So you want to make money blogging. That’s a great desire. But it is not always quite easy, isn’t it? You know that already. Otherwise, you won’t be reading this post with so much interest (I really hope that you are reading this post with much interest! ;)).
One of the main reasons why bloggers are unable to make money blogging even if they have the desire is that they have some serious misconceptions about money making! And these misconceptions are no joke because they actually pose a risk to your blogging career!
OK, so what are the risks? That’s the topic of this post! Let’s dive in right away.
You think you know how to make money blogging; but in reality, you don’t know how!
Don’t you realize that this is one of the greatest misconceptions associated with blogging and money-making? The mere fact that you want to make money doesn’t mean that you will be able to make money, right?
You should be able to DO what is needed in order to make money. Otherwise, you won’t be able to fulfill your desire.
Alright I hear you saying: Jane not knowing something is not the end of the world. I will somehow learn how to make money.
I appreciate that!
But it is not very straightforward, you know. I’m not making you scared. But the point is this – many bloggers still don’t make money because they “don’t realize” that they don’t know how to make money! That’s a lot of “don’ts”!
It is like not realizing that you are blind and you really hope that you are going to make it. But not realizing you are blind is going to cost you a lot.
Is this a serious thing? Is this a risk? Yup, it is! Because you will be wasting your precious time, money, and efforts on various money-making activities. But you don’t realize that those activities are not actually money-making activities as you are blindly believing.
So what to do about this misconception?
Unless you start to realize this fact, you will be wasting your business resources. You might be wondering how other bloggers are able to make it while you are just dragging your feet. So you need to stop what you are doing and take a closer look at what you are doing.
Are your money-making efforts paying? If not, you just need to change your strategies.
Most commonly, people choose the wrong money-making methods. If you are doing something for a consistent amount of time and if that money-making strategy is not paying, you should stop doing it and find out what’s wrong. You should specifically find out WHY you are unable to make money via that particular strategy while someone else is able to make it.
You should be doing a similar kind of analysis.
If that BIG BLOGGER is doing it, I’ll do the same to make money!
Well, don’t get me wrong here. Following a big blogger’s money-making strategies is a good thing! In fact, it is a smart thing because you don’t have to reinvent the wheel!
There are so many big bloggers like Pat Flynn, Darren Rowse, and others who make a very good amount of money consistently via their blogging business. Some of them (like Pat) even publish income reports – I particularly love Pat’s income reports because he clearly lays down what he does every month and what contributes to every dollar of his income.
His income reports are not only motivating to new bloggers but also give other bloggers working ways to make money blogging.
But that doesn’t mean you will also be able to make money like him following his ways exactly.
So what to do about this misconception?
Just because it works for that established blogger doesn’t mean it would work for you too. Pat is making a lot of money and he publishes income reports where he explains how he makes that money.
BUT – blindly following Pat’s money-making methods will not or may not give you the results that he is getting. For instance, he is making a lot of money via affiliate marketing – but if you have just started a blog and want to make money via affiliate marketing (instantly), you might be wasting your time and efforts.
Why? Because people don’t buy Pat’s recommendations just like that or just because. He has built a very strong trust factor! And this took him quite some time and a LOT of hard work!
So if you want to make money via affiliate marketing, you should first be prepared to put forth the hard work that Pat has put forth. Without the trust factor, you cannot simply casually mention a product in one of your blog posts (with your affiliate link, of course) and expect to make thousands of dollars, like Pat!
Hope you got my point.
I have used affiliate marketing here as an example. It could be anything in fact.
I think you could make a full-time income solely from Adsense
Well, I’ve used Adsense here as an example – it could be any ONE income stream! But before I talk about other examples, I would like to emphasize Adsense in particular.
Many bloggers (the very new ones included) think Adsense is the only and easiest way to make money blogging. They think that starting a blog, publishing a few blog posts, and then putting up a few Adsense banners is all that is needed to make a full-time blogging income.
I am not against Adsense – in fact, Adsense is indeed one of the easiest ways to make money blogging, but note that here I said “one of the easiest ways” instead of “the ONLY easiest way”!
And, Adsense will not be your easiest money-making stream UNLESS you have a really popular blog that has millions of page views per day! And even then, having Adsense as your ONLY income stream is not a smart idea!
As I said earlier, Adsense is just an example. It is in general not wise to have only one income stream! Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It is not safe to do so.
What to do about this misconception?
Every money-making stream takes time and effort. So don’t think anything is easy. I talked about Adsense above. Similarly, some bloggers think affiliate marketing is easy, just because they don’t have to create their own products. But as I point out in this Slideshare presentation, you have to do enough leg work before you can start making money via affiliate marketing.
And, there’s one more thing to realize before you can handle this misconception. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t rely on only one income stream!
If you are into affiliate marketing, don’t do that alone. If anything fails (say, the products you recommend go bad, or you stop getting search engine traffic due to a search engine update), your business will fall flat overnight.
There is no such thing as overnight success, but overnight flop does exist! We all know about businesses that went back to zero just with one search engine update.
If you don’t want that to happen to your business, you should create more than 2 income streams for your online business.
Wrapping up…..
So what are the misconceptions that you have about making money online? Have you realized/identified those misconceptions?
What have you done to stop believing those misconceptions and change things for good? Please share your views/experiences/misconceptions related to “make money blogging” in the comments below!
