Let’s face it, the majority of blogs trying to make money online won’t make anything. As a matter of fact, if your blog makes more than $100 per month, you’re doing better than 98% of 120+ million blogs out in the blogsphere. Pretty sad, huh? Why is it that so many bloggers fail to make money from their blogs? One thing is for sure, It’s not from lack of information. There are tons of information on the Net, both free and paid, that can teach you more than you want to know about making money by blogging. But still, the vast majority of bloggers won’t make anything. Why?
They Don’t Take This Seriously
Most people start their blogs for fun and not to make money. That is how John Chow dot Com started. I created this blog as an outlet for me to ramble about whatever was on my mind. I never intended for the blog to make money. As a matter of fact, I donated all the income the blog made in 2006 to charity because making money from a personal blog seemed kinda strange at the time.
Because most bloggers work on their blogs for fun, they don’t take it as seriously as they should. Many are doing the “Let’s give this a try and see what happens” approach. If the blog makes money, great. If not, oh well. With that kind of attitude, it’s not hard to understand why so many bloggers don’t make money with their blogs.
They Didn’t Put Any Money Into It
One of blogging biggest advantages is also one of its biggest liabilities. With services like Blogspot.com, you can literally start a blog with zero dollars. If you want a more professional look, a domain name cost only $8.95 and hosting can be had for as low as a few dollars per month.
This extremely low barrier of entry also means you don’t have much, if anything, to lose. Should the blog fail to make money, you curse me, say I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about and move on. This brings us back to point number one. It cost you nothing to start so you don’t take it seriously.
If blogging cost $100,000 or more to start, would you be running your blog the way you’re running it now? I highly doubt it. Yet, a blog can provide so much more than a traditional $100,000 brick and mortar business. You’re not tied to a location and the time freedom is unmatched.
Knowing that commitment increases with money, the solution is simple. Put some money into your blog. Buy that domain name, get that professional web hosting account, invest in a custom design, spend some money on promotion, etc. Once you have some money tied into it, you’ll take things a lot more seriously.
Easy In, Easy Out
Because of the low cost of entry, most bloggers take an easy in, easy out attitude. It cost nothing to get in so if it doesn’t make any money, it cost them nothing and they can get out without being tied down to anything.
They Don’t Treat It Like A Business
Most blogs never get out of the hobby stage. A money making blog is a business and it should be treated as such. Yes, I still consider John Chow dot Com as my hobby but I run the blog as a full blown business. The blog has its own set of books and bank accounts. All income and expenses are tracked and accounted for.
If you really want to make money by blogging, you need to get serious about it and treat your blog like a real business. Blogging is a not a fly by night or get rich quick scheme. Like any business, it take time, money and commitment to build. For the first eight months of this blog’s life, it made zero and barely got more than 1000 page views per day. But I kept at it. I treated the blog like I treated my other businesses. I invested in it, I spent thousands of dollars improving it and promoting it.
Success is never by accident. All the big money making bloggers didn’t get there by luck or taking the attitude of easy in, easy out. They got there by taking their blogging seriously and treating their blogs like a business. You should too.
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