Question for bloggers...

[TheIronStar]

For those who do weblogging or web sites and hope to make a positive cash flow:

How do you find your plans? I've thought of writing weblogs, (attempted a non-commercial one which was a rather miserable failure), but I'm wondering just how one would find sufficient advantages to make setting it up worthwhile.

For an example of my confusion:

Even if one has identified a niche to which one might wish to market the blog, if the site is to have articles on it, one may seek to hire freelance writers to write them. However, that is infeasible without already having the sort of revenue for which even one writer can be hired, so one either must write everything oneself and pray that it ends up being viewed as marketable and professional-grade, or else scrap the entire plan.

It appears that other aspects of running a website seem likewise.

Where does one find out what sort of websites will already be in such demand that a positive cash flow is even feasible? In other words, how does one come up with a sustainable business plan?

[Tristan]

They would be very very rich with little effort. It would be like predicting that Google would become huge before it did.

I think that you might have it the wrong way....If you concentrate only on making money, then you're more likely to lose than if you concentrate of focusing your talents and your passions on delivering something of value to people. I can immediately tell when someone is not passionate about what they are writing about because it shows in their words and often their site is plastered with advertising that overpowers the actual content on their site, which turns me off too because I can tell what they are really focusing on instead.

People gravitate towards content or resources that help them and when you get visitors, you can monetize that traffic fairly easily from that point, but it requires having them in the first place.

In the case of blogs, professional is not always best because blogs are meant to be personal and your personality comes through in a blog and people like that rather than the clinical nature of other newspieces. Your blog can be funny or downright profane, depending on your personality, and you can still get visitors. But most of the biggest blogs out there are one-person blogs because people value what that particular person has to say. For example, if Steve Pavlina began to outsource his writing to other people to do for him, I (and probably many others) would quit reading his blog because it's no longer stevepavlina.com in a sense. Being a great writer is secondary to building up a voice and personality with your visitors.

Blogging is great and there is potential to earn money from it, but it's not a turn-key business model. It takes years of dedicated work to build a reader base to the point where you have sufficent traffic levels to monetize. So it's no reason why the "get rich quick" people burn out quickly blogging and the people who are passionate about their subject and would continue to blog even if they did not receive money from it are the people who win at the blogging marathon.

[XeutonMojukai]

One of the things I've kept in mind is that blogging is something that I'm doing as a way to provide for others first, and a way to provide for myself second.

For example, right now I'm writing a long treatise on spiritual powers (i.e. magic, etc.) in multiple parts, and could have done it in a book and tried to make money off of it. The thing is, I probably would waste my time, because no one would buy it, or no one would print it.

So instead, I'm writing it at my own pace, in my own style, and for free, so anyone can read it.

Additionally, I am always trying to make sure that everything looks like I could look at it and be sure that it's mine.

It's really fascinating, because I've found that I'm steadily making a few cents every day within the first month that I've done this (I started on the 4th of July, and have since attracted about 9 dollars).

Just write everything with the intention to bring about positive change, and you'll find more types of positive change that just the social kind. Just look at my couple of cents every day, which has been going up, btw.

~ David

[TheIronStar]

Originally Posted by Tristan

They would be very very rich with little effort. It would be like predicting that Google would become huge before it did.

Not necessarily. It's more like "Hmm...is there an opportunity in [whatever] niche? How much money is there to be made in...". Running a business of any kind certainly involves some sort of effort. Just like some people made significant money in real estate businesses during the real estate boom; in most cases it required effort.

Originally Posted by Tristan

People gravitate towards content or resources that help them and when you get visitors, you can monetize that traffic fairly easily from that point, but it requires having them in the first place.

Precisely. And without initial capital to create those resources, one is stuck in a circular trap.

Originally Posted by Tristan

Blogging is great and there is potential to earn money from it, but it's not a turn-key business model.

What does "turn-key business model" mean?

Originally Posted by Tristan

It takes years of dedicated work to build a reader base to the point where you have sufficent traffic levels to monetize.

Then what will absorb the initial years' costs? Again, therein lies the circular trap.

Originally Posted by XeutonMojukai

One of the things I've kept in mind is that blogging is something that I'm doing as a way to provide for others first, and a way to provide for myself second.

For example, right now I'm writing a long treatise on spiritual powers (i.e. magic, etc.) in multiple parts, and could have done it in a book and tried to make money off of it. The thing is, I probably would waste my time, because no one would buy it, or no one would print it.

So instead, I'm writing it at my own pace, in my own style, and for free, so anyone can read it.

If it is available free, what makes it self-sustaining then?

Originally Posted by XeutonMojukai

Just write everything with the intention to bring about positive change, and you'll find more types of positive change that just the social kind. Just look at my couple of cents every day, which has been going up, btw.

~ David

I actually once had a weblog of that nature, purely a cost center not meant to be commercial, and meant purely to make changes. (It was a total failure, incidentally.) Just out of curiosity (not to denigrate your weblog, as I haven't even seen it), do you believe that the couple cents per day make the resource expenditure worthwhile?

[bluskygirl]

When I first decided to start blogging, I asked myself one HUGE question:

What could I write about everyday in my life and stay passionate about?

There are a lot of different theories on how to make money with a blog. I'm an internet researcher at my day job, so I did a ton of research for blogging before I got started.

The first theory is to do internet research to find a non-competitive niche and post away to make money. I read one guy retelling a story about a riding lawnmower blog that made a bunch of money because it was a good specific niche with not a lot of competition.

The second idea is to write about what you're passionate about, and not get too specific (ultimately the more specific your niche, the more you restrict yourself on what you can write). While you might find yourself in a rather large group of bloggers, you are writing about something that inspires you, which in my mind = good content. Granted a blog about everything under the sun will struggle to get going and probably will have too much competition, but you can still select a niche that has has more than one topic. Stevepavlina.com is a great example.

I chose the latter of the two options and just resigned to know that I will have to be patient and consistent and work hard to create a blog that has good meaningful content and can compliment the rest of the niche. I used to be an avid journal writer; My blog is essentially taking what I would have normally journaled about (i.e. typical girl issues of finance, relationships, fitness, family/children, etc.) and provided in a format that hopefully will benefit other women besides just myself. SO, I'm writing about the things that matter to me and at the same time I have several different areas/topics that I can choose from.

My advice to you would be to think less about what will make money and more about what will make you happy, because in the end if you're happy and fulfilled writing about your topic and you work had to market your blog chances are good that you can build yourself a good readership. You have to accept a reasonable amount of build time before you'll see the kind of traffic you want... Some sites took a year to get there or more. The super-small niche theory is (in my opinion) a way to earn money faster. This might be what you're looking for. I'm looking for something sustainable and meaningful, and I think the best way to do that is to follow my heart.

How many inspiring and passionate articles do you think that guy was able to create about riding lawnmowers? I would have been bored after a week, but that's the great thing about blogging. Everyone has a different passion.

Good luck finding a topic! Blogging is a great connecting tool and outlet and whether or not my site ever turns a dime, I will keep it going because of the enjoyment I get out of it.

[TheIronStar]

Originally Posted by bluskygirl

When I first decided to start blogging, I asked myself one HUGE question:

What could I write about everyday in my life and stay passionate about?

There are a lot of different theories on how to make money with a blog. I'm an internet researcher at my day job, so I did a ton of research for blogging before I got started.

The first theory is to do internet research to find a non-competitive niche and post away to make money. I read one guy retelling a story about a riding lawnmower blog that made a bunch of money because it was a good specific niche with not a lot of competition.

What does the research in question entail? That's what I'm confused about.

Originally Posted by bluskygirl

The second idea is to write about what you're passionate about, and not get too specific (ultimately the more specific your niche, the more you restrict yourself on what you can write). While you might find yourself in a rather large group of bloggers, you are writing about something that inspires you, which in my mind = good content. Granted a blog about everything under the sun will struggle to get going and probably will have too much competition, but you can still select a niche that has has more than one topic. Stevepavlina.com is a great example.

Well, basically I was hoping to run a website wherein I didn't necessarily write absolutely everything, but rather created a community of reasonably active individuals. Starting up discussion forums and the like.

Originally Posted by bluskygirl

I chose the latter of the two options and just resigned to know that I will have to be patient and consistent and work hard to create a blog that has good meaningful content and can compliment the rest of the niche. I used to be an avid journal writer; My blog is essentially taking what I would have normally journaled about (i.e. typical girl issues of finance, relationships, fitness, family/children, etc.) and provided in a format that hopefully will benefit other women besides just myself. SO, I'm writing about the things that matter to me and at the same time I have several different areas/topics that I can choose from.

Oh, ok. I guess I have a different motivation then. I almost never really journaled at all even in private. I was hoping mainly to set up a website with discussion forums, and possibly outsource some writing to start as a draw, but finding a way to even make that feasible with all the competition for attention out there is what I was having a hard time finding out.

Originally Posted by bluskygirl

My advice to you would be to think less about what will make money and more about what will make you happy, because in the end if you're happy and fulfilled writing about your topic and you work had to market your blog chances are good that you can build yourself a good readership. You have to accept a reasonable amount of build time before you'll see the kind of traffic you want... Some sites took a year to get there or more. The super-small niche theory is (in my opinion) a way to earn money faster. This might be what you're looking for. I'm looking for something sustainable and meaningful, and I think the best way to do that is to follow my heart.

True, happiness is a good thing. For me writing online wasn't ever so much a passion of mine, but rather the possible changes in the world made by the sum total of people at a site was something I thought could be a good thing; being cashflow-positive is what would make it feasible.

Originally Posted by bluskygirl

Good luck finding a topic! Blogging is a great connecting tool and outlet and whether or not my site ever turns a dime, I will keep it going because of the enjoyment I get out of it.

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it.

[bluskygirl]

If you're still interested in blogging research, check out problogger. It's a great place to start, whether you hope to monetize or not. It will also give you some other links to articles that can help you determine the best path for the type of blog you would like to create.

I know what you're saying about forums and the like. I would love to get to that place (i.e. a community rather than just my personal outlet), but building content comes before readership, and I guess in my mind I need readership before I can progress. Best of luck!