To build a money making blog on a proper foundation, however, does take time - unfortunately.
Yes, it can be done quickly for short term benefits - build and sell, for example. But a blog that will last long term takes an apprenticeship. This is what the big earners have done. There are exceptions but this is often done with investment and borderline marketing.
It was interesting what Darren Rowse wrote recently:
"... part of me is very glad that I didn’t 'Go Pro' or start commercializing my blogging too early. That first 12-18 months of blogging on a personal blog was very formative. I learned so much about communicating online, building community, writing and the way that blogs operate - to the point that when I began to blog on a commercial level I had a lot of skills that helped me grow those new blogs faster.
The other great thing about that first year or so was that it gave me a love for blogging. I blogged because I enjoyed it and not with dollars in my eyes. As a result I wrote about things that interested me and not what would make money.
In a sense, that first blogging experience was an apprenticeship or training ground for what came later."
In other words he didn't become problogger from the start. He learnt the trade and it was this experience that made him the success he is today.
Though there is a host of information, about how to make money with blogs, it's only when you put everything into practice that you actually appreciate what is necessary to build a blog as a money making business.
There are shortcuts but the greatest ingredient is time - if it's a long term business that you are after.
Again quoting from Darren Rowse:
'I see a lot of bloggers rushing into commercial type blogs that I think could learn a thing or two from starting a personal blog for a few months (or longer). These blogs quite often are on topics that they think will make money (rather than things they know about and love), they quite often have ads slapped all over them (instead of presenting their content as the prime thing on the blog) and they quite often have content that is regurgitated from elsewhere, uninspiring and uninteresting.
These blogs rarely survive longer than a few months because the blogger gets frustrated by the lack of initial earnings (remember it takes a year or so for a blog to 'hit its straps') and has no real interest in the topic to keep them blogging.'
Learn the trade! And, as Darren says: remember it takes a year or so for a blog to 'hit its straps'.
Good luck,
Mike.
Darren Rowse is publisher of problogger the place to go for genuine advice on earning money with blogs.
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