Blogging is no longer an unpopular activity. Many people go into blogging for various purposes. Some do it for passion for their topic or niche. Some do it as a profession on their job. Some do it independently as a money-making activity. For a living. My topic will be about the last category.
Blogging for money can be worth the while. It can also be frustrating if you don't get it right. My advice is not to put the cart before the horse. Now what is the cart? And what is the horse? I will explain.
In practice, the horse should be before the cart. The horse leads and pulls the cart along with it. The horse provides the force that makes the cart progress. Per adventure you put the cart before the horse, guess what happens? No progress. In fact the cart will prevent not only the horse from moving, but also the entire apparatus.
Get the picture? To be sure, let's identify the horse. And also let's identify the cart.
The Horse: This is the value your blog/website will add to your readers. It's that value that will keep them coming back. Let's stop there.
The Cart: This is the benefit you want to reap from blogging: money in this case.
Now, how could you swap their respective places? Stay tuned.
Continued...
How could you have swapped the horse's and cart's places in blogging? There are causes and symptoms.
What is your horse?
As I highlighted earlier, your horse is the value your blog or website is adding to the readers and visitors. What is your niche? What value would your site add to your readers?
Is it news? Current affairs? Inspirational materials? Networking? Job vacancies? Career articles? Celebrity gists?
Whatever is the purpose of your blog should be the priority number 1. It should be what readers and visitors see and are welcomed with once they reach your website for the first time. But many people get this wrong. How do I know?
There is a popular blog in Nigerian blogosphere. The popularity is there so its lucky. But she now decides to swap the position of the horse and cart. Once you visit the blog, in fact before you read the article that brought you, you would be welcomed with at least 4-5 advert banners. That's not right. Its not professional. It shows the blog is just about the money. The blog don't put the users first or the value she wanna add.
So in effect, if you find yourself putting adverts ahead of value, putting making money ahead of your readers benefits, then believe me you have most likely put the cart before the horse. Most likely I said. Some adverts will benefit the reader. But we know it when we see it.
I decided to dump AdSense on my blog. And guess what? Since then I have become a better blogger. I will tell you why I dumped AdSense in a later post in this forum.
Getting it right
Put your horse before the cart is just the natural thing to do. Failure to do this has lead to many young and new bloggers crashing out. Many dead blogs and websites here and there. How do we achieve this?
Blog with your readers in mind and not your pocket.
Every decision you make on your web property has effects on your readers. If you want to succeed online, you need to put your readers first.
Put their interest and benefit first.
Your readers are your customers
Customers are always right. They are not an interruption to your work, they are its purpose. You are not doing your customers favor but they are doing you great favor for giving you the privilege of serving them.
So treat your readers like customers who must be delighted.
If you want to succeed while blogging for money, you will in effect do the following:
- Ensure your content strategy aligns with adding great value to your visitors.
- Make sure that your adverts placements do not negatively impact the usability and user friendliness of your website.
- Ensure you use monetization methods that will only add value to your readers
- Your advert-to-content ratio must be low.
- Be open about benefits and offers