Making No Money? This Could Be Why!
May 26, 2008 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Business Advice
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Not making much money online? Want to know why?
The reason is simple it’s because you’re lazy and running your blog like a hobby you’re sorta into. Imagine if you ran a business with the dedication you currently put towards your blog? Chances are it would fail to be profitable as well. Sound familiar?
I have a newsflash for myself and everyone. Blogging is citizen journalism. Whatever niche you’re in you’re competing with journalists. People who are really into the topic and gain satisfaction in releasing the latest and greatest news from the industry or writing in depth pieces on topics of interest to that niche. That’s where the money is at in blogging; being at the forefront of journalism online in your niche.
Why do you think so many Make Money Online blogs go nowhere?
A) because the author doesn’t make any money themselves
B) The author gets his / her “stories” from other larger popular blogs and regurgitates them
C) The author is quasi committed to the blog; the occasional update coming at varied times and nothing really written in an authoritative manner. (Do you write in that manner when you don’t know what you’re talking about?)
Next let’s talk about Social Media. I’m sick of hearing about how it improves traffic / this / that. Yeah it does to some extent but it’s ultimately just an ego booster. So many people so happy with Stumble Upon traffic or something similar. I’d go as far as to say I’ve never EVER had a conversion from Stumble Upon. Twitter has brought in some decent visitors but if you factor in the time I’ve spent on twitter the conversion rates would be one heck of a good laugh if that had been the intended purpose. I use twitter because I like it; if you’re going to signup only to drive traffic to your blog / site. Better ways to use your time.
Look at your activities online; are you working or just doing your “thing”. What’s “Your Thing” you may ask? Well for some it’s checking sports, stats from websites that have made no sales, scrolling through forum posts to find?? what is that we’re looking to find?, reading bloggeries and following the links from one site to another, starting an idea getting a roadblock or seeing something else that looks good and then going after that abandoning the first plan, find something else repeat.
I’d go as far to say that MOST people online who aren’t making a dime have an incredible arsenal of online time wasters. Also traffic from most sources is just an ego stroker. Something to brag to other geeks about through instant messenger or on some forum where you’re trying to act cool.
So now assuming you did put some content together, built that small “Build a Niche Store” or whatever else… It’s time to promote!I think there are a few types of web users such as promoter, tinkerer and the helpless.
Promoter: The kinda guy who will start yelling from mountain tops to anyone who will listen about the new site they have that is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION. You’ll get visitors and a bounce rate that would make a sophomore on scholarship grin ear to ear. Nothing like a good score from 85%-95% when we’re talking bounce. Not.
Tinkerer: Flip it around to the other type of person who spends ridiculous amounts of time online, may have web related health conditions coming down the pipeline and still makes no money… This is the type of person who will spend an entire weekend redoing a theme to a site that has no audience. These people rarely launch ANY new projects because they are so busy working inside the project that it NEVER gets done because it’s NEVER perfect. These are the sites that you find that look professional but nobody has ever heard of them; heck how did you even find it? This person is the polar opposite of the promoter. If they could meet in the middle something might happen; sadly you’re usually one or the other.
Helpless: This is the web user who has convinced themselves that they can’t make money before they even try. Everything is overwhelming, they have no clue about any technologies so chances are most web talk sounds like latin to them. They need to take it slow but they just want to make money. If they have some money and drive they are a consultants jackpot. They’ll spend stupid amounts for someone to install wordpress at the click of a mouse or for some theme that they can’t edit. They either get conned by consultants or never get anywhere because they are suffering from information overload. SADLY these are usually the people with enough life experience on a topic to make a worthy site.
Who is Making Money with Blogs?: Most people making money online are NOT doing it through a blog. Every niche has their big boys who are pulling in the majority of the money for the niche. They have older, long established blogs and usually treat their online ventures like a business. Also they usually sell you something they made like an ebook or something. Typically they aren’t just making it off adsense or pay per post.
Who is Making Money Online?: A friend of mine was selling a large site on sitepoint and I brokered the deal. In the process I chatted with a few gents that had pretty hefty domain portfolios and had the pleasure of picking their brains. I learned from them which I guess I had already learned but never realized that content sites typically don’t pull in the bank. Content is good to get someone who is interested in your niche but it’s commerce sites that make $$$. People looking for content are typically doing just that; looking for free information. Where we got the crazy idea that we’d monetize all of it I’m not sure. Obviously some niches are easier for monetizing content traffic then others.
This is how I believe people are making money online:
1) PPC w/ Affiliates: They make an affiliate site geared to SELL; then advertise it with pay per click on major engines.
2) Affiliates w/ Article Marketing: Make an affiliate site geared to SELL; then write articles that are precursors to your items for sale. Let’s say you sell a cream that clears an embarrassing condition; you write an article about how embarrassing the condition is highlighting why it’s embarrassing; what others would think of it and at the end a link to your STORE. The point of the article should be to give them what they were searching for but also to buy NOW from you.
3) Advertising: This is where MOST think they will earn and sadly it’s the HARDEST to make a living from. There are probably a billion +++ sites online and the top 1,000-10,000 get 90%+ of the traffic I’d say.(kinda like the world gros income sadly) Most of us go to the same sites everyday and its the same sites that others go to. Building a massive hub if isn’t easy; neither is making a tone (000’s a month) from advertising. Part of the reason with advertising is if the advertiser doesn’t make money first month they cancel. Now if the advertiser running an affiliate add on your site keeps re-registering doesn’t it tell you that they are making more from the ad that you are charging so why don’t you stop charging for the ad and put your own affiliate banner up?
4) Consultants: Some are good, some are bad, some are selling snake oil. For the most part if these consultants are such pros why aren’t they busy doing it? Why aren’t they making passive income and living on a beach? When hiring consultants I’d say never hire someone who sells a dream. Hire someone who performs a service; the more defined the better. For instance if you need something coded hire a coder. Need someone to build your link portfolio? Hire an SEO with a track record etc… Need an article written about an obscure medical condition? Hire a Doctor who creates content. Just make sure you’re paying someone with a track record who is performing a service / delivering a product that will help you achieve your goal.
This has turned into quite the Monday morning rant hasn’t it? To sum this all up; if you’re building a blog treat it / run it like a business or you’re wasting your time unless you’re purely doing it for fun. I’m talking about making money online though. Start looking at your time spent online. If making money is your goal are you using your time well or are you simply just wasting it? Every hour you spend online is something you could of spent doing something else. Do you have people in your life that you don’t spend enough time with because you’re “working” towards nowhere?
Take a look at your computer habits; where your energy is going and what you’re getting from it. If making $$$ online is your goal; the majority of your time should be spent planning, researching, planning before you ever pick up a mouse to start building the first line of code. Treat it like a business and make a plan; not like a hobby that will miraculously start paying your bills. YOU’RE DREAMING! The computer is simply a tool that many of us treat as a hobby for it’s other functions. To put this in perspective imagine waking up every morning and running to fetch your hammer and hammering nails in everywhere but towards no end? Your loved ones will ask if you would like to hang out and you’ll say “I can’t I’m working”; are you? What’s the point. If you’re using the computer because you like it / enjoy it fine; do that but don’t fool yourself that WORKING on the computer and PLAYING on the computer are the same thing. They’re not.
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28 people have left comments
“Content is good to get someone who is interested in your niche but it’s commerce sites that make $$$”
It’s all a process…content and SEO brings people in, the quality of the content builds trust, and then the commerce side of it kicks in, either via affiliate sales or selling your own products.
“because the author doesn’t make any money themselves”
Absolutely! If an author isn’t writing from their personal experiences working online, then it isn’t worth my time to read it.
Great stuff man…. rant-o-licious!! I do find I have become a user/consumer of the atmosphere, but try to avoid the ego-cookies and ‘15 minutes of fame’ syndrome that can be all too easy to fall for. If it is part of your job description, great, if not - then one does need to be careful not to get to close to the fire… ya know what I mean?
Anyhoo… be talkin’ at ya later this afternoon (a holiday for our American cousins ye know)…
good
Always good to be introspective and consider yourself once in awhile. I think you hit the nail on the head with many people though. So many copy cat websites out there that post very little in the way of original content. One John Chow dot com is all we really need!
Yes it’s a good rant, but isn’t it the same rant we read on other blogs that rant about making money or vise versa?
Good morning by the way.
Wow this is a fantastic article! I know exactly what your talking about.
My two biggest crutches were information overload and a lackluster work ethic. I was constantly reading and researching for the best ways to make money online, but even when I found things that would probably work, I would search for even better. I couldn’t get myself to really work at something that I didn’t know for sure whether it would succeed or not.
Nowadays though, things are getting better, I just need to improve my focus and stop wasting time surfing while working.
This article gave me a nice kick in the pants :P Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get to work
darn, I was hopping to avoid reall work. why do you think I’m here?
Precisely. Treat your money making efforts as a BUSINESS - including blogging.
That doesn’t mean we have to be always selling to them, but our readers are clients - and potential paying ones, too.
One of the best posts I’ve read in a long time. You really have me thinking here… because I work in SEO and new media as a consultant, I find my blogs have been more of a hobby than anything else. That being admitted I would like to see them succeed on a much higher level, and this points out a few of the flaws in what it is I’m doing that is slowing me down.
Very brutal article, my friend. Lovin’ it.
Thanks for the response everyone!
Ultimately we have 1 life to live. We’ll never get back time. If you’re going to use the computer for fun fine. Just don’t mask it as work as it’s not fair to yourself or those around you.
The net is still the wild west but there are a tone of cowboy’s in town so gains are very real and possible they just take work; real work
Use my permalink for the most powerful FREEWARE around to assist you in introducing your goods and service to the online community …No matter what home based business opportunity you choose marketing your goods or services will be essential to your success.
You tell it like it is! Distinguishing between real ‘work’ and merely ‘being online doing stuff’ is one of the big hurdles to self-employment / freelancing / blogging for a living. It can take a while to learn that, as you say, “Every hour you spend online is something you could of spent doing something else.” It’s easier if you’re working for a client, because then you’ve got to keep track of “billable hours” - so maybe it would help anyone who’s feeling a bit stuck, if they did the same? Pretend you are your own client, track the work time, and always keep asking: can I show quantifiable results to justify this activity?
I like how you mention finding a doctor to write on an obscure disease for you. It’s like me being hired to write about pet medications
I really needed this article. At one point I needed to spend more time “researching”,now I realize I need to back up and spend a little more time planning.
I like the hammer and nail analogy.
Thanks.
Really useful post for me, I’m begining to work in home and need all help that I can find. This is a excellent site for learn about this. Thanks.
Like your information. It is certainly confusing out there!! Making money online can be frustrating. I found a site which gives honest reviews of the so called best opportunities to make money online. Hope this helps someone.
The content of your site or blog is very important, and if you treat this as a business and not a bit of fun then you can do well. Thanks for pointing these things out, it helped me re-focus!!
And some are making money using Joint Ventures only!
Do not force yourself to tell people that you dont know. You must sincerely share your real experience then it sounds better. Find your passion before making any money.
That’s what the ‘home business idea’ is all about.
——————————————————-
http://1homebusinessidea.com
How i can do this, want to make a little with my Blog, where i find more informations about! flatty
The blogging is great content management system. However to make the most of it the optimization is required, the content might be original and interesting but end up with nothing if there is no one to read it.
I think all aspects support each other
Hi
I have got to admit the section of the article about
Affiliates w/ Article Marketing is very interesting and true, got to say I did not think about doing article in that way, keep up the good articles.
All I have to say is….”You create your own stage, the audience is waiting.”
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I am SO glad that someone else believes that “social media” isn’t so great as everyone makes it out to be. I would rather spend time on MY BUSINESS than messing around with social networking.
GREAT post - I know that I myself sometimes waste alot of time reading forums, etc. when I should be working on my business. Some of those can be addictive!
The hype about social media has just brought another channel with little effect “social media optimisation” in the spotlight. Someone just thought about an idea that saw him/her addicted to a hobby, now we all think its the way forward to improve all marketing issues..I work on behalf of an office space company and its all we talk about everyday..Give me a break
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Wow great post.
Funny thing is I found your site from a the Blog Mastermind Forum so I guess they do work. As a new internet marketer yuor post is sobering. I never expected the business to be easy and there’s so much info out there that your head statrs to spin. I’m going to learn as much as I can and create a process with my site and then duplicate it with other niches. An internet business is a business and needs a good plan.
Glad I found your site