A Blog is Not a Business (You Can’t Make Money Blogging)

Trade

I love blogging. I’ve been blogging since around 2000. That’s a long time — and even longer in Internet time. In all that time however, I hope I’ve never, even inadvertently, given anyone the impression that you make money from a blog by blogging, alone.

Here’s how it works.

[Your monetization strategy and/ or business] + [blog to promote that] = money.

A blog, on its own, is nothing. It’s totally useless. It always has been. Your blog and your blogging efforts, exist solely in support of something else. That “something else” comes first.

I write for business people and writers, so this article, Why The “Make Money Blogging” Niche Is Broken | Blog Marketing Academy, was a surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t have been:

“SOMEWHERE along the line – and I have no idea where or who – this notion came about that one could make money by blogging alone.

The path is seemingly simple: (1) Start blog, (2) Build traffic by writing alot, doing awesome shit, yada yada, (3) ‘Monetize’.”

(Read the article, it’s a good one, and read the comments, too.)

Why, why, oh why???

My Web content clients tend to wince when I ask WHY? about a piece of content they want me to create. But think about it: if you don’t know what a Web page (or a blog post) is supposed to be doing, how can it do what you want?

Without a medium of exchange (goods or services for cash), your blog will achieve… nothing. The WHY has to come first, before you create a blog. I’ve got hundreds of blogs (literally), but each and every one of them has a reason for its existence. I had a goal, and created the blog to support that goal.

Look at the little image on the top right of this post. See the products (fruit and vegetables) and the hand with coins in it? That’s TRADE. It’s making money. The shopkeeper trades fruit and veggies for cash.

What are you trading on your blog — where’s the exchange for cash?

Occasionally, bloggers approach me and ask how they can monetize a blog. Often, the reply is: “You can’t.” The blogger has created a blog for a particular interest, and although the blog may be wonderful, there just aren’t any monetization options. I’d give you some examples of blogs which are impossible to monetize, but I won’t embarrass anyone.

You CANNOT make money, just by blogging. The monetization strategy must come first.

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