Pin It



Blog Engage $500 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

This has been a pretty contentious issue among bloggers as of late. I have been reading lately on the issue on when a new blogger should start monetizing their blog. The problem is that a lot of new bloggers (such as me) started a blog and are trying to earn some additional income. So this is a pretty touchy subject for a lot of people. Read my 6 reasons why new bloggers shouldn’t worry about monetizing their blog.

Write the Content

If you are just starting up your blog – you probably do not have that much content. By NOT having ads or worrying about affiliates you can focus 100% on adding great quality content to your blog. Another reason is you will be writing your content for the reader instead of for the advertising (though you should have researched your niche before hand, but I’ll touch on that later in the article!) or just SEO (Site Engine Optimization)

Plus it will help give you the incentive to get the writing done quickly rather then write an article and start watching your adsense or other affiliate reports like a hawk hoping that someone clicks or makes a purchase every day.

Build Your Community

By not having ads or affiliates you can focus on trying to build your readership and building relationships. Blogging is about trying to get people to not only visit your site but to engage by leaving comments or sharing your content with other potential visitors. And of course to keep visitors coming back for more of what you have to offer.
If you have a ton of ads, banners, and affiliate links it is telling the visitor that your content (and them) isn’t important. By having a blog that is formatted correctly and filled with great helpful content? People will start re-visiting your site in anticipation of what you write in your next article!

Email Subscribers

Start working on your Email Lists early. This is the one of the most underutilized methods bloggers aren’t using today that they should! By getting a large subscriber list you are guaranteed the following:

  • You will be getting people re-visiting your site.
  • You will have a list of people that (when you are ready) for future potential sales!
  • You will continuously have people focus on your brand (as long as you keep your blog updated that is!)

Social Media & Networking

By not having to worry about advertising or affiliates you can spend more time promoting your website through Social Media and Blog Networks.

“The Holy Trinity” of Social Media

You should have at least a Twitter, Facebook, and a Google+ account. Why these 3? Well with Twitter and Facebook you have the potential to reach over 100 million people! With Google+ it is starting to become more important so you can have your Google Authorship so your profile is displayed in Google searches.
I tell people that Blogging is 20% writing and 80% promotion. So it is important that you spend time building relationships through these social media sites as they will pay out 100 fold through brand recognition (who or what your blog is about) and visitors!

Blog Engage!

Of course if you’re reading this you already know about Blog Engage. This is a great place to network with other bloggers and to promote your blog. If you use Blog Engage’s RSS service as well? You can get your blog noticed through 3 different sites helping get your blog noticed just that much more!
I have met and talked with a lot of bloggers on here. And all of the people I have met on here have been very nice and helpful with my questions. Brian who runs the site has bent over backwards for me – and I wasn’t even a paying customer at the time! (uh.. I am now though!) He was even kind enough to take a look at my blog offering helpful suggestions that have really helped!

So I highly suggest signing up to the Blog Engage RSS Service here today!

Do Your Research

Why is this down at the bottom? Well, because technically you should have done your research before you even started your blog! If you haven’t done the research yet and already started writing? No worries it isn’t too late – but beware the niche or subject matter you are writing about might:

  • A) Not get you any type of traffic
  • B) Be highly competitive or
  • C) Might not be a potential income for ads or affiliates.

Before you started your blog you should have done your research and asked yourself the following questions ahead of time. Are there a million other blogs already out there just like the one you wanted to start? Do you have a way of offering a different spin on the niche or subject you wish to write about? Is the blog you want to start going to give you any type of profit in advertising or affiliates? Is there any type of demand for the niche or subject you wish to write about?
If you do your research ahead of time you can then avoid…

Avoid Disappointment

The last reason why you shouldn’t have any type of ads or affiliates on your site when you are starting your blog? Nobody likes to see zeros on their reports. So why focus on what is going to be a big let down in the beginning when you are just getting started? By avoiding worrying about monetization you can focus on the wins – that first comment, the first Re-Tweet, or Facebook Like! The first day you receive <x> number of visitors to your blog! Focus on the small wins and they will start turning into larger ones!

Focus on the Positive!

By focusing on the positives it will keep you invigorated and you will want to keep writing! Nothing is a bigger killer of blogs than authors who focused too much on trying to make money first and their blog second. You will continuously hear from those not making money on their blogs that it is too hard, or that it is impossible to make money blogging. I can tell you know that is one big:

Myth!

This isn’t true though. Sure it takes hard work in the beginning. And it is possible (though not guaranteed) to make money on your blog. I can tell you from personal experience that even though I’ve only been blogging seriously for the past 6 months – I am just now starting to see some money coming in. It is possible IF you keep your priorities straight.

OK – So WHEN Should I Start Running Ads or Affiliates?

Unfortunately there is no magic formula or great answer for this. My advice is when you start seeing steady traffic (let’s say more than 200?), and when you have everything else established that I have written about above.

Beware though of getting to aggressive with advertising. You could lose your following quickly if you have too many ads. Make sure you create pages about Privacy and a Disclosure outlining what ads and affiliates you run.

The Bottom Line

Write what you are passionate about. Work on getting a following by promoting your Blog. Do your Research! Fine tune your posts to what your readers wish to read rather then what you wish to write about. Listen to the feedback you receive. Focus on the small wins and not on the failures.

Put in the hard work now and it WILL pay off.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Make sure to leave a comment below, to give it a like and share this on Twitter and Facebook, and of course VOTE!

 

About Jason Mathes

Dad, Geek, Gamer, Blogger - When not being a full time Dad, employee as an IT Helpdesk technician, or playing Call of Duty, you can find him over at http://avgjoegeek.net . Visit his site as he shares with you his tips, tricks, and how tos in Gaming, Android/Technology and Blogging. Follow him on twitter: @avgjoegeek or check me out on Facebook as well!

Tags: , , , ,