Guest Blogger: Greg Gilles
I’m constantly asked how to make money blogging. So here’s my blogging advice. While there is a lot of detail involved in creating a profitable blog, you can boil down profitable blogging into four simple steps.
- Select A Profitable Niche
- Create A Blog Around That Niche
- Drive Traffic to Your Blog
- Monetize Your Blog
Now, if it’s that simple, why aren’t more people successfully making money online?
rom my research, questions I’ve received from my clients, and personal experience, I’ve been able to narrow it down to a few main obstacles why people are not successful online.
1) Information Overload
Number one is that most people are completely overwhelmed with information. I’m sure most of you can relate to this. I know this was my experience when I first started. I bounced around from one money making program to the next and never really spent enough time focusing on any one step by step plan, from start to finish.
2) No Step By Step Business Plan
And that step by step plan is number two. Or, I should say, the absence of a step by step plan. It’s extremely difficult, with all the internet marketing information available, to find a true step by step plan, with specific instructions to follow, that gives you a blueprint that will take you from start to a money making finish.
And because of the low barriers to entry involved in creating a blog, most people do not take the same business planning steps they would take if they were investing $100,000 to open a retail store. But you should if you want to be successful with your online business.
3) Lack Of Research
This goes hand in hand with step two. I’ve found that most people do not take enough time to really research their niche. They end up selecting a niche that is either way too competitive or one in which there aren’t really any good monetization options available. So, while they may figure out how to drive traffic to their blog, these people don’t spend any money.
4) Lack of Technical Expertise
Reason number four is the technical aspects of starting and running a successful internet business. It’s extremely difficult to do when you don’t have any experience. We’re talking about hosting a web site, setting up your blogging software, creating and modifying web pages, setting up a shopping cart, figuring out autoresponders, product creation and all the other technical aspects of a successful online business that you need to have in place.
5) Going It Alone
And, finally, the fifth reason, and really the absolute number one and biggest reason that people fail in developing a successful internet business is that they don’t have a mentor, a coach, or a guide to help them along the way.
When you’re working from home trying to make money blogging, you’re all alone with no one to answer your questions, give you advice, explain things you don’t understand or let you know whether or not you’re on the right track. Even the greatest how to marketing books leave you with questions unanswered.
Everybody needs some kind of mentor that can help them along the way.
Trying to do it all yourself stacks the deck against you and makes it very difficult to achieve any kind of success. If you’ve read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich you know how highly he thinks of having mentors and a mastermind group when trying to achieve success in anything you do.
The great thing is that all these reasons or roadblocks have a solution. If you have the desire to take action and to go out there and become a success, all of these obstacles can be overcome.
Now, we’ve realized that all these reasons or roadblocks have a solution. If somebody has the desire to take action and to go out there and become a success, all of these reasons can be overcome.
In fact, you can overcome all these obstacles by becoming a member of the Authority Site Center.
Gregg Gillies is a current ASC member who has been running an online fitness business since 2002. You can visit his new blog where you can download a free report on how he has built a list of over 20,211 subscribers.
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J.L. Siefers 09.19.07 at 5:47 am
Gregg,
Great post! You raise some very good points. I really agree with you on going it alone and lacking a plan.
J.L.
dave0 09.19.07 at 7:08 am
Yea, #4 my block. If I could just acquire enough “understanding” and at least complete the niche research in #3 to move to #5. That would be good. Nice list Jack.
Jim Westin 09.19.07 at 9:04 am
Damn Jack, everytime I’m ready to learn something new, you have just the right article… Everything you mention has happened to me! Jim
Trump 09.20.07 at 9:29 am
Another great idea would be to STAY AWAY from private labeled articles, pre-written articles, and anything that you didn’t write from ever showing up on your blog. They are poisonous to blogs. If you run a blog and find yourself thinking about cheating and using someone elses article, get the mouse out of your reach and immediately find someone else to co-author for your blog. Share the load before you kill it.
VRETips.com 09.20.07 at 11:45 am
Good points Trump. Do you ever write articles that you submit to article directories like EzineArticles and post on your blog? Or do you keep article directory articles and articles you put on your blog completely separate?
I always go back and forth on this as to whether or not it hurts me with the search engines. I’ve never seen any concrete proof in either direction.
Gregg
Monetize Your Blog 09.22.07 at 11:01 am
You are absolulely right about list building. It leverages every other monetization strategy known to blogdom.
The two obstacles to building a profitable list are:
1. How (the mechanics)
2. What to say in the capture, optin, and follow up emails.
I’m giving away my new ebook: “How to Monetize Your Blog” at http://1Cat.biz - which covers A-Z how to create your list.
You’ll also find a great resource there called “The Psychology of Email Marketing.”
Thanks Jack - another 10!
Rick Butts
Weycrest 01.13.08 at 4:19 pm
I see where you are coming from Trump, but it depends on your business model. I know people that build hundreds of “portal” websites on disposable domains, that “spam” search engines on keyphrases, and then hammer the bookmarking sites. They tend to be short lived as Google eventually delists them and their bookmarking accounts get closed. But hey! Its a business of sorts. I’m not condoning it, but some people have lower expectations of what they want from their individual websites, happy to earn a few dollars and cents from adsense, and not do have to do much to achieve it. With Jack’s advise though, its possible to aim for the stars, and build an authoritative website thats taken seriously in your chosen niche. -Paul