Blogging For Fun, Or Money?

[JohnnyV]

Hi, everyone.

I write for the editor's section of the WebProWorld newsletter. It was requested by a WPW user that I post my note from yesterday for discussion.

So, let me know what you think. What are your thoughts on blogging, and making money from it?



Ok, now that business has been handled let's move onto today's topic - blogging. The saying 'easy to learn, hard to master' has never had a more perfect fit than with blogging. Anyone can blog. Five year olds if they're advanced enough in sentence structure can write a blog. Of course, the trick is to master blogging to the point you can profit from it.

If you're not interested in making money then you can go ahead and stop reading here. Move on and be happy blogging for fun; if your blog is about American Idol then I have to put my voodoo hex on it.

Profiting from the use of a blog is a whole different animal than simply writing for fun. Especially if your site relies solely on blog posts for profit. Many times the aspects of making money deter from the joyous nature of blogging. Because frequently the content drives what you must write about, instead of the other direction.

If you're willing to sacrifice some fun, and get down to business here are some key tips to be successful with blogging:

- Content should be unique (duh), and write in a niche style when discussing something oversaturated in the content market. A good example is the iPad. There have been so many blogs regarding the iPad it's sickening. While you might care about it's release, more than likely your post will be looked over in favor of the thousand other blogs discussing it. Instead, write about a single key feature of the iPad or a hot app you discovered that is receiving little fanfare at the moment. Never know when a nugget of info will turn popular.

- Have additional authors, and create a stylistic variety. The most successful text content sites I know have multiple authors on them. The trick is having the funds to have multiple authors. However, if you have friends who like to blog then allow them to write on your site. Establish content partnerships with other site owners. A simple switching of styles can provide a breath of fresh air, and attract a greater number of readers.

- Make your blog interactive. Too many times I see blogs with posts, and then the crickets start to chirp afterwards. There are no updates to the story, no comments, no discussion. Just plain boring. A healthy, and profitable blog must feel alive. So, update content for your posts and generate discussion concerning the post topic. Here is where social networking/media can work wonders.

For any bloggers out there, let me hear back from you. Are you struggling in garnering a viewership, or are things pretty good at the moment? Do you have any tips which I overlooked, or have additional comments regarding my list? As always, let it loose.

[Kimi]

Hey JohnnyV,

As for me, I am doing it for fun, because I love screencasting, and i have to improve my skills on it too. About getting money of it, I sure want it too, but that's the second aim.
Regards

[chrisJumbo]

Okay folks don't let me down. This should be a great discussion topic. I even turned part of it into an article. Here are my thoughts.

The one thing I have to disagree a little on is sacrificing fun for content. Frankly, I have fun when I write, regardless of the subject. Of course I love to write. I think that is what it comes to. You're going to have to love to write. I inject my sad efforts at humor and fun into my articles. Our site and blog do pretty well with the income they generate and the traffic they receive. The one thing I haven't quite figured out is the interaction. We don't get much discussion flowing. Although, our demographic is primarily older people and at this point, they still aren't much for web discussions. I do participate on other blogs and this forum on a regular basis. So I am out there giving.

I think article marketing goes hand-in-hand with blogging. You can re-purpose your content, post it to an authority site and get readers that you wouldn't have. I recently decided to do a 30-Day/30 Article challenge. (BTW, I have more to write so you should know just how much I like you this forum and this topic that I'm pausing to respond. Reward me with some awesome discussion )

So my tip is take your blog posts and turn them into articles.

Have a great afternoon, I've got writing to do.

cd :O)

[morestar]

Profiting from the use of a blog is a whole different animal than simply writing for fun. Especially if your site relies solely on blog posts for profit. Many times the aspects of making money deter from the joyous nature of blogging. Because frequently the content drives what you must write about, instead of the other direction.

I was thinking about something similar to this yesterday. There are many bloggers that at one time blogged for fun rather than profit but started making money form their work. Those earnings circled to the point where they could blog full-time, write and submit articles and build a buzz about themselves.

It's hard for new bloggers to make a name for themselves, hard as in it takes a lot of work - it seems as the years pass on it will get harder and harder for new bloggers to compete with other more established and weathered bloggers for user-ship as well.


Have additional authors, and create a stylistic variety. The most successful text content sites I know have multiple authors on them. The trick is having the funds to have multiple authors. However, if you have friends who like to blog then allow them to write on your site. Establish content partnerships with other site owners. A simple switching of styles can provide a breath of fresh air, and attract a greater number of readers.

With respect to earning money this is a great idea especially if one targets a popular niche market and invites a few authors on-board who share the same interest. I think keeping the number of authors at a minimum is key as well so as to make it a little easier to manage compared to an article directory for instance. It's better to have a few valuable pieces of gold rather than a large number of copper.




I think article marketing goes hand-in-hand with blogging. You can re-purpose your content, post it to an authority site and get readers that you wouldn't have. I recently decided to do a 30-Day/30 Article challenge. (BTW, I have more to write so you should know just how much I like you this forum and this topic that I'm pausing to respond. Reward me with some awesome discussion )

So my tip is take your blog posts and turn them into articles...


Elaborate a tad Jumbo, I'm intrigued...

[chrisJumbo]

Morestar--

I wrote a Blog post about 2-years ago. It was fairly specific to target a very low searched term, but profitable. I did some basic link building like blog comments and such. It is on the first page of Google.

When I took up the Article contest, I needed 30 articles in 30-days. The first place I went was to my blog. I took that article, updated, added some new material and changes some things around. The article is on EzineArticles. Now depending on the search term, they are both on page one. I've done no link building to the article.

So first, re-purposing the blog post on posting it elsewhere gives it to a new audience. Not everyone on the world knows about my blog. :O) Secondly, with the Article on Page one it has some authority and it has a properly formed, keyword rich link back to my site. So the now the article is helping the ranking of my site.
Finally, again it wasn't meant to target a huge number of visitors. To be Frank, with the time frame I had it really wasn't targeting anybody. But it has a 10% click-through rate to my site. If just one of those visitors made a purchase it could be $250 to $1000. If just one visitor clicks an ad it could be $1 to $5.

Now imagine, if I actually spent time trying to optimize it and build links to it. It is such a low search term, that it really wanted take too much to bring it up in the search engines and target five or ten keyword phrases.

I enjoyed the challenge and actually had a lot fun writing all of the articles / re-doing blog posts. Writing for the business doesn't lesson the fun that I have. I think it all comes to down to attitude.

If you are writing for money, find what you enjoy and write about it. Get some authority in that area and build on it or expand to others.

I've written 42 articles on Ezine. Some of those are posted elsewhere, as well. 28 (soon to be 30) were written in the last 30-Days. My highest performing article was written 3 1/2 years ago. It has a 31% Click through rate. Again no link building to the article, but 1400 visitors to our site.

My goal this month is to take some of the articles, re-write them and add them hubpages. Again, hubpages has good authority. I can use that to build authority to the articles and the site. Hubpages also shares the ad revenue. So it will a few extra dollars.

Then I can do it again with other article sites. Build authority to the hubpages, to the EzineArticles and to the site.

And you know what, the writing may not always be fun, but the challenge sure is. Imagine having two, three, or four "pages" on the first page, all leading to you. However, I believe even the writing can be as fun as you make it.

Write on people. And BTW, I could take what I just wrote, re-write and either a) post it to a blog b) write an article c) write a hub page or d) all of the above. Well it get 10,000 visitors, probably not, well it get a few, yes. Build your online business a few at a time, and someday the 10,000 will come.

About eight-years ago our site had 24 visitors a month (I have the old logs). Now it is 12000 to 15000. Eight-years ago we maybe had 50 page views. No we have about 25000. And that from a goofball that just did a lot of reading and putting things into practice. I'm not bragging, just trying to give hope to those that are trying to make money with the web. God knows we could use a little hope these days. I didn't work on the site full-time either. Just when I had cracks of time. Wow, imagine if it had been full-time.

Okay, I've got 1 1/2 articles to finish. Man, I love you guys. You're getting me all weepy now. Blog on. If you want some help, seriously send me a note.
cd :O)

[morestar]

That was an excellent experience you shared Jumbo and great light on some of the re-sage techniques one can do with their articles. I've thought about doing that quite a few times lately especially for one of my sites that seems to be lacking a little lately. With so much going on, pin-pointing the best project to tackle at any given time can sometimes be daunting. But again great advice.

Which article content are you speaking of and was the winner the one who increased their click-through rates by 10 percent?

[Tubby]

I do not really have a blog, but I think most of the pages on my websites have some blog characteristics.

One thing I have mentioned before is the 'Whats in it for me' factor - usually it is worth the extra few minutes it takes to review what I have written and ask myself - Is there enough 'what is in it for me' for my visitor. Sometimes just asking myself the question can inspire me to add that little extra. . Sometimes I look at the page and say to myself "nothing really" then I delete the whole damn page.

I recall as a young lad at the movies watching the weekly serial (might be someone like Dan Dare - spaceman) and the end of each episode something drastic would happen. . Maybe an airlock gets destroyed and Dan is shot out into space with no hope of survival . . . . I do know I always wanted to go back next week. . . . He always had attached a life saving cord or something.

We all knew about these things before the internet was invented. . We all went back to the theatre - sometimes we were given a yoyo demonstration 'how to rock the baby' Next week how to 'walk the dog' - I remember walking 'my yoyo dog' at some run down old picture theatre in London when I was about eight. . Was not much, but the theatre always made sure that there was 'something in it for me' over and above the picture. I had to go back next week!

If we could opt into the mind set where as often as possible we always left behind something of some small value that the reader can take home. It does not need to be of huge value, just something they never had, never knew, a new thought, a different perspective - something!

It Certainly does not need to be the impression that 'this writer thinks he is King shit'. It does not need to be 'Huh, that was only written to get me to click that link'. . It does not need to be a 'glowing report about some worthless object that the writer is paid to promote'. .

There are a hundred things I could list that it does not need to be.

My opinion; satisfying the 'What's in it for me' factor Is something every blog does need.

P.S. nobody should ever do anything that does not have a fair element of fun in it.
(it shows)
P.P.S see also A sausage a day thread (http://www.webproworld.com/marketing-strategies-discussion-forum/99462-sausage-day.html#post497842)

[balancex]

I blog for fun and for business...it's okay to mix business and pleasure in this case, and I think blogging with both in mind results in a better result.

For example, you can talk about a complicated financial tool while keeping it fun and personal, perhaps using real world examples to make a point. All while making money via related advertising.

At the same time, I recommend choosing a specific topic to blog about, as it'll keep you more organized and relevant. If you choose too broad a topic, the blog may get away from you...

[chrisJumbo]

Which article content are you speaking of and was the winner the one who increased their click-through rates by 10 percent?

Sorry if I wasn't clear, it was a challenge and not a contest. Everyone that completed the min-challenge earned a mug. :O)

The article with the 10% click-through is here: Investing in 10-Year CDs (http://ezinearticles.com/?Investing-in-10-Year-CDs&id=3990593)

It was a re-write of this blog post: Jumbo CD Investments – CD Rates Blog Why buy a 10-year CD? (http://jumbocdinvestments.com/cd_rates_blog/2007/11/why-buy-a-10-year-cd/)

Tubby, I love your tip. Step back and pretend you are the visitor. :O)

[sparkposts]

Blog for fun and money when possible. There isn't a rule anywhere that inhibits us from doing so, right? A lot of people cannot grasp the idea of possibly mixing business and pleasure, so take this blog for example: awkwardfamilyphotos [com] (sorry, can't post sites yet since I'm new here)

I would have so much fun if I were keeping that blog, and I bet they're earning obscene amounts of monies from their site ads and the number of visitors they're getting everyday.