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!
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