NOT a Guru!
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Keeping it simple, without the hype. PC tips and Internet advice for mom and pop businesses.
Some inspiration to keep on blogging.
I am convinced that mom and pop businesses need to seriously consider blogging as a component of the Internet marketing strategy. Blogging creates traffic, buzz, feedback and is easy to set up. But there is a catch: Sometimes it can feel like blogging is a waste of time and that your posts are floating out to the Great Nowhere.
We all have different reasons for blogging. My reason for the first year is twofold: To share practical information for small business people who don’t have a lot of computer training, and to see if I have the self discipline to write every day. For the time being, my blogging experience is more of a challenge to myself than anything. After it’s been established, I have some much stronger goals, including making money. You might have similar reasons. Frankly, I think the main reason for anyone to blog is to eventually start making money.
No matter what your reason for blogging, staying consistent and keeping your goals in mind can be a challenge.
How Many Blogs Are There?
Technorati reports that it is tracking 133 million blogs. The key is that those blogs are the ones that are being tracked. Your guess is as good as mine as to how many blogs exist in the worldwide web if we accounted for blogs that are not tracked. According to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere report (linked at the beginning of this paragraph), blogs are profitable. It reports that, “The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.”
What Technorati does not report — and I haven’t been able to find statistics anywhere — is how many blogs eventually fizzle out and die. Unless a blogger has a clear goal in mind for his or her reason to blog, it is just too much work to blog merely for the sake of blogging. Also, it is unclear from currently available statistics how many blogs within the massive Blogosphere are simply “splogs” containing spammy content with no meaningful value.
A Dose of Inspiration
Splogs and dead blogs aside, it’s reasonable to assume that there are millions of blogs out there. Given all the competition, why keep blogging? Here are some real life examples that should inspire you to keep on keepin’ on.
- Monthly Revenue – DoshDosh published an excellent article, Profiles of Successful Money Making Blogs. On the low end, the money making blogs are earning around $60,000 a year; on the upper end, they earn $1 million a year. For some huge inspiration, check out John Chow’s blog. He regularly posts his monthly blogging income. In September 2008, Chow reports that his blog earned just a little over $38,000.
- Blog Sales – This one is a mind blower: The Bankaholic blog, written by just one man, sold this past September for up to $15 million, with slightly over $12 million paid upfront. The John Cow blog is rumored to have sold for at least $25,000 (exact sales price unknown).
- Gain Notoriety. Keep blogging good content and maybe you’ll end up in the list of the most influential bloggers.
Your Blog Can Turn Into a Full Time Business
Chances are, you’ve found yourself at the TechCrunch blog when searching for something. TechCrunch, and its rival, GigaOm, started out as hobby blogs, according to USA Today. They are now full-time businesses.
For those of us who are interested in personal development, Steve Paglina’s blog is a must read. In fact, Steve shares his blogging success story in an excellent article, How to Make Money From Your Blog. It took about six months for Steve to start earning around $4 a day with his blog. Four years later, he was earning $1,000 a day (that’s right — a day). He started his blog with the $9 domain registration fee and achieved his earnings with $0 in marketing. To really get inspired and to learn the nuts and bolts about how to make money with your blog, I highly recommend that you read Steve’s article. Keep in mind that Steve did not make his $1,000 a day overnight. It took years of persistence.
For Those Who Are Serious About Blogging
If you are really serious about making money by blogging, Blogging to the Bank is something you really need to get your hands on.
What you receive is a step-by-step “roadmap” that a college dropout uses to make serious money with his blogs. In fact, he makes over $34,000 a month just by blogging. The downloadable ebook is only $47 and backed by a 100% guarantee.
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