Thousands of individuals are using Google to search for terms like “blog income”, “blog making money”, “make money on internet”, “make money with blog” and many other such phrases.
But there are various reasons why individuals have, require or want an Internet presence via a website or a blog.
And FUN...
Some just want to share their adventures…their stories…their photos…whatever is happening in their lives.
Some want a blog because “everyone else has and I don’t want to be left out”
Some want to show they offer a service…maybe a plumbing service, a personal shopping experience, a carpet cleaning service or a beauty makeover…that sort of thing. They want to show the world what they offer and simply add a telephone number or email for contacts.
Others not only offer their service but you can also buy their products. For instance, an e-book on how to change a tap or the right clothes to suit your body shape.
Of course, you might just want to sell your own products and not a service. You may be a retired plumber and with all that vast knowledge you have, you have created a number of e-books, audios or videos. A blog is an ideal way to sell them.
Then there are blogs that just sell other peoples products as an affiliate. The visitor to the site becomes a customer and clicks on a ‘sales banner’ which is actually selling another persons goods. As a result, you receive a percentage of the sale. Normally anything between 10 and 100%.
These are the main types of blogs found on the Internet.
So if you are intending to make money blogging, will you succeed?
I can’t say yes because there are many factors involved.
Let me re-phrase the question:
Can you make money blogging?
Yes, definitely.
So, how?
There are many factors that determine your success but these four are crucial.
The first factor is having a product or service (or finding someone else’s product or service) that actually sells.
Will it sell?
Not everything sells on the Internet.
There can be so much ‘free’ information on a particular subject, there is no need to buy an actual product and therefore individuals don’t.
There are pockets of people who are interested in a particular subject and they just don’t buy. I understand people looking for information on ‘Dreams’ are just simply not buyers.
So factor number one – you must have a product or service that sells on the Internet.
The second factor is copywriting (the words on your web page). Your product may be awesome but unless you ‘sell it’ with your copywriting then you will make no sales.
You can of course, outsource this part, but it can be very expensive. The very good copywriters charge $10,000’s for a sales page.
Over the years I have purchased numerous products on copywriting – some average, some really, really excellent.
Is there one I recommend?
Yes, definitely. John Carlton. If you can get your hands on any of John Carlton’s products then grab them.
Last year I joined John Carlton’s mentoring school. It was undoubtedly the best course on copywriting I have had the pleasure of completing.
The third factor – Traffic (via Marketing)
You may have the best selling product, the best sales page…but if no one sees it or knows about it…you won’t sell anything.
Therefore, you have to market your blog and website so others see it.
Marketing on the Internet is a complete area on it’s own (as well as copywriting) and again numerous gurus specialize in marketing.
So how do you get your website noticed?
Make sure you use the most appropriate keywords when you build your website. You can use the free Google keywords tool to determine the best keywords to use.
Submit your site to SEO friendly directories using Directory Maximizer – just $0.14 per directory.
Create one-way inbound links with RSSBot
Submit your RSS feeds to the RSS aggregators using RSSBot
Comment on other blogs (which are in the same market as yours) and ensure you add a link back to your site.
Automatically submit your articles to directories for backlinks...
Write articles and add them to the main article directories. There are several excellent tools that help automate the submission to the Article Directories. I personally use Brad Callen’s Article submitter
Regularly write new material for your blog and again ensure you use the correct keywords.
Is there a course or product I recommend for generating Traffic?
Yes, Jeff Johnson’s Underground Training Lab…you can get a free copy of Jeff’s SEO software here.
Now, all of this doesn’t happen overnight and does need investment in time and money.
Do NOT expect to become rich within your first few months. Don’t think “I’ll knock up a website and the money will just roll in. I’ll then just work 2 hours day”.
It will not happen.
You may have seen numerous Internet Marketing web pages saying ‘You can be rich beyond your wildest dreams and it takes 10 minutes per day…blah…blah…blah”
You’ve seen the adverts I am referring to. They normally have some fancy ‘money related’ titles like:
“The Never Ending Cash Machine – Methods You Can Use After Minutes That Will Make You Rich…Guaranteed. (These Are The Secrets Google Use Themselves And Don’t Want You To Know!)”
Or something similar…you’ve seen them.
Some of them may be excellent but they only cover creating a product…or copywriting…or Generating Traffic…or How To Use Pay Per Click…or…
There is not one course I have seen that covers all areas and to make money on the Internet you need products that sell, copywriting skills and Marketing skills and…maybe the most important one of all…persistence.
One thing I can guarantee…you will make mistakes.
I don’t care how good you are…I don’t care whether you purchase the best Internet Marketing courses available…the best tools around…get mentored by the worlds best Internet Mentor…you are going to make mistakes.
And the key to success is your persistence to carry on and know when you have made a mistake and never make the same mistake again.
When you make a mistake it will bother you…you will be annoyed with yourself…you may be angry. However, how you respond to the mistake and carry on will determine if you succeed or not.
So before you even start your Internet Marketing business be prepared to learn, be prepared to work hard, be prepared to make mistakes, be prepared to come up against obstacles and have the right mindset.
Can I be blunt?
There is no magic wand to making a killing on the internet. And if you think there is or you have one…please let me know…share it with me and I’ll give you 50% of all my future earnings using your magic wand. I cannot be fairer than that, can I?
So are you ready for your Internet Business to start?
What action will you take…you will have to take action.
Yes, you will have to learn something new and then take action. It’s not learn…learn…learn…then learn some more.
It’s learn…take action…learn…take action…learn some more…take some more action.
Learning doesn’t give you an income…action may do.
So you have started…excellent.
Now don’t give up after 1 week or 1 month. Building income from the internet will take several months.
I remember asking my Internet Mentor at the time (he is a famous name in the Internet world) and he said it will take 6 months for me to earn a decent income from the Internet.
That’s 6 months of hard work, learning, making mistakes and taking action.
Have I put you off?
I hope not because making money from the Internet can be done…it can be a great life-style…but don’t expect it to happen overnight.
This is just a brief introduction to what is required to make money via the Internet.
If you are just starting out then I can recommend a great inexpensive product – The Lucky Bastard by Adam Wong.
See my review of the product here.
Adam is a good friend and he has helped me with my Internet Business.
Adam now has a great life-style…making a great income…with just a few hours work…but it has taken him years to get to this point and he has had a world-famous mentor as well.
The Lucky Bastard covers the following topics and because it’s inexpensive, don’t think it’s not good, it is an excellent story outlining how Adam made his fortune on the Internet:
1. One moment can change your life
2. So what the heck is Internet Marketing
3. How to find a profitable market niche
4. How to create a product that sells like hot cakes
5. How to design a ‘kick-ass’ website that makes money for you
6. How to drive a torrential flood of traffic to your websites
7. The easiest way to make money on the Internet
8. It’s not that difficult at all…really
And right now, Adam is giving you the chance to download the first chapter right here:
http://www.webuildyourblog.com/luckyb.html
I wish I’d had this book to refer to when I started my Internet business.
So, that’s it.
I wanted to share my views…making money on-line is achievable…it can be done…but if you think it will take just a few hours…I’m afraid to tell you it won’t.
What are your experiences when you first started out on the Internet?
What mistakes did you make?
What achievements did you have?
Share them here…in the comments…
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Hi, Andrew Rondeau here and this blog, my blog, will not lie to you. I will give it to you straight.This blog is about blogging, the Internet and sharing my experiences and advice on
Agree with the magic wand bit.
Jono
Some very good information here! you make it sound so easy! six months huh? hmmmmmm…..
Twitter: andrewrondeau
@ Jono. I assume you are saying there is no magic wand (and there isn’t).
@Michelle. Easy! It wasn’t meant to sound easy…it’s just an honest view. 6 months? Depends upon your definition of a decent income!
Thanks for your comments.
Andrew
Hi Andrew!
This is an interesting post. However i have a question, you mentioned that in order to get your website notice, you have to use softwares like Brad Callen’s Article submitter. Is this really effective? I heard that Google will penalized you if you use such software if caught. I really look forward to your response.
Thanks!
Twitter: andrewrondeau
Gary
These days it is best that you re-spin the articles before submitting to article directories.
Andrew
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