The great irony of "Make Money Blogging" concept

Warning: This is really just a rant that I tried very hard to make an ‘Insightful Outcome’ of. I sincerely apologize if I sound a bit too self-centered. But it really can’t be helped if you’re trying to be insightful:) (Photo Credit: David Muir)

You know, it was July last year when I thought of getting into the blogging business. I’ve done my fair share of web development since I was 14 and I knew a thing or two about web monetization and all. My initial response to starting up a blog and running it was - “Been there.. Done that!”.

In other words, I thought that just because I had the mind set of developing one of Sri Lanka’s first social media sites in ASP.NET and successfully promoting it when I was just 15, (e-palsrilanka.com - which I gave up after 1 year because I had no way of covering up the expenses since my audience was only at an infant stage), I knew blogging like the palm of my hand. I thought making money blogging was going to be really easy.

And that’s where I went horribly wrong.

See, I did code a full “Sri Lankan Facebook” - and even hand coded a Forum (like phpBB), but I couldn’t figure out the odds and ends of how blogosphere worked. I guess what I’m trying to say is that - blogs, are the most humane form of Web 2.0! It’s not just another web site and no matter how well you specialize in SEO or Web Design, it’s a total different art. And when I say this, I’m not talking about making money - I’m talking about blogging - I’m talking about connecting with the reader - I’m talking about what some bloggers tend to refer to as “a lot of work”.

If you want to make money from blogs, you don’t have to blog about making money. Nope! In 4 steps, I can let out the secret of ultimate money making from blogs. Ready?

1. Do a Keyword Search and find an relatively uncompetitive niche.
2. Start a blog and post some niche articles in it.
3. Monetize it - You know the drill… AdSense, Affiliate links, all that jazz.
4. Do you SEO and let the good times roll.

That’s easy right? If I want to do something like that, heck, I can pull off 5 blogs like that per month, from the time it takes me to pull this blog off. And I’m not saying that I’m not doing it already:) But, here’s my point. Those 5 blogs can bring me as 3 times as much money I make from this blog - or more! Which means, If I want to triple my online income, I just have to give up on this blog. So, if I’m really concentrated about making money blogging, why am I not doing it?

Well for one, the income from a master blog (like ROCKFUSE for me) is subjected to a great rate of growth over time, and the time consumed is subjected to subside.

But that’s not the most important thing. The biggest reason why I do this is that “I enjoy doing this”. True, at first, I just wanted to tap into this niche and find out what the prospects are. But overtime, it’s been what I “enjoy about it”, rather than how much money I make off it. I know what most of you would think right now - “How the hell can he enjoy blogging in the “Make Money Online” niche?”

To answer that;

• Number one would be the extreme competitive nature. I like the competitive atmosphere. It’s always about who stands out from the crowd since there is a pretty large crowd.
• Number two would be; It’s a niche where you can test all your business/online marketing skills. I like getting to know people, building relationships and promoting my business while offering something genuinely helpful. And I like to sharpen up my SEO skills (that’s something I’ve been really into since I was 15) and establish myself as an authority in online marketing.  don’t think there are many other niches that offer that.
• Number three would be; Because I like helping out people. I may sound like those guys studying philosophy right now, (which I do actually :D) but it’s great when you can be in one of those niches where the other 156,415,456 blogs can benefit from.

I can remember when I was just a new kid on the block - in this niche, my Superheroes (Steve Pavlina, Arianna Huffington, Darren Rowse, John Chow) telling me that the reason for their success in this niche was their passion for it. That the money that they get is actually a bonus - and not the objective. And this is one instance where they were absolutely right. I don’t care whether they believe in it themselves but I surely do.

So, what’s the irony of this all?

New bloggers get into the “Make Money Online” niche everyday. They have multiple “Make Money Online” blogs sometimes. When someone posts up his/her blog earnings, they get psyched up and tell themselves - “Wow! this is a really good laid back method to make a living”. But by doing that, they concentrate all their efforts into a very heated niche and most of the time fail miserably. For every one blogger making decent money from a blog, there’s another hundred barely getting back what they put into it.

Ironical isn’t it? The few keeping up with the competition are the ones who are extremely passionate about it, and have prioritized their passion, as much as their objective of making money online. It’s like playing Monopoly - only that the money is real.