To make money from your blog you need to be confident!
May 25th, 2006It seems that everyone wants to make money from a blog nowadays (it’s a .com craze for the masses) and Steve Pavlina has posted what I think is an excellent article on how to make money from blogging.
This article by Steve is a monster article (like most articles he writes) and having read it a few times I think that it can be summarized in one line:
To make money from your blog you need to be confident!
Let’s examine what I mean by this.
The Confidence to Get Started
First off, Steve raises the point “Do you actually want to monetize your blog?” This is the first step in making money from your blog - to decide that you want to! Sounds simple enough but I’m amazed how many people I’ve come across who want to make money from their blog (and many actually have a viable platform) but who never take the step of actually doing it. What’s stopping them?
Simple. A lack of confidence.
It’s amazing how many “reasons” (another word for excuses) that people will come up with. If you want to be someone who earns money from your blog then you need to put all these “reasons” on one side and get on with it.
Get started!
The Confidence to Do it Right
If you are going to monetize your blog then you’re going to have to approach it with confidence. Most ad schemes work off of people actually clicking on an ad and then you getting paid for that click. This means that ads need to be displayed prominently. They need to be seen to be clicked on.
It’s easy to spot someone who had the confidence to get started but who then didn’t have the confidence to do it right because the ads will be there but they will be small, and difficult to see.
If you’re going to put ads on your site then place them in areas where they are going to be seen and be clicked on (more on this in a later post). Yes, they are bound to annoy a small percentage of your readership who frequented your blog before you put ads on it but they are going to feel that way whether you put them in an effective spot or not (and by the way, this is why it’s a good idea to get ads on your site from day one - your visitors get used to them right from the start).
Be Confident with Technology
A key factor to being able to successfully monetize a blog is being good with technology. If you have your heart set on making money from blogging then, unless you are going to pay someone else to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to technology, you’re going to have to do it yourself.
Two key success factors here are:
- Learn to use a search engines effectively - this way you can find what you need to learn quicker.
- Experiment like crazy - practice what you learn. If you don’t want to risk messing up your blog then install a private copy that you can use as a testbed.
The Confidence to Continue
Most people don’t make money from their blog because they don’t stick with it for long enough. In fact, many give up just at the time when they could, if they stuck with it a few weeks longer, have started to reap the rewards of their hard work.
If you’re serious about turning a blog into a revenue generator then you’re in it for the long haul. Unless you are super-lucky or have super connections then expect to spend the first few weeks or months talking to yourself in your blog. Once you get past that stage you then have the much longer stage in front of you. This is where you’ll be gaining enough visitors so that you start getting clicks on your ads. Again, unless you are super-lucky, don’t expect any real action for the first 6 - 12 months.
I told you you were in it for the long haul! 
Have Fun!
Finally, a stage that doesn’t demand much confidence - remember to have fun! One of the key factors in making a successful income from blogging is to enjoy yourself. If you don’t enjoy the process of creating a post then chances are the reader will pick up on this and not enjoy the experience of reading it.
Remember - Enjoy the process! If there are days when you don’t feel like blogging then don’t. Take a break and come back to it fresh. Your blog and your readers will thank you for it!
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 9:59 am and is filed under Make money with Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
