Making Money Fact? Or fiction?
If I bring up my blog folks roll their eyes or smile in an “I do not understand but okay” kind of way. If I bring up the fact that I make income blogging, however, I abruptly have their attention.
The concept seems easy enough. I write about issues that I like, individuals read it, and I make profit off the advertising. To those of us who’ve been doing it for a while, it's simple. To the novice blogger who is just getting in the business, all the same, it is important to recognize what you are getting into.
If you are new to blogging and interested in doing it for earnings, here are a couple things to bear in mind before dedicating yourself.
Blogging is simple. Blogging for profit is harder. I will not go as far as to say it is hard to draw a secondary income from blogging, but it is definitely harder than most individuals think. It is not just about creating material and slapping up some advertisements. Good writing, proper tinplating, advertisement placement, developing an audience… there are a lot of skills required to make a blog fruitful, all of which you will need to learn.
You need to blog for the long run or not at all. A vast majority of blogs bomb in the first few months, falling under neglect and disuse. A Couple blogs see earnings during the first few months. Unless you are able to stick with it for at least a year, you will probably never see any return for your effort. Pick a niche that you enjoy and stick with it.
General purpose or multi-topic blogs have difficulty developing a readership. Brainstorm the topics that you care about most, then pick one and blog about it exclusively.
Start with one blog. If you have a lot of items on your list of possible topics, don’t give in to the temptation to start a different blog for each one. By dividing your effort between several blogs, you increase the likelihood that all of them will fail. Put all of your effort into one blog to start. Once you get the hang of things, then you might consider branching out with additional blogs.
If you’re unsure, test drive it. The fact is that many people do not have the drive or stamina to blog for income successfully. If you are not sure, try a starter blog on a free service such as Blogger or WordPress.com. Feel it out for a few weeks. If, by the end of this time, you have stuck with it and find you like blogging is right for you, go ahead and commit to the effort. This advice applies equally well to test driving new topics if you’re unsure what to write about.
Place advertisements wisely. Some individuals recommend not placing advertisements on a blog until its matured somewhat. Others advocate putting them up right away. There are rewards and risks to both approaches. Just make certain to place your advertisements tactfully so as not to overwhelm your readers. Put the user experience in the first place.
Enjoy yourself. This is the real key to successful blogging. If you pick a topic that you enjoy and blog about it with passion for months and years on end, your blog will build a readership, generate income, and generally be a success. If, however, your blog becomes a chore to maintain, it will inevitably fail. Thus, if you keep up with your blog and you love it, it will succeed and generate profit. If you do not do your research, write about things that are not of interest, and generally don’t keep up with it, your blog will inevitably fail.
When clients buy your product or service for the first time they really make a trial purchase. If they're gratified they'll keep coming back to you. Making a beneficial product isn't the end of the story. A lot of business owners make the same error. As soon as a product is purchased they forget the buyer. If you want to hold a customer for repeat purchases you should improve your customer service. Provide great service to a buyer who’s bought a product or service. They'll certainly come back to you as everyone prefers safe, familiar and quality products.
Providing good quality product or service is just the start of the story. Don’t try to fool the buyer. When a emptor gets a good product from you at a fair price he develops certain expectations. Now it's your responsibility to live up to that expectation by keeping up the quality. If they don't get good products in the 2nd or 3rd purchase they'll switch to another brand. Remember that your competitors are there to draw in their attention. Brand loyalty not only earns you prompt profits but maximizes your revenue in the long haul.