Treat Your Blog Like A Business
December 26, 2007
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The other day, Courtney Tuttle wrote about How to Trash Your Blog’s Brand in 5 Easy Steps, which struck a chord with me. Not for what was in the list of steps, but what came before that:
Whether you like it or not, your blog is a business and a brand. From the first time a person lands on one of your posts or pages, they will start to make assumptions about your site, and also about you as a person (or group).
Harsh, eh? Maybe a little, but not far from the truth if you’re honest with yourself. But this is what really got me:
Here are the hard facts. If you are trying to make money with a personal blog, you’re wasting your time. If you’re trying to make money with a hybrid personal/business blog, you’re wasting your time. The sooner you drop the personal, the sooner you can get to business and it’s the business that’s going to make you the money.
If you’re in this to make money, especially if you want to make blogging your only source of income, then it’s your job, and like any other job, you’ve got to work. To go even further beyond that, this is no different than opening a store in your city or town. If you coast, and work for a couple of hours a day, your store will close within a year. Sure the initial startup costs and the financial risks are a lot lower with a blog, but that’s not the point. Without some hard work, your blogging is going to go nowhere.
And while you might complain that you want to become a problogger so that you don’t have to have a soul-crushing “job”, just because it’s a job doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. Probably 95% of the work force is doing what they do because they get a paycheque from it. If you can get paid for doing what you love, it’s not work. It’s fun.And in the long run, wouldn’t you rather get paid to have a little fun?
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December 26th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Couldn’t have said it better myself Rod.
Well Done.
Griz
Grizzly’s last blog post..Happy Holidays Everyone
December 26th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Thanks, Griz. I’m still going to get in touch with you about the specialized niche blogs for making money. Just gotta find the time…
December 26th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Go get them Rod great job. Wish best of luck buddy.
Vic
Vic’s last blog post..Page Rank VS Traffic
December 26th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Good points if your goal is to make a blog your business. If not, well, you can still make money but you can’t expect to make enough to quit your real job.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Thanks, Vic. I appreciate the support.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:13 am
RT - you’re absolutely correct. Not everyone wants to be a full-time blogger, and admittedly, probably not everyone should be.
December 28th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Very good article with clear point.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Straight’s last blog post..New Year - New Start
December 28th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for the comment, Straight. It’s appreciated.
December 29th, 2007 at 2:48 am
I agree totally! Bloggers need to wake up! Unless you are doing what Vic, Court and Grizzly are telling you to do, then forget making money blogging. And yes…to be a real blogger takes a huge amount of effort. Look at Vic’s blog. He will sometimes post several time a DAY. That is awesome. Depending on the niche and the hunger for information from that niche, you need to decide how frequently to post and if it will build your readership.
Mike Pedersen Golf’s last blog post..Golfers: The Importance Of Water Cannot Be Ignored
December 29th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
@Mike: You’re absolutely right. I wish that I could post several times per day, but if I did, I have a feeling that a lot of it would just be parroting what other’s are saying, and that doesn’t fill a need for anyone.
Besides, that, I just don’t have the time at the moment
January 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
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