Are you that blogger who is dreaming for traction and profit for last year. How about last two years?
Blogging is like gambling for many bloggers and aspiring bloggers, right? In fact less than 30% of the bloggers can ever make a living out of this profession (and that too, when they combine blogging with other profession or monetization model). Most of the bloggers struggle to even pay for the hosting and domain of their blogs let alone pay themselves for their hours invested.
Sound grim, right? Because it is grim and distressing.
But here is a catch!
Majority blogs fail at monetization because they are not meant for making money at first place. They are started with an aim of creating awareness, education, or developing a particular mindset. Most wanna bee bloggers never envision profit as their ultimate goal or consider this goal as a taboo to think, talk or plan about.
The fact is, blog is like a business. It can either be not-for-profit or for-profit. Either way it’s a business and needs cash to remain afloat.And this money comes from factoring in profit in blog’s strategy before building a blog.
Success or failure of your blog is not decided when it fails to monetize at year 1 mark Rather you define this success when you identify the direction, audience, content depth, your perception and monetary outlook of your blog. So, before you dream about profiting from your blog, answer all of these five questions.
Question # 1 What is Your Blog’s Niche?
You must have heard a lot about this decision. According to most blogging gurus, this decision appears to be the one and only most important factors to decide a blog’s success. Why? Because it is!
If you want to get your blog to be profitable, you need to choose a niche which is sought after by the readers. The readers should have an interest about the content you are planning to publish and should be willing to pay for attaining the solution you are delivering.
Always remember only problems can translate into profitable niches. If your blog is not focused on problem the prospect of profitability is low with it. Audience attraction and engagement comes after niche definition.
So, the first step in developing a blog is finding a niche which is profitable, which, in turn, comes from solution oriented nature of content.
Question # 2 What your Audience Want?
Although a few bloggers mention audience identification as a crucial step in blog building, vast majority allow you to believe that this segment of a blog can be developed in latter phases of blog-s life.
Let me make it clear!
You have plenty of time to grow your audience once you have decided upon the idea of the blog but you have demolished all possibility of validating your audience interests in your writing by publishing your blog before testing your ideas in target population.
In today’s blogging world, only those blogs are destined to make most money which use Coca Cola’s pre-launch marketing approach. So, if a blogger is telling you that you need to research your idea through Google, Alltop, or Medium, he is telling you half truth. We only complete our blog pre-launch research through the most profound communication medium of today, social media.
Question # 3 How Deep, and Informative, Should Your Content Be?
This is another crucial factor which aspiring bloggers overlook when strategizing their blogs.
Let’s consider a blog in real estate niche targeting home buyers. It publishes articles about the value of properties in certain location complete with their return on investment figures. But this information is not only be overwhelming but also be off-the-topic. Why? Because the targeted readers only want to know the facilities, lifestyle, and afford-ability promised by the property. So, the blog should cover the facilities provided in the area, security level, cost of living, and probable resale value of the property.
Content depth allows the returning visitors to build their expectations from the blog and build its image. Plus, a reasonably selected depth of content will also allow you to develop suitable monetization model.
Question # 4 What Is Your Relationship with Your Topic?
We all get the notion that to be successful in the blogging world, our passion and output must be consistent with the demands presented by the customers. But, does this mean that we have to forgo our voice in favor of wider expectations?
Of course not!
What we do need is to find a common ground where our passions and expertise and visitor’s needs meet. And how do we find such a common ground?
(Hint: Answer question #2 in detail.)
Question # 5 How Will You Monetize Your Blog?
Why I mentioned this question in the last? Not because it matters least but because this decision takes input from all other questions mentioned above.
In fact, your blog monetization model is a summary of all the answers you have put forward in above question. You will include your content reach, depth, style, and your expertise to identify best revenue program for the blog. It should be noted that although most bloggers go for an affiliate marketing program as the primary source of revenue, each category offers a mix of monetization models which, luckily, are not limited to marketing or advertisement.
Take Away
So what did you get from all these questions? How do you think your approach towards blogging will lead you to long-term success? And in what areas do you need improvement?
Please share your insights and suggestions in comments below.