Why should you blog
Anyone can be a blogger. But different people have different reasons to blog.
If you make a list (which I did) of reasons that people start blogs it can end up being a pretty long list. But the reasons really fall into just a few broad categories;
- Self expression – to share your thoughts and feelings
- Self promotion
- To teach others
- To make money
- To promote a cause you believe in – to make the world a better place
Each one of those is a very valid reason to start a blog. And one blog can satisfy more than one purpose. But the blogs I’m interested in here are the ones that make money. Because let’s face it, the other reasons become more attainable when you have money.
Mindset
I for one understand the need to feel like it’s about more than money. I am getting older and my life experiences have really made me think about what my purpose and meaning are – but that’s a whole other big conversation. In short, I am dedicated to my goal of improving the lives of those I can. And doing those things generally requires money and the freedom that comes with it.
You are a business person – not just a blogger
Like I said, anyone can be a blogger, but not everyone is a business. A business with a blog has a clear purpose and strategy for their blog. They use their blog to achieve specific goals and objectives.
Blogging is a great way to build an audience and establish thought leadership. But if you want to turn your blog into a business, you need to do more than just write good content. You need to treat your blog like a business. That requires some organization and discipline.
Making money is okay
That’s a weird thing to say, huh?
But honestly, some people have this guilty feeling asking for money “just” for information they provide. But the thing is that people want that information. There’s a giant chunk of our economy that is based on the sale of information. There is no reason at all that you shouldn’t be more than just a consumer of that information.
People pay for knowledge.
Well, people pay for what they believe the knowledge will get for them – which comes down to money more often than not. People go to college to learn stuff that will hopefully get them a well-paying job. People learn about investing so they can make more money.
People pay for books about how-to-knit because,…. oh wait. That’s not about making money. But people pay anyway. They want that knowledge so they can do something they couldn’t before. So they pay for it.
It’s ok for you to sell them that information.
Helping other is okay
That’s another weird thing to say.
Just helping others is a noble thing to do. But it doesn’t have to be independent of making money. In fact, in a strange way you almost have to make money to help them.
Let me explain.
It would seem that giving people information that can help them would benefit them more than if you made them pay for it, but that ain’t necessarily so.
There’s a kind of pessimistic saying out there that “Free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.” Which may sometime be true actually. But sometimes is actually good advice that people don’t pay attention to because it’s free.
If people pay for advice from “an expert” they may very well get the exact advice that was offered for free elsewhere. But they take it more seriously and value it more BECAUSE they paid for it.
The perceived value of something is directly related to it’s price. It’s human nature.
I know it sounds screwed up when I say it like this, but people will value your advice more if you make them pay for it.
What kind of (business) person are you?
There are a few models for how you structure an online business. I don’t mean the choices of single-proprietorship, LLC or S-corp., or whatever. I’m talking about what your overall sales strategy is. Or I guess more accurately, your sales philosophy.
And while I’m at it I should say that mostly what I’m talking about is your marketing philosophy. I’m sure there are all kinds of different ways you could categorize the, but for me it boils down to these 4.
- Opportunistic
- Slimy Marketing
- Empowering
- Long Tail
Opportunistic
This first model is generally about getting a quick sale and moving on to a new customer. Review sites are an example of this. People who choose that path optimize their content so that they are where people go to read a review and if they decide to buy, click an affiliate link from their site so they get a commission for the sale.
Another example is when a business owner spots an upcoming trend and positions themselves to take advantage of that trend in some way. A few years ago some people had a strategy of looking at the upcoming schedule for Oprah’s show and churned out “expert” content on the topic that was going to be featured. Then they found and promoted an affiliate product related to it.
What would happen is they’d get a big bump in traffic when the show aired and get a few bucks from it. They would do that for all/most of the episodes and make affiliate income or advertising income from it.
If that sound like a lot of work, it is.
In fact, that’s the problem with the opportunistic model in general. You have to put a LOT of work (and money if you’re paying for ads) to drive traffic to your site for a one-time sale. For some things it can be scaled up, but in generally I don’t feel it’s the best way to make money online because the focus is on getting the sale, not on building relationships.
This can work if you have a product that people need and are willing to buy without much thought or research.
Slimy Marketing
The term ‘slimy marketing’ make sit sound like a put-down. That’s because that’s how I meant it. That’s the best term I could think of for it.
When I refer to slimy marketing, I’m talking about the kind that prays of people’s insecurities to sell what amounts to a bunch of crap. I’m sure you know the kind of things I mean when you see them.
A pill that will make you lose 30 pounds in 10 days
A secret formula to make you millions in passive income in the next 30 days.
This one secret way to cure cancer that THEY don’t want you to know.
That sort of nonsense.
I don’t mean to say that blatantly salesy, even sensational headlines make something slimy. It’s just that in the three examples above there is no genuine product that can do any of that for you.
That’s the problem I have with it. It’s people selling B.S. and basically swindling people out of money. If you knowingly sell people things that don’t work, you’re a slime ball. Sorry. That’s my opinion.
But it’s not just those clear-cut examples I gave. It’s also things like selling people a product by leading them to believe that you’re selling them a whole system for how to make money when all you’re really doing is telling them how to sign up for an eBay or Etsy account. That’s an extreme example, but people do it.
It’s shady if you ask me.
I broke down a couple years ago and gave in to curiosity after seeing online ads for a revolutionary way for middle aged men (like me) to build muscle while burning fat. There was supposed to be some secret only this one guy knew.
I’m not going to say the name of the guy or product. nor will I give away his secret – because there wasn’t one. It was 37 dollars for some VERY large print saying basically to lift weights the way they taught you in high school, eat less and take supplements that you can buy through his affiliate link.
I still get at least one marketing email a day from this guy to this day. Sometimes 3 or 4. None of it even approaches being helpful. Frankly, I’m not so sure he is a real person. It’s slimy.
Don’t be that guy. I sure won’t be teaching you methods like that.
(note: I don’t want you to think your stuff has to be perfect. It’s easy when you’re trying to sell your knowledge to think that you’re not good enough to be doing it. It’s called imposter syndrome. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who know they are selling lies to desperate people and do it anyway.)
Empowering
In this third model, with the product you sell you are helping your customer to improve in some way. You are either teaching them or providing a tool to help them achieve their goal.
It is basically a problem-solving model. Solving problems for your customers. You focus on finding solutions to their problems and providing them with value. That value can come in the form of knowledge.
I hope it is obvious that this is the model I prefer and the one I am focusing on in this site. I help people who want to work for themselves from home do so profitably with minimal anxiety and maximum profit potential.
My goal is to help you with the content I write on the blog. That help is free. My hope is that you find the information beneficial enough that you will also feel inclined to invest in the products I offer that focus on more specific results with practical guides on how to implement particular tools and techniques to reach your goals.
Long Tail
The (second to) last model is the relationship-building model I call long-tail marketing. I need to come up with a better name for this one. Let me know if you have any ideas.
This model is all about building relationships with your customers. You focus on solving their problems and providing them with value. This can take longer to make a sale, but you will build loyalty and repeat customers.
Actually, It goes hand-in-hand with the empowering model.
Let’s say I know some ways to help you buy a home for less than market value. I don’t, but let’s pretend.
If I have an information product that I sell to you for $497 that saves you $5,000 of the purchase price of a home you’d probably pay for it. Once you trust me that is.
Otherwise you wouldn’t feel comfortable spending that money right away. I need to gain your trust. I’d do that by providing you with good information consistently before that point.
Maybe I’d even give you a helpful tool for free in exchange for your email address. Then send you more informative help directly a few before I hit you with the product offer. Hopefully by that point I’d have gained your trust and you’d open your wallet.
Of course, what I sell you better deliver what I claim it does. Let’s say you use the information I sell you, and you do indeed buy the home at a discount.
Great. Now if I then offer you another guide on how to lower your property tax, you’d be inclined to buy that too.
Next maybe a plan for saving money on renovations common to new home owners; You’d go for that too.
And so on. I would concentrate my efforts on helping you over and over, and building an ongoing relationship with you. The products I’d sell you would be worth it to you because they save you much more than they cost you.
The benefit for me would be (obviously) the money from the sales, but also the fact that once you have become a customer, I just need to keep you as my customer by providing value and trust. I don’t need to chase huge numbers of visitors to my site for get one-time sales from multiple strangers.
It also would allow me to sleep at night knowing I was helping you rather than taking advantage of you.
Extra Bonus Marketing model
There’s another model that doesn’t quite fit into the other ones above; Entertainment.
I know there are ways to make money entertaining people online, but I’m not going to even attempt to cover it. The reason is simple: I really don’t think I’m qualified at all to give any advice on this topic.
I have no doubt that there are good ways to monetize performing for others or writing fiction or comedy, but it’s just not a good fit for me and this website.
There you have it
Clearly this is not a complete how-to guide for running a blog as a business but rather a bit of insight and foundation for how to think about your business blogging.
You can read about the business formula(s) for how to actually make money using a blog elsewhere on this site, and I encourage you to do so.