From Nobody To Somebody - Part 1
written by John Chow
I’ve been challenged to create a new blog but not tell anyone about it. The premise is to see if a nobody can really become a somebody in the blogsphere if that person has no name behind him.
In this experiment you would detail your strategy, hardships and successes at starting this new blog (an experiment) but never mention the actual blog url/name. You can always sell it off at the end, or give it away on johnchow.com as massive super challenge/reward… to gain a ton of publicity for john chow dot com.
It has been mention that one of the reasons John Chow dot Com got so big was because I had an established name as the owner of The TechZone and TTZ Media Network. By creating a successful blog as a nobody, I will be able to prove once and for all, that anybody can do this. In part 1 of this series, I want to talk about laying down the foundation.
It Will Not Be a Make Money Online Blog
You know, it truly amazes me that a person who has never made a dime online would start a blog about making money online. That’s like me starting a blog on how to fly a plane and expecting people to come and read it. I don’t know how to fly a plane. Why would I make a blog about it? However, people see me pull down over $12,000 per month by blogging about making money online and suddenly everyone wants a piece of the action. It doesn’t work that way.
John Chow dot Com started off as a personal blog about my ramblings. It turn into a make money online blog and developed a following because I am an authority on the subject. I’ve been in the game for a long time. I survived the dot com crash and I own an ad network that serves millions of ads every month.
I get tons of emails everyday from new bloggers asking how they can make money with their make money online blog. I answer their question with a question, “Why would I want to read your blog?” When you can answer that, you are on your way.
I’ve decided to keep the topic of the nobody blog a secret for now. However, it will be on something that I know very well.
It Will Not Be Hosted on a Free Blogging Service
If you’re truly serious about making money from blogging, then get the hell out of blogspot.com or any other free blog hosting services. If you can’t afford to pay $4.95 a month for a BlueFur hosting plan, then you have no business making money on the Net.
As your blog getting bigger, you’ll start to understand the power of your brand. And you cannot create a brand when your blog has blogspot.com in the URL! This is not to say you should never use a free hosting service. By all means, use them to get your feet wet. However, the longer you stay with a free blog host, the harder it is to make money with it. Many ad networks (like TTZ Media) will not deal with a blog hosted by free blog host. Because of this, the nobody blog will be have its own domain name and web hosting.
$100 Budget
While it would be easy to pour thousands of dollars into the nobody blog to acquire tens of thousands of readers in the first month, this is beyond the ability of the average blogger. Therefore, I have set a budget that I believe everyone should be able to afford. Of the $100 budget, $8.95 will go for a domain name and $4.95 will go to pay the first month of web hosting. I expect the blog to cover hosting costs after the first payment.
The remaining $86.10 will go into blog promotion. That’s a pretty tight promotion budget but I have a few ideas to leverage the limited funds. I’ll talk about that in part two.
At What Point Is The Blog a Somebody?
I will open this question up for discussion. How much would a nobody blog have to make before it becomes a somebody? $100 a month? $1000 a month? $10,000 a month? Give me a number. The amount you pick will help me decided when to reveal the name and URL of the nobody blog. Until the blog hits that amount, no one will know where it is.
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(24 votes, average: 3.54 out of 5)
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I think $3k US where someone could quit their job would be fair.
I agree, that should be about the minimum. Less than that amount would still be great but not enough to be a “somebody”.
This is definitely the target goal for many. It is a good number indeed
WOw! John Chow..
Always challenge your self! there is no limit! Bless you!
Someday, i will be somebody that have a dine with you and darren rowse! that is my goal!
I agree, if you can earn enough to be a “pro” blogger then you will be a “somebody”. $3-4k sounds about right.
I assume there is some rule in there that you can’t add a link in there from John Chow or do a ReviewMe on yourself
and it will be better if one earns $10K a month… I think, i am near to that….
I also will quit my job if i can earn $3k Per month
Same here!
And I would stop looking for a job If I am able to earn that much.
I agree 3k is a nice round number, it is a very good income for a blog and pays more than some jobs out there.
$36k a year from blogging is a very obtainable number for “nobodies”. Go john go!
Yup
That would be what I make working outside the home…I would totally quit if I could make that per month…I think $3000 a month is a good bar.
Yeah i would too…
well, probably not I think i would just become a more confident employee knowing that i don’t have to depend on the check. How backwards is that… haha…
Heck - this is John Chow - I think you should aim higher!
10k per month! Come on stretch yourself
There are so many people making absolutely nothing online right now that I think 1k a month would be fair. Any limit higher than that would be pure gravy.
This is sort of what I’m trying to do with my Blogging Experiment, although I have attached my name to it. Luckily, I’m not at all well known online and certainly not by my real name which is what I use on my blog. I’ve set my goal at “a full time income” which I’ve got to say is definitely not 3k a month. I’ve got a wife and a mortgage, I’m not sure what the price of living is where BlueFur is from but 36k a year isn’t exactly living the high life.
But $3,000 is enough to proove you can do it as a nobody. If he can get to $3,000 a month, its only a matter of time before you get to 4,5,6 grand a month…
Well, it’s not always just a matter of time but yes, I agree that’s more than enough to prove you can do it as a “nobody” that’s why I think 1k would be fine.
I earn about $500/month now without working too hard at it. I’m a nobody. $1K isn’t even close to being a somebody in this business.
Yeah, at the very least.. 3k. but I say 4k.
As the person who emailed you and got you to start this new mini-series (I’m Kyle), I agree. $3,000 a month is enough to live off of and a good number to go with.
If you can get to $3,000, it could also be grown way past that with more time and effort. But $3,000 a month is enough proof that its successful.
I wonder how long it takes to get there as a nobody. I guess we’ll see! I first emailed you the challenge not knowing if I would get an answer. Thanks! This is awesome and a really interesting mini-series I think will be a publicity getter for your blog.
Good luck, I’ll be watching with interest!
After reading comments, anywhere between 3 and 5 thousand should be enough to proove it.
What do you think John? How much do you think a blog should make before you deem it a success? $3,000 would be well on the way… but $5,000+ would be a decent income.
Up to you!
Nah, lets keep it at $3000. You do not need to make more than that to prove you’re a somebody. The purpose isn’t to see how much the blog could essentially pump out, if you’re making $3000 (which is definitely enough for most to live off of and quit their day time jobs), I think thats more than enough to prove you’re a somebody. Anything more, is pretty much a bonus.
Well John it depends how much money you want to make out of it.
Let’s just say you get it to $1k a month and then reveal your identity.
$1k a month is very credible so there’d be no complaints there…. And you’d then be able to accelerate the money making potential of your blog because of the thousands of visits pouring into it once you give it the publicity.
Another point to remember is that you’re going to make a mistake at some point. There will be a time where you slip-up and your identity will be un-masked, or a switched-on reader of your new blog picks up something in the syntax of your posts. This might be at 250 a month or 5000 a month. But it’s gonna happen, despite you wanting to release the name at a time and date of your choosing. So if you keep a target of $1000, which barely anyone is making, you reduce that risk.
I agree, $3k a month is more than I made right out of college.
$3k USD in my country is about RM9000…Normally after college only can make RM1500++(500USD)
Is it really about the money? I make a lot more than 3g a month but I am a nobody. To be a somebody wouldn’t some other form of metric be better say to be mention on 10 of the top 1000 bloggers or to have 3 posts in digg etc etc
The challenge was issued to John in response of the fact he is able to make what he can because he was already well known. He needs to prove he can make money as an unmarked name, thats why the money is determining factor here of whether you’re a somebody or not. Otherwise I could see why you would consider the other factors into play.
That’s a great number… $3,000 per month.
3K should be a very nice figure.
I hope I can learn from you
Your blog is one of my top favorites!!!!
Good luck
I think $4K a month is good.
I agree wholeheartedly although I probably would at 2k.
Oh you mean something that you know very well..
Let me guess… is it parenting?
My guess is either food, cars, or maybe a Canadian niche blog.
I’m with BE. Food and cars seem to be John’s thing. I’m going to do some digging.
How about $8,334 a month net. That would be $100,000 net a year.
You may want to pay a little more and register your domain with a private registration.
I give it 30 days and someone will find your footprint. I hope not, because I would love to see the results with your constraints.
BeachBum
BTW Beach Bum, I used your blog scheduling plan you suggested on your blog.
Awesome, I am glad to hear that something I said helped someone. I appreciate your comment.
Let me know what you think after using a schedule for a week or two. So far I love it. Now I don’t have to think about what direction to go in, I have a theme each day already set.
BeachBum
Private domain registration is mandatory in this case. Unless he asks a friend to register (can’t be Bob the Cow)
But I also believe someone will discover the new blog, sooner or later.
That’s what I’m doing with my blog.. not worrying about ads right now, just writing about my business, opinions, etc. and have it grow for a while.
I would say about 1000 a month. It wouldn’t allow you to quit a day job but it would be enough to call it a successful experiment.
Will you write all the posts yourself or use a guest blogger sometimes? Or is it part of the secret?
Same as Jeff Kee, I am focusing on getting the blog out there rather than focusing on making a ton of money. The more popular it is, the more money it can pull in, in the long run.
The flip side of this method though is that once your blog is more established, your regular readers will have to endure the changes you make to monetize the site. If you establish a large readership and only then put ads on your site, you might end up losing readers. If you suddenly start dropping affiliate links all over the place and selling links, your readers might feel you’ve sold out etc. Monetizing early (in subtle and tasteful manner) can help avoid those types of transitions.
Depends on how hard you want to monetize it… I would call the 300×250 banner spot on this blog a pretty big one.
$1000 a month
Good luck with that.
$1000 per month would be good, but I’d guess that most new bloggers would set initial success in the $600 - $700 range.
This is exciting! I say 1,000/mo since you will be established by then and make more after that critical spot!?
I think $1000 per day. Perhaps you could implement the 4-Hour Work week techniques and processes so we can see it in action.
Or perhaps that was your planned topic?
$1000 per day? Wow! We might be waiting a few years.
Yet, for John Chow should be doable. He is trying to make a point so this blog should out do his current efforts.
The point is from nobody to somebody. I don’t see how this take an accurate messure of possible success if your already somebody.
You really need to watch a nobody blogger and see if they can become somebody. That would be a true messure of the possibilities.
Steve Pavlina is supposedly up to $4k a day or something nuts like that now. Although like you said, it takes years to get there.
Considering that John Chow dot Com makes $12k a month (about $400 a day), it would seem out of place that his “nobody” blog would need to generate 2.5x that before it becomes a somebody. I think we’d all agree that John is a “somebody” right now.