Blogging for Profits : How To Make Money From Blogging?

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I first dabbled with blogging in 2001. Started blogging regularly in 2003. Was blogging for profits shortly after.

Of all marketing tools and tactics I’ve used, blogging and writing PDF special reports rank as the most effective at driving more traffic and making more money.

As early as 2003, I authored the very first ebook about blogging for profit. It was called “Blog Profit Ideas EXPOSED” and shared 33 ways for blogging for profits.

What’s Surprising Is…

Over 4 years, it has sold 773 copies. It has been praised highly by many of the biggest names in the ‘make money online’ Internet marketing niche including Allan Gardyne, Willie Crawford, Neil Shearing, Ewen Chia, Rosalind Gardner, Ryan Deiss and Dr.Mike Woo-Ming among others. It has launched many ‘blogging for profits’ careers.

But that’s NOT what is surprising.

To me, what is surprising is that atleast 3 of the techniques I shared towards the end of the ebook – and with HUGE profit potential – have not been utilized widely

This despite the fact an interesting review by Problogger recently suggests that over 25% of bloggers are NOT making any money from their blogs!

While it’s hard to decide what is ‘decent money’, only 1 in 4 made over $2,500 from their blogging in October 2007. Take the data itself for what it is – self-declared statements of a thin slice of the blogger world – but it still is a very general representation that rings true with many bloggers.

And It’s ‘Oh So EASY’

No really. Blogging for profits is NOT rocket-science. Except in one place – your mind!

I’ve asked myself the question many times. Why don’t more bloggers make more money?

Every time, the answer I reach is the same:

Bloggers think blogging for profits is WRONG!

It was for bucking that line of thought in 2003 that I was attacked by not a few (at that time) high-profile bloggers… most are either not around any longer (survival takes money, y’know), or have embraced ardently the greenback blogging models that they once debunked!

Such is reality. Hugh Macleod put it very elegantly in a post on his ‘Gaping Void’ blog I read yesterday – he calls it ‘The Sex & Cash Theory‘.

But I digress.

The first step to blogging for profits (and you don’t necessarily have to, I’ll come to that in a minute) is to CHANGE YOUR MINDSET.

Decide that you’re going to start making money from your blog. Consider why you want to do it. Convince yourself it is NOT wrong to do it.

That’s the hard bit. The rest is detail. You’ll see that in the next few days as we explore the topic in depth. First, though…

A Little Story About My Friend, Caroline

She’s one of the nicest people I’ve had the privilege of meeting during my infrequent rambles around the Web. Caroline Middlebrook runs a very content-rich and interesting blog – it’s here

Our first exchange of views was sparked off by a typical “Oh-my-God! I-can’t-possibly-do-that” reaction Caroline had to a suggestion from another blog commenter to package and sell the valuable content on her blog.

After a few emails back and forth, I convinced her to run a ‘marketing test’ to assess how her blog audience reacts to a ’selling message’. Here’s the result – study it carefully to see just how difficult and ‘un-natural’ it is for Caroline to get into ’selling mode’.

As you read it, you’ll come to the bit where she reproduced (with permission!) my email sent out to an in-house mailing list – notice, by contrast, how smooth and frictionless my own ’selling’ message is.

Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life Blogging

That’s to do with mindset. A thing master marketer Jay Abraham taught me.

If you know something that will change your readers’ life, improve it, save them cash, trouble or pain – and you have the chance to tell many people about it – would you do it? Don’t you have a moral obligation to let them know? Shouldn’t you put all the passion and energy at your disposal to get them to try it?

That’s a mind-set. It evolves from ONLY recommending stuff you believe in deeply, never carried away by huge commissions dangled before you by savvy marketers.

Getting that mindset isn’t an overnight thing. I struggled to learn it, and then internalize it. Now it effortlessly permeates my writing.

Selling is all about value. If you sell EXACTLY what is on your blog for free as a paid product, it would not be right. But you could easily add something to it – something that would add incredible value to buyers of your ebook – and justify any price tag you put on it fully.

No, I Simply CANNOT Do It!

What if you are not able to convince yourself that it’s ok to be blogging for profits? What if you firmly believe everything should be free? What if the thought of asking folks to give you cash is abhorrent, disgusting, unsavory?

Why, don’t do it.

And don’t feel bad about it!

You’re a blogger who is in a MAJORITY! Seth Godin grouped blogs into 3 kinds:

Cat Blogs: Blogs for and by and about the person blogging.

Boss Blogs: Blogs for business/project communication purposes within a defined group of people.

Viral Blogs: Blogs whose goal is to spread ideas and build an audience.

Many of them are run by bloggers who achieve influence and attention – without ever having ‘profit generation’ as one of their motives. We’ll discuss this approach to blogging for influence and attention too in future articles.

What are the ways one can start blogging for profit?

There are 3 resources I’d recommend you start out studying. Two are free. One is the ebook I mentioned at the beginning, “Blog Profit Ideas EXPOSED” – which costs money.

1. Robin Good – How to Make Money with Your Blog Site

2. Brian Clark (Problogger) – How Bloggers Make Money from Blogs

3. Blog Profit Ideas EXPOSED – See the sales page

Soon, we’ll start off on a series of posts focusing about blogging for affiliate profits, blogging for advertising income, blogging for infoproduct sales, blogging for asset creation and blogging for traffic.

What more would you like me to cover in this section?

Remember, making money is only one way to gain influence and attention. There are others – and we’ll deal with each group on this blog. Share your thoughts and feedback, send in your requests, and I’ll try to fit everyone in.