This is a guest post by Melvin Dichoso from MelvinBlog.com
This is my 5th year now in blogging and my 3rd since starting my flagship blog MelvinBlog.com.
I am very happy to say that I’m making money from blogging but even up until now I still view it as a dream-come true kind of thing.
It was just a realization a long time ago and I never really thought it’d be possible. Heck, I wasn’t even sure back then if its true or just some form of a gossip. 😉
Anyway, if you’re not making any money yet then this post is for you. If you are making money, yet this post still caters to you. Below I will be talking about the reasons why you’re not making that much money yet as a blogger although I’m not limiting it to just blogging itself.
Of course, I’d be damn confident to make controversial statements below that might piss you off but hey it’s me who’s posting this article. 😉
Here we go:
Reason 1: You don’t really view making money as a goal.
We all know that goal setting is important but most bloggers who make some money here and there just don’t see making tons of money as a goal. As a result of that, they’re very happy and contented on what they are making. This is actually not bad if that’s your GENUINE intention but for some people who are dreaming about making lots of money online and yet don’t do much action, then maybe its time to re-assess if you’re acting like its really your goal.
Reason 2: You don’t have a product or ANYTHING to begin with.
Now notice how I put anything in all caps? 😉 This is actually for people who don’t have anything to make money for in the first place. Having a product is not just a requirement, its actually the standard in making money and by this I’m not just referring an eBook or informational materials.
It’s damn important to look at a THING to sell even when just starting. Again, you can sell services, you can sell your expertise, designs, themes, softwares, even affiliate products and a whole lot more. I’m pretty sure there’s at least one there that you’re good at. 😉
Reason 3. You’re not aggressive enough.
Look at the top gurus in this niche, that’s one quality that they all have in common. You can’t just be the shy type of person when it comes on doing online marketing; you have to demand for what you want.
Now this is not to confuse with just delivering junk and asking for so much but if you know you’re providing good value and you’ve built that relationship, you have every right to demand money. That is being aggressive.
And hey this just doesn’t apply to selling your product. It can also apply to other things like selling advertising space, marketing to other people and doing traffic building.
Reason 4. You’re limiting yourself to blogging
I made good money with blogging but not a lot of people are aware that I leveraged my expertise to make money from other things. I do consulting regarding various online marketing campaigns and I’m paid handsomely on an hourly basis. I also do freelance kind of work which is just that I just let my team do for me. Aside from that, I do affiliate marketing via payperclick depending on my mood.
Do take note that those things were started because I got into blogging. It’s like blogging is always a good starting point because there’s so much to learn while at the same time, you’re building your own foundation. So my tip is once you started feeling that momentum and need to branch out to other things, don’t think about it, just do it!
Conclusion:
So there ya go! I hope you understood those four points that I mentioned that could hopefully help you towards making more money. I know some of the people reading here haven’t made any money yet but just persevere. You’ll never really know when it would start pouring down for you. I myself made like $2 for the first 6 months but that didn’t stop me.
Perhaps this is where passion comes in. If you really like what you’re doing then you could survive the initial drought of startup stages. I would be very happy to hear your opinion and criticisms regarding this. Let me know.
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Online marketing is still marketing regardless of the fact its done over the internet and that you don’t really have to talk or see your customers in person. With that being said, being aggressive is just a must, its marketing right?
For people who don’t very much market competitively and consistently then its probably worth reminding them that marketing is about ‘convincing’ so sounding like you are really marketing to them is just normal.
Nido! I can’t agree with you anymore.
I agree to the last point. Blogging alone will not make you money but its just merely a tool. This is what D.Risley keeps on preaching. You just leverage a blog to drive people to your business. Its a very good communication tool to get people. Yes its possible to make money with ads but its not really all about it.
Nice writeup melvin. 😀
Goal is very important and its because every success is driven by a good goal. This just does not work in making money online but in life overall. So having that clear goal set is a good foundation
Do you advise people to always create a product for themself or is it OK to just outsource it to a ghost writer or maybe have someone create the product? Its because I’m not very knowledgeable on my niche and also i have bad grammar.
Its always just fine to outsource. However ideally it’d be better to create your own but then if you have bad grammar and stuff then just let other people create it for you.
I find it nearly impossible to maintain being aggressive and at the same time keep up the quality of whatever youre promoting. We’ve seen it everywhere! A guy who has a product regardless of whether its good or bad, will always push other peoples product in exchange for a commission. With that said, its just hard to trust people these days. You can buy an item for a thousand dollars and the next thing you know its being given away for free after 1 month.
This is an inspiring post. I think newbies should have enough inspiration with this post. Not just with that but with countless success stories too wherein most bloggers publicly stated that they never made money for the first years of blogging and its their passion that carried them to where they are today.
If bloggers are really passionate for the topic that they have then it should be that much of a problem I think
You mentioned that you are making money from things other than blogging. Care to disclose more details on those? Also are those things a result of you blogging? How about if I don’t blog about make money online or consulting?
Affiliate marketing was something I’ve done 2 years ago. I also do consulting on marketing and I have some freelance works for clients wanting to increase their search visibility. Other than that mostly are side projects.
I would say its partly a result of me blogging within the internet marketing niche but if you don’t have a blog about that subject, you can still do freelance if you have the basic knowledge of what your client wants. If you can demonstrate it to the best that you can to them then that would be gold.
Helloe Melvin, I agree with all your points. I like it that you are emphasizing on having a product. I think its important to have as this is going to be something thats not gonna be relying on outside factors because a product is something that you can sell over and over again. If its good, it can really create your income forever.
That’s a pretty tough claim there Melvin. 😉
I like your article and I can both agree and disagree on some of the points. However the comments here are much more engaging I would say I like @johan’s comment above regarding being aggressive. The takeaway is when you start being more aggressive, you think less of your customers. Guys who are aggressive in this space don’t do anything than sell something. They sell whatever they’re selling for an expensive price yet they still sell other expensive stuff as an affiliate. That for me crosses the fine line since its more of exploiting that customer because of their perceived thinking about them.
In the end, people spend lots of money without really justifying if its worth the investment.
Exploitation is always a slippery line. Marketers that sell their own stuffs and their friends stuff are always going to be both acceptable and shady. I read a post on some other blog about cartels and price-fixing so if it comes to that point then definitely you can call it crossing the line.
Inspiring post but at the same time, it reminds us how it takes a lot of work to get things going fluidly. I myself is not making enough money yet but I think I have a good understanding of what it takes to get started and get going.
Hopefuly I can be on your level soon. 😀