Blogging Mistakes That Make You Little Money As a Blogger
- By Brian Scott
- Published 11/29/2010
- Tools and Resources
- Unrated
Yes, no doubt that Blogger and Wordpress come with free blogs, but you must remember that you have very little control over your content and you cannot promote affiliate programs on these free blogs (they will cancel your account if you violate their terms and conditions).
You can't really put much advertising or customize your blog as well so it will severely hamper your monetization efforts.
Just because you want to save a few bucks will cost you more in the long run.
This is one of the most serious mistakes made by new bloggers and by the time they decide to shift to a proper blog, it is too late because it is hard to salvage the traffic!
FOCUSING ON TOO MANY BLOGS AT ONCE
Another big mistake, having too many blogs will only divert your focus.
Remember that it isn't just about posting a lot of content on your blog, you have to build traffic and relationships as well.
This brings us to the next common mistake...
NO TRAFFIC (WRONG KEYWORDS, WRONG MARKET)
SEO bloggers (or bloggers who are not sure what to do) who pick all the wrong keywords or target keywords that focuses on the wrong market will not only drive little or no targeted traffic, they will even waste time setting up the blogs only to give up because they don't see any results.
Even when it comes to buying a domain name, you must take your time and not 'choke' yourself. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Even if you take a few hours or days to find that 'right' domain name, trust us... it is worth it!
NONE OF (OR WRONG) MARKETING EFFORTS
Sometimes it is also very difficult for most bloggers because they see themselves more as writers and not so much as businessmen.
A good blog requires marketing and you need to have a certain marketing mindset in order to tell people all about your blog.
Remember that even though you may have the best content in the world doesn't mean that you people can see it. It is like lighting a candle and putting it under a bushel basket so no one can see the light.
Marketing puts that candle on the roof tops so everyone can see it!
Also, you must remember to use the right monetization models for your business! For example: most of the time, many Internet
marketers do not click on Google Ads. It's a funny thing but it is quite true in many ways. If your blog is targeting Internet marketers don't get into a fit if your Google AdSense account is empty after a few months!
What is Social Blogging?
The term 'social blogging' is something we've coined about the two main types of bloggers in the world today.
Here's how we differentiate it.
LEVERAGING ON YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK
The majority of the bloggers in the world fall under the 'social blogging' category because they don't focus so much on SEO to get traffic to their blog. They usually tell their friends (offline) to come to their website and they spread the word through them. Sometimes, they would even use social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook or Friendster to make friends and they will click on their website.
Although this may not be the most effective in the world to get traffic, (and it will not get you loads of traffic), but you can leverage on your friends, your influence and their social circles to get a group of loyal readers to stick to your blog.
You don't even need to be an Internet marketer or a businessman to make money online (just blogging about your life!)
If you are quite famous in the offline world, you can even register your own domain name after your own name (assuming that it is not already taken) and people can locate you easily (without relying on the search engine).
For example, imagine you are Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie; you will get tons of traffic coming to your site because of your FANS! Social blogging will work if your name is a 'brand' by itself!
SEO BLOGGING
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has the potential to bring LOTS of traffic to your website!
Consider that millions and millions of people visit Google each day. Most people will think that SEO is too unstable or competitive, but there are millions of keywords out there that you can target!
People who are going for the SEO blogging route will need to learn all about SEO optimization by making sure their site appears on the first page or Google (or second page).
You will also need to compare with your competition. But the advantage of blogging is that you don't need to rely on a few keywords, you can target MANY, MANY keywords because it spreads out your risk. You don't need to worry about having one of your keywords de-ranked and having all your income go down the drain as well.
You can't really put much advertising or customize your blog as well so it will severely hamper your monetization efforts.
Just because you want to save a few bucks will cost you more in the long run.
This is one of the most serious mistakes made by new bloggers and by the time they decide to shift to a proper blog, it is too late because it is hard to salvage the traffic!
FOCUSING ON TOO MANY BLOGS AT ONCE
Another big mistake, having too many blogs will only divert your focus.
Remember that it isn't just about posting a lot of content on your blog, you have to build traffic and relationships as well.
This brings us to the next common mistake...
NO TRAFFIC (WRONG KEYWORDS, WRONG MARKET)
SEO bloggers (or bloggers who are not sure what to do) who pick all the wrong keywords or target keywords that focuses on the wrong market will not only drive little or no targeted traffic, they will even waste time setting up the blogs only to give up because they don't see any results.
Even when it comes to buying a domain name, you must take your time and not 'choke' yourself. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Even if you take a few hours or days to find that 'right' domain name, trust us... it is worth it!
NONE OF (OR WRONG) MARKETING EFFORTS
Sometimes it is also very difficult for most bloggers because they see themselves more as writers and not so much as businessmen.
A good blog requires marketing and you need to have a certain marketing mindset in order to tell people all about your blog.
Remember that even though you may have the best content in the world doesn't mean that you people can see it. It is like lighting a candle and putting it under a bushel basket so no one can see the light.
Marketing puts that candle on the roof tops so everyone can see it!
Also, you must remember to use the right monetization models for your business! For example: most of the time, many Internet
What is Social Blogging?
The term 'social blogging' is something we've coined about the two main types of bloggers in the world today.
Here's how we differentiate it.
LEVERAGING ON YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK
The majority of the bloggers in the world fall under the 'social blogging' category because they don't focus so much on SEO to get traffic to their blog. They usually tell their friends (offline) to come to their website and they spread the word through them. Sometimes, they would even use social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook or Friendster to make friends and they will click on their website.
Although this may not be the most effective in the world to get traffic, (and it will not get you loads of traffic), but you can leverage on your friends, your influence and their social circles to get a group of loyal readers to stick to your blog.
You don't even need to be an Internet marketer or a businessman to make money online (just blogging about your life!)
If you are quite famous in the offline world, you can even register your own domain name after your own name (assuming that it is not already taken) and people can locate you easily (without relying on the search engine).
For example, imagine you are Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie; you will get tons of traffic coming to your site because of your FANS! Social blogging will work if your name is a 'brand' by itself!
SEO BLOGGING
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has the potential to bring LOTS of traffic to your website!
Consider that millions and millions of people visit Google each day. Most people will think that SEO is too unstable or competitive, but there are millions of keywords out there that you can target!
People who are going for the SEO blogging route will need to learn all about SEO optimization by making sure their site appears on the first page or Google (or second page).
You will also need to compare with your competition. But the advantage of blogging is that you don't need to rely on a few keywords, you can target MANY, MANY keywords because it spreads out your risk. You don't need to worry about having one of your keywords de-ranked and having all your income go down the drain as well.
Brian Scott
Visit Brian's website, http://www.FastCashFreelance.com and learn about freelance writing and writing for money as a part-time or full-time writing career.
View all articles by Brian Scott