Why does my blog make money and yours doesn’t?
We both have the same amount of information to learn and digest on a daily basis, the same choices to make, the same amount of work to do.
We both feel overwhelmed.
Yet somehow I manage to still churn out some income and your blog is stagnant.
And it’s not about me trying harder that’s for sure.
So what is in the heart of REALLY making money online - something I might be doing and you are not?
This post was partially inspired by one of my email subscribers, Judi, who asked:
Now can you help me focus my business and get out of this endless project trap?!
And the second culprit was Linda Esposito, one of my loyal readers and also an email subscriber, who quoted Seth Godin in one of her comments:
“You don’t need more time in your day. You need to decide.”
My answer to this is simple (the answer that is, not the implementation - for whatever reason):
Focus on tasks that make you money and forget about everything else.
Really, really…
Let’s take Traffic Generation Cafe for example and see what things I SHOULD be doing to make more money from this blog.
Direct Money Makers
Yes, there are certain activities that I should be doing that will DIRECTLY make me money.
Let’s see what they are for me (the reason I am doing this is to help you identify what tasks you should be doing for your blog to turn it into income zero to income hero.)
1. Selling Affiliate Products
Here are some things I can do to make this side of my blog bring in more income.
- Make sure my sidebar ads grab attention and not cause “ad blindness”. That’s why they are designed not to look like ads (Ian Belanger, one of my readers and a web designer did them for me - by the way, great design changes on your blog, Ian; loving it!).
- Bring readers to My Toolbox page that lists the products I currently use in my own business (reminds me that I need to update it.
) - Test and write reviews for new products and continue mentioning the products I currently use in my posts (you have to find a way to weave that into your posts naturally, without making it sounds like you are pushing the product down your readers’ throats. Here’s an example of doing it the right way: How Ana Got Her Twitter Groove Back.)
2. Offering consulting services
Since I recently started offering consulting services, like one-on-one consultations and blog audits, I need to highlight that more in my posts and email newsletters.
3. Creating my own product
This is where the real money lies and yet this is one task that most of us (yes, me including) are leaving on the back burner.
Make it a priority!
Indirect Money Makers
This is the second tier of tasks that contribute to making money blogging, although not in a direct way like the previous section.
HOWEVER, the direct money makers are nothing without working on these tasks.
Traffic!
Without traffic no one will ever know about your affiliate products or your consulting services.
Here are some tasks you need to include in as your second-tier to-do list:
- Writing posts: that’s right! Content writing won’t bring you money per se, but without great content, how will you make your traffic stay and convert?
- Being social: networking, in other words. Especially with a new blog, this is your best opportunity to bring targeted traffic to your site. Here I would include social networks, blog commenting, joining/created groups of like-minded bloggers, etc.
- Link building: SEO traffic is extremely important - hands-off, leveraged, 24/7. But it’s nothing without proper one way link building. This is something you HAVE TO learn how to do and then, should you choose to, outsource it.
- Split testing: something that not too many do, yet has a huge impact on how well our visitors convert into subscribers/customers/clients.
Money Makers?
And here’s where it’s going to get hot.
Now I am going to list some tasks that overwhelm us on a daily basis, yet it’s questionable whether they really contribute to how much money we’ll eventually put into our pockets.
I know of bloggers that do them to their detriment (including myself) because they think it’s a necessity and some bloggers who ignore these tasks altogether and still manage to make more money that an average blogger could ever dream of making.
Here it goes:
- Answering blog comments. Should you do it at all? Should you answer only some that have questions? Should you forget about it?
- Answering email. Let’s narrow it down to answering emails that are just “hi, how are you” type emails that don’t technically require an answer, but will still take a minute or two to respond to (remember, minutes add up quickly, as you know).
- Hanging out on Twitter/Facebook. You go there for 5 minutes; next thing you know it’s been half an hour. Should you do it at all? Who do you respond to and who do you ignore?
Marketing Takeaway
What if you only have time during the day to accomplish the tasks on your priority money-making to-do list? Do you ignore the rest?
I am not offering any answers here, just tried to give you the facts as I see them.
You tell me what YOU think YOU should include on your priority list and what you can cut out.
Comment to show me that you’re alive!
Robert
Hi there Brian I had the sense of problem I had 10 websites that was taking up so much time to maintain so I decided just to concentrate on one website and I’m beginning to see some success.
God always comes through If you trust in him. He always has a way of bringing you through dark times.
Indeed He does, Robert!
Thanks Ana for reminding us of some of the things we need to do and those we need to stop doing. I recommend reading Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Work Week and also to check out Leo Babauta’s blog both sources of great tips on how to improve your productivity and keep a laser focus on key projects
You’re welcome, Andy. I will put it on my to do list
Lisa
Great post I am curious how long you were blogging before you started to see an income from your hard work. I have been blogging for about 5 weeks now and I know that my sites need more work but I have been on googles first page for a few days not and yesterday I was actually #1 I could not even believe it.
In any event I have been really working at it and although do not expect the overnight success I am curious to know a time frame that you started to see an income flow from your hard work.
Lisa
From what I remember, Lisa, it took me about 2-3 weeks to start seeing my first affiliate commissions come in.
Now that’s keeping in mind that my first blog failed miserably.
It’s only after I focused my efforts on traffic generation exclusively, redesigned my blog, and really started working on reader engagement and traffic generation - implementing all the things I was preaching in other words, that I started seeing success.
Hope this answers your question, Lisa.
“Focus on tasks that make you money and forget about everything else.” - I totally agree on this. It is statistically proven that 80% of the effects are triggered by only 20% of the causes. It makes you think how much money you leave on the table each day.
Yes, I could not agree with you more. Good to know that I am not the only one who feels bad when I leave money on the table, so to speak!
Melanie Yunk
Thanks, Ana, for this very helpful post! I found it via this morning’s tweet from @WorkIntegrity. The timing for this post is perfect as I’m struggling to spend time on money-making tasks and projects along with balancing “overhead” activities to keep the lights on. I thank you for creating this well-organized list! My clients will surely appreciate it as well!
It’s my pleasure, Melanie and welcome to my blog.
It sounds so obvious, doesn’t it, Ana? Focus on the tasks that make you money. It’s the same in any business, and I see many small business owners (myself included) who neglect those tasks that make them money for those that don’t. Why do we do that? I think it’s because the tasks that make us money are often the hardest ones to accomplish, but we make them even harder by building up the time/effort that will be required while we procrastinate about doing them. It’s oftentimes easier to convince ourselves of the merits of more trivial tasks than simply doing the tasks that lead us to profits.
Brad, I agree completely. I’ve been thinking a lot about that and you have just answered your own question in a very eloquent manner!
Yes, Tammy, there are so many ways for you to make money on a blog. You will learn all about it as you follow my blog. You will soon get the hang of it.
You are absolutely right, Dave & Steve. Quality content is certainly key and making it personal. Practice makes perfect.
Stella | Online Business Productivity
Hey Ana, this post is very vital and kind of raises dust that affects every blogger in one way or the other, even if you passion or money led you to blogging in the first place.
I think, in blogging as a business almost every blogger experiences overwhelm because it’s usually started informally and not many bother to, at some point to develop a mini blogging business plan that charts a 3month/6months big picture plan, that includes an income generation plan and estimated time input to get results.
I read that many top 6 figure marketers went though this until they got help from strategists like Rich Schrefen (internet business manifesto) who helped some of them structure their online business - and that was when some started making the big bucks.
Like you rightly stated, there are the stuff that are direct money makers and indirect money makers but both types bring results, some bi others small results. If we can prioritize our daily business schedule to have a SYSTEM (of doing business tasks) in place… Perhaps having and following a ‘daily To Do List’ that assigns 80% of one’s business hours to the activities that bring big results and 20% of the daily business hours to those activities that make the least impact to generating income (aka tasks that overwhelm us on a daily basis, according to you).
I’ve listened to Jimmy D brown and Kim Roach share their daily ‘To Dos’ and also stress on the need to spend 80% of daily business activities that bring big results (aka time on the direct money makers), as a time management plan. They also mentioned to work on some other sources of income at the backend (product creation, adsense sites, niche sites, affiliate marketing, ads, list marketing…)
I’ve find myself sometimes pondering on ‘why some make money, some don’t”- 80:20 rule? (sorry for a long response)
Thanks for sharing that with us, Stella. To answer your question, the 20% does it right, the other 80% doesn’t.
Great post Ana.
I read a comment reply on ThinkTraffic recently were Corbett mentioned that until a Blog has its own product it is never going to really be a business per say.
You hit it on the head when you mentioned the paid product, and although you may not have one yet - you are doing all the prelim so that when you do - OMG its going to be HUGE.
I am in the process of turning BuildRankProfit into a paid product - something that will take my current hobby income to something I can write home about (or blog about, either way)
In regards to comments and blog hopping, I find this the biggest conundrum in that I know it does not generate money directly, but without establishing and concreting relationships I am shooting my fiuture ‘product’ in the foot.
Of course I try to find a balance, and I remember once when I was keeping up with you too - LOL
Great Post Ana - Nice Title too
This makes me realize that while many people complain about grime results, and don’t have the patience to wait for them, it’s also true that most of the times they don’t even have a real will to make money. If you don’t have a strategy up and you stick to it similarly to how you say, money isn’t gonna magically materialize in your hands.
Nail on the head, Gabriele. They don’t really have a desire to make money.
If there’s a will, there’s a way - always.
Hi Ana,
I’ve been struggling with this for a while, although I haven’t been focused on making money from my blog. I have tried a lot of different things, but I’ve always seem to stop because I think that I am annoying my readers with the adjustments
What has worked best for me is to sell things via reviews. But now I’m going to try to adjust my sidebar to look a bit more like yours
Actually, “adjustments” are great, Jens - they always keep your blog fresh looking for your readers and that’s a huge plus.
Otherwise, they’ll forget all about your ads since the see them all the time.
Maria Pavel
To answer the question in your title: Because you know what you’re doing, while i have no freaking idea.
But on a more serious note, i believe a positive attitude and vision make all the difference. Everthing in between is just noise, information we can all access but don’t know how to take advantage of it.
Can’t use that as a crutch, Maria
- my blog is only 9 months old.
Hey Ana,
Great post with great tips !
That is a great advice. You see, I started out blogging as a hobby (never took it seriously). But then, I began to change my attitude. Along with this came the issue of money making. I didn’t consider making money off my site. But then I realized that I need money to invest in blogging. So, I turn to sponsored posts (which is really bad) and ads. Those didn’t do much much, guest blogging is what that helped me. Guest Blogger Revenue sharing from dragon blogger (thanks to Justin) helped me to pay for what I was doing (I really didn’t want to bother my parents with it). The reason why I wrote about all this was to show the importance of your advice.
If you are focused on something else, other than money, it will surely help you in making money. Bloggers must shift their focus towards their readers and most importantly, traffic generation.
Anyway, thank you for the great advice. It will surely help !
Jeevan Jacob John
Guest posting revenue sharing… I totally forgot about that - need to ask Justin how to set it up for my blog! Why not? Good for guest bloggers, good for me.
Glad you found my blog, Jeevan!
Hey Ana,
This post should be required reading to anyone who feel stuck in their business. Wasting a lot of time on email, FB, Twitter and alike can sabotage any business (of course, social media is important but like anything else, in moderation!).
As a coach for many Part Time Network Marketers, I find that many (if not most) have no clue what will make them money and where they should be spending their time. It’s a little different in Network Marketing and blogging (although many Networkers have great blogs), but the advice is the same…
Find out what is making you money and do MORE of it!
Thanks for the wake up call, Ana! Love your blog.
You are welcome, Bob, and welcome to my blog!
Jamie Northrup
Like Heather said above, I also find it hard to manage with so many things going on, I took a week a few months ago just to organize things and since then it’s been much easier, I have a schedule for each day that I follow, and I have 2 checklists. The first one is the things that I need to do each day, and the other one for things that are less important that I do as much as I can when I can.
I also created a checklist for times when I wasn’t scheduled to work but decided too anyways.
Great post Ana, it has convinced me to put some direct money makers in the every day must do checklist
Hi Ana,
I’m starting to hit the money stage of my blog. I’ve got a product, a membership site, coaching and affiliate products (as well as my home based business.) My challenge is keeping up with the management of it all. I find myself falling behind on replying to comments, and getting around to other blogs to comment.
I personally think it takes time to get things established and rolling on a new blog and I’m feeling like things are progressing there. My next steps are to shift into more of my own products. I’ve found a service that allows me to have a live broadcast on my blog which I’ll be starting soon for webinar trainings that can be converted into products…both building my list as well as helping me to monetize.
Great discussions here!
Daniel Hughes
Nice article Ana. The important part here is making money from your own blog. Sometimes the bloggers or newbie bloggers are impatient and quit early because it does not work easily. A good example is AdSense and Affiliate Banners/Affiliate Marketting. It is because that what works for me, does not have to work for the others. Thanks anyways, Love to see more from you.
Great tips as usual, Ana.
I have been engaging heavily in the indirect money making activities, now I’m focusing on the money making stuff - making them a priority!
Been meaning to change my affiliate banners
Best,
Mavis
That’s great - get busy with making some money!
stacey herbert
Hi again Ana- I love finding your posts in my reader of a morning. I know I’m going to get the goodies. Your so right. Part of me thinks unless your careful, the first year of blogging can easily be time used ineffectively. A lack of a plan, vision, being able to decide credible information from crap, an so on, can really cause a major delay. Personally I think lack of direction and over reading, despite knowing better; is a massive hindrance for me, and no doubt others. Sometimes we read posts that advise us of stuff we know, but don’t act upon. Then one day, bam, the penny drops and we finally get on our A-game. At least that’s what I’m hoping. Really got alot form this, thanks. Why are you thinking of turning off comments after a certain number?
Hi, Stacey - always a pleasure!
Prioritizing is a HUGE deal, especially for a newbie blogger. Too much to learn, too much to do.
Hi Anna,
Its been awhile. I like the new banners on your side bar.
Great post!! After watching a video by Eben Pagan, I started paying attention to how often I got distracted and was blown away
He suggested setting a timer for 50 minutes and focus on the task that makes you money. When the timer goes off, take a ten minute break. Rinse and repeat
This is something I do with my mentoring clients. Get honest with yourself and see if you are busy or making money
Great suggestions and I hope people really take them to heart, because they work
Until next time my friend,
Jeff Faldalen
Great advice from Eben, Jeff - thanks for sharing.
Always a pleasure to see you around!
Hi Ana.. My blog is still infant… Which is the most important for me, writing an article a day without building backlinks or posting one per two days with building links. I have to choose one of two options because I have no time to do all.
The latter.
You and I both, Stacy.
Product creation should be a priority!
Ana
Solid article once again Ana. Focusing on what is making you money is really the important part here. However, the problem is getting there. Sometimes people are just not patient enough and quit early because it does not work for them. A good example is AdSense. My main site (you know that one right) for example is a very poor AdSense earner, yet I have another site (niche specific) that brings in constant and very good revenue. Why, because it is for “buyers” :). So to show you that what works for one, does not necessarily have to work for the other. My top revenue sources are still selling ad spaces, sponsored tweets (believe it or not), sponsored reviews and consulting.
I do offer other services but have not really “concentrated” on them yet. Not sure why? And yes, by far the best is to have your own product. Who knows, maybe one of these days… there I go again procrastinating, lol
Very good point about AdSense, Francisco - and yes, people give up way too fast. There’s a lot of tweaking to be done before a site starts making money and that requires patience and certain level of easily acquired expertise.
Sponsored tweets, huh? I’ve tried them in the past; a few cents here and there just didn’t do it for me and I didn’t want to water down the real purpose - to drive traffic.
PS: I have an idea for a collaborative product - will share it with the group at some point.
I spend the majority of my time commenting on other blogs/forums and developing relations with my readers. Basically marketing.
It’s definitely time to switch gears and focus more on the business side. I too offer consultations and affiliate products as well as my first ebook.
Your affiliate ads do look natural and blend in well by the way.
That’s always the case with a new blog, Justin - getting into other bloggers’ faces and letting them know who you are.
But at some point, you’ll have to switch your attention more to your blog and you’ll need to decide when the right time to do so will be.
Now, about my ads, you said that they blend in, but do they also stand out enough?
They blend in and do not pop out at me. From a design standpoint it looks great but for getting attention or clicks not so much.
Now my eyes will be fixated there every time I come here.
Justin
Thanks for your feedback, Justin.
Ana,
I thought about the idea of making my affiliate ads stand out better. They look like the same old ads one sees on any blog. How boring and nobody will notice. They need to jump out and be remembered by readers.
Maybe I’ll get the CS4 out this weekend and do a little tweeking to those bland ads.
Thanks for the tips and reminders!
You are so welcome, Allie, and look forward to seeing the end result!
Hi Ana,
I guess I’m the person who spends his time trying to distract everyone with my purely entertaining posts (although I do have my agenda)
I’m not a full time blogger, but I still have to budget my time. When I have to go back to my day job, I have to turn off my computer and hope I’ve done the right things to help my blog be successful. If blogging is like working on a job, there’s times for taking a break, but usually the time is for doing what they pay you for.
Lou
Time management is always an issue, Lou, no matter what kind of blog/business you are running - you are so right about that.
And yes, you can only earn according to the effort you put into it. In my case, I am looking for a big payoff!
Hi Ana!
Offering services and selling my own ebook are definitely my #1 money makers for my blog. What’s funny is that I kind of stumbled into offering services - someone who liked my writing told me I should start offering writing services, before I knew it, I had to many requests than I could fill.
Michele Welch
I’m with you Kiesha - offering services and creating my own product are definitely on the top of my list. Well it hasn’t until recently.
So writing services huh? I’ve had one company keep sending me links to their site. Maybe you or Ana has heard of it, called realwritingjobs[dot]com. They have good Alexa rankings, although that’s not always telling much.
Anyway, Ana all great suggestions and I really have to make it a point to focus more on many of those tasks, especially factoring my Resource page into posts.
As for things such as blog commenting, social networking and email, well there definitely is a fine line between what’s necessary and what’s a waste of your time. I’ve even considered deactivating blog commenting at times, although I’ve always liked the idea of creating an active and engaging community. We’ll see.
All the best.
I am strongly considering turning off comments after a certain number of days, Michele - say 90 or 120, nothing too crazy.
That might help just a bit, what do you think?
Michele Welch
Hi Ana,
May help a bit, although I would say 90%+ of my comments occurs before that time period on a particular post. I think I just consider this option when I have lots on my plate, but at the end of the day comments are the life force of a blog (well, at least in my opinion
) and unless you are Seth Godin probably a good idea to find a way to manage things such as this. LOL
Thanks for your feedback. I think I will try that out and see how it goes. Ciao!
I so wish I was blessed with the gift of writing like you are, Kiesha - then it might take me a whole lot less effort to give birth to a post!
Ana,
Thanks! But, you seriously have me fooled - your posts are very well-written and deeply engaging. Then there’s those irresistible titles you give all of your posts - I can’t stay away from here
Every writer goes through those phases when they don’t feel like writing - I don’t write everyday - I write in spurts. Some days the posts pour out and on others - nothing. You have to take advantage of those “flow” days and go easy on yourself on other days.
Thanks for the compliment, Kiesha - I have to work very hard to write.
Not a natural, although slowly developing skill.
Great points. It’s funny that some people may read this and think “Ok, I’ll just do what makes me money” and skip the indirect money makers, aka traffic builders. Because without traffic, there will be less eyes to see your affiliate links and product.
You are so right, Kristi - none of the three steps can or should be cut out; collectively, they are the recipe for success.
Now the problem is with time management - something we all have to learn to deal with.
Hey Ana,
First of all, Thanks for the mention and link! Much appreciated!!
Also, thank you for the kind remarks about my blog. I am currently working on some new graphics and other cool things for it. It is still a work in progress, but it’s getting there.
We all know that traffic is what makes our blogs work and eventually make us money, but if you do not optimize your blog to get targeted traffic, then you probably will not make much money, even if you get loads of traffic.
We are in the information business. Helping people find the information they are looking for and building lasting relationships with these people, so they will buy our products again and again. Trust is crucial and gaining that trust can be difficult.
It is my feeling that you should only promote products in which you use yourself or have reviewed to make sure they contain quality content. Which I know you do Ana. Honesty is huge in our business and offering value is just as important.
That is why I am on your list and I try and read all of your content. I feel that you offer some of the best value on the net and that is one of the reasons that TGC has become so popular, plus you practice what you preach, which is huge also.
Thanks for sharing with all of us Ana and have a great week!
PS What do you use to create your autoresponder emails? The ones that have your latest blog posts in them. I really like how you have those set up.
Ian
You are so very welcome, Ian, and in turn, thanks for the compliment of creating those banners for me and making my site look and convert so much better.
You are so right when you implied that conversion and traffic generation should go hand-in-hand. Neither one makes sense without the other.
Promoting the right products is always the key; any blogger can be easily burnt by promoting the wrong product.
Thanks for coming by!
Ana
Hey Ana,
Glad I could help you with the banners and I am very happy to hear that they are converting well
Ian
PS: I think you signed up for my RSS via emails - that’s the only way you’d get the latest post from me; I don’t send them via my regular autoresponder.
Do you think we are on the same page? If so, I simply use Feedburner for that - they style the emails.
Yeah I think I remember signing up for your feed a while ago. I need to set up my feedburner account to do the same. I really like the format of the emails.
Thanks Ana and have a great day!
Ana’s right! Doing those 3 things (promoting affiliate products — related to your blog, offering consulting services, and own products) are the direct money makers—you’ll need to be offering up something for sale to bring in the income.
Of course, there’s the important part about work which is the latter part of this post, commenting, responding to emails, and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter; these are the fun part.
However, getting it ranked and found via areas outside one’s direct influence is easily the most tiring and uninspiring thing ever. But hey, someone’s gotta do the work to get ranked, why not you?
Sounds like we are the opposites, Daniel - I would never call hanging out on social networks a “fun” thing to do.
Nonetheless, not everything in business should be always fun, huh?
Thank you for the nice mention, Ana! I guess I need to quote awesome people more often:).
Btw, Ian did a great job on the sidebar ads-looks very polished, and uniform.
I like the suggestion to focus on money making ventures as the first priority of the day. That said, I’ve been slow on creating products, but I’m glad I’m in good company, here :p. That’s going to change, as I have a lot of time this week.
As for as the perennial argument re: socializing on FB and Twitter-I say, yes! I always receive higher traffic when I put forth the time to listen, share, and respond to others. And by sharing, I do not mean solely my own posts.
Re: responding to comments. I rarely visit sites that do not respond, as I think it’s discourteous to not reply to at least some of your commentors. I mean, some people spend time writing a thoughtful and insightful comment which is helpful to other readers, in addition to sharing your stuff on social media sites.
We make time for what is important to us, bottom line.
Thanks again, Ana:).
Hey Linda,
Thanks for the kind words about the banners. I just did exactly what Ana wanted
Love your input, Linda, and I definitely do see the validity behind both points: social media and comment responding.
These two tasks is what have prevented me from creating my own product. I’ve been tracking the way I spend my time during the day, and a HUGE chunk of it goes towards networking.
You are right though: these tasks are not disposables.
Love it when you visit!
Ana