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[It's my pleasure to introduce Gabe Young of Free Blog Help, who will be covering the absolute basics of blogging every first Monday monthly. Gabe started into the blogging niche in the summer of 2009, and was one of Website In A Weekend's first regular readers. We have both grown our blogs roughly in parallel since then, having similar traffic numbers, same page rank, but differing a bit in audience and scope. When I decided to build a staff for Website In A Weekend, Gabe was the first person I turned to. He graciously allowed me the run of his archives, whence I've extracted 8 articles from last summer and fall, which I believe provide a solid anchor for absolute beginner bloggers. These beginner articles start today and run through the first Monday in December 2010.]
So you want to be a blogger…
…but you don’t know what to blog about. That’s the number one thing preventing people from starting up.
First, let’s figure out why you want to be a blogger. Here are some of the most common reasons why people blog:
- Promote a product. A blog is an excellent way to promote products; put your products to use for readers, allowing them share how your product is important to them.
- Provide a service. When you have a service-oriented business, you can use your blog to help people understand your service (and you) better, leading to clients who are a better fit.
- Share personal experiences. One of the most common reasons for people to write is to share experiences, especially strong, emotionally meaningful experiences. Sharing can be immensely cathartic, and readers bond strongly when emotionally engaged.
- Build credibility. When you have a lot of information to impart, and you want to build credibility as an authoritative expert, having a blog can make that much more convenient for you and your readers.
- Enhance an existing website. Many established web sites can be radically enhanced by simply porting the site to blog friendly technology. The site looks the same, with a blog.
My blog, Free Blog Help, for example, obviously provides a service.
One thing not on the aforementioned list is MAKE MONEY!
Whether you think making money is your primary goal or not, I would go out on a limb and say that 99% of the time, bloggers wouldn’t turn it away if it was streaming in. Most likely, that’s why you’re reading this to begin with.
There is no shame in making money.
With so many online resources these days, such as blog exchanges, Google Adsense, Google Adwords, RSS, Feedburner, text link ads (just to name a few), there’s no reason to not make money while blogging. Over the last few years, I blogged for all of the reasons listed above. Along the way, I started making money. Although it wasn’t my original intention, money started coming.
All I did was put some ads on the blogs and it was like planting money seeds.
So what was the secret behind all of my blogs? There are actually many things that factor into my success, but the number one thing is this:
I always blog on topics I am passionate about.
Find the topic that interests you the most and just start blogging. Your main goal, especially in the early stages, is to get content on your blog. That means you must post regularly. The only way you’ll do that religiously is to blog about something you either love, hate, or have some worldly knowledge of.
But the most important step is getting started. What are you waiting for?
Gabe Young is a business professional with
an entrepreneurial spirit. Gabe has an MBA and managed IT departments in the Fortune
500, creating strategies and tactics for some of the most popular websites. Visit
Gabe at Free Blog Help dot Com.
Glad you pointed out there’s no reason to not make money while blogging. I love writing, love helping readers, and love the sense of community, but I sure don’t have an allergy to making money in the process :)
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..How to Handle a Dream Snatcher =-.
Jean, there’s way too many people in this space “enforcing” ridiculous notions of “how to blog.”
What I don’t get is, if people don’t like making money online, than just don’t read those kinds of blogs.
So simple, really.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Doing It By The Numbers – Blog Post Engineering =-.
Gabe, I love this idea about “planting money seeds.” I believe it’s the right way to think about the whole process. Just as it takes time for the oak to grow from the acorn, it takes time for all these money seeds to grow into a mature revenue stream.
Off to plant some more seeds!
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Blogging Business – You Gotta License For That? =-.
There’s a lot of watering that has to be done but at the end of the day, it’s all part of the promotion machine.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..5 link building tips to increase your search engine rankings =-.
Solid tips. I concur that the most important thing about blogging is to blog about something you are passionate about. You provide more quality content and can interact better with your readers if you are an expert in the field.
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..FaceBook Like Takes DiTesco On CNN’s Front Page =-.
Such an easy concept but without the passion, everything else kinda just falls apart after a short while.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..5 link building tips to increase your search engine rankings =-.
But don’t those ‘money seeds’ really say that the passion about the topic is hooey and I’m really out to fleece you?
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..Status Update – April =-.
Soooo many `bloggers’ want you to think this!
Here’s what I think: a few people that try and fail to make money from their blogging efforts get mad at people who succeed!
Most people who fail quietly suck it up and try again. The noisy ones are, well, really noisy.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Doing It By The Numbers – Blog Post Engineering =-.
Great point but you could use that argument for every website, commercial, advertisement, charity canning event, etc.
If one of the goals of a blog is to make money, I’m just saying that there are many ways to do it. You could be professional and subtle or you could be a snake oil salesman. Not fair to lump everyone on together.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..5 link building tips to increase your search engine rankings =-.
I’m more thinking of the guy that finds your blog because he is interested in your content and gets turned off when it is full of ads.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..Status Update – April =-.
No doubt, there are plenty of those guys types out there. I don’t see anything wrong with people making money as long as they’re honest about it and the product they’re selling isn’t a scam. That includes the in-your-face sales folks.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..5 link building tips to increase your search engine rankings =-.
Ralph, very good point.
There is a balance here. The person providing the information needs some sort of compensation, but if the price is too high (too many ads), he or she won’t find many buyers.
On the other hand, people who complain about *your* commercial activity on the web are simply not your customers. When they show up demanding this or that, you are under no obligation to listen to them.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Doing It By The Numbers – Blog Post Engineering =-.
Blogging is the easy part. Getting people to read the blog is the hard part. You can plant the money seeds alright, but you have to hope the weather is cooperating.
.-= Jonathan@Lifestyle Design in The Limelight´s last blog ..How to Choose a Tarot Deck: The Limelight Way =-.
Two aspects (some would say 3):
1. The writing has to have some pull, and
2. You have to “publish.”
It just so happens I wrote an ebook on that “publishing” part. It will help you out.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How To Unlaunch Your Ebook =-.
No doubt that promotion is something that many new bloggers don’t recognize until they already have both feet in. That’s when a good number of them jump out and abandon their blogs.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..7 Ways To Spice Up Your Blog Content =-.
This is something that has been on my mind lately, too… make a little money on the side. My blog is my hobby, but I wouldn’t mind if it paid for itself.
In fact, that would be pretty great! :P
For now, I’m focused on taking great pictures (I’m a photo blogger), but I’m soaking up stuff like this, hoping to monetize to the tune of a couple hundred bucks a year, at least.
.-= James´s last blog ..Grape seed oil =-.
Keep it up for a year and follow basic ad guides. You’ll earn enough to support your own site easily.
However, there are those who want to take it to the next level and can earn a decent income as well.
.-= Gabe Young´s last blog ..7 Ways To Spice Up Your Blog Content =-.