Your target of starting a blog is to blog for a profit. You want to leave your full time job because you think it sucks. You are full of envy on those full time bloggers who can work anytime or anywhere they want while you need to find a balance between blogging and your job. You dream of seeing your bank balance increasing while you are sleeping. It sounds real good. That’s why you enter blogging.
It’s the reason why i started blogging too.
The day i started…
One day i was reading a blog that talks about football manager, that’s my favorite game. Wow, it’s so cool to have a blog. Hm.. why don’t i just join in the fun?
I started searching for how to blog. As you know from the big G, he gives you lots of choice to choose from. Expanded from there, i start learning people like Darren Rowse, Daniel Scocco and John Chow. Now i know i can make money online. Wow, that’s interesting. Thinking that it is easy to make money online, i jump into the wagon, trying to blog for a profit.
Trying Google Adsense
The easiest way of making money is to insert some Adsense code in your blog. Does adsense works? Yes but not for me. I will be very lucky if i earn twenty, thirty cents per month. As you can see, i have long scrapped away Google Adsense in this blog.
“Money is in the list”
The you will listen to experts or Gurus to start building a list. They will tell you having an email list is essential if you want to make serious money. Right, i am going to build a list. Well, i don’t have any lead magnet. So i look for some PLR report and use it as a lead magnet. Did i get any subscribers? Yes a pathetic nine subscribers.
Why was the subscription low?
The reason is people find no reason to sign up for my list. The lead magnet isn’t attractive. I probably send one mail every few months. The list is also buried under the dust as i have no intention to pay $19/month without using the service in Aweber.
Affiliate Marketing won’t do either
Ok, Adsense has failed. My list is not doing well either. Since i don’t have my own products to sell, i can sell other people’s product for a commission. There is a problem though, i myself never invest on the products, how can i convince my readers to purchase through my links if i never use any of them.
I keep looking for ways to make money online. I tried to search every related information and trial and tested every of them. Two years after my first blog, i am still where i am. Holding a full time job, earning for a living and make sure my family is well fed for.
My target has changed for the better. I started to treat blogging as a passion and fun. I know i am not cut out to be living off an internet lifestyle. I am not committed enough to do that but that’s just me.
Are you making the same mistakes?
How many of you make the same mistake as me? Blogging for profit doesn’t seem as easy as we think. Whenever we read any successful online stories, we hope to be the next one who make it. People like Pat Flynn who was laid off and found success in his LEED ebook is rare. We feel inspired but do you have the time, hard work, creativity and the correct mindset to make it happen, that gives a lot for desire.
While we bent on searching for that magical formula to succeed online, i see we have forgotten the most basic blogging principle. That is:
You lack of a plan and essentially a good one.
I am unable to find any success because i don’t have a plan. I saw people finding success in blogging and just blindly follow through. That’s why you see i did all those things i mentioned above like inserting Google Adsense, create an account with Aweber and etc. There is no such thing as “You build it and they will come” Successful blogging simply doesn’t works that way.
You Need a Good Blogging Plan
Having a good blogging plan is important if you want to achieve your goals. Setting a target is easy but how are you going to execute it determines whether you see success or failure.
What is a good blogging plan?
- Understand your goals and target
If you drive, you know what destination you are going before you set off. Write out your blogging goals and target, be it big or small. What do you want to achieve with your blog?
- Research your strategies
Your destination may be one and only but there are different routes that lead to it. Which route should you take? Identify the risk and advantages along with it and choose the route that you are most comfortable with.
- Set a timeline
Give yourself a timeline to achieve your goals. How long do you foresee to see success in your blogging endeavor? You wouldn’t want to spend 5-6 years to see ZERO results unless you are just blogging for fun. You rather spend your valuable time on other important things.
- Commit your schedule
How many hours can you commit to work on your blog every week? Ask yourself this question and make sure you stick to it. Work anytime and anywhere is just a dream before you find your feet in blogging. In fact, you need to work extra harder than your usual job.
- Prepare your action plan
These are your daily task, weekly task or even monthly task. Every single task has a purpose. You know you need exceptional content to give people a reason to come back, you need to pump out that for your readers. Each individual task brings you closer to the goals and target you have set.
- Stick to it
You may have your action plan and task to do well in place. It’s not going to help you if you do not stick it. Consistency is an important aspect if you are going for long term success. Your discipline to work hard plays a very important part to make your blogging plan works.
So do you have a blogging plan to share? What else can you add to the above?
Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Conclusion
I am not seeing success not only because i have no plan, there are also other reasons like i am not committed enough. If you are in a correct mindset, aiming to carve a blogging career for yourself, probably a good planning for your blog is what you need. All the best to your blogging success.
Your Kindness to Share Means a Lot to Me
I appreciate your kindness if you can share this post making use of the share buttons on top, below or at the side. Alternatively, any retweeting of the post is helpful to my blog growth. Thank you very much for doing so. I look forward to see you soon.
Cheers.
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Twitter: Couponseasy
Hi Lye,
I really like your honesty, not every blogger is too bold to except that he/she is not achieving what they want… I personally feel that unless you get good # of visitors everyday on blog you can’t make money. Whether you’re using Google Adsense or doing affiliate marketing. Genuine Traffic is the key to success.
Riya recently posted..Web CEO Promo Voucher Of 40% Discount
Twitter: Findmyblogway
Hi Riya,
I need to be honest. Thats what readers like to hear. I can’t pretend and act something i don’t have. You are right about genuine traffic. 100 quality visitors is better than 1000 fake visitors.
Thanks for your comments.
Lye
Hello Lye,
Great article! I agree 100% about creating a plan. Without a plan, you can’t achieve your goals. It is important to have one, or see what other successful people used to succeed and model their plan.
Thanks for posting,
John
John Mak recently posted..Raxco PerfectSpeed Coupon
Twitter: Findmyblogway
Hi John,
Thanks again for dropping by to show your support and your view.
People can realize they need a plan but whether they can stick to it and execute it is another think.
Talk soon.
Lye
Hi, Lye,
I appreciate your honesty here, as you are warning us not to do the same mistake that occurred to you. Any business should have a plan, and it is no difference with blogging. We need to understand what we want to achieve, so that we could commit ourselves to the goal and thus, create the wanted success.
Oh, if I knew you were struggling with Adsense, I would have clicked on a few links from time to time, not too often, just not to be suspicious and for your account not to get blocked.:)
Honestly, I think that bloggers making money on adsense always have friends involved in it and partners that make mutual clicks…only, no one wants to confess this little (public) secret.
Kristina L. recently posted..Books a Million Coupon Code
Twitter: Findmyblogway
Hi Kristina,
I like to share my experience so that you guys do not make the same mistake as me. To earn a penny online may seems easy to some but majority are finding it difficult to create a breakthrough.
We need to do a lot of research to avoid running in circles.
Thanks for visiting and commenting. Appreciate your awesome support.
Lye
Twitter: adriennesmith40
Hey Lye,
I’ll pipe in as well and say that I too appreciate your honesty. You are like so many other people though Lye… We are told to do a certain thing so we do it and don’t get the same results.
A hard lesson I have learned since my time here online is that a lot of the “big guys” who sell you a “how to” course will share with you a lot of really good information but fail to tell you the whole story of how it’s really done.
That’s why I feel it is so important for people like yourself to be open and honest with your readers and then as you start learning things, start with creating a simple “how to eBook” and start selling that here. Because you’ve lived it and learned it, your readers will appreciate that so much more than buying into any hype.
Just a suggestion because I know you have a passion for blogging and I know you have learned a lot since being here. I still believe you could help a lot of people in the same boat as you.
Here is wishing you a wonderful day!
Adrienne
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Twitter: Findmyblogway
Hi Adrienne,
I guess we need a lot of trial and test when we blog. Then we will know what works and what don’t.
This is my part of my objective for this blog. I don’t pretend to be a guru. I don’t call myself a blogging expert or so because i’m not one.
This is to share something i have gone through without success and hope my readers don’t make the same mistake.
Thanks for dropping by to share your view and i really appreciate your great support.
Lye
Hi lye! The plan is really important to us bloggers.We can never make all the necessary things we wanted if we do not plan it all. If you have all of the things you needed. For sure you can attain all the necessary goals you wanted. be optimistic in doing great things to taste the fruit of your hard work.
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Hi Tracy,
“Fail to Plan” = “Plan to Fail” that tells it all. An idea is bent to fail without a plan.
Thanks for the comments.
Lye
Great blogging plan there! For me, the most important part of the plan is Commit your schedule. Sometimes, because most bloggers are freelancer, they find it hard to stick with their schedules and become comfortable on working based on their pacing. As a result, they tend to delay some tasks thinking that they can work on these items anytime they want.
Greg recently posted..Murray 24-Inch 205cc Briggs & Stratton 800 Gas Powered Snow Thrower Review
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Hi Greg,
Great point. Commit to the schedule is something we can’t afford to miss. As a blogger, we simply can’t do that unless we are doing for leisure and don’t have plans for big results.
Thanks for the comments.
Lye
Absolutely right! Most bloggers who sacrifice lots of their time are really expecting better results than others. Based on that, we can conclude that both time and efforts determine the positive result of their blogging activity.
Greg recently posted..Yard Machines Snow Fox 12.5-Inch Electric Snow Thrower Review
I totally understand you and it is not only you who has undergone that. So many people are inspired after reading stories of top bloggers such as the ones you have mentioned. Having such a blog and getting so much from it is very possible but then you need to plan well and be very patient before you see results.
Caesar Parisi recently posted..The Bridges Real Estate is coming to Boca Raton / Delray Beach in 2012
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To me it looks like you are getting good traffic now. Who knows, you may find some day in the near future that you do make money online blogging. When you least expect it, it may happen.
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