If there was ever an entry level education about blogging, this post should be it. Blogging isn’t easy, but it’s also a fantastic way to achieve a great way of life. With that being said, here are seven tips to help you get catch up to speed.
1. The Market is Changing
10 years ago, blogging was a relatively new marketing platform, and because of that, it was easy to get ahead quickly. Today, the market is saturated, and you can’t expect to simply start posting and make money.
The people making a lot of money on blogging aren’t the ones selling information products, but the ones building an audience and using that audience to leverage their popularity.
And not only their blogs earn, but they offer services out of their blog, which earns them lots of money. For instance, Darren, Chris, Michael, Seth and other A-listers are not making money simply out of adsense earnings on their blogs. They offer speeches, lectures, they conduct courses, write ebooks, conduct conferences and seminars and much more stuff.
2. It Does Take Time, But Not Too Much
Some will say that you have to work your ass off for a few years before blogging pays off… I say that’s B.S. In today’s market, there’s no time to work for free, and you have to be quick and nimble.
You’ll know if a blog will be successful within the first 3-6 months, and if it isn’t, something should change, even if it means starting all over again in a different angle.
Persistence is the key and you should never think of giving up until you reach your goal.
3. Information Products Suck
Look, I know that “the gurus” are saying that you should sell ebooks to make money, but that’s just not the case.
Most of the information dealers have left the building, and with so much information being free anyway, the real money is made not just in providing access to the information that can help people get results, but actually helping them get them.
This could be in the form of consulting, or entertainment, but it’s not in the form of information. As I said earlier, you can do as much to reach people with your services to help them solve their issues and of course, help yourself to make some money.
4. It Takes Money to Make Money
Most successful bloggers spent money investing in their business. You absolutely must be prepared to spend money in order to succeed.
No business can be started without investment, online or offline. How can you expect to make money without spending investing?
5. Trying to Copy the Huffington Post Will Make You Tired
On the same vein as the last point, if you try to build a blog like Mashable, Techcrunch, or the Huffington Post without being popular already or paying a lot of money to writers, then you are going to fail. It’s very difficult to duplicate that model in today’s market.
6. Email is Everything
People will say that Facebook and Twitter are the new ways to communicate, and while that’s partially true, it’s also true that email is still the best way to make money as a blogger.
Email lists = engaged listeners. A great email list is worth it’s weight in gold.
7. Every Man (and Woman) for Himself
You might think that commentators and subscribers are your friends, but you’d be surprised how fickle they can be.
The same can be true of partnerships. Take care of yourself, and always be ready to fight for every piece of the pie you wish to eat.
So what do you think? Harsh reality, or solid advice? You be the judge!
One tip is to follow people who are making the money, and network with them so you can get a head. Piggyback off their success.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
yes, piggyback is a great way to move towards success, but of course, you have to know if you are following the right person which is the most important part about piggyback. Anyway thanks for reading and commenting, talk soon…
Thank you for sharing this advice. I admire point no. 5. You must stay true to “You.” Over the past year, I have witnessed an increase in people blogging from the heart and about things they are actually passionate about. I believe this makes all the difference in the world. When you blog from an authentic place and engage your readers, your success flows automatically.
Being yourself is the most important part of uniqueness and by following, you should not copy…. and by copy you should do it better rather then just pasting every part of it which in terms makes you feel boring to your readers….
Thanks for reading my guest post and putting out an awesome comment…
The best advice: Be true to your own self!
And LISTEN with an open mind when your blog gets criticized!
#4 is very on target - SPEND money, but not on those “blog gurus” or their phoney-baloney products!
#5 - so true - I will add “stay where you are and who you are - others WILL find you!”
Yes being yourself is very important and having an open mind towards blogging critic is also important, thanks for reading my guest post and commenting, talk soon…
If you in the business of business investment is an absolute necessity for sure. Even if it’s not money you will invest your own time…and time is money, right?
Yes time is money absolutely right. And by wasting time, it is almost like wasting money….
We always take example for A listers, where as there are many other un-known bloggers our there who are earning good amount of money from this field.
Because they have not socialized them self, every blogger have some lack of work in it in some special field, and I’m personally still looking for mine, where as A listers do know that what they are doing.
Seriously, those unknown blogger you doesn’t know, is not that they have never socialize, is that they have socialize but socialize in either a small group or just in another social way such as offline socialization.
So it is not about them who do not socialize but, us because they do not find us, we had to find them if we want to be successful as they are….
I have a lot of websites and can vouch that what you say is true. I especially like the fact that you say treat it like a business. so many people don’t.
Well… if people takes blogging as a hobby, they won’t think about money but eventually small money will come and if people takes blogging to make money… eventually they will struggle, and that is why these people should think both and combine hobby and business together to form a bridge to success…
Hi Wong,
I would say that your hard truths is an eye-opener for bloggers who expect to earn money just by posting ads on their blogs. People are starting to realize that to build an audience you must first build a relationship with your readers based on trust by being authentic and by producing quality content that will keep them coming back for more.
Ya, writing and creating quality stuff is what makes your audience trust you and by providing a good after-sell service… this will last the relationship even longer… and eventually makes you more money then you could spend…
I partially agree with you on the fickle part of readers, but we have to realize that relationships are based on need.
If John has a do-follow blog and Sam does link building, even if he enjoys the blog and likes the owner, he’ll stop visiting if John goes no-follow. It’s nothing personal, just the law of the jungle.
What if John’s content is damn good but he goes no-follow…. do you think you he will stop visiting John just because he goes no-follow…. it’s nothing personal, just that the law is created by human and break by human….
If you ask around… people will tell you… it is not about do-follow and no-follow… is all about the content… that makes the different.
Again… what f John is do-follow and his content is full of crap…. do YOU still want to follow him?
You got me there, but your example is just an exception to the rule. That blog needs to be pretty damn good for the guy to come back just for the content. You should do a poll about this
Hi Wong,
Well, you’ve certainly challenged many of the central dogmas of blogging and given me some things to think about. I like #6 because I particularly agree that email marketing is far from dead, as some have said. In fact, I still believe that “the money is in the list”, as long as you know how to use it.
Thanks, Wong. I like your “in your face” style!
Actually, I would rather say… “the money is in YOUR BUYERS’ List”
Well… that sounds more better and much better in terms of where the money really is…
Hi Wong,
Just lately I have been thinking that too many bloggers say too much on their blogs which just means we are all overloaded with information, a lot of it the same. I think we would be better off enticing our readers with some information and then leading them to get the rest via email. Once we have their email address we can then take them on a journey to our cash registers!
~Marcus
Well before you can lead them, you need them to trust you and to do so, you need to give them something that they can see results first and once they get the small results, percentage of the person joining your list will be high and of course like you say “take them on a journey to our cash registers”
Great post It’s a really awesome and informative.
Thanks and hope you can put the information to use, talk soon.
actually people only see the earning of a successful blog. they don’t how hard it is to reach that level. the virtual world seems to be a easy place to earn but it is no different from the real world
It doesn’t matter whether the world is real or just imagination, the most important of all is to have a right mindset towards what you want in life… although is hard to get, but still if your mind is right, surely no one can stop you unless your souls aren’t with you…
Got it i will take them very seriously as i have seen this profile picture.
Hi Jane! Well, those are hard words but I know what you mean. It’s not easy and you’re right that we need to make changes if we see that what we’re doing isn’t working. Great advice!
Hey Wong,
I like what you said here, direct and straight to the point. I have only been blogging for six months and still have much to learn. Building an online presence with credibility takes time and persistence. I will always do what get’s me results financially.
The web is inundated with information and that is why I look for blogs, books, authors that are on the cutting edge and outside of the box in their ideas and approach.
It seems that originality will win the game here.
Yes, almost everything you wanted in life takes time, persistence and guts to do it and of course original stuff are always better.
Wong,
Information does want to be free but I think the more targeted you can make it, and more you can deepen the information on a specific industry, the better your chances selling information products. Community helps, teaching sells, and you’re right that you have to prepare to fight all the way
Well, being in a competitive battle is always better to be prepare because all the people might be smiling at you but who knows….
I don’t agree to the thing every man/woman for him/herself sorry. I know there is a tough world, I am living in it and seen a lot.
I’ve also discovered ppl do things even without asking anything in return or expecting smt, just willing to help.
I am not saying you’re not right, but things aren’t black&white, can’t generalize it to all.
Actually, every human has a bad side of it, no matter how good you can be, when there is up there is down and when there is good there is bad. Of course I don’t mean to generalize all, but even if fact sucks, we still had to accept what human really are….
It’s indeed very hard to compete in the market. You need to have the guts and of course money. Just remember that when investing, be careful with your actions. So, you need to plan ahead everything.
Ya, we had to plan ahead of everything we do, although sometime plans doesn’t work well, but still decreasing the risk of losing, planning is still the bumber one way to go forward….
Good suggestions Jane.
Just blog for fun and write about international subjects I’m truly interested and it works.
If I decide to set up a business I will use a blog as my homepage to show what I have to offer. There is no way I would offer yet another e-book and start sending commentors who haven’t asked for it newsletters, like some do.
Be serious and respect the people who visit your site. They do not want you to send them junk mail just because they commented on something you wrote.:-)
Very well said, Wong. Hard truth is hard to believe but let’s just face it, right? Thanks for sharing this valuable post.
No problem, and thanks for reading my guest post and commenting… talk soon…
What I really liked in this post is the emphasis on “change”. All these truths here could change in the near future. You are true, blogging is such a world where you need to be true and go with the flow to survive.
Yes, almost everything in this world will change and being true to the change and following the flow of it, is very important because if you stop… so does the cash coming into the bank…
Wong,
Excellent Post, as usual. Some awesome points, buddy.
I think its time to stop following trends, instead one should try to do something unique or creative.
~Dev
Ya, although being unique and creative serve it’s good but still following the trends is something we should always look into because that’s where unique and creative can be serve…
Wong,
awesome tips..these are realities in today’s changing markets for blogging.. It’s getting more tougher here to survive.. now the quote “Survival of the Fittest” has come in the picture..
Haha… ya, the word does fit, and if we don’t get tougher we might as well lose to the reality… and that’s not the safest road but the worst…
Deli LaBarck says
Very good article. Nice and clean and direct to the point. I personally agree that Blogging has changed and it needs a Face-Lift. There are too many of the same-same that Blogging has become the Cyber Irobot! Yet, as with all things in cyber space, change will come and uniquely talented people will prevail, but only to be quickly cloned again. So being first, thinking out-side the box and being aware of the trends that come and go will get you to the head of the class, but staying there means one must keep their finger on the pulse of constant change.
Ya, everyone should think outside the box, for example someone who once told me I shouldn’t place Marketing and Blogging Tips in my blog but I never follow, instead I separate them in another wing but still in my blog and it still there and serve well as entertaining post for people to have fun…
Hey.. well Blog can not be made a reliable source of income as once google ads stop ads serving on your blog due to any cause(they have many) it lot hard to re-activate it again.. also revenue loss can make your investment worthless.
I think No 7 may be partly true. The thing is that most bloggers in the same community are always selling the same thing and this does not give people any choice than to buy from their best friends when they need a product that all of them offer. Even if A is the one that gives away a lot of free information on the product, B will buy from C because he feels he is much closer to C than A. That’s life.
Thanks for helping us face the reality of the blogging life.
Well, actually if “A” is giving away valuable stuff, most probably “B” will buy from “A” rather then “C” because I personally believe the greed is still in everyone’s heart, is just that sometime we don’t admit but that’s just life…
#6 - Exactly! Doing it with video-enhancements are the ways to go!
Thanks for bringing in the real picture of blogging. I appreciate this advice as I have just been blogging for 3 months.
You mentioned that in 3-6 months you will know if your blog is successful. What measures can be used to identify that? Would appreciate your feedback so I can see if my blog is going anyway.
I see it is but tips from experts would help me get clearer on this.
Thanks!
It’s simple, but this is just my personal way of identifying, all you have to do is see if within 3 to 6 months, your blog can get below 100k in Alexa Ranking, the reason for that is because if your Alexa rank is getting below 100k, it means you are getting link from other website, which means you blog is getting the authority links from authority website.
Look, if you can’t get 100k and below in within the time frame, you have to think about why so less website is linking to you, do you do enough guest post or do you write enough articles to article directories…
There are many reason to it but you have to really dig deep to know why you can’t get below 100k, because I did it in just 3 months and above… if I can surely anyone can, is just that you need to think hard and dig hard into your blog and see what’s the problem, once you know… it’s SIMPLE…
Marisa David says
Whether you.are starting up a new web site aimed at bloggers or.whether you are looking to make your existing blogging.site more distinctive the key to building and.maintaining a site that will capture the interest and.attention of the blogging community is finding your.niche. If you can fill a unique need in a way that no.other web site does youll be able to build a lasting.readership among web surfers. .Every great blogging web site starts with a great idea .and you cant build a successful site that will last.without one.
Nice say, I mean anyone starting to blog, really needs an idea without it, it’s almost blogging an empty space, thanks for reading and commenting, that was a great comment about great idea.
Trends of marketing change either it is online or offline marketing but a market should always be well familiar to the direction of flow of a market.
Hi Jane
I agree with all your points. I too believe it is not facebook likes and twitter followers but the email lists matters more. Because they are very effective.
As far as time is concerned, I believe first 3 months very critical to build the blog and rest 3 months to promote. Expect good pay should be after 6 months because it is very long time for online users.
Nice post.
vinayak says
Hi! Jane,
Nice article.
I agree with your points. There are lots of confusing stuff floating around about seo and blogging.Ofcourse to make money , you need to invest money.Its always better to take help of professionals in this bussiness.
I think there are a couple of issues here … the primary being *why* a person is blogging. If it is to express oneself and share something that one is passionate about - that is one way to go. If it is essentially for money (and there is nothing wrong with that), then it becomes like a business.
I think if the reason is to make money, then passion or “staying true” makes no sense. In my experience (I could be wrong here, but this HAS been my experience) to consider a blog as business one needs to show discipline, not necessarily passion. I have known of blogs that get very little traffic, but make a decent amount of money. These are obscure niches which would be very difficult to develop passion about.
I also know of many blogs that get tons of traffic and appreciation, but hardly make anything worthwhile.
Ya, ur right, it’s all about a person’s way of thinking, just like if he wants to make money with the blog, he some how just had to think how it can really make money out of the blog, and again discipline is also very important, because having a good discipline some how relates to being persistence in staying true to your goal.
Anyway, thanks your comment make a lot of sense in the real world of blogging….
Its indeed both advice and teaching- perhaps from what you have learnt from your own experience. I indeed agree with you on all the points you have said, especially the email thing, usually people are led astray by many of those so called people who speak their BS.
Well… most of the time, there are just too many BS, that we our self doesn’t know which one is really the BS stuff….
waseem says
Thanks for bringing in the real picture of
blogging. I appreciate this advice as I have just
been blogging for 3 months.
i too found making money with blog is not easy now. you have to work hard to stand in the crowd
waseem says
Thanks for sharing in the real info of
blogging. I appreciate this advice as I just
started blogging.
i too found making money with blog is not easy now. you have to work hard to stand in the crowd
Blogging has very hard truths on its way and it is indeed very difficult to adopt these. I am waiting for another 2 month when my blog will complete its 6 months to see if it has a future or not.
Inspirational and motivation post Jane!
Yes these are the hard facts about blogging and I couldn’t agree more to the points mentioned above! I totally agree that it does take money to create money, something that I am realizing now- though if had done so earlier, things would have been different!
Thanks for sharing
Really clearly describing the difficult path of blogging with all details. It is not easy, requires great patience, commitment and confidence along with luck to succeed in blogging, presuming that you are putting in really hard work, learning everytime and improving your work culture.
Blogs are challenging and time consuming. It’s not as easy as others may lead you to think.
As much as i want to disagree but you do have a point. I mean, subscribers and commentators just come an go. However, not all of them are alike. There are others out there who really follows you and loves your blog. Others, may stop following you maybe because you, as a blogger, changed. You may have not provided information that’s beneficial to their end and they might have been bored on how you write. There are a lot of things you need to consider in blogging. It’s hard but like you said, the only key is persistence. Have a good day Wong.