Blogs about Bloggin' for Bucks
I'm not a mean, in-your-face person online or in real life. I tend to try to give my opinions in the nicest way possible. I would rather avoid telling someone something that would hurt them on a personal level. This seems like common kindness, however there are those in person and on the web that relish telling others the hard, cold truth.
Sometimes there are things I have to say that don't "spin" well. And sometimes the same issue happens over, again and again, where I cannot say silent.
So if you are personally involved in what I am about to say, know I am not speaking out of cruelty. With that in mind, here goes:
I have been participating on several forums for bloggers over the last few months. A common practice on forums is a "review my blog" tread. It's a great way for bloggers to get input and luckily bloggers are the nicest community on the net. Although there are often honest critiques, most reviewers accentuate the positive aspects of a blog.
One type of blog that I consider to be overpopulated on the net is the "blog about making money on the web" and "make money on your blog" blogs.
One of my problems with this genre of blogs is that most of the information found on them is just as easily found with a simple Google search or by visiting any good blogger's forum. Plus, the limited amount of things that can be blogging about on that type of blog would lead me to believe that either entries would have to be far between, or the blogs will often be abandoned for lack of fodder for regular content.
There are several other inevitable issues with these types of blogs.
The natural question: What makes you an expert? If this is your first foray into blogging, I am skeptical. I would at least hope to see some proof of previous web-based endeavors. Ideally, I would like to see one or two blogs by the same author with quality content over the course of a year or more.
If that seems picky, please remember, I personally have been making money blogging for an entire year. I managed to make money blogging on MySpace, for crying out loud. Since I got serious about blogging and making money at it along the way, I have read on forums, asked questions, Googled all kinds of information about making money as a blogger. I've read hundreds of blogs at least once, learning what I like and don't like in a blog.
Can someone who's posted a half dozen entries on their first blog possibly have something to teach me? And make no mistake, I am a newbie in the arena of blogging for fun and profit.
There is another credibility leach that often appears holding hands with the problems I have outlined above.
The blog about making money blogging with a blogspot.com domain.
Let me break this down: I should take the advice of a blogger on how to make my blog a monetary success when that blogger couldn't make enough to invest in a $9.95 domain name?
Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful blogger's that use Blogger. Check the blog roll on my personal blog for proof that I enjoy Blogger blogs without any snobbery.
The difference is simply that those blogs are not promising to teach me how to make vast quantities of money via blogging. Not only do I not believe those promises, I do not consider blogging to be a cash cow. The problem with this style of blog maintained in hopes of making big money fast is that there is seldom the kind of content the makes a reader bookmark and return.
None of the blogs I read are primarily maintained with the goal of making money. I read blogs for smart, insightful writing and interesting personalties. These bloggers, like myself, would blog even if there was not money to be made. It is more about self expression not making a buck for anyone who can truly call themselves a blogger.
Bluntly put, I do not want to see your flashing banner ads. Nor do I want to read an article on how I can get my own flashing banner ad.
I own a blog thats about making money online - but I actually do make a full time income from online ventures. This doesn't make me an expert but I still believe that people will be interested in reading about my experiences.
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You are exactly the right person to have a blog about making money, because you ARE making real money on-line.
That rocks! Even though I only aspire to make pocket money blogging, I admire your dedication. I takes tons of work to make a living in the digital world.
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