Mar
5
In my surfing to various blogs on the internet, and there are a lot of them out there, it strikes me that there are three different types of monetized blogs. This has nothing to do with style or subject matter. This has to do with how they handle the “business” of blogging.
The first type I’ll call the “Good Writer.” The Good Writer has a ton of writing talent. As you read their blog you can almost feel the passion they feel for their topic. Their posts are well thought out, insightful, and well written. They show you what they want you to see without a great deal of wandering about.
Despite their obvious talent and passion the Good Writer labors away in near obscurity. They feel frustrated that they diligently post post to their blog, but their readership never seems to grow. They may have a small group of loyal readers, but they can’t seem to grow enough for their efforts to be profitable. They work very hard at the art of blogging, but without a better understanding of the marketing side, they will remain starving artists.
The second type of blogger is the one who has mastered the art of marketing their blog. They understand how to work the system, and they have a knack for driving traffic to their sites. They write content well enough to be able to get their keywords in, but their posts are either long, rambling articles with no rhyme of reason, or they are short, shallow pieces that are only written for the purpose of getting their keywords in enough times to catch Google’s attention.
The downside of the second blogger is, because of the weak content, they never build a loyal readership. Although they can continue to draw traffic to their site because of their marketing efforts, their visitors do not return, and they never enjoy the word of mouth advertising that could push their blog over the top with readers.
The third type of blogger is the one who has enjoyed some degree of success with their blog. These are the ones who see the whole picture. They understand that although great content is essential to the long-term success of a blog, content alone is not enough. It takes a combination of great content and a solid marketing effort that will ultimately make a blog successful.
Too often bloggers will ignore the need to market their blogs. You may have the best product in town, but if people don’t know you exist, you will never see the type of success you want. Yes, you may get lucky and have someone accidently find your site and Digg it, but the more likely scenario is that you won’t ever see much more than a small trickle of traffic.
If you are just starting out with blogging, don’t worry about getting 1,000 visitors a day. Start out concentrating on building content. Every legitimate blog advice article will tell you the same thing (assuming you already have your topic or niche defined). Market your blog using Web 2.0 techniques; commenting, submitting to directories and blog carnivals, link building, and social bookmarking. Over time your traffic will grow. Be patient, but be tireless in your efforts. If you are looking at blogging as a get-rich-quick tool, look somewhere else. It takes time, and it takes work.
If you are good at what you do, you will see some success. Give it time, it will happen.
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Very insightful article, Jim.
I’ve always fallen into the “Good Writer” category more often than not. That’s why people hire me to write their content, blog and otherwise: I can write.
Learning the marketing and monetization techniques, however, tend to be more challenging to me. I like to think I’m making progress, though.
Oh, and I love this quote:
“Be patient, but be tireless in your efforts. If you are looking at blogging as a get-rich-quick tool, look somewhere else. It takes time, and it takes work.”
Indeed.
It is an ongoing effort. Too many people either try the hit-or-miss strategy of trying a lot of different things, but never settling in on a particular strategy, or trying to do too much. They try to do it all, then loose steam because it takes too much time.
Pick a couple of marketing techniques and work them until they start to pay off.
Hi Jim,
I’m a relatively new blogger. I think you have identified acurately the different type of bloggers out here. What about the readers? How would you categorize them? I notice that bloggers have their favorate blog roll they read. But do these readers actually purchase the products on their favorate blogger’s site? Are the internet dollars being recirculated within the community?
Eric
It’s a sad comment that the Good Writers are frustrated. Marketing is a daunting task, but with the right tools you can reach readers.
OT: thanks for your recommendation of Windows Live Writer. I’m in love with this program.
I am also relatively new, combining good writing with poor marketing
Patience does appear to be the key though. If you don’t get the content right and captivate your audience, they will never return.
That is true. I would encourage new bloggers to at least start some link building. This can take some time to develop, and you can continue to add solid content.
Submit your blog to directories. If you are using the free listing option it can take weeks (or months) before you get listed.
What intrigues me is where people get the time to blog?
Just think about the number of blogs on the Web and the number of hours each blogger spends writing and posting. Mind blowing.
I have to agree with Steve here. Patience is something you need by the trainload. Especially if you can’t blog every day the content that is up might not hold the reader’s attention. I mainly write for myself but a few visitors would be nice of course.
Thanks for the advice, I list giveaways and contest, nothing much else, trying to make a “little” money on the side. Trying to build up traffic, and readers. I have been at it for 3 months, little satisfied with it thus far. I am having a giveaway now although not really getting anywhere with it.
http://www.giveawaycity.blogspot.com