Today, I’m going to be the ultimate straight-shooter with you. Because this is something a lot of bloggers need to hear BADLY.
There are so many bloggers out there who’ve got it all wrong. I see posts from people complaining about how hard it is to make money with a blog. I see dead blogs from people who’ve given up. And I feel like I hammer this point time and time again, yet it is a one-man battle against a raging sea of entrepreneurial ignorance.
Here is the blunt honest truth about blogging for money:
Blogs don’t make money. Businesses make money.
A blog is not a business. All those bloggers who have failed to make money, who have been trying desperately to make more than a few bucks from all their quality blog posts… they all fail because they’ve missed one VITAL point.
…That blogging is not a business model.
Here are the steps most bloggers seem to take:
- Get an idea that sounds fun.
- Start a blog.
- Write a bunch.
- Scratch head because few people have seen what you’ve written.
- Get the bright idea to make some money with it.
- Throw Google Adsense all over the damn place, plus any other ad you can possibly scrape up. Use up all available white space and just PACK it with ads.
- Read blogs by people like me, get some ideas, never implement them, keep dreaming about making money from blogging, rinse, repeat.
- Write some more.
- Check Adsense. Wow, you made a dime. Let’s celebrate.
- F**k this. This is too much work for no pay. Then, start getting bitter at those who’ve made it. They’re so lucky!
Sound familiar?
Here is the mistake: That blogger thought that the blog was the business. That if you build it, they will come. No, sir. That just isn’t true.
The days of chucking banners all over your blog and sitting back while the checks roll in are OVER. Very few people who start out today will get to that position, because the whole world is trying.
So, you might think I’m shooting myself in the foot with this post. After all, I blog about making money as a blogger, right? Why would I say it is so damn hard?
Because blogging can be the foundation of a VERY solid online business. The trick (if you even want to call it such a thing) is simple: Have a business backend to the blog.
A blog with a business backend (i.e. products to sell and a method to sell them) is the key to a six-figure income as a blogger.
I Don’t Make Money By Blogging!
My wife, just yesterday, told me that I wasn’t really a “problogger”. She said that I don’t make my money by blogging, I make my money by marketing products online. Well, she couldn’t be more right! As I spell out in the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, you have to build up a sales funnel, then you place your blog on top of that funnel. The job of your blog is to act as a public face to your business. The blog itself might not make much money. But, the business which underlies that blog can make a SHIT-PILE of money and you’d never tell it just by looking at the blog.
Gary Vaynerchuk didn’t become the $60 million video blogger by just pumping out videos. No, he had a full business backend to what he was doing and the video blog was just a means of promotion.
On a smaller scale, you will notice that this very blog hasn’t a single ad on it. Yet this blog is very likely going to make me a six-figure income this year, all by itself. In fact, that’s a given. It WILL make a six-figure income. I just started this blog less than 2 years ago. Even just in the month of January, this blog has made more money than most people make all year in their 9-5. Yet, I run no ads here. It is because I have a business backend to this blog, and those of you who just rode out my product launch of Blog Masters Club know exactly what I’m talking about.
If you want to start a real online business with a blog, you can make good money. But, do NOT fall into that dwindling spiral of doom of thinking you just write and out pours money. It doesn’t happen. Think like an entrepreneur. Build a real business. Then slap a blog on the top of it.
BTW, that business can be completely virtual. You don’t need a storefront or any of that stuff. This doesn’t have to cost you money to start. But, I’ve never found a business out there that didn’t sell something. I doubt you have either.
If you’re not selling something, you don’t have a business.
Blogging is not a business by itself. It is only a promotional platform. Okie dokie?
The moment you master this concept and get those gears churning on what your ACTUAL business is going to be, the sooner you’ll find yourself finding profits by writing things for your blog.
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