It might be one of the most frequently asked questions on the internet today:
Can I make money blogging?
Can I Turn Blog into Business?
Many bloggers have encouraged these inquiries, saying that yes, with a little hard work and dedication you can make money blogging. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but
You won’t make any money blogging.
Writing words and placing them on a blog will not pay your bills. Even if you produce good work, and people like your work, the act of blogging won’t make you money.
From a pure blogging standpoint, the best you can hope for is someone from a larger company noticing and hiring you.
What you can do, if you’d like to turn blogging into a career or Turn Blog into Business, is make money using your blog. To many that might seem like the same thing. Is there really a difference between making money blogging, and making money using a blog?
Absolutely. :D
It’s a distinction that can be the difference between frustration and success.
Your blog as a business
When you put a post up on your blog, you are not engaging in a direct business transaction. No one pays you to publish that post. People might find it, read it, and comment on it, but you’re still not getting paid for the post itself.
From a business perspective, your blog posts are marketing apparatus. They are engines that drive people to your blog. Done well, they will attract a reader’s attention. That’s no small feat, either. Gaining attention is one of the two pillars of marketing.
What you do with that attention will determine the future of your blog. Uncultured, the attention will serve to slowly grow your traffic, with your readers spreading the word. While that’s not a poor goal, it’s not what will lead you to profitable lands. In order to make your blog into a small business, you have to cultivate that attention.
All Businesses Sell!
How do businesses make money?
By selling products or services. This can be in a direct way, or an indirect way.
Unfortunately, too many bloggers go for the indirect route. It’s the easy path, and so many walk it without thinking about alternatives. Those blogs will rarely, if ever, turn into viable businesses.
When you place CPM advertisements on your blog you are not making money directly. Advertisers are paying you not for your effort, but by the number of readers who see their ads. Worst of all, when you work with an ad network you get only a slice of that income, typically less than half. The indirect monetization method just doesn’t pay.
In order to truly transform your blog into a small business you have to sell something. Whether that’s through affiliate marketing, selling your own products, or other monetization methods, having a clear idea of what you’re selling will allow you to take that next step. The more direct the sale, the greater the profit for you, the blogger.
Can You Turn Blog into Business? How?
So how does a blogger make the transition from merely writing words to owning a small business or Turn Blog into Business? It’s not actually that difficult if you break it down into steps. When I consult blogs wanting to take that next step, I show them a playbook that unfolds something like this:
1. Take inventory. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Being honest about these will make your growth path easier to create. You’ll want to follow paths that exploit your strongest skills, and you’ll want to brush up on those weaker skills.
2. Know what you’re selling. As mentioned above, you need to know what you’re selling — and how you’re selling it — if you plan to make any money.
3. Research, research, research. Go deep into your niche. Go deep into your monetization method. There are authoritative blogs and publications all around the net on nearly every topic you can imagine. If you plan to sell mobile phone accessories through affiliate marketing, for example, you’d want to research reviews of mobile accessories and read blogs by leading affiliate marketers.
4. Find the right tools. There is a correct tool for every job. Bloggers require one set of tools, while small business owners require another. You’ll need both. Thankfully, there are some easy ways to get a head start. QuickBooks, for instance, offers free trials for its software for starting a small business. Those are tools that will help you manage your business and cut down on day-to-day frustration.
5. Always be improving. It’s not enough to work in your business every day. You have to work on your business every day. Little improvements not only make a difference, but they lead to bigger improvements that will improve your overall business standing. Every day strive for incremental improvements, and over time you will make huge ones.
Writing words and publishing them on a blog won’t make you much money.
If you get a lot of traffic you might make some pocket change through display advertising, but that’s about it. In order to truly make money from a blog, bloggers must become small business owners. It is by thinking like a business that they can take that next step and make money online.
Did I missed any points to Turn Your Blog into a Small Business? let me know in comments!