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You can “Blog for Blogging Sack” by writing down your thoughts and eventually be rewarded by the Search Engine Gods by being ranked to their first page,
Or you can “Blog for Money” with a mission and reap the rewards much quicker. These two directions in blogging are the Fork in the Road of Blogging for every blogger.
The Fork in the Road of Blogging comes to each blogger at different times of their blogging career. Many hit the fork in the road immediately upon starting..some take the “I’ll start blogging and see what happens” path and eventually come to the fork in the road of blogging.
Others will think about it, attend a dozen or so conferences on blogging, talk to a few people they know who blog and then take the “I Know What I Am Doing” path to the Fork in the Road of Blogging.
However a blogger enters the blogosphere they will be confronted with the Fork in the Road of Blogging.
Blog for Blogging Sack
There is absolutely nothing wrong with blogging for blogging’s sack. There are millions of amateur blogs. Actually, there are millions more amateur bloggers than there are the “Blog for Money” blogger. Many bloggers enter the path of professionally blogging only to remain an amateur due to them taking the “I’ll Blog First and Turn Pro When I get X Number of Blogs” path. Not a great idea since it brands the person as an amateur for their entire career.
Fortunately, there is a need for bloggers who enjoy taking the path of blogging organically. Many of the amateur bloggers offer some every good insight into a specific niche, or are very good at telling short funny stories.
Unfortunately, 90% of the people who blog thinking they are going to make money blogging start off guns blazing but then shortly find out the realities of them taking the “Blog for Blogging Sack” path.
As I mentioned in The Downside of Blogging, beginner bloggers will eventually find blogging to be time consuming. They also will develop a high level of insecurity from the lack of responsiveness from viewers. Many walk away from their blogs leaving a big question mark in viewers mines when they find their blog and it has not been updated in years.
I have been there and know exactly what these bloggers feel…and I have a couple of blogs still out there I keep thinking I am going to revive..but…without anyone commenting on any of the blogs I post on those sites, it makes going back to the blogs depressing.
Many times taking the “Blog of Blogging’s Sack” path is not the best path to take.
Blog for Money
Taking the path of blogging for money has just as many potholes to hit if a blogger begins that journey not knowing what to expect. There are two clear levels of Blogging for Money.
They are:
- Paid Blog Post – Paid Blog Posts are defined as someone paying a Blogger to write a post on a product or subject that is linked to their promotions.
- Display Advertising – Display Advertising is defined as where an Ad or designed ad is placed someone in the blog or around the blog and the blogger gets paid for each click made to the ad.
There actually should be a Tollgate on the entry to the “Blog for Money” path. The toll would cover all of the services and products a blogger will need to pay for just to make money from their blog site. Yes, that is right. It takes money to make money when you take the “Blog for Money” path.
To cut to the chase, here are just a few of the things you will need to take care of long before you launch the blog and start the journey down the “Blog of Money” path.
- Awesome, professionally designed and developed blog site. A blog site designed to draw in the viewers and is laid out to entice people to click on ads or links does not come cheap. On average, a budget of $2500 will get the ball started. However, if you are not a coder or a web developer buying support could add even more to that budget.
- Going Gray Hat on the SEO. I never suggest anyone go Full Black Hat on their SEO. The advantages are short lived and the consequences are devastating to someone who does not have the financial resources to play that game. However, knowing how to make your blog site run efficiently, and catch Google’s eye so they will promote your blog on the search engine could take a little Gray Hat SEO..which means the SEO for your site is manipulated to it’s fullest advantage.
- Buy-a-Friend. No, this does not mean you hire people to put you in their Google+ Circle. Buy-a-Friend means sponsoring an Event, or some sort of Launch Party where you gather up people to attend a function where you ask them to put you in their Google+ Circle..or if you are into wasting whole lot of time and energy..and money, ask them to ‘Like’ your Facebook Page. The cost of the event to get people to be your friend is a factor many Bloggers do not take serious when they take the “Blog for Money” path. More or less the cost could be associated to you Buying Friends….right?
- YouTube Studio Quality Videos. Needless to say, but the day of the Webcam video blog was over the day YouTube allowed for HD camera quality uploads. Now, if someone takes the “Blog for Money” path and their site does not have a few high quality produced YouTube videos viewers will not pay them much attention. The more successful bloggers who took the “Blog for Money” path either have set up a full studio in their office, or go the more cost effective way, by renting a YouTube Set Studio. The cost associated to either direction of video set up is considerable, but for the “Blog for Money” blogger, the ROI comes in less than a year. If you are going to go down the “Blog for Money” path and you do not have videos…you may want to back up a bit and consider taking the “Blog for Blogging Sack” path…it will save you a lot of heartache from not getting an ROI.
- Social Media Management. Do not even think about trying to cover all of the online social networks without using some sort of social media management system. And, do not think of wasting your time with the Free versions since they are limited for a reason and will not meet the needs of a “Blog for Money” blogger. I will not go into recommending one service over another. The Pro Version or Enterprise Levels for them all do great jobs. Just get one that you find easy to use because believe me..you are going to be on them as much as you are blogging. These systems allows you to cover all bases and keep in touch with your communities. Interacting immediately to someone mentioning you in the social spaces is a Must. If you are not able to do this you might need to join those bloggers back peddling over to the “Blogging for Blogging’s Sack” path.
These are just a few of the things you have to deal with if you take the “Blog for Money” fork in the road. The one thing they all have in common…they all cost money. This means, there are no free rides when you “Blog for Money”. Many bloggers have tried, and a few..like 1 in 100,000, make it without spending a lot of money. Notice I said “A Lot of Money”. This means, at some point everyone who took the “Blog for Money” path had to spend some amount of money to make money.
The Fork in the Road of Blogging is black and white..or whatever two colors you want to use to associate to there being two distinct difference and approaches to blogging. There is no right or wrong..just one costing less than the other and one requiring a well thought out strategy. I’ll be back with more on the realities of blogging. Until then.
Let me know how I can help.
