This is a guest post by Taylor Thompson who is a blogger and currently writes at 91 Day Challenge. Read in this post, how blogging about something you’re not passionate about can cause your blog to miserably fail. Also, Learn the benefits of blogging about topics you are passionate about.
If you’re blogging for a living, there may be a good amount of pressure on you to develop a blog that makes enough money to provide a decent income for you and your family.
Maybe you’re looking to make $1,000 a month or maybe you’re looking to make $5,000 a month.
Whatever the case may be, if blogging is stressing you out, then you have already failed.
Why did you start blogging?
- To make money?
- To help others and discuss your passion.
If you’re constantly frustrated with with your job as a Blogger, there’s a good chance that you’re only doing it for the money, right?
On the other hand, if you’re discussing your passion, you should be enjoying your work.
Blogging should be something that you WANT to do!
From the very beginning, all of the Pro Bloggers tell you not to make the number 1 blogging mistake: Blogging for money and money only.
There’s a good chance that you have spent time writing about topics that you know nothing about. You could really careless about these topics, but maybe you noticed that the market for these topics was good.
Instead of writing 1 blog about something you’re passionate about, you decide that if you can make 10 different blogs that each earn $5.00 a day, then you will be making $50.00 a day.
$50.00 a day is great and everything, but the more time you spend discussing topics you don’t enjoy, the more likely you will be to give up.
How do I know all of this?
From 3 years of personal experience.
When I first started blogging, I started for all of the right reasons. Blogging for the right reasons paid me off in a good, passive way.
- My first blog ever (before I knew anything about SEO or anything else) began making $5.00 a day after only 6 months of being live.
- My second blog began making $10 – $20 a day after being live for about a year.
- Both blogs continue to make a decent amount of money, even with no upkeep.
- Since my first 2 blogs, ALL other 20+ blogs that I have created over the past 2 years have failed.
Don’t I know more about blogging now then I ever did when I first began? If so, how come I am not making more money? How come all of my new blogs are failing? Maybe you feel the same way about your blogs?
As soon as I started blogging for the money and covering topics that I could careless about, I was failing.
I have built 20+ different blogs over the past 2 years. All of these blogs were built for the sole purpose of making money. The market was great and the SEO plan was golden, but guess what?
All of these blogs failed.
Out of the 20+ blogs that I have built, the very first 2 blogs that I ever created were the only blogs to succeed.
Why?
You guessed it…
The 2 succeeding blogs covered topics I was passionate about. In fact, with no upkeep, they still generate $200.00 – $300.00 a month.
Why were my first 2 blogs successful? I am passionate about the topics that they covered.
You need to blog about something that you’re passionate about to become successful. I know that you have read this same tip a million times before.
Now you’re reading this tip from someone who wasted 2 years of their life going down the wrong path; Blogging about meaningless topics in an attempt to get rich.
If you’re not blogging about your passion, then you may as well have a regular job.
The whole point of blogging is to make money doing something you love, right? If you’re not covering topics that you love covering, you may as well go out and get a real job that you hate just as much… (At least a real job pays more, right?)
I know you have heard this tip a million times before, but this is coming from someone who has gone down the wrong road. I wasted 2 years. Don’t let this happen to you.
Now that I am blogging about something that I am passionate about, I am seeing a bunch of different benefits that I haven’t seen since creating my first 2 blogs.
- I am passionate about my writing again.
- People are contacting me for advice.
- People are liking me on Facebook.
- People are subscribing to my newsletter.
- … All of this feels like it’s happening automatically.
Every time I wake up in the morning, I am excited to do my job. Knowing that I can make money writing about something that I am passionate about, while also helping others is an amazing feeling.
You’re probably wondering, “Is your new blog making any money?”
Currently, my new blog is only 2 months old, and it is not making money. But guess what? I’m not trying to make any money. My first step is to provide quality content and capture subscribers.
I am focusing on building a list which is something that I have never done in all of my 3 years of blogging. Building a list means less money now, but more money later. This process takes real patience, but is well worth it in the long run.
How do you know if you’re blogging about something your passionate about?
- Do you enjoy writing on your blog?
- Are people contacting you for advice?
- Are people liking or friending you on Facebook?
- Are people subscribing to your newsletter?
- Does blogging feel effortless?
If you answered YES to all of the questions above, then you’re on the right track to making great profit with your blog. If you answered NO to the questions above (especially question #1), then you’re likely spinning your wheels for nothing.
Please take this advice seriously.
Just because you find an open niche, it doesn’t mean that you should pursue that niche.
- Darren Rowse
- Shoe Money
- Copy Blogger
- Patt Flynn
- John Chow
These are all bloggers that blog about Internet Marketing. They all love the internet marketing niche. When you read their web pages, you enjoy what they are talking about because you know that they enjoyed talking about it.
If you have been blogging about topics that you dislike, STOP now. Don’t waste anymore of your time.
Start blogging about something that you are passionate about. If you’re passionate about a topic, there’s a good chance that other people are also passionate about the same topic.
Eventually, people will see you as an authority, and when this happens, you will begin to make good money online.
This post is a part of SmartBloggerz’s guest blogging contest where you can win cash prizes for earning the most points. Help this guest author win this contest by commenting and sharing this post using the buttons below.
Top 10 Search Terms:
• blogging for money 2011
Haha…awesome stuff..true..
the line
“If you have been blogging about topics that you dislike, STOP now. Don’t waste anymore of your time.”
Thats very true. If you dont like something just dont blog about it as it can lead to 2 things
1) Waste of your time as you will end up losing the battle at the end
2) Advising wrong stuff to others as you are not experienced
Taylor,
Very correct said! Blogging for the sake of money is like something cheap you are doing. A blog written with passion and one written in of marketing has a big difference in reading. The feel and touch of passionate blogging doesn’t comes in the one done for money. I too have a blog and have made so far only two posts but those two only were visited by many and is still being considered as one of the informative blog. I blog because I want and I love it! Hope those who doesn’t know should understand this well or will suffer.
Hey Taylor,
I 100% agree with you. Without passion blogging will very quickly turn into a misery.The love and passion have to be nurture by some real internet marketing skills,then the money will follow.
Thanks buddy!
Blogging might not make you money directly, unless you run ads on the blog (which is a bad idea anyway), but it can definitely lead to opportunities that will make you money in the long run. Blogging is a great way to prove that you “know your stuff” and can be considered a trusted resource of information. It takes time, but this often opens doors to new business relationships that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
Nice post. This is really true that we should blog only on the topic we are passionate about. Most of the newbie bloggers, now a days, are just jumping into creating their Make Money Online themed blog but most of them have not earned their first penny online yet. Silly, but true..!
I think I make money from my health niche blog as the content is original because I know my subject inside out and the search engines like this. You know the saying “Content is King”! This is because I am passionate about the subject.
Whatever you are doing, you should have the passion for that. If you have passion then only you can enjoy the thing and you can get the desired result. I like to share things with people that is why I like blogging.
it’s insane to blog about something that you are not interested in. Blogging isn’t a factory production, it mustn’t be done like a regular job. i think it’s the best way to start blogging as a hobby, and then, when it actually works and makes fun could be done as a money-making method.
Although money is important but if you do things passionately and sincerely, success and money ought to follow automatically. Blogging is tough work and very time consuming. I see nothing wrong with seeking monetary reward for your work, but you need to be patient. And there is no shortcut for success, this is the top secret of blogging.
Money should only be a reward because of good content which resulted to more readers and followers.