MISSING! Blogging Profits – Turn it Around
Recently I had a conversation with some of my Twitter friends about blogging for profit. The conversation was inspired by this NY Times “Fashion & Style” article. And although, the purpose of the article was to seemed to be to diminish the seriousness of female bloggers and to take a stab at women who expertly combine their real life and business life obligations…it did contain a number of quotes from women who are blogging their butts of, with little in return.
I think the phenomena of people not making enough money through blogging is actually quite common, but I don’t think this problem is unique to women. The problem seems to plague men and women who often fall into a few categories:
- They blog for other websites.
- They blog for themselves.
- Or they do a combination of both.
…and there are different issues with each.
Bloggers Who Blog for Others Are Allowing Themselves to Be Taken Advantage Of:
**Note:** For this section, I am mainly talking about bloggers who are trying to blog for profit, without necessarily creating their own business/website, etc. Basically, these are people looking for blogging “jobs”.
I have to tread lightly here. At first, I was going to say that blogs who recruit writers often take advantage of their writers, but realistically speaking, all these blogs do is put out the opportunity. It is your choice on whether or not to take it.
It is fully in your control to decide if an opportunity is right for you, so from here on in, please make those decisions wisely and rescind any decisions that haven’t proven fruitful.
My tips for you:
- Do not take a blogging assignment for NO PAY in the hopes of getting exposure and recognition. The exception to this might be if you already have an established business and the exposure that is being offered will directly benefit your business. However, if you are simply someone who is just getting started and wants to make money blogging, skip the unpaid jobs, no matter how high-profile they may appear.
If you forget everything else, remember:
“Popularity does NOT pay the bills”
I’ve been there. It was the same a few years ago before blogging became so popular. High traffic websites recruit writers, saying they can’t afford to pay, but their plan was to pay people as the profits came in. If the profits aren’t there now, seriously, don’t count on them being there in the future.
- Do not take blogging assignments that don’t pay an amount you’re comfortable with. Pay rates vary vastly from site to site and you need to decide what you need/expect out of the deal. If you’re writing to pay the bills, figure out how much money you need and how much time you can REASONABLY afford to dedicate (i.e. don’t let writing for a blog take over your life – it doesn’t have to). Figure out how long it takes you to write a blog post and decide on an hourly rate that would be suitable to fit your schedule. If the assignment doesn’t allow you to work toward your target hourly rate, pass it by. There WILL be more opportunities. If you keep taking on assignments that don’t pay well, you’ll overbook yourself and you simply won’t have the time to dig yourself out of this hole.
- Avoid ridiculous posting requirements that are common to many blogging assignments. Some blogs will require to make X posts in a certain time frame and insist that posts have to be some ridiculously long arbitrary length — and many that do this don’t even PAY their writers or don’t pay them well enough. Work with blogs that are flexible and understand the VALUE of good content, information and even entertaining blog posts.
- Consider taking your skills to paid content writing assignments for a clientele you build up yourself. Instead of getting tied into the stringent restrictions and blogging until your fingers bleed, take control of the situation with your own writing service. This will help you control how much money you make, allows to work directly with clients of your choosing and it’s your own business. Once you’ve done a good job for a few clients, ask them to refer to others to you and grow your business.
Bloggers Who Blog for Themselves May Not Have a Profit Plan:
**Note:** For this section, I am talking about business/website owners who center their profit plan around their virtual real estate. This is contrast to the previous section targeted at bloggers who seek out blogging “jobs”.
Personally, I think blogging for yourself (instead for others) is the way to go…but that’s only because I prefer to maximize my efforts. A blog post I write for myself today can potentially bring in profit for years to come. You just don’t get that when you’re being paid per post.
Of course, blogging for yourself is risky because it may take some time for the profits to roll in. Still, if you have a profit plan…you are more likely to reach your goal.
Here are some tips to get to profit faster:
- Have a clear plan of why your blog exists and the market you are trying to reach. Just like with any website that offers content, sells a product, etc…you need to have a plan.
- Know how your blog will make money. What products/services will you promote? Will you sell advertising, try Adsense? (NOTE: Don’t rely on the advertising and Adsense…until/unless you have a really good traffic flow, you’ll find this just isn’t that lucrative an opportunity).
- Don’t be afraid to do some peer-to-peer selling on your blog. You’re developing a relationship with your readers. It’s only natural that you mention your products and recommend others – so do it. Realize that blocks at the end of posts and in sidebars don’t convert as well as direct product mentions and recommendations.
Just a few ideas to get you started and I hope it’s helpful. The real key is to value your time. Never get stuck feeling that you don’t have any choice – you do.
Previous Posts and Resources to Help You with Your Blogging for Profit:
As I promised my Twitter friends after our conversions, I’ve gone through the Sweetie content library and uncovered some gems that might help you make a profitable blogging plan. Take a peek through these:
- How to Get Blog Traffic: 11 Steps to Growing Readership
- “A Blog is Not for Selling – WHAT?
- Free Blogging Beginners Guide
- Draconian Guest Blogger Requirements Or…
- Three Thoughts on Why You Needn’t Worry about the A-List
- BLOGS: Be the Go to Guy or Gal in Your Market
- FREE Download: Joint Blogging for Maximum Promotion & Minimal Effort
- 31 Quick Blogging Ideas
- Three Thoughts on Giving Your Blog the Care & Attention it Deserves
- Your Blog Content Rocks, But Is It Readable?: Three Thoughts Thursday
- Free Blogging Calendar – COOL!
- Multiple Blog Syndrome
More Help:
Lynette and I run our Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp every few months or so. We’re actually in the middle of a current session and it looks like our next one will be in 2009, but you can sign up to be notified of the next session here.
About: Alice Seba
Alice Seba earns a full-time online income as an entrepreneur and loves to help others achieve the same. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from the written word, she co-owns both a ghostwriting service and a private label content business. To get more tips for your content marketing, visit Contentrix.com - your free resource with plenty of tips and strategies.Freebies
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Carrie
I guess I need more clarification on when a blog op wouldn’t be a good use of time. I see it as similar to article marketing. I wouldn’t do it just to “be seen”, but I would do it for links. I only take opportunities that put no minimum post commitment on me, however.
Totally agree with your point about showing me the money… honey I’m all about that! I’m going to take some time this weekend to really dig into these posts, thanks for providing those.
Alice Seba
That’s totally subjective, Carrie. Incoming links do have value and so does traffic coming from a blog – provided you have a website to send them to (some bloggers DON’T).
Ultimately, it’s about your time involved and the return you get. Article marketing may require a certain length of article, but rarely does it require that you publish a certain number of posts or restrictions on totally unique content.
If you’re spending hours upon hours each week guest blogging for free, unless the sites are bringing in a TON of traffic, it’s probably not the best use of your time. There are just so many other things you can be doing to build your traffic/business that aren’t as time intensive.
I hope that helps a bit. Obviously, I don’t know your exact situation…nor the precise situation of any of my readers…so I speak generally.
Carrie
Yes that helps. Why would someone guest blog if they don’t have a blog of their own? Guess I didn’t know such an animal existed. Hmm.
Hours? For me it’s probably one or two a week, so it’s a good ROI. Good things to think about, definitely.
Alice Seba
I don’t know exactly why, but I’ve seen sites do it with the promise of “We’ll start paying writers when we can.”
Sharon
I agree Alice that learning how to make wise use of the time you have available is a critical tip – especially for new bloggers/internet marketers. However, I agree with Carrie in that I see guest blogging as being a lot like article marketing. Free access to my target market on sites of my choosing that have traffic that I didn’t have to build. Key point would be that if it is a “free” gig, I blog when and how much I want which ideally would be according to my own marketing plan.
With the the number of quality blogs coming on line and developing popularity I’m starting to create a list of blogs on which I want to contribute my content especially since the quality of many of these hand picked sites is better than many of the sites included on some article directory distribution lists.
Alice Seba
Absolutely Sharon, but I think my point was somehow lost on the “free” gigs and it could be the way I expressed it. There are people taking gigs for no pay and no benefit for their own business – or they don’t have a business.
The blog entry is in 2 parts (and I am going to change the formatting, so it might be clearer). The first section was for bloggers who are trying to make a living blogging for others. The second section was for people who blog for themselves (and may also combine blogging for others).
The first section is where I said not to take free gigs in the hopes of getting paid later or thinking that you’ll be recognized for your blogging talents.
Alice Seba
Thanks for the feedback ladies. I did just go through the blog post and wrote some additional notes to make it clear who I was directing the advice to in each section. I hope that helps.
Sharon
Ahhh…thanks for the clarification. The note you added is important as the headline sounds like bloggers who blog for others are being exploited – and I don’t feel that way
Good post though, as it will get us talking or thinking about good/bad marketing models.
Lindsay
If I may expand on this one…
“Have a clear plan of why your blog exists and the market you are trying to reach.”
Focus on giving value and establishing trust with your readers *long* before you try to sell them anything, even if it’s just an affiliate link (and if you are putting in affiliate links, make sure the links are for products that would genuinely benefit them–ideally products or services you’ve used yourself).
People buy (and take recommendations from) those they trust.
Alice Seba
Sure Lindsay, but the tricky thing is you have no control over when people see your blog for the first time…so waiting to sell doesn’t necessarily keep you from selling to new readers.
If you provide the value all the time and reason to keep coming back, the affiliate links will be accepted just fine by your TARGET. For those who get uppity…good news, they aren’t your target.
But you’re absolutely right, people buy and take recommendations from people they trust. Problem is, when it comes to an open website with multiple entry pages, we don’t control the chronology of what they see. To be safe, be sure there is value, even in your pitches.
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