooks, it’s kind the hard for me to put an honest review because those ebooks aren’t worth for readers.
But now you mention about product reviews, I think I should go write about products that I had use effectively and write a review about it.
And also try analyzing your blog, and see how I can use some of your call to action tactics that I can put it on my blog. I mean when I got to your blog and look around you have got quite of call-to-action asking people to sign up, and this really give me some ideas.
Oh thanks for your advice, I will try to follow your steps.
Analysis is one of the most important skills you can learn as a website owner, whether you are running a blog or a static site.
Blogging in the IM niche is really tough to monetize. I agree with you, most of the ebooks out there are really low quality and hard to get a real good review. Most of them are compil.ing information that you can find for free on hundreds of other sites, if you take the time to look.
IF you look, I only have about 5 training products that I promote in the IM niche, and only 1 of them is an Ebook (Kristi Hine’s Blog Post Promotion Guide…)
the rest are video training programs that I have used myself, and membership sites that I have used myeself when I started out.
Most of my income from the IM niche focuses on recommending the tools and services that I use myself, rather than info products.
Also, one thing that you have to look at when analyzing your traffic is who they are. Being in the blogging niche, and doing a lot of commenting and guest posting, which I know you do, because I see you all over the place, you need to realize that a lot of your traffic is actually your competition, checking out your blog, and looking for content to riff post off of, so when analyzing your site, you need to take those into account.
I don’t know about others, but the negative thinking aspect gets me every time. Blogging is not for those with a lack of self-confidence.
Well thats a good question ? Bloggers show good effort but they still cant make money with their blog.
I know what I have to do and I know how to get there. The only problem is money and time. I have neither. So this are my two greatest problems. Oh yeah, and the third one is the willpower to stay focused.
You have me enlightened here James. Actually, I have been blogging for two years and I find it hard to really earn from it. Luckily, I have learned to know my errors and evolve accordingly. Thanks for the valuable information you have shared here. I will use these to analyze where I am in my blogging/earning endeavor. 🙂
Hey Walter, I know it can be difficult, but you can do it. I see you have a more general site, but looking at it, really the only monetization that I see is the adsense block.
I generally stay away from adsense, and just use it on web2.0 properties myself, but that is something you need to choose yourself. Don’t limit yourself to options though. Try out some affiliate programs and start building a list. if you are building a list, add an opt in to every page on your site. You don’t want people to click to another page to sign up. give them the option right then and there.
What else have you tried other than adsense? have you attempted to promote any affiliate products, or even creating your own? have you thought about doing personal coaching and offering your services through your blog?
these are just a few ideas to think about and test them out to see how well they work for you.
Thanks for the advice James. I really appreciate this. Actually, I have tried promoting affiliate products but could not get even one conversion. Luckily, through trial and error, I have finally earned something through Linkworth. A couple of months ago I have registered my site on them. I thought they will not come out of offers for me because of the months that come by. But my wait and persistence had paid off because they had finally made an offer to publish linkads and linkpost to my blog, and the pay is good. I am finally earning! 🙂
Now I would like to expand my horizon by means of personal coaching, just as you have suggested here. Little by little, I know I will crack the codes.
Thanks again James. 🙂
hey Christian, I know it can be rough. sometimes though you can get help for less than you think. When I started out, I used to have a few buddies that would come over and spend an hour doing blog comments for me. all it cost me was beer and pizza for everyone, and I wound up with a few hundred links to my site..
I see sights all the time that have too many ads all over the place. One thing about them is that a site really starts looking spammy if seems there is more ads than content on a given page. It can also add confusion and quite often, I’ll just hit the back button if I’m not on the page for a specific reason.
Hello Sir James Pruitt
I’ve read this blog from top to bottom and I sincerely want to thank you for the enlightenment you have shared through this post. You’re truly making online marketing an art to master and a dream to achieve. Everything you said is true. Even I myself encounter blog sites with so many ads that is really turning me off when I want to read. No matter how good the content of the blog will be, if the overall appearance of the site is so suffocating to my eyes, I don’t think I will even stick around.
Some people will even pretend that they earned so much from their blog. Success in online marketing business requires a lot of learning, like what you’ve said. Sir, I want to hear more from you. Thank you!
James –
You would think a lot of these are common sense, but it’s amazing how much people don’t realize when creating a blog. Thanks for pinpointing (and solving) many of these common misconceptions here!! 🙂
As often as I think things are common sense, or rehashed time and again, I keep finding people who have never heard it before, and don’t know.
I give most people the benefit of the doubt, and believe that they are making these mistakes because they got swindled into training that told them this crap works.
Great Article James! Although Monetization is what EVERYONE get’s into blogging for I prefer to use my blog ro build my list and then monetize my list.
That’s my take on it. And occasional blog sales feels good as well and is just cream on top 🙂
hey Josh, well, I have to disagree about the monetization part. I have helped a lot of people start up their blogs who aren’t interested in monetization at all. they just want to share their own thoughts and experiences.
These people deserve the same trust and respect as those of us using our blogs as a business platform.
Interesting points James, as blogging becomes more and more popular it tends to mean more generic blogging which in turn leads to jack of all trades, master of none syndrome.
My blog only gets about 100-150 hits a day at the moment, not in a massive rush to make money out of it but hey if it helped pay the bills then good times!
Thanks for the great article!
Cheers
Ben
I really don’t use adsense, so I am not sure that you can pick specific ads with it. I always figure if I can use the same space for an affiliate offer and make 200 times more, it isn’t worth it to advertise for pennies.
A very inspiring article about making money from blogging. I have learned much from here.Thanks a lot.
The best to do sale is optimize your site under some keywords and you will get organic traffic.It is way to get smart earning.
Most bloggers don’t make money because they are lazy. Blogging isn’t simply write it and hope you get people. You have to be active, build relationships, promote your site, market yourself.
It’s not as easy as some “pretend” it is.
This is actually what the sad reality is. That most bloggers don’t make more than a few dollars per month from their blogging activities. I think it’s important to treat it like a business if you want to make money out of your blog.
Hey..Thankx..I have started a new blog and needed something motivational like this ..But let me tell you that big blogs have more ads so where is the distraction..this is why they earn more.. more traffic+more ads=more money…
Thats not always true. Actually, just because a blog is a high traffic blog doesn’t mean it is a high income blog. I have talked to people that have some high traffic blogs with Tons of ads and they are frustrated because their blogs don’t make as much money.
It also falls to the law of averages. If you are getting thousands of hits per day, of course you will make some sales. However, if you had less distractions on those sites,and the ads were more focused and targeted to the specific readers on that page, they would make more than they do.
These are really some nice points out there… I am also planning to reduce few widgets from my blog to give it a clean look and less distraction for readers
For now I am happy for my site to gain traffic, I am doing small article writing jobs and the proceeds goes to my paypal account which I am planning to invest for a 1 year hostgator, and once I have the website up and running. I hope I can start monetizing my business.. Thanks for the information. I have bookmark the this site for future reference.
Hi Hellen, it is a building process. start small, and build upon it from there. If you target the right people, you can start seeing the results that you want. But, it does take time and patience. Good luck 🙂
I agree. It really is hard making money out of blogs. Some blogs are not interesting therefore it doesn’t attract the readers. I guess it’s better to blog about something common and interesting.
The funny thing is that it really isn’t hard to do it, when you do things right. I started seeing sales from my blog within the first few weeks. It all depends on how you approach people.
I find that if you are all about the sale, and that is your focus, people sense that, and it is harder to build that trust factor, but if you genuinely strive to help people, you can build trust faster.
Choosing the right niche is definitely critical, especially when you are in the middle of an economic crisis. Now days, if people don’t Have to spend money, they don’t, so fluffy niches on topics that aren’t crisis related tend to not make as many sales.
I have a few sites on topics that I do for fun, that really don’t make much money because they aren’t high crisis areas,
Also, the problem with saying a blog topic isn’t interesting is that it is totally based on your opinion. Something that is totally boring and a waste of time to me could be a huge passion for someone else.
However, you have to find the balance between passion and profitability. It doesn’t matter how passionate you are, if the niche doesn’t have profitable products that you can sell, you will struggle to make money.
One thing to always keep in mind when trying to make money from anything online, People don’t spend money to buy a product, they spend money to solve a problem. If you don’t identify those problems, and help people to solve them, then you won’t make much money.
The bigger the need to solve the problem immediately (such as in a crisis situation..) the higher your chances are that you will convert people to sales.
I like you this line “Too Many Ads = Too Many Distractions” . I too think that too many ads put a bad impact on your blog readers and customers. This is my first time on this site and i am glad to find this because here I am getting nice articles on blogging which I needed. thanks for the share.
Hi James!
Nice post and well explained. In today’s time you need to create an eye catching blog with good content only then you can attract lot of traffic or your blog will suffer to make its identity. You need to have some niche before you start writing. And the most important thing to have success in blogging is “it should be your area of interest”. When you find it interesting you sure going give your best. All the Best!
I love your blog, it has such a good articles, ths is my second one…Iam going on third right nooow “RSS Graffiti Posts A Podcast on a Facebook Page” 🙂
I fail on so many accounts..working to change this, thank you for the tips!!
Dont get down on yourself. A lot of people make mistakes. The difference between success and failure is how you respond to them. Once you realize where you are going wrong, you can either feel sorry for yourself and give up (which is what most people do) or change your actions to get better results (which is what successful people do).
Good Luck :0
Thank you for your blog contribution about blogging and money. Is it true that a blogger can make money? Most think they can, but few actually do. Ouch!
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This is a sad reality. Many people think that blogging is easy, just like writing a diary online, well this is true, if you’re blogging for personal consumption. But when it comes to making money through blogging, a lot of factors are needed to be considered. Most blogger fail to make money because of lack of writing skills. Like it or not, blogging is a written form and unless you are able to write you’ll almost always struggle.
That isn’t necessarily true, but it is the ability to create engaging content. that is where the key is. often when people are struggling to write, I recommend they do video or podcasting.
I’m about to start implementing money-making options on all my sites. Putting in this much work and not getting a financial return on my investment is no longer working for me.
Thats a good idea. Generally when I start up a new blog, I will work on it and build it up to about 100-200 vistors/day or more, because the traffic is the most important thing early on. The only “monetization” I put in place is an opt in. Then, after I get the traffic going, I will start putting ads on the site occassionally link to an affiliate product, and start laying out product reviews.
Ok, traffic building is going to be my focus for the next few months and I’ll work from there. Thanks so much.
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Thanks for the nice tips, James.
Actually it is not the first time I heard too many ads can undermine the success of your blog and losing your readers attention,
that’s why I cut a some ads in my blog today.
I think the most important fact is you can not do all the things yourself. Sometimes, i think the successful bloggers do not disclose their complete recipe. No business man disclose the complete formula of success. I think it will not be a bad idea to at least outsource the work of link building to any good company. One should take the blog as a business and it is very rare to start any business without any investment. So new blogger should invest in better designed theme, logo , ink building etc.
Hey Zeeshan, I don’t reveal all even in my blog, with as much as I do share. I share about 85% of the things that I do to make money on my blog, but that little bit that I do hold back is what I am using to create my products. I think this is the way many of us do it.
The thing is, even when I do share that complete formula, that doesn’t mean others will be able to copy it. one thing that I have found is that everyone has a different mindset and different goals, which will affect how they run their websites. This is why people may have trouble following the step by step systems that others produce. So much of what I do relies on my mindset, if others don’t get the mindset right, they won’t focus properly and get the results that they need.
As long as the ads are related to my content that’s is fine but too much is always a waste and it will also make your blog like a waste.. So just make sure to limit.
It is not only targeting. Other important reason is – traffic. You also must have certain number of visitors before being able to monetize your blog. When you get certain number of visitors you can monetize your blog with many CPC (Cost Per Click) services like: Google AdSense, AdBrite and other
That is a myth that most people believe. it isn’t about numbers. Adsense is worthless, and you won’t get rich off of it. those cpc networks pay you pennies and if you rely on them, you wont ever make much from your blog.
I have sites with less than 30 visitors per day making me over $100/day because the keywords and the traffic I send are highly targeted, and most of the traffic I send are already proven buyers in the niche.
Hi James,
It is a very nice and informative post.I really like your point of right traffic because sometimes high traffic doesnot result in making good money so we should also work on right traffic.
yep. When I started out, most of my traffic was coming through forums. although it wasn’t high numbers, several of those forums were paid products, so I was sending proven buyer leads to my site. with those you can get 30-40 visits /day and still make 100/week if you do it right.
James,
These are great tips on how to make money from your blogs! I host a motivational/ personal development website and and see traffic from all over the world. Yet, not much investment on the ads I’ve placed. Thinking maybe not the right ones, although they are geared toward women-go figure!
Clara.
You are absolutely right about all the things you have listed as the reasons.
I have written this a thousands times, and I am about to do it again! The basic reasons that then cause all those that you have listed are content and patience.
Blogging needs time and it needs patience. However, you can have all the patience and the strategies in the world, if your content is poor. Combine those two together and you’ll have your success!
Everyone has their own passions and thoughts about what we call life and as writers we generally use these thoughts in our fictional pieces. Why not turn it about a little and earn some money with these same ideas and work? Again, you need to decide you’re your outcomes are if deciding to submit to sites which revenue share with Adsense as, to be honest, the actual monetary rewards are unlikely to be able to buy you a cup of coffee after a few months. However, find a niche you wish to write about, promote it through your social networking and you may be surprised with the results. The most valuable thing about being published outside of your own site, is the opportunity to showcase your work to a wider audience.
James Pruitt I like the way of your writing.I was making some few mistakes earlier but now I learned and earning decent money through my website.
Your article will help every newbie blogger who quit blogging at an early stage due lack of planning and less earning.
_Ankit
Well.. Because blogging was never made for making money. Sharing knowledge is the key. Just my 2c.
Thanks for the good advices. I will use them. I liked the most “Too many ads will be more of a distraction”. You will lose a lot of time choosing which is better and how you eran more.
But like Jason said “blogging was never made for making money”.
Well written post.I would just like to add that blogging is just like any other thing which we do in life.Lots of people try it but very few succeed .It’s not because of the some hidden secret but because of hard work and devotion which are required ingredients for success in any field
That’s what I am talking about: straight-forward and to the point. I loved this and you’re right on all accounts. It’s not a constant thing for me, but it’s taken me a while to get the hang of everything to make it work for me. I want people to focus on my content and the banner ads are simply cosmetic.
Do I want to make money? Hell yeah, but I won’t sell my soul either. It’s one thing to be obvious, but if there isn’t any value added behind it, I won’t click at all. One thing I learned is the more you help others, the more they in turn will help you. People want to know what’s in it for them and not what’s in it for you. Great post!
Very great advices,
Can you recommend something for me to do to monetize my free wordpress blog?
Thank you
free wordpress blogs don’t allow monetization. the best advice I can give you is to get webhosting and a domain, then use the WordPress blog to build links to your own site.
WordPress.com does not like it when you put ads on their site, and they will ban you faster than you can blink.
hey James Pruitt,
This is totally true that when Most Bloggers Never Make Money Because They SUCK at Monetization. I thing that before going to monetization of blog we should understand traffic strategy and We should do team work. Thanks for sharing with us……….
I think that one of the main reasons that I struggle to monetize my blog is because my niche is not one that is especially profitable (I write board game reviews). If you have ideas on how I can turn that into more money, I’d be glad to listen! (And yes, I also realize that I need to add more ads – but AdSense gives horribly unrelated ads, so I have pulled them out. I’m hoping to reach an agreement with online game stores at some point.)
One of the first things I recommend with my clients is looking at the niche. If you dont have a profitable niche, you wont make money, no matter how hard you try.
Some niches can attract an audience but not much of a following. With board games, I would look at writing a guide for your most popular board games, or look to amazon and other affiliate networks for affiliate links to where people can buy the games online.
There are really lost of bloggers who are aiming for big money but fail to do so . “Too Many Ads = Too Many Distractions” and Using the Wrong Ads are some of the issue. I think tech niche has a lot of potential to earn money but with lots of competition, too many tech blog already ,the best thing to do these days is syndication. Joining in a bloggers group to be known .
Anyway, this is a greta post.I stumble here because of Ileane Smith Fan club group. She is right to recommend this post.
You simply nailed this post James. You are so right about advertising- going to both extremes is simply not recommended. It’s very important to find the right balance. Displaying relevant ads is a crucial point which majority of the bloggers tend to over look for some mysterious reason. I take maximum care to customize my adsense ads as well as take care to promote only those affiliate products that are 100 % relevant to my niche
Yeah! most of bloggers suck to monetize their blogs and never try to make money from their blogs for the sack of readers. And the main reason is that the visitors will annoy looking too many ads on their website and the Officiality will decrease within that your points are awesome, meaningful and mind blowing thanks buddy. I really inspired and fully satisfied with your post. 😎
I just started a sneaker blog back in August, and, at first, I was making a good sum of money, earning about $30 a day, every day, from Adsense. Now, things have really slowed down and I don’t know why. I’m getting less and less traffic every month. I’m doing the same things now that I was doing when I first started the blog that was actually making me money, but all of a sudden, everything stops!? I don’t get it. Can you help me?
Patrick, I am sorry to hear that your blog has lost both business and traffic. But it seems like a typical search engine penalty problem. You might be aware that many small biz owners have been encountered heavy loss in business since August 2012. There have been some major Google algorithm updates like Penguin, Panda refresh and the latest EMD update.
If you had an exact match keyword in your domain name, you could have been penalized by the EMD update. Please take time to find out more about these algorith updates and rectify the problems immediately to prevent further losses.
These are great tips on how to make money from your blogs.Very great advices,
Can you recommend something for me to do to monetize my free wordpress blog.
Thank you.
One of the reasons I make money blogging is education about consumable products that they can order thru me;)