If You Build It They Won’t Come
Remember that movie Field of Dreams where the voice said, “If you build it, they will come.” While that may make dead baseball players appear in a corn field, it doesn’t work online. Millions of people every week try to “build it” because they think that is all it takes to make money online. They build the site and add content to it everyday and wonder how come they’re not coming?
The reason most bloggers fail to make money from blogging is because they’re bloggers and not marketers. What separates John Chow dot Com from the no traffic blog isn’t so much the content. There are tons of small blogs that can write better content than me. However, the best content in the world won’t do you any good if you can’t get people to read it. Building it is not enough. You need to learn how to market it.
Nothing Happens Without Traffic
Without traffic, a site makes nothing. This is a numbers game. I know that for every 1000 readers, I am going to get a certain percentage of people clicking on an ad. You can build 1000 websites but if no one visits, it’s going to be really hard to make any money.
In my post asking Are You Getting Maximum Dollar For Your Ad Space, I wrote that it’s not the traffic that is important, it’s what you do with the traffic. That is completely true. However, before you can do anything with the traffic, you must first get the traffic. How do you do that? I’ve cover many marketing methods to drive traffic to a new blog. For those who don’t look at the archives, the following posts should help you out.
- Evil Blog Promotion Ideas
- Six Top Linking Strategies
- The Art of Linkbaiting
- Commenting Your Way To The Top
- Using Google AdWords
- Driving traffic with Free Articles
- How I Climbed To 35,459 Monthly Unique Visitors
- Get 250 Free Business Cards To Promote Your Blog
- Want Traffic? Think Negative.
- Three Low Cost Promotion Ideas To Get More Blog Traffic
- How To Use Contests To Drive Traffic & Make Money
- Offline Blog Promotion Ideas - It’s All About Branding
Remember, if you build it, they won’t come. Successful blogging is 10% blogging and 90% marketing. Learning how to generate a buzz will get you a lot further than learning how to write a better blog post.
- Posted in Make Money Online, The Net
- 95 comments what's your take?
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Great post and great resources! *=) I definitely agree…. many bloggers think of they start a blog and simply write in it, people will just find them. Good stuff!
You rock!
Reply to this commentCompletely agree, it is not just the “build it”. The traffic is what brings you money..without it, you can’t do much (if thats what you are targeting).
Reply to this commentWhat also makes John standout is his incredible ability to efficiently monetize his traffic. Build it, market it and monetize it.
Reply to this commentwhen there is nothing left to post about post an article about other ideas you’ve had!
Reply to this commentSo true, it takes a lot of hard work to get to the top. Once you start getting traffic, it’s a lot easier to leverage it for more money.
Reply to this commentAgree. When you got lots traffic and readers is easier than you don’t.
Reply to this commentAre you still working on the new blog without giving your name John? I’ve been out of town and I was looking around for something on it - I’ll keep looking.
Thanks,
Pam Hoffman
Reply to this commenthttp://seminarlist.blogspot.com
Yes he is - he won’t release much information on it. I think he’s waiting until its hit his revenue target for the site but no-one is really sure of what that figure is. Knowing John its a lot though!
Reply to this commentBlogging is hard work!
Reply to this commentIt’s not easy blogging regularly and it would be even more difficult without any readers. It was very hard in the beginning but the key is to keep plugging through. People will find your blog eventually..but you have to market it! Promotion is the key!! I personally am starting to take advantage of social networks…
- Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)
Good point! Social networks are great!
Reply to this commentWhich ones are you using - are you an active facebooker? And do you use social networks to cross the line with family and business or do you keep your personal online networks separate from your business ones?
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Reply to this commentyep traffic rules $ revenue & John pulling them from everywhere
Reply to this commentand thanks for saving time from archives
My prefered method is “the art of linkbaiting”.
Reply to this commentLinkbaiting can bring you as much as 50,000+ backlinks.
It can allow you experience the digg home page server crashing phenomena.
Some blogs take off after just 1 successful linkbait.
You definitely want to do linkbaiting.
You may want to read the ultimate article about linkbaiting that I’ve done on . I hope this will helps.
My favourite of the posts is the “Six Top Linking Strategies” one. It has several good points, and I really agree with some of them. First of all, I noticed that I get lot of traffic from visiting other blogs, be it either via their mybloglog widget, or from the comment I leave. Also I agree about the news releases thing. There is no harm in doing it! Either you will get a link, or a complete stranger will find you annoying. It’s best if you write a generic email, and just copy paste it to each blogger you want to send to.
One thing I wish you were more specific on is the “Work Social Networking Sites”. Do you have any suggestions on how one could improve the amount of diggs they get?
Reply to this commentNumber 1 = Quality content.
Number 2 = Promotion/Marketing.
But you need both for a successful (moneymaking) blog - all makes sense. No matter how godd your content is, if people aint reading you wont make any money.
Reply to this commentAnd once you get some traffic, you can leverage that to grow it exponentially. That’s what John’s done and his blog has gone from making nothing to making close to 20 000 a month (I’m estimating)
Reply to this commentSuccessful blogging is 10% blogging and 90% marketing. For JohnChow might be true because you have many guest posts so you only have to spend 10% time to bloggin.
Reply to this commentPosts like these are some of your best John. I like reading about your thoughts on marketing and traffic building ideas like this, along with strategies you’ve used to build your blog to its current level.
Much better than reading about more advertising spots for sale but I’m probably in the minority!
Reply to this commentHey John, I attempted to find/locate your blog via google, and could not pick you up. Ie you did not appear on the first page for your name.
No doubt my experience, is not unique. My question is this, has this google ban of sorts, really impacted your traffic levels/readership…etc…????
By How much????
Reply to this commentLook at his Readership…it’s pretty obvious that the Google ban hasn’t really hurt him at all…heh
Reply to this commentGoogle cannot keep down the root of all evil.
My RSS at 5,000 when Google slap me. Now it’s on the edge of breaking 8,000.
Reply to this commentHehe! Is that how you describe yourself nowadays rather than dot.com mogul? Maybe you should change your header on the site - the root of all evil!
I can just imagine people being introduced to you who didn’t know about your blog - hi this is my friend John Chow he’s the root of all evil!
Reply to this commentOne of the best things I did is cut my posting down a little bit and spend that extra time promoting and since then my RSS is up and traffic has increased five fold!
Reply to this commentAnother great tip is to pretend to post as a single attractive woman. It helps when gaining and retaining.
Reply to this commentThat’s so evil
Reply to this commentExcellent post. I wish you’d write more content like this on a regular basis. Posts like these show exactly why you are where you are.
Reply to this commentMany of John Chow post has quality, it’s just that sometimes problogger needs a break and post some “TV commercial” posts.
Reply to this commentIt’s not easy to come up with quality content that is ground breaking every day…
Reply to this commentSome days it’s not that easy coming up with any content
Reply to this commentThis is true. Sometimes I might as well be beating The Great Wall of China into submission with my fists for all the luck I have coming up with content.
Reply to this commentIt is good to recap those old post
Reply to this commentI think you’ll find that quote is actually from Wayne’s World
Reply to this commentIT really is all about traffic, but having great content is what make loyal readers.
I myself focus most of my energy on getting traffic to my blog rather than worrying about the blog.
I love this place
Reply to this commentSome blogging gurus teaches how to increase money that we made out of our blogs, saying that traffic is not important in money making but I personally think that to fully optimise money making in a blog, traffic is the vital part.
Traffic first, conversion rate (clickthrough rate second).
Reply to this commentGood post John. Not sure if if the 19/90 split is correct but a lot of bloggers definately dont make it because they dont know how to market their site. I also believe a good design can make a big difference
Reply to this commentWell said John! Traffic is definitely key to marketing, but like you said what you do with it is important! Cheers Mate
Reply to this commentWhy do you not appear in Google for the term ‘John Chow’? Seems very strange to me? have you fallen out with the Big G?
Reply to this commentNot entirely true, If you are adding new content every single day the promotion should occure by itself.
This blog has over 100 new posts a month. Thats one hundred different websites that Google will index and send traffic to.
Now if a blogger is just writing every single day with quality content, chances are google will pick you up in the serps and start sending traffic.
While your ideas are all good, you would still need to build it. There is no point in getting dugg, and than not updating for 5 days.
Or for that matter getting a reviewme review from JohnChow when you only have 5 posts.
This post should be more geared towards branding which is what your great at JOHN!
Reply to this commentBuilding the content isn’t enough. Trust me…I’ve done it before.
Reply to this commentIm not big on the whole trust thing
Reply to this commentthat’s what i always advise my fellow blogging friends: if want to build blogs, go to probloggers and friends; if you want to make money, ask John Chow dot Com!
Reply to this commentI’m nitpicking here…but the film was “Field of Dreams”. You forgot the “s” at the end John. Traffic and quality content aren’t the only things that matter…so does spelling
Reply to this commentYah No, have you seen Ihascheeseburger?
Reply to this commentLoL
Reply to this commentWhat? Order business cards? Just get some cardstock, a printer, and photoshop. http://www.webmaster-source.com/2007/06/03/create-a-business-card-in-photoshop/
Reply to this commentIf your printing a large quantity, using a printer is better because you cant do some of the cool techniques like raised lettering,etc for as cheap as they do.
Reply to this commentRight!
Reply to this commentEven in the field of dreams he had an SEO(James Earl Jones), link baite(graham)and a monetization expert(the daughter)
Reply to this commentLol, excellent observation
Reply to this commentThat’s true!
Reply to this commentThat’s definitely true. I’ve always been guilty of spending too many times tweaking the looks and layout of my blog after I’ve posted new content instead of channeling my efforts and time to market my blog.
It’s a habit I must definitely change.
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Reply to this commentGreat post!
Reply to this commentAnother way to obtain links to your blog is to submit your best blog entries to blog carnivals, on http://blogcarnival.com/bc/
There are many blog carnivals, each specializing in a subject area. The carnivals are updated weekly or monthly and are often rotated among alternative hosts.
You can even chose to start your own blog carnival, another way to get 10s or even 100s of links to your blog.
Reply to this commentOne of the best posts ever!
Reply to this commentcompletely true, just hold on… johnchow.com didnt become a popular blog right away either or thetechcenter… my blog took three months before i started getting 100 viewers per day.. keepworking hard
Reply to this commentI will!
Reply to this commentI know some bloggers that have been at it for a year or more and would be v happy with 100 uniques a day.
Reply to this commentIt’s a good number!
Reply to this commentI always wonder if the little guy can really get up there in traffic and earnings. It seems to me that these big earners, the ones with lots of traffic, are salesmen who already had their networks of associates, friends, and partners setup beforehand, as part of their regular jobs (or their previous jobs) offline. As salesmen, they spent years making contacts as part of their work, whether selling toys or local microbrewed beer. When they set their eyes on Google, etc., and blogging, they were ready. Fortune favours the prepared man.
Reply to this commentThat’s a point!
Reply to this commentDon’t forget the 80/20 rule. 80 percent of the money being made out there is being made by 20 percent of all the blogs out there in that niche. It might even be 90/10.
Reply to this commentGood point but even the apparent big guys give the advice of “If you can’t make it, fake it!”. Perhaps some of the big guys weren’t always as big as they are now?
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Reply to this commentGreat Lesson Plan for the day..this should keep me busy for a while. I’m on it!
Reply to this commentLike any business attracting customers (traffics) is the hard part!
Reply to this commentOh wow, I didn’t know it’s 90% marketing but good to know that is how you did it.
Reply to this commentI think this line pretty much sums it up:
“There are tons of small blogs that can write better content than me.”
That’s pretty much the key. I slam on John’s poor grammar and spelling, but if you can get past that, you find some useful information that has been marketed masterfully. Why else would a video post of him poking a live lobster create so much buzz? Countless other blogs do nearly the same thing, but they know jack-squat about marketing.
I guess the same can almost be said about my blog. I’m a writer. I can even be a copywriter. But I’m not a marketer or a coder.
Reply to this commentTotally agree with “without traffic, a site makes nothing.”
Reply to this commentJohn the marketing wiz
Reply to this commentI must try some of this on my own blog. Link baiting sounds good.
John the marketing wiz
Reply to this commentI must try some of these on my own blog. Link baiting sounds good.
The 10% blogging and 90% marketing is golden rule for any web site, I fully agree with what you said. Most people keep forgetting about it.
Reply to this commentI don’t ever expect to get rich on my blog. But I do have a good organic PR of 3 without doing anything but blogging. But this week I decided to have a little contest to raise money for a charity walk I’m in. Only one friend (a real life friend!) has participated. Its depressing.
Reply to this commentReally an eyeopener. Excellent. I am getting addicted to John Chow Dot Com nowadays that even before getting on to dailies, I get on here!
Reply to this commentYah, it’s obvious if you really took the time to think about what needs to happen to have a successful website, but many new bloggers (myself included) don’t spend nearly enough time on marketing.
Reply to this commentThat is a great tip! Thanks John!
Reply to this commentGreat post (as usual) John. This is a great group of articles. They are great resource for beginners as well as an excellent refresher or wake up for experienced webmasters.
Reply to this commentWell said and I totally agree about the 10 / 90 split. That’s why I’m working on marketing my own blog a lot more than I have been.
Reply to this commentIt’s pretty clear that John’s sense of humor and personality have a great deal to do with his success blogging. Like anywhere else, who you are is probably the biggest factor to winning in any business.
It’s cool how John has made his business successful by being himself and being open to share value along the way. That’s the key. I don’ tsee a lot of that discussed but I think it’s the #1 reason John’s so successful–he is offering value and he is really open to sharing.
That will always draw a crowd.
Reply to this commentMike Klingler
And he’s controversial and evil - people are also drawn to that as well.
Reply to this commentGreat idea linking to older posts - I’m a fairly new reader, and hadn’t gone too far through your archives - it’s good to find similar articles without having to hunt!
Reply to this commentyou are wright blog without traffic is nothing even if it has good content
Reply to this commentThis is an amazing post. As a blog newbie I am on a huge learning curve. However, if I can learn to do things right from the very beginning then it can only do good in the long run. Thanks John!!
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